PRESERVATION OF EGGS. 267 



riments upon eggs, and found that the eggs of a 

 hen would keep fresh for a very long period if 

 they were entirely coated with some kind of 

 varnish. This proved a most useful experiment, 

 for it is now common all over the Continent to 

 preserve eggs by covering them either with oil or 

 butter. 



We may learn, in reflecting upon the facts 

 brought to light by this ingenious entomologist, 

 with what admirable care and skill the Great 

 Creator has arranged the period to be occupied 

 by the insect in the pupa state. It has been 

 wisely ordained by these arrangements that the 

 insect shall not be developed until the season when 

 its proper food is to be found, or when a proper 

 position for placing its eggs is to be discovered. 

 The gay flutterer, so tender in its frame, must 

 not be born amid the snows of winter, or in the 

 ungenial days of early spring; its pupa, there- 

 fore, requires the warm influences of July and 

 August before it will undergo its change. If it 

 were born earlier than that time it would unques- 

 tionably perish, and the insect would become 

 extinct ; if later, the same result would take 

 place, for it would fall into the killing power of 



