88 STATES OF INSECTS. 



then assumes its form and limbs. The embryo is usually 

 so folded in the egg that the head and tail meet a , and 

 the head, annuli, and other parts of the larva are often 

 visible through the shell 5 . Swammerdam even saw the 

 pulsation of the great dorsal vessel through the shell of 

 the egg of Oryctes nasicornis. 



Under this head I must notice another singular cir- 

 cumstance peculiar I believe to the eggs of insects, that 

 sometimes, though rarely, they are covered with down or 

 hair. Those of a singular little hemipterous insect, of a 

 genus I believe at present undescribed, the ravages of 

 which upon the larch have been before noticed c , are co- 

 vered by a downy web, as is the case with the animal 

 itself. De Geer has described the eggs of a bug, not 

 uncommon in this country {JPentatoma juniperina Latr.), 

 which are reticulated with black veins, in which very 

 short bristles are planted d . I possess also a nest of 

 brown eggs, probably of a species of the same genus, 

 found upon furze, which appear to be covered with very 

 short downy hairs. The top of these is flat, and sur- 

 rounded by a coronet of short bristles, each surmounted 

 by a small white ball, so as to wear the appearance of a 

 beautiful little Macor. But hairy eggs are not confined 

 to the Hemiptera Order, for, according to Sepp, those of 

 the figure-of-eight moth (Bombyx ccerideocephala) are of 

 this description 6 . 



iv. Number. The fertility of insects far exceeds that of 



a Swamm. Ibid. '> Sepp. iv. t. iii./. i. c. v. t. iv./. 2. 



c See above, Vol. I. p. 208: it is there called an Aphis, but it is a 

 distinct genus. 



d De Geer iii. 245. t. xiii./. 20 — 22. 

 e Sepp. iv. t. xiii./. 2. 3. 



