66 



diflBcult to find, not only for the above reasons, but also from the facts that obviously 

 they leave no tracks as larva) do, and that being generally firmly attached they are 

 not to be shaken or beaten from their positions ; yet on the other hand I cannot 

 but think that continued and careful observation as to the situations in which eggs 

 are deposited, the time during which the different species remain in the egg state, 

 together with their appearances, disposition, and naode of concealment, would fur- 

 nish results valuable ahke to the collector, the observer of Nature's works, and to 

 Science itself; and it must be admitted that the egg-hunter would sometimes stumble 

 upon batches of such numbers as he could never hope to meet with in the other 

 stages of insect existence, and that too of living embryo individuals hardly ever 

 affected by parasites* unlikely to sicken from change of food and air, and not liable 

 to droop and die from having received an unfortunate knock with the beating stick 

 or unlucky dig with the trowel ; besides, the fact that eggs do exist in almost 

 infinitely greater numbers than larvse, pupae, or imagos, ought to stimulate us to 

 overcome the difiiculty. 



The situations in which eggs are deposited are naturally either upon or in the 

 neighbourhood of the food of the future larvae, and almost always in such localities 

 as are adapted to the well-being of the species.f A known or likely locality^ must 

 therefore first be selected as a spot for commencing operations. The more common 

 positions of eggs are upon the surface and in the chinks of bark (frequently, un- 

 fortunately, high up on the trunk and branches), on twigs, buds, leaves, flowers, 

 and seeds, of various trees and plants ; sometimes on neighbouring objects, as 

 palings, walls, rocks, stones, sods ; at others among refuse vegetable and animal 

 matters ; now and then loosely scattered upon the ground, or even fixed to aquatic 

 plants beneath the surface of the water ; while in some special cases the nests of 

 ants, wasps, and bees, are the situations chosen by the parent female. 



A knowledge of the time during which the different species remain in the 

 egg state would very materially assist the collector, but little on this question has 

 been chronicled ; however, I think that, with few exceptions, the following may be 

 adopted as rules : 



Eggs deposited in ea/rly spring may be expected to hatch at about the time when 

 the buds of the respective food-plants are ready to burst forth into leaf; but it not 

 unfrequently occurs, even in Nature, that circumstances, which do not affect the 

 eggs, retard the development of the food-plant, and the young larvoo are excluded 

 before food is ready for them, in which case they generally pierce and feed within 

 buds, catkins, &c., until such time as the leaves have become expanded, when, after 

 feeding up in a variable time, they change to chrysaUdes, in which state the 

 winter is passed. 



* Tlie eggs of Lepidoptera are rarely affected with parasites ; perhaps those of Orgyia An- 

 tiqua, and Pudibunda, are most subject to the attacks of such species as Microgaster ovulorum. 



+ Occasionally, however, as in the instance of females attracted to light, which liave been known to 

 deposit on the bars of the lamp, eggs arc deposited in sudi situations as cannot j)ossibly aftord a chance 

 to the futuie larva. 



I By a "likely locality," I mean one which, having the required food, has a similar soil, altitude, 

 temperature, amount of moisture or dryness, shelter or openness, to one wliich llie insect looked for is 

 known to inhabit ; thus, the collector will rarely stand a chance of finding upon a gravelly soil a species 

 which is attached to the chalk or limestone, or a mountain species in the valleys, or a heat-loving species 

 in a bleak locality, a fen-insect on high and dry ground, or an inhabitant of a dense wood upon the 

 open moors, ice. 



