THE 



BOOK OF BUTTERFLIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE EGGS OF PAPILIONACEOUS 

 INSECTS, AND THEIR MODE OF HATCHING, &C. 



BUTTERFLIES, Sphinges, and Moths, like the whole 

 known species of insects, are strictly oviparous 

 animals. 



There is an unerring foresight possessed by the 

 female, that of depositing her eggs in the precise 

 place where food, suitable to the existence of the 

 caterpillar after its exclusion, is found. With very 

 few exceptions the eggs are enveloped in an adhesive 

 cement, which fixes them to the spot on which they 

 are deposited. When eggs are extruded singly, this 

 cement generally envelopes each individual with a 

 thin coating, as in the case of the Admirable Butter- 

 fly, ( Vanessa atalanta,) but when they are deposited 



