It will, however, be best for the collector to keep his eggs until he is quite 

 sure about them, one way or other ; remembering that the ova of the saem 

 species at one time may hatch in the autumn, at another may lie over until 

 spring. Sometimes black specks make their appearance on the surface of eggs' 

 especially upon the opaque white eggs of the Prominents, and are due to the enclosed 

 larva having bitten through the shell eo that the mandibles have become ap- 

 parent. When this happens, the larva may be expected speedily to come forth ; 

 but it has often been noticed that, from some cause, the larvae are exceedingly apt 

 to die at this stage, probably from not having sufficient power to escape ; damping 

 with warm water and placing in a warmer temperature, as a hot-bed, may be 

 worth trial, but I am perfectly satisfied that the usual plan of placing the eggs 

 upon the food-plant at this stage is often a fatal proceeding; on the whole, it 

 is, perhaps, best to leave them under the same circumstances in which they have 

 been all along. 



For transmitting eggs by post two simple plans are generally adopted : 

 the first is to punch or cut out a hole through a piece of cork, wood, millboard, or 

 other suitable substance, to fix a piece of card to one of the surfaces, thus fonning 

 a cavity or cell into which the eggs may be placed, and to cover over with another 

 piece of card, which may be kept in position by a few turns of thread ; this package 

 may then be transmitted through the post in safety. The other plan is to procure 

 quills (the penny or threepenny bundles of toothpicks sold at bazaars answer 

 admirably), and, having pared them oflf straightly at each extremity, to accurately 

 fit both ends with wooden stoppers, one of which being removed, the eggs may be 

 inserted, the stopper replaced, and the thing is done, and the little package may be 

 sent ofi" in a letter ; if several of these quills are required to be sent at once, tbey 

 should be enclosed in a brass pen-box, a dozen of which may be purchased at a 

 cheap rate (about Is. 6d. or Is. 9d.) of most stationers. Note — the advantage 

 of using the wooden stoppers instead of wool, which is more generally employed 

 for the purpose, is twofold ; the wood better resisting the stamp of the post office 

 and not being liable to entangle the tiny claspers of the larvae should the eggs 

 hatch in transitu. 



OBSERVATION. 



The observation of the eggs of insects is a subject of far greater importance 

 than Entomologists have yet seemed willing to accord to it. In this vast field 

 there is ample room to philosophise ; these objects, representing, as they do, one 

 stage in the existence of creatures which, in their perfect state, we term and know 

 as species, are necessarily as specifically distinct as are the various moths them- 

 selves from one another. It is, moreover, that stage of Hfe in which, throughout 

 all animated nature, the closest analogy exists ; and bearing forcibly not only on 

 that question of questions, the origin of species, but also upon the all-wise arrange- 

 ments planned for their well-being and perpetuation, cannot fail to deeply interest 

 every student of the laws of Nature. 



The systematist might here find, sometimes at any rate, a help towards the 

 classification of families and genera, by which, in course of time, we might hope for 

 groups as natural as, for example, those of Smerinthus, HepiaVus, Lithosia, Arctiat 

 Ennomos, Ewpithecia, Tortrix, and many others, the correctness of which is borne 

 out by a reference to their respective eggs. 



