190 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



subspherical and almost imperceptibly reticulated. The juvenile cater- 

 pillar has an equal, well rounded head and the body is provided on each 

 side with four longitudinal rows of tubercles, each bearing a clubbed 

 bristle. The head of the mature larva is crowned by a pair of very long 

 conical horns, and the last segment of the body is furnished with a pair of 

 similar appendages ; the body is minutely pilose and pale green, striped 

 longitudinally with narrow, darker bands, which vary in tint and some- 

 what in position in the different stages. The chrysalis is similar to that of 

 Neonympha but has a slenderer abdomen. 



EXCURSUS IV.— THE EGGS OF BUTTERFLIES. 



I\l be a Butterfly, born in a bower, 



Where roses and lilies and violets meet; 

 Roving forever from flower to flower, 



And kissing all buds that are pretty and sweet. 

 I'd never lanj;uisli for wealth or for i^ower; 



I'd never sigh to see slaves at my feet — 

 I'd be a Butterfly, born in a bower, 



Kissing all buds that are pretty and sweet. 



Bayley.— r/ie Butterfly. 



The eggs of Ijutterflies are no larger than a pin's head, yet when exam- 

 ined under a lens, which is of course required to see the structure of such 

 minute objects, we may look far before discovering anything more graceful 

 in form or delicate in sculpture ; indeed, chancing to study some of our 

 forms during a winter spent in Egypt, I was greatly struck by their singu- 

 lar resemblance to the traceried domes of the famous Cairo mosques. 

 They are composed of a thin, elastic, and usually transparent pellicle — so 

 elastic that they will bound like a rubber ball when falling on a hard sur- 

 face ; where not transparent they are made opaque by cross-lines or ribs, 

 by a general reticulation, or in some lower forms (Pamphilidi) by a uni- 

 form density of the whole integument. They are always circular in cross 

 section and in general are flattened on the surface of rest; by their form 

 they may be divided into four classes : 1, barrel-shaped, 2, spherical, 3, 

 tiarate or turban-shaped, and 4, hemispherical ; or, if we consider their 

 surface sculpture, into three groups : «, ribbed, h, reticulate, and c, 

 smooth. These divisions run into each other to a greater or less degree 

 and nearly all possible combinations are found. With rare exceptions 

 nearly allied forms closely resemble each other, and the degree of resem- 

 blance is in general an excellent test of affinity. Not only can species and 

 genera be distinguished by oological characters, but many of the larger 

 groups, even as far as the broadest natural divisions of butterflies, may not 

 infrequently be defined in terms of the egg, so that it even becomes a valu- 

 able aid to classification. 



The barrel-slia])ed form is sometimes very much attenuated at both ends, 



