INSECTS. 233 



399. There is no part of the animal world that exhib- 

 its so great a variety of beauty in both color and struc- 

 ture as the Insect tribe. And it is especially true of 

 these animals, that, great as is the beauty visible to the 

 naked eye, still greater is that which the microscope re- 

 veals. 



400. With very few exceptions Insects are oviparous. 

 In many cases the eggs are laid in autumn, and are hatch- 

 ed in the spring. Insects that do this, instinctively make 

 special provision for the preservation of the eggs through 

 the winter. When the eggs are of a tender consistence, 

 the Insects deposit them deeply in the earth. But some 

 are deposited on trees. In this case leaves are not se- 

 lected as the place of deposit, as is very commonly done 

 when the eggs are to be soon hatched ; for if this were 

 done, the leaves being scattered by the wind, the Insects, 

 when they came to be hatched, might be far away from 

 their appropriate food. Accordingly, the parent de- 

 posits the eggs on the trunks or branches of the trees, 

 upon whose young leaves their progeny can live when 

 the warmth of spring hatches them. Moreover, eggs 

 thus exposed to the cold of winter have not the usual 

 delicate covering of those which are hatched the same 

 season in which they are laid, or of those which are de- 

 posited in the earth for the winter. They are covered 

 with a hard, thick shell ; and, besides, they are well pack- 

 ed together, and the interstices are filled up with a tena- 

 cious substance which becomes very hard. The arrange- 

 ment of these little eggs is often very beautiful. They 

 are of very great variety of shape, and some of them are 

 curiously and elaborately constructed. In Fig. 184 (p. 

 234) you have a few of these varieties represented. 



401. Insects are commonly exceedingly prolific. The 

 queen of the Honey Bees lays fifty thousand eggs, and 

 the female White Ant produces forty or fifty millions in 

 a year. It is calculated that the progeny of a single 

 Aphis or Plant Louse number in one season a trillion, 



