46 



THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



stalks placed together, scarcely as thick as a hair, 

 their colour was nearly white, and they were 

 about an inch in length ; there were sometimes 

 ten or twelve placed in a bunch ; the end of each 

 stalk bore a small head of an egg-like or oblong 



figure. They ap- 

 peared to me to be 

 fungi, the little head 

 precisely resem- 

 bling the appear- 

 ance of moulds as 

 seen under the mi- 

 croscope ; but they 

 werelarger in size." 

 They were, in fact, 

 the eggs of the fly 

 in question. When 

 the larva escapes 

 from them they 

 have much the ap- 

 pearance of little 

 vases; and the same 

 author assures 



Eggs of Lace-winged Fly. 



US 



that they were once described and engraved by a 

 naturalist as some curious minute flower growing 



