STATES OF INSECTS. 79 



males only place them upon or near the food appropri- 

 ated to the young larvae, to which they adhere by means 

 of the varnish just mentioned. These groups consist of 

 a greater or less number ; and when the eggs are hatched 

 by the heat of the sun, the larvae begin to disperse and 

 attack with voracity the food that surrounds them. It 

 is thus that most butterflies and moths attach their eggs 

 to the stems, twigs, and leaves of plants ; that the lady 

 birds (Coccinella), the aphidivorous flies (SyrphiSac), and 

 the lace-winged flies (Hemerobii), deposit them in the 

 midst of plant-lice (Aphides); that the eggs of some flesh- 

 flies are gummed upon flesh ; those of crickets and grass- 

 hoppers buried in the earth ; those of gnats and other 

 Tipulidans set afloat upon, or submerged in, the water. 



Frequently the whole number of eggs laid by one 

 female is placed in one large group, more commonly, 

 however, in several smaller ones, either at a distance 

 from each other on the same plant, or on distinct plants. 

 The object in the latter case seems to be, in some in- 

 stances, to avoid crowding too many guests at one table, 

 in others to protect the unhatched eggs from the voracity 

 of the larvae first excluded, which would often devour 

 them if in their immediate neighbourhood. 



In the disposition of the eggs which compose these 

 groups much diversity prevails. Sometimes they are 

 placed without order in a confused mass : more fre- 

 quently, however, they are arranged in different, and 

 often in very beautiful modes. The common cabbage- 

 butterfly (Pieris Brassicce) and many other insects place 

 theirs upon one end, side by side, so as, comparing 

 small things with great, to resemble a close column of 

 soldiers, in consequence of which those larvae which, on 



