STATES OF INSECTS. (Lgg.) a 
once saw Rhynchites Alliarie with its rostrum plunged 
up to the antennee in the twig of a crab-tree. Others of 
this tribe, as we know, place their eggs in the interior of 
fruits and grain, as the nut, acorn, and common weevils. 
It is probable that most of the above coverings serve 
‘another purpose besides the protection of the eggs from 
wet and.cold—that of sheltering them from the action of 
_ too great light, which as Dr. Michellotti by numerous 
experiments has ascertained, is fatal to the included 
germe*. On this account it is perhaps that so many in- 
sects fasten their eggs to the under side of leaves. ‘Those 
exposed in full day have usually an opaque and horny 
texture. 
Some insects are spared all trouble in providing a 
covering for their eggs, their own bodies furnishing one 
in every respect adapted to this purpose. Not to mention 
the Onisci, or wood-lice, since they rather belong to the 
Crustacea, which have a four-valved cell under the breast, 
in which they carry their eggs, as the kangaroo does its 
young in its abdominal pouch, the whole body of the fe- 
male of those strange animals the Coccz becomes a cover- 
ing for her eggs, which it incloses on every side. To make 
this intelligible to you, further explanation is necessary. 
You must have noticed those singular immovable tor- 
toise-shaped insects, which are such pests to myrtles and 
other greenhouse plants. These are the young of Coccus 
Hesperidum, and their history is that of the whole race. 
Part of them never become much bigger than the size 
of which you ordinarily see them, and when full-grown 
disclose minute two-winged flies, which are the males. 
The size of the females, which glue themselves to a twig 
® Journ. de Phys. Philos, Mag. ix. 244. 
