THE EGGS OF INSECTS. 39 



our countrymen Kirby and Spence, and others, who, 

 in their works, have introduced exquisite engravings 

 of an immense variety of eggs of this class, magni- 

 fied so as to show their geometric sculpture and 

 endless variety of elegant devices with advantage. 

 The ■ eggs of a pretty, delicate Moth, Geometra 

 Crat(cgata, are more nearly in the usual egg form, 

 tbat of an elongated or oval spheroid, than most 

 others of the class ; but they are entirely covered 

 with a very beautiful, though somewhat irregular, 

 honeycomb pattern. 



The eggs of the Orange Moth, Geometra Pru- 

 naria, are what might be termed flask-shaped, and 

 perfectly smooth, with the exception of a series of 

 small raised circlets close together, which have the 

 appearance of a sealed aperture. 



The eggs of one of our brown Meadow Butterflies, 

 of the genus Hipparchia, are nearly spherical, 

 having their surface varied with rows of minute 

 knobs, disposed like the marks of the segments of a 

 peeled orange, but much closer together. 



Those of an insect of the same genus, H. Jan in/, 

 the commonest of the Meadow Butterflies, are more 

 oval in form, but broad at the base, and getting 

 more pointed towards the apex. They are decorated 

 with raised longitudinal ribs, connected in the 



