$lw ttatim Batnrattst: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 78. 



APRIL 28bd, 1881. 



Vol. 2. 



HOW TO BEGIN. 



0 



EGGS OF LEPIDOPTERA. 



F latt- years a great impetus has 

 been given to breeding Insects 

 rom their earlier stages. Not only 

 were finer cabinet specimens obtained, 

 but much knowledge was gained, and 

 eggs of Lepidoptera which were at one 

 time thrown away as useless, are now 

 prized greatly. We have not as yet 

 learned how to preserve insect eggs, so 

 is to be able to examine them at our 

 Leisure. If they are impregnated they 

 batch when the time comes, if they 

 are not, they shrivel up ; but drawings 

 liave been made of many of them, 

 And some are very beautiful objects. 

 Probably when more of them are figured 

 they also will help us to a knowledge 

 }f the affinity one species or genus 

 bears to another, and assist in the 

 lucidation of many points as yet dark 

 30 us. Our present object is not so 

 much to speak on that part of the sub- 

 ect as to help our younger readers a 

 attle in obtaining eggs of Lepidoptera, 

 uid rearing the imagines. A short 

 vrticle on the subject will be found at 



j Page 201) of our first volume, but we 

 | propose now to extend our remarks a 

 little, and will begin with searching 

 for the eggs when deposited by the 

 butterfly or moth in the usual way. 



To find the eggs of Lepidoptera 

 nunc knowledge and much patience is 

 needed. To look for them in any 

 systematic way requires the collector 

 to know the food plant of the larva, 

 and where it occurs, and when the 

 imago deposits them. It would be a 

 waste of time to search for eggs of the 

 hvbernatingVanessidfe (Urticce, lo, &C.) 

 in the autumn or winter, and even the 

 period of copulation is not always a 

 guide, for while some species begin to 

 deposit their eggs immediately, others 

 do not do so for shorter or longer 

 periods afterwards. Still it may be 

 safely concluded, except in case of 

 hybernating species, which never de- 

 posit their eggs till spring, that when 

 the species is beginning to be worn, the 

 eggs may be successfully looked for. 

 Species that emerge late in the year, 

 and do not hybernate, generally pass 

 the winter in the egg state, and in 

 many cases they are either concealed, 

 or some covering or protection is 



