Microscopical Essays. 265 



perfected by others : fome wander abroad to extraft the honey 

 from the flower, which they afterwards depofit in cells, as well 

 for the neceffities of the day as thofe of the inclement feafon : 

 fome cover with wax the cells that contain the honey, which is 

 to be preferved. for the enfuing winter : others feed the young, 

 &c. with various other employments, too numerous to be inferted 

 here. 



The eggs of infects are contained and arranged in the body of 

 the infect, in veffels which vary in number and figure in different 

 fpecies ; the fame variety is found in the eggs ; fome are round, 

 others oval, fome cylindrical, and others nearly fquare ; the 

 i he lis of fome are bard and fmooth, while others are foft and 

 flexible. It is a general rule, that eggs do not increafe in fize 

 after they are laid ; among infecls we find, however, an excep- 

 tion to this ; the eggs of the mouches a fcie (tenth redo, Linn.) 

 increafe after they are laid, but their fhell is foft and mem- 

 branaceous. 



The eggs of infe&s differ in their colours ; fome may be found 

 of almofl every fhade, of yellow, green, brown, and even black. 

 The eggs of the lion puceron * (hemerobius, Linn.) are a very 

 fmgular objecf , and cannot have efcaped the eye of any perfon 

 who is converfant among the infecls which live on trees ; though 

 of the many who have fe.cn them, few, if any, have found what 

 they really were. It is common to fee on the leaves and pedicles 

 of the leaves of the plumb-tree, and feveral oilier trees, as alio 

 on their young branches, a number of long and flender filaments, 

 running out to about an inch in length ; ten or twelve of thefe 



Kk are 

 * Reaumur Hift. de Infe&es, vol. xi. p. 14a. 



