EGER 



Eger OR EBLAU. City of Hun- 

 gary. It stands in a beautiful and 

 mountainous region, 70 m. N.E. of 

 Budapest. Its chief industry is the 

 making of red wine, the vines being 

 largely grown on the hills around ; 

 but it is more famous for its 

 churches. The cathedral, a hand- 

 some building in the Italian style, 

 was erected in the 19th century ; 

 the church of the Brothers of 

 Mercy and the minaret of an old 

 mosque are also noteworthy. 

 Other buildings include the palace 

 of the archbishop, the town hall, 

 and the observatory. The town 

 grew up around the bishopric 

 founded about 1010. It was taken 

 by the Turks in 1596, and they 

 kept it until 1687. The city was 

 made the seat of an archbishop 

 in 1814. Pop. 28,052. 



Egerdir. Lake of Asia Minor. 

 Lying between the Sultan Dagh 

 and the Taurus Mts., it is 27 m. 

 long and from 3m. to 10 m. 

 wide. On it stands the town of 

 the same name. Pop. 6,000. 



Egeria. In classical legend, a 

 nymph beloved of Numa Pom- 

 pilius, king of Rome, who set great 

 store by her advice and prophecies. 

 On the death of Numa her grief 

 was so great that she dissolved in 

 tears, and was turned into a fountain 

 by Diana. The name is given in 

 modern times to a lady who stimu- 

 lates and inspires a man's intellec- 

 tual activity. Pron. Ee-jeri-a. 



Eger ton, SIR RALEIGH GILBERT 

 (b. 1860). British soldier. Son of 

 Sir Robert E. Egerton, he was born 

 Sept. 25, 1860, and joined the 

 Leicestershire Regt. in 1879. Later 

 he entered the Indian army, reach- 

 ing the rank of colonel in 1907. He 

 was A.A.G. of the Indian army, 

 1900-3. His war services include the 

 Hazara and Waristan expeditions, 

 the Chitral campaign and that in 

 Dongola. During the Great War 

 he served in Mesopotamia, especi- 

 ally distinguishing himself as a 

 corps commander under Marshall, 

 1917-18. He was knighted in 1916 

 and made lieut. -general in 1917. 

 See Mesopotamia, Conquest of. 



Egerton Prize. Award given 

 annually by the Admiralty to the 

 naval officer who, when qualifying 

 for gunnery lieutenant, passes the 

 best examination in practical gun- 

 nery. The prize was founded in 

 1901 in memory of Commander F. 

 G. Egerton, R.N., killed in Lady- 

 smith, Nov. 2, 1899. 



Egg. Reproductive cell formed 

 in the body of the female animal, 

 which, when fertilised by union 

 with the spermatozoon of the male, 

 produces a new individual. Except 

 in the lowest forms of life, when 

 propagation takes place by fission 

 or budding, every animal begins 



2812 



its life history as an egg. In the 

 viviparous animals, as in nearly all 

 mammals, the development of the 

 egg takes place in the body of the 

 mother ; in the oviparous it is 

 extruded and development pro- 

 ceeds apart from union with the 

 mother. (See Embryology.) 



Only such eggs as are " laid " by 

 the female and hatched externally 

 to her body are here considered. 

 This phenomenon occurs in all the 

 phyla or sub-kingdoms of the 

 animal world except certain of the 

 lowest and most primitive. In the 

 mollusca, which include the snails 

 and the shell-fish, eggs vary con- 

 siderably in form and size. In the 

 largest of the British snails (Helix 

 pomatia) the egg is enclosed in a 

 chalky shell, and is as large as a 

 moderate-sized pea ; while one of 

 the snails of Barbados (Stropho- 

 cheilug oblongus) lays a white egg 

 as large as that of a pigeon. 



Some insects, as the moths and 

 butterflies, lay an enormous num- 

 ber of eggs ; but the most prolific 

 animals of all are the fishes. The 

 ling produces more than 500,000 

 eggs to each pound of her weight ; 

 sturgeon is credited with about 

 7,000,000 eggs. 



Nearly all reptiles lay eggs. 

 Those of the crocodiles and tor- 

 toises have hard, limy shells, but 

 most are enclosed in membranous 

 capsules. Those of the amphibians, 

 like the frogs and newts, are de- 

 posited in gelatinous masses. 

 Speaking generally, eggs laid in the 

 water or in wet places are without 

 hard external coverings. 



All birds deposit eggs, varying 

 immensely in size and colour. In 

 size they range from that of the 

 ostrich, which equals about twelve 

 hen's eggs, to the tiny productions 

 of the humming-birds. The colour- 

 ing of birds' eggs is of a protective 

 nature, and is usually adapted to 

 the surroundings. The eggs of razor- 

 bills and guillemots, which lay on 

 exposed edges of rocks, are of taper- 

 ing shape, so that when disturbed 

 by wind or by a passing bird they 

 simply turn round. Among the 

 mammals, eggs are laid only by the 

 ornithorhynchus and the echidna. 

 See Biology ; Cell. 



Egg, AUGUSTUS LEOPOLD (1816- 

 63). British artist. Born in London, 

 May 2, 1816, he studied under 

 Henry Sass and at the R.A. school, 

 exhibited for the first time in 1838, 

 became an A. R.A. in 1848, and R.A. 

 in 1860. A subject painter, his best 

 work includes Queen Elizabeth 

 Discovers She is No Longer Young, 

 1848 ; Peter the Great Sees Cath- 

 erine for the First Time, 1850 : and 

 The Night Before Naseby, 1859. 

 He died at Algiers, March 26, 

 1863. See illus. 8, p. 2569. 



EGG GRENADE 



Egga. Town of N. Nigeria. It 

 stands on the right bank of the 

 Niger, a few miles above Baro, the 

 terminus of the Baro-Kano rly. It 

 is the commercial outlet of the 

 Gando country. Pop. about 10,000. 



Eggar Moth. Group of fairly 

 large moths. There are four British 

 eggar moths, belonging to three 



Eggar Moth. Example of small 

 eggar moth, Eriogaster lanestris 



distinct genera. Three of them 

 are reddish-brown in colour and 

 the other is grey ; the expanse of 

 the wings varies from 1 in. to 3 ins. 

 Egg Grenade. Simple type of 

 time fuse hand grenade largely 

 used by British forces during the 



Egg Grenade. Sectional diagram 



showing principle of the grenade. 



For explanation see text 



early part of the Great War. It 

 consists of an egg-shaped cast-iron 

 body, A, closed by a screw plug, B, 

 which carries the detonator holder, 

 C, and the grenade is filled with 

 explosive, D. The fuse consists of a 

 wooden plug, E, carrying a short 

 length of safety fuse, F, to the 

 lower end of which is crimped the 

 detonator, G. In the upper end of 

 the wooden plug is a large bead of 

 friction composition, H, the other 

 end of the fuse touching this com- 

 position. A piece of waterproof 

 paper, P, is secured over the end 

 of the plug to protect the com- 

 position. The explosive used is 

 ammonal or a similar ammonium 

 nitrate explosive. See Ammunition ; 

 Explosives ; Grenade ; Mills Bomb. 



