76 STATES OF INSECTS. 



from their belly by means of their hind legs a . In this 

 case, however, the eggs were separately coated with the 

 down, but there was no general covering to the group. 



Several insects make the leaves and other parts of 

 plants serve as coverings for their eggs. Tenthredo 

 Rosce L., a saw-fly, and other species of the same genus, 

 with their saws make an incision in the green twigs of 

 shrubs and trees, and fill it with a line of eggs placed end 

 to end, taking care that, as the eggs grow after they are 

 laid, they are placed at such distances as to leave room 

 for their expansion 5 . Rhynchites Bacchus, a brilliant 

 weevil, well known to the vine-dressers for the injury it 

 does c , rolls with much art the leaves of the vine, so as to 

 form a cavity, in which it places its eggs ; other species 

 practise similar manoeuvres ; and some probably place 

 their young progeny in the interior of twigs, making an 

 opening for that purpose with their rostrum — at least, I 

 once saw Rhynchites Alliarice L. with its rostrum plunged 

 up to the antennae in the twig of a crab-tree. Others of 

 this tribe, as we know, place their eggs in the interior of 

 fruits and grain, as the nut, acorn, and common weevils. 



It is probable that most of the above coverings serve 

 another purpose besides the protection of the eggs from 

 wet and cold — that of sheltering them from the action of 

 too great light, which, as Dr. Mich ell otti by numerous 

 experiments has ascertained, is fatal to the included 

 germe d . On this account it is perhaps that so many in- 

 sects fasten their eggs to the under side of leaves. Those 



a De Geer iii. 48. 51. b Reaum. v. 122. 



c See above, Vol. I. p. 196. 202. 



d Journ. de Phys, Philos. Mag. ix. 244. 



