INSECTS' EGOS. 



2 57 



eggs to the branches of trees. They hold there with such strength 

 that they leave a scar on the bark, and even interfere with the 

 nutrition of the branch. They are remarkable for being shaped 

 like the stones that are cut for the construction of arches, and, 

 " being larger at the summit than at the base, so that they join 

 exactly, they arrange themselves in an arcade/' 



Some butterflies have eggs of very elegant shape, resembling a 

 kind of little knob, fluted and girt with a small purple circular 

 band. 



The eggs of the dragon fly are elongated ; at the upper end 

 are a kind of flowerets like those of the louse nit. The gnat's 



Figs. 1 and 2, eggs of the large and of the small cabbage Pieris ; Fig. 8, egg of the Tristan 

 butterfly (Papilla hyperantus) ; Fig. 4, egg of the admiral ( Vanessa atalanta) ; Figs. 5 and 

 6, eggs of Polyommatus ; Figs. 7 and 8, eggs of Dicranura mnula, profile and front 

 views ; Fig. 9, egg of Pygaera tricephala ; Fig. 10, egg of water scorpion (after Swammer- 

 dam); Fig. n, egg of gnat; Fig. 12. nit of the louse (after Swammerdam, greatly 

 magnified). 



egg is like a skittle, the larger end of which is rounded, while the 

 other end terminates in a short neck, like those of some liquor 

 flasks (Fig. 11). The eggs of the ephemera can be observed only 

 under the microscope, on black or blue paper. They are plano- 

 convex and oblong. The membrane that envelops them has a 

 nebulous appearance under the microscope. The eggs are white, 

 like the inner coating of thin shell. 



The Euryanthus horribilis of New Guinea, on the other hand, 

 an orthopter of the singular tribe of the phasmids, which is twelve 



VOL. XLTIII. 18 



