CHAPTER IT. 



STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS OF THE EGG. 



IN the past pages we have now considered 

 shortly the various methods of depositing the eggs 

 of insects, and have seen that the nursing place 

 where the young being is produced, differs widely 

 both in point of its position, and of the external 

 circumstances which variously affect it. For some 

 are the deep-bored galleries in timber; for some, 

 the hard-wrought tunnel, scooped by an insect out 

 of a rock ; for some, the ingeniously-formed boat or 

 raft, which is to carry its cargo of life buoyant on 

 the dancing waters " all the days of its appointed 

 time, waiting until its change come;" for some, 

 the cell of earth lined with painted hangings, 

 exquisite in make and colour ; for some, the little 

 leaf-case, curiously folded together ; but for others, 

 none of those works of insect art are provided; 

 they, hid in a rain-proof covering of varnish, lie 

 open to every eye, or scattered here and there on 



