54 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



Could we now do, what it is so easy to do with 

 the egg of a fowl, carefully take off a little portion 

 of this outer shell, we should be able to inspect 

 its contents more accurately. But in the case of 

 most who read this book, this extremely delicate 

 task will prove after many trials probably a hope- 

 less failure, Let us state, therefore, what some 

 expert and talented observers have found within 

 the insect's egg. It appears, then, that although 

 there is both a " yolk " and a " white" in the 

 tiny egg before us, that they are not quite so 

 distinct as in the bird. Yet, they are sufficiently 

 separate from one another to make their differ- 

 ences complete. Probably the reader has noticed 

 in the hen's egg a little round spot in the middle 

 of the " yolk" or yellow portion ; from this the 

 future bird is produced. Although from their ex- 

 treme minuteness it is difficult to detect anything 

 of this kind in the eggs of insects, some observers 

 state they have seen a similar little spot in them 

 also. Thus, M. Herold says, that in the eggs of 

 the very insect whose nest we have robbed, the gar- 

 den spider, " this little spot can be seen as a minute 

 white point immediately under the shell, and 

 in the middle of its circumference." This was seen 

 by holding it up to the light, and the spot was 



