METAMORPHOSES. 



If they are destined to feed upon, vegetable substances, she deposits 

 lier eggs on the particular vegetables, and the particular parts of 

 these vegetables which suit them. Thus, some insects lay their 

 eggs upon the leaves of a certain tree, others in the bark of woo^. 

 Others again deposit them in the grain or seed of certain plants, 

 and others in the kernel of certain fruits ; each and all selecting 

 precisely that which will afford suitable food to the larva when it 

 breaks the shell. 



42. But the care of the tender mother does not terminate here. 

 As though she were aware that she will not herself be present to 

 protect her offspring from the numerous enemies which will be 

 ready to attack and devour it, she adopts the most ingenious 

 expedients for its protection. With this view she envelops her 

 eggs in coverings, which effectually conceal them from the view of 

 the enemies to whose attack they would be exposed. In case the 

 young should be susceptible of injury from the inclemency of the 

 atmosphere, she wraps up the eggs in warm clothing, in which the 

 young larva finds itself when it emerges from them. 



43. Some species, such, for example, as the Liparis Chrysorrhea, 

 envelop their eggs in a waterproof covering made of fur taken 

 from their own bodies. They begin by forming with it a soft bed 

 upon the surface of a branch, upon which they deposit several 

 layers of eggs, which they then surround with more fur ; and when 

 all are laid, they cover them up with the same fur, the iilaments 

 of which, however, are differently disposed. The hairs which 

 form the inside of the nest are arranged without much order, but, 

 on the contrary, those which form its external covering are art- 

 fully arranged like the slates of a house, in such a manner that 

 the rain which falls on them must glide off. When the mother 

 has finished her work, which occupies her from twenty-four to 

 forty-eight hours, her body, which before was invested with a 

 clothiag of rich velvet, is now altogether stripped, and she expires. 



The females who thus provide for the protection of their young, 

 often have the extremity of their bodies furnished with a great 

 •quantity of fur destined for this use. 



44. Keaumur found one day a nest of this kind, but still more 

 remarkable in its structure. The eggs were placed spirally round 

 a branch, and covered with a thick and soft down, each hair of 

 which was horizontal, which he described as resembling a fox's 

 tail. 



Degeer observed a proceeding, similar to those described above, 

 •with certain species of aphides, which cover their eggs with a 

 cotton-like down, stripped from their own bodies by means of their 

 hind-feet ; but in this case the eggs were not enclosed in a common 

 bed, but each in a separate covering, 



133 



