226 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



Fig. 209. — Silkworm Moth (Bomhyx 



male. 



its antennae blackish ; it moves about, beats its wings together, and 

 is Uvely and petulant. 



Before laying her eggs, the female looks out for a place suitable 



for this purpose. When she 

 has found this place, she 

 ejects an egg covered with a 

 viscous liquid, which causes 

 it to adhere to the body upon 

 which it falls. Very soon 

 she lays a second egg by the 

 side of the first, then a third 

 by the side of the second, 

 and so on. She very rarely 

 piles them up on each other. The laying lasts about three days ; 

 the number of eggs is from 300 to 700 for each female. The.sc 

 eggs are generally tentacular and flattened towards the centre. At 

 the moment at which they are laid they are of a bright yellow. In 



a week they become brown. 

 The colour changes then to 

 a reddish grey ; lastly it 

 becomes of a slaty grey, 

 remaining this colour during 

 the autumn, winter, and a 

 great part of the spring. 

 Then as the temperature 

 rises, the colour of the eggs 

 passes successively through 

 bluish, violet, ashy, and yel- 

 lowish shades. And, lastly, 

 they become more and more \ 

 whitish every day as tlie ' 

 hatching time approaches. 

 If looked at closely, one 

 remarks a black spot and a brownish crescent extending along the | 

 circumference. ■ The black spot is the head of the worm, which ' 

 closely touches the shell ; the crescent is the body, which is already 

 covered with little hairs. ^Vhen it leaves the egg, the silkworm gnaws 

 through the shell on its side, never on its flat surface. When the 

 opening is large enough, it breaks out through it, head foremost, 

 and immediately fixes a thread of silk to any object it can reach, | 

 no doubt in order to prevent itself from falling. Sometimes the 

 opening is too small to allow of the head passing out, ajid the larva 



Fig. 210. — Silkworm Moth {Bomhyx ntori), female. 



