46 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE EGGS 



twigs ; but they most pertinaciously avoided the 

 accustomed symmetrical regularity of their kind, and 

 extruded their eggs at random.* 



The following is a representation of the eggs of 

 some unknown moth, which in some years may be 

 seen rather plentifully in orchards, deposited in a 

 manner very similar to that of the Lackey Moth : 



In depositing its eggs, the female Vapourer Moth 

 ( Orgyia Antiqua) takes care to avail herself of the 

 pupa case, which she has recently left. This envelope 

 is lined with a fine soft silky substance, which forms 

 a comfortable asylum for the eggs. Swammerdam 

 says, that " this custom of fastening the eggs to the 

 web in a constant method, and by the immutable law 

 of Nature, is so peculiar to this species of insects, that 

 I have never observed it in any other kind what- 

 soever. This female, like a most prudent housewife, 

 never leaves her habitation, but is always fixing her 

 eggs to the surface of the web out of which she has 

 herself crept, thus affording a beautiful instance of 

 industrious housewifery. " 



The reason why the female of this moth is so 

 domesticated is, that her wings are so very short that 

 they are of little use in rendering her buoyant, being 



* REAUMUR, i. p. 95. 



