PRIVATE LIVES OF INSECTS. 511 



immense size, and her whole body is full of eggs, she begins 

 laying them, her body being glued down all round at the 

 edges to the rind of the twig ; but between her body and the 

 rind, except just round the edges, is a quantity of cottony 

 gum, spread over the whole space which she covers. The 

 laying of eggs is on a different system to that of any other 

 insect : the first egg is laid in the cottony substance without 

 causing any disturbance to the margin of her body glued to 

 the rind ; it does not stick like most other insects' eggs, but 

 lies quite loose in the cotton ; then another is laid, which 

 pushes the first a little forwards ; and then another, and 

 another, none of them being visible from without ; so that all 

 the eggs that the female coccus lays, she sits on, for all the 

 world, like a broody old hen. 



The female coccus, like a good many other insects, when come 

 of age, is a complete bag of eggs. Now you will observe, that 

 as she lays them, and then pushes them under her body, they 

 must raise up the under skin of her body into a manifest con- 

 cavity ; so that the body itself daily gets thinner and thinner, 

 while the pile of eggs which it covers gets thicker and thicker. 

 At last the eggs are exhausted ; the under skin of the body 

 meets the upper skin, and grows hard and fast against it ; then 

 the old lady dies, and her body, like the roof of a house, protects 

 the inhabitants below from the inclemency of the weather. 

 In a few days from the death of the mother, the eggs hatch, 

 and become lively little runners, of a bright red colour. These 

 first devour the cottony stuff among which they were born ; 

 then they manage to lift up the edge of their covering, and 

 away they run, helter-skelter. This active life lasts but a 

 short time : they soon get hungry, pierce the rind of the 

 twigs, anchor themselves by the beak, settle down to serious 

 eating, and become fixtures for life. Yours, &c. 



RUSTICUS. 



Godalming, \7th Oct. 1834. 



P. S. At one time I resolved not to touch on any subject 

 previously related by Kirby and Spence, and until the present 

 letter I believe I have not. I now have altered my mind. I 

 shall in future draw no such line, but go to work armed with 

 the instructions which they give me : where they have told 



