$Ite young |latura!isi: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 79. 



MAY 7th. lssl. 



Vol. 2. 



HOW TO BEGIN. 



Raring lepidoptera from 



THE EGG. 



1/E propose in this paper to com- 

 y V plete what we have to say about 

 lading the egg when deposited in 

 le natural way. The ova of the 

 irger Hawk Moths are, so far as we 

 ave seen, large, round and, green, and 

 aposited on the underside of the 

 aves. They must be looked for on 

 le food plant, and it would be little 

 se searching for ova of such species 

 3 the Deaths Head or Convolvulus 

 [awks, but those of the Poplar Hawk 

 e easily found on Willow or Poplar, 



the species is abundant in most 

 laces. Where the others of this 

 urns ( Smerinthus) occur the ova may 

 so be found by careful searching. 

 Among the Rombyces, the ova of 

 veral species are easily obtained, 

 he Vapourers (Orgyia antiqua and 

 )no8tigma) have wingless females 

 Inch deposit their eggs on the outside 

 the cocoon. These are very notice- 

 )le during winter when, the leaves 

 dag off the trees and shrubs, the 



cocoons are very conspicuous. The 

 gold and brown tails (L. chrysorrhcea 

 and auriflua) cover their eggs with the 

 fine down off their abdomen, which 

 renders them less easy to observe. 

 The swifts | Hepiahis) all scatter their 

 eggs loosely over the surface of the 

 ground. They are very small in 

 proportion to others, and when first 

 deposited, we might almost say ejected, 

 they are quite white, but they rapidly 

 turn black. They fall into crevices 

 m the earth, in which the larva bur- 

 ! rows, feeding on roots. The Tiger 

 | Moths generally deposit their ova in 

 large batches, placed with great regu- 

 larity. The eggs of Caja are green, 

 turning brown before hatching. Those 

 of Villica reflect various colours, like 

 Mother of Pearl. The egg of the 

 Drinker may be found on blades of 

 grass, while those of B. rubi and quercus 

 are often placed at considerable dis- 

 tances from their food, on a post, a 

 stone, etc., often from ten to thirty 

 close together, and other patches not 

 far off. The Puss and Kittens deposit 

 theirs on the upper side of the Poplar 

 or Willow leaves, generally two or 

 three together. Those of Vinula are 



