insects: STDfGS AND 0VIP0SIT0K3. 159 



bores in dead twigs by means of tliesc files and lancets. 

 Tlie branches chosen are said to be recoOTisable bv 

 being studded with little oblong elevations, caused by 

 the partial raising of a splinter of wood at the orifice 

 of the hole, to which it serves as a cover. These are 

 arranged in a single line, the holes which they protect 

 b(ung onh^ half-an-inch in length, and reaching to 

 the pith, whose course they then follow. ISTot more 

 than six or eis-ht e<xs^s are laid in each hole, but an 

 idea of the labours of the industrious and provident 

 mother will be formed from the fact that each lays 

 six or seven hundred eofgs in the course of the sum- 

 nier. 



