328 Insects' Eggs. 



the lid is placed, surrounded by a beautifully white-beaded 

 border, having iu its slightly raised reticulated centre the 

 micropyle. The empty egg-shell gives a fine opalescent play of 

 colours, while that containing the young worm appears of a 

 brownish yellow colour. The egg of the Straw-belle moth 

 (Aspilates gilvaria), Fig. 2, is very delicately tinted; it is 

 somewhat long and narrow in form, with sides slightly flattened 

 or rounded off, and is regularly serrated. The top is convex, 

 and the base a little indented ; in the latter is seen the lid and 

 micropyle. The young worm, however, usually makes its way 

 through the upper convex side ; the indentation represented in 

 the drawing shows the place of exit. One belonging to a very 

 interesting class of moths, the Dingy-shears (Examis ypsi- 

 lon), is shown in Fig. 3. A small sub-conical egg, with a 

 flattened base, which admits of its being firmly cemented to 

 either bark or leaf. The egg is beautifully reticulated, the ribs 

 are slightly raised from the membrane, and connected with 

 each other by cross-bars ; they run from a marginal ring sur- 

 rounding the micropyle, in regular order to the base, and a 

 series of fine lines radiates from the central spot to the border. 

 An example of those eggs possessing a good deal of natural 

 colour is shown in Fig. 10. The Puss moth (Gerura vinula), a 

 large spheroidal shaped egg, having, under the microscope, 

 the appearance of a fine ripe orange ; the micropyle exactly 

 corresponds to the depression left in this fruit by the removal 

 of the stalk. The surface of the egg is finely reticulated, or 

 rather has the appearance of a piece of netting stretched 

 tightly over it. The colour is a deep orange. The egg of the 

 Swallow-prominent (Pheosia dictcea), Fig. 4, is in shape and 

 size nearly the same as the former. It is spheroidal, slightly 

 flattened at the poles, and, with the exception of one spot, 

 that of the micropyle, the surface is a continued series 

 of regular indentations, reminding one of those fine reticula- 

 tions, or markings, seen on some of the Guiano shells. The 

 colour is a very delicate pink. There are others rather more 

 decided in their colour, as the egg of the Brimstone moth 

 (Rumia crala<jata) f remarkable for its hexagonal reticulations, 

 it is yellow, spotted with red ; that of the Lappet moth (Gastro- 

 pacha quercifolia), with its bluish colour, and three circular 

 bands of brown. The Buff-tiger moth {Diacrisia russula), 

 Fig. 7, lays an exquisite little globular egg, the external mem- 

 brane of which is covered by a fine network of irregular 

 hexagons, which terminate at the pole in a micropyle. It has 

 all the appearance of an iridescent minute glass globule, and is 

 so translucent that the youug worm can be seen through it. 

 The Browntail moth (Euproctis chrysorrlwea), Fig. 12, produces 

 a small spheroidal egg, which, slightly flattened at the poles, is 



