100 WORK AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD 



particular care to lay them in deep sheltered chinks ; but others 

 take no such precautions, and deposit them on exposed ridges or 

 plain surfaces where they are easily discovered. 



One difficulty of the ova collector lies in the fact that many 

 insects lay on the upper branches of large trees. Of course a search 

 for these is out of the question ; but in places where the trees have 

 been cut down a few years previously, and where a consequent 

 undergrowth has developed, there are considerable chances of 

 success with these species. Young saplings of trees often yield 

 well, especially in places where tall trees of the same species are 

 absent. It may be mentioned, too, that some moths (page 294) 

 actually lay their eggs beneath the surface of water, depositing 

 them on the under surfaces of floating pond weeds ; and others 

 (page 298) even enter the nests of wasps and bees for the same pur- 

 pose. It is clear, then, from these few remarks, that the work of 

 an ambitious collector of insects' eggs is by no mean& a monoto- 

 nous task ; for his employment takes him into the meadows and 

 woods, leads him to the banks of ponds, and even compels him to 

 tear down banks and hedges for the nests of Hymenoptera at the 

 risk of a sting or two. 



One of the most productive sources of eggs is undoubtedly the 

 possession of captured females. When you are out netting butter- 

 flies you often see a female that is evidently engaged in her 

 matronly duties. Instead of seeking food from the various flowers 

 in her path, she pays attention only to the foliage, looking out a 

 suitable leaf on which to deposit her eggs. Should you meet with 

 an insect thus engaged which you would like to rear at home, or of 

 which you would like to know the egg, secure it in a perforated 

 pill box with a leaf of the proper plant ; and it will often supply 

 you with abundance of eggs for your purpose, in many cases de- 

 positing them in the box before you arrive home. The eggs of 

 numerous species of moths are also to be easily obtained from 

 captured females. 



Some insects do not seem inclined to deposit their eggs in cap- 

 tivity as freely as when at large, and in order to induce them to do 

 so we must, as far as possible, put them in their natural conditions. 

 Let them have plenty of room, and supply them with fresh twigs 

 of their food plants, kept green by standing them in vessels of 

 water. It is also advisable, supposing you are not well acquainted 

 with the dispositions of the species you have, to keep a portion of the 

 box well shaded from direct sunlight, and allow another part to be 



