140 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



likely looking pieces of thyme on the ground, and on exa- 

 mining tliem afterwards at home with a glass, found about 

 twenty eggs. They seem to be generally laid singly on 

 the largest heads of flowers, and those which are most 

 pubescent seem to be preferred. Sometimes, however, I 

 found two eggs on a head ; and in one case no less than 

 six. — J. Me?rin ; 7, Shamrock Villas, Faulkner Street, Glou- 

 cester, July 1, 1870. 



Description of the Egg of Lyccena Arion. — Being from 

 home when the box containing these treasures was so kindly 

 despatched from Gloucester by Mr. Merrin, a delay of some 

 days occurred before it reached my hands, and five out of the 

 six eggs had hatched ; the sixth was still perfect, and was 

 forthwith submitted to examination : I found it to be a 

 spheroid, much depressed at the north pole, and concave at 

 the south pole, where it was very slightly attached to the 

 hairs of the calyx of a flower of the thyme, on which it had 

 been deposited by the female parent. The surface of the egg 

 is reticulated, the network projecting, and thus communicating 

 a cellular or honeycombed appearance to the egg ; the cells 

 are shallow, much more so than those of a honeycomb, and 

 the surface rather more resembling that of a cow's stomach ; 

 the septa dividing the cells are extremely thin, and at every 

 junction of septa is an elevated process almost spine-like, 

 the array of which is very conspicuous when the egg is 

 viewed in profile : the cells are of nearly equal size except 

 at the north pole and in its immediate vicinity, where they 

 suddenly decrease in size, and are, in fact, exceedingly small. 

 The colour and texture of the egg much resemble white 

 porcelain, with the slightest possible tint of green, excepting 

 the circular space at the pole occupied by the smaller cells 

 where the green tint is very decided and the limits of this 

 darker colour are clearly defined. On the 4th of July a larva 

 escaped from the egg-shell, and a considerable portion of 

 shell was also absent, as though eaten by the late occupant ; 

 the remaining portion of the egg-shell was perfectly colour- 

 less and exhibited a still greater resemblance to fine porce- 

 lain. The extruded larva was colourless, but the intestinal 

 canal, filled with an orange-coloured substance like the yelk 

 of a duck's egg, was plainly perceptible. Each segment of 

 the body emits a few scattered hairs: these seem particularly 

 observable near the anal extremity. — Edward Newman. 



