The Clythrae: The Egg 



fine white membrane, as smooth as the skin 

 of a drum. 



In addition, from the edge of the orifice 

 there rises a wide membranous tab, whitish 

 and delicate, which might be taken for a 

 raised lid. Nevertheless there is no raising 

 of a lid after the eggs are laid. I have seen 

 the egg leave the oviduct; it is then what it 

 will be later, but lighter in colour. No mat- 

 ter: I cannot believe that so complicated a 

 machine can make its way, with all sail set, 

 through the maternal straits. I imagine that 

 the lid-like appendage remains lowered, clo- 

 sing the mouth, until the moment when the 

 egg sees the light. Then and not till then 

 does it rise. 



Guided by the rather less complex struc- 

 ture of the eggs of the other Clythrae and of 

 the Cryptocephali, I think of trying to take 

 the strange germ to pieces; and I succeed 

 after a fashion. Under the coffee-coloured 

 sheath, which forms a little five-hooped bar- 

 rel, is a white membrane. This is what we 

 see through the mouth and what I compared 

 with the skin of a drum. I recognize it as 

 the regulation tunic, the usual envelope of 

 any insect's egg. The rest, the little brown 

 barrel, broached at one end and bearing a 

 raised lid, must therefore be an accessory in- 

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