The Cricket: the Eggs 



respond with the successive layings. I find 

 them all over the pot, at a depth of three- 

 quarters of an inch. There are difficulties in 

 examining a mass of earth through a mag- 

 nifying-glass; but, allowing for these difficult- 

 ies, I estimate the eggs laid by one mother at 

 five or six hundred. So large a family is 

 sure to undergo a drastic purging before 

 long. 



The Cricket's egg is a little marvel of 

 mechanism. After hatching, it appears as 

 an opaque white sheath, with a round and 

 very regular aperture at the top; to the edge 

 of this a cap adheres, forming a lid. In- 

 stead of bursting anyhow under the thrusts 

 or cuts of the new-born larva, it opens of its 

 own accord along a specially prepared line 

 of least resistance. 



It became important to observe the curious 

 hatching. About a fortnight after the egg is 

 laid, two large, round, rusty-black eye-dots 

 darken the front end. A little way above 

 these two dots, right at the apex of the 

 cylinder, you see the outline of a thin cir- 

 cular swelling. This is the line of rupture 

 which is preparing. Soon the translucency 

 of the egg enables the observer to perceive 

 the delicate segmentation of the tiny creature 



3i5 



