38 THE BUTTERFLY VIVARIUM. 



or entering- into any of those minute technicalities 

 only suited for strictly scientific purposes. 



The eggs of Lepidoptera, that is, of Butterflies 

 and Moths, are, perhaps, more likely to interest the 

 general collector than any other, and they are 

 sufficiently various in form and character to give a 

 fair general idea of those of all the other classes of 

 insects. But it will, nevertheless, be necessary 

 to allude also to those of the Neuroptera, Diptera, 

 and the other entomological divisions. I shall, 

 however, give the first place to the eggs of Lepidop- 

 tera. These, though of very various kinds and 

 forms, as I have stated, arc seldom of the shape to 

 which the Latin term ovum can be applied, since we 

 have made use of that term, in the word oval, to 

 express an egg-shaped object. Few eggs of insects, 

 in fact, are of an oval form, and in most cases, 

 instead of being smooth like those of birds, with 

 which Ave are so much better acquainted, they are 

 intricately sculptured, as it were, with delicate 

 raised patterns which enrich the whole surface. 

 These patterns are generally, however, on a scale so 

 minute that the aid of a powerful microscope is re- 

 quired to distinguish them, and to enable the student 

 to appreciate their extraordinary beauty and regu- 

 larity, as described by De Geer, Brunnich, Sepp, 



