THE EGG 25 



dunghill eggs of a queer shape and as soft as hens* 

 eggs without the shell. Instead of a chicken, a snake 

 comes out of them. They say they are laid by young 

 cocks. ' ' 



"You are repeating now one of the false notions 

 prevalent in the country a foolish notion springing 

 from a basis of actual fact. It is perfectly true that 

 eggs soft, rather long, almost cylindrical, and of the 

 same size at both ends, may be turned up by the fork 

 as it stirs the warm manure of a dunghill. It is also 

 perfectly true that from these eggs snakes are 

 hatched, to the great surprise of the innocent person 

 who thinks he sees there the product of some witch- 

 craft. What is false is the supposed origin of the 

 egg. Never, never has the cock, be he young or old, 

 the faculty reserved exclusively for the hen, the fac- 

 ulty of laying. Those eggs found in dunghills, and 

 remarkable for their strange shape, do not come 

 from fowl ; they are simply the eggs of a serpent, of 

 an inoffensive snake which, when opportunity offers, 

 buries its laying in the warm mass of a dunghill to 

 aid the hatching. It is quite natural, then, that from 

 serpents' eggs serpents should hatch." 



"The ridiculous marvel of the supposed cock's 

 eggs," returned Louis, "thus becomes a very simple 

 thing; but one must first know that serpents lay 

 eggs." 



"Henceforth you will know that not only serpents 

 but all reptiles lay eggs just as birds do. Snakes' 

 eggs are flabby, and for covering have only a sort of 

 skin resembling wet parchment. Moreover, they are 



