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Art. X1\. — Notice of the pecnlior economii of certain Larva;, in 

 eating tJie Egg-shell which preriottsly contained them. By 

 R. Warrington, Esq. 



[I HAVE often remarked the circumstance to which Mr. Warrington 

 alludes, but find it by no means a universal law in the economy of the 

 insect tribes. Many Lepidopterous larvjs, immediately on escaping 

 from the egg, commence feeding on the leaf on which the egg was laid 

 by the parent : others, particularly some species of Bombyces and 

 Arctiae, make their first meal on the shell of the egg which contained 

 them, precisely in the manner spoken of by Mr. Warrington. This is 

 one of those wonderful provisions for the support and well-being of 

 animals, in the earliest and most helpless stage of their existence, 

 which the study of Natural History is continually displaying, thus for- 

 cibly reminding us of the constant care of the Great Creator, even for 

 the apparently most insignificant of his creatures. — E. N.] 



Percy Villa, South Lambeth, 



March 18th, 1841. 

 Dear Sir, 



In my endeavour to obtain the egg of a Lepidopterous 

 insect in a permanent state as a microscopic object, I was met by two 

 great-obstacles, the first arising from the shrinking of the body of the 

 contained catei-pillar drawing in the w^alls of the egg, and thereby de- 

 stroying its beautiful markings ; the second fi'om the fact that if the 

 caterpillar were allowed to break its way through the shell, and re- 

 main alive for a few hours, that the whole of the shells had disappear- 

 ed, and only the glossy circular spots of their attachment to the leaf 

 remaining. On closer observation I found that directly the caterpil- 

 lar was thoroughly clear from the shell, its first act was to commence 

 its work of feeding on it, until the whole had disappeared. It is my 

 intention to follow these observations more closely the present spring. 



Yours obediently, 



R. Warrington. 



JOHN VAN VOORST, )S\ ■HPr^^V 1j PATERNOSTER ROW. 



