ENORMOUS PRODUCTIVENESS OF INSECTS. 77 



becomes overcast,, and heavy clouds threaten 

 rain, the careful nurses whip up the eggs and 

 hasten with them down to the deepest recesses 

 of the nest. They even appear to imitate the 

 brooding of the hen, and sit upon the eggs to 

 impart to them some of the warmth of their own 

 bodies. 



Before concluding this chapter, and entering 

 upon the more striking manifestation of life in the 

 form of the insect which will next come under 

 our observation, it will be useful just to allude to 

 the comparative number of eggs which some in- 

 sects produce, which we shall place in the form of 

 a table: 



The Noon-day Fly 2 



The Flea 12 



May Flies 100 



Silk- worm Moth 500 



Other Moths 1000 to 1600 



Wasps 40,000 



Bees 50,000 



The most enormous number of all is produced by 

 the queen of the white warrior ants. She de- 

 posits sixty eggs every minute, which is at the 

 rate of 31,557,600 eggs in the course of a year, 

 if we allow that she goes on laying at the same 

 rate constantly, which is, perhaps, scarcely correct. 



