54 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



and the lid or cap with which it is provided, already 

 referred to, is pushed off by the embryo when about 

 to hatch. 



Although the present state of investigation does not 

 admit of speaking definitely on the point, the generally 

 received opinion is that the egg-capsules are formed in 

 the egg-tubes, only one egg being formed at a time in a 

 tube. This capsule has induced some investigators to 

 believe that the egg contained therein is really a pupa ; 

 that all the larval stages are undergone in the egg, and 

 that the insect after emergence should be looked upon 

 as an active pupa that takes food. Comparatively few 

 eggs are produced, from twelve to twenty or thirty 

 being the usual number, but more have been noticed 

 in the case of Diapheromera. Laying takes place in 

 the autumn, emergence between the months of May 

 and August. 



Perhaps of all the eggs, those of 'the walking leaves 

 are the most curious, and their resemblance to seeds is 

 especially striking. At different times specimens of 

 Phyllium have been introduced into Europe, and raised 

 from the egg, affording entomologists the opportunity of 

 studying them. The egg-capsules of Pkyllium scythe are 

 of the size of a fair-sized pea, though not of that shape. 

 " If," says Murray, " the edges of the seed of Mirabilis 

 jalapa were rubbed off, the seed might be mistaken for 

 the egg." What may be called the back and sides are 



