70 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



interesting as amply to repay the task of investi- 

 gation. It may be added, however, as a curious 

 fact, that contrary to the general rule in the egg 

 of birds, some of the eggs of insects actually grow 

 larger before they are hatched, and frequently the 

 shape alters also. 



In our account of the nests made by insects 

 for their eggs, the examples quoted, although they 

 furnished us with many proofs of a mother's care 

 and forethought on the part of the insect, yet there 

 was no instance given of anything like the so- 

 licitude displayed by the hen over her eggs. Are 

 there then no anxious mothers concerned in the 

 well-being of their eggs among insects also ? In 

 the next chapter some instances of a mother's care 

 over the young larva? will be given ; and before 

 we conclude the present, mention may be made of 

 some interesting observations upon this subject 

 made by the eminent naturalist M. Bonnet. The 

 insect upon which his observations were made was 

 the spider, so commonly found on turning up a 

 log of wood in the fields, or a clod of earth. She 

 carries her eggs about with her in a little round 

 white pouch of silk attached to her body. Well 

 has it been said, " Never miser clung to his 



