44 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



all and every kind of flower and herbage, lie at 

 the mercy of every wandering foot. While, lastly, 

 others are buried with a cruel yet merciful art, 

 in the bodies of myriads of unsuspecting members 

 of the insect community, lying, like the seeds of 

 evil in the heart of the infant, dormant awhile, 

 but destined to grow with its growth and to 

 strengthen with its strength. 



The time has, therefore, now come that we 

 should speak a little more particularly upon the 

 nature and character of the eggs of insects. The 

 shape of an insect's egg, although frequently 

 something of an oval in its outline, is very various ; 

 in fact, were the egg of some peculiar species 

 placed in the field of a microscope, probably not 

 one general observer out of a hundred could in 

 the least imagine what the object at which he was 

 looking really was. Sometimes they are oval and 

 exactly resemble the form of the egg of the bird ; 

 but in other instances they are of the most irre- 

 gular and fantastic appearance. Some look like 

 pill-boxes tied over and down their sides with 

 string; others look like tiny flasks, with many 

 raised ribs upon their surface; others have 

 lids and springs. The gnat's egg resembles a 



