LARVA OF CICLNDKLA. 53 



The fecundity of Lepidopters is as variable as that of fish ; some do 

 not lay more than a hundred eggs, whilst others deposit many thousand. 

 TheRhopalocerata are generally less prolific than the Heterocerata, and 

 the most remarkable among the latter are the endophyte species, such as 

 the Sesia, the Hepialus, the Cossus, &.C. 



The vital resistance of the eggs is very great ; they can support a 

 temperature of from 50 or 60 degrees R. to below zero, and the most 

 excessive cold, without the destruction of the vital germ. They can be 

 preserved by artificial cold for any length of time, and can be hatched 

 by giving them a suitable degree of heat. The most vigorous winters 

 of Siberia have no influence upon the eggs of Lepidopters peculiar to 

 that region, nor even upon those of the Bomhyx mori (silk-worm.) 

 Those of a great many species in our climate hatch before winter, and 

 the caterpillars pass that season in torpidity, or in the chrysalis state. 



The shell of the egg is of a solid consistence and horny ; at the 

 moment of exclusion, the little caterpillar cuts the shell circularly with 

 its jaws, in such a way that the top forms a kind of lid which it has 

 only to raise in order to go out. 



LARVA OF CICINDELA. 



Walking in the woods last Autumn, I saw several boys intently lean- 

 ing towards the ground, who seemed engaged in some rare sport, for 

 now and then the woods would ring with a most uproarious laugh. I 

 approached near and unobserved. I saw that they were inserting thin 

 sticks or straws into the ground and suddenly pulling them out, to 

 which something appeared attached, and it was this that occasioned the 

 fun. I now joined them and soon found out the nature of their sport. 

 All around in the eartli there were circular holes about the diameter of 

 a straw, and judging from the length of the sticks inserted, from eight to 

 twelve inches deep. When the boys put down their straw and quickly 

 drew it out, there would come out with it an ugly looking worm that had 

 taken fast hold of it with its enormous jaws. It is a savage animal and 

 its manners I will now describe. I had never seen it before, though I 

 at once knew what it was. — A facetious English writer thus describes it : 

 "Aspect, vicious ; temper, ferocious ; eyes infernal ; jaws, diabolical ; 

 head, big; back, humped, the hump adorned with two hooks." 



This is the larva of the beautiful Cicindela, or Tiger Beetle of 

 Linne, which is very abundant in dry, sandy places. When you ap- 

 proach, they take wing with facility, but their flight is short and they 

 usually return to ilie place they left. Several of the species in our 



