EGGS OF CATERPILLARS. 
11 
the egg is often caused by the yolk shining 
through; for if you remember, I told you the 
shell, or skin, was transparent. But sometimes 
it will have opaque dots on it, which give 
the egg a speckled look. Or else all the shell 
will be opaque, except two or three rings or 
bands round it; and the yolk shining through 
these rings, makes it look as if it were striped 
with different colors. Some eggs will even change 
from one color to another. In one case they are 
first yellow, then green, then rose color, and last 
of all, black. 
You would be surprised to see how beautiful 
some of these eggs are! Though so tiny, they 
are often figured all over, in a pattern, as if they 
had been carved; a thing quite unknown in a 
bird’s egg. Others are ribbed from the top to the 
bottom ; and when the caterpillar is ready to come 
out, the ribs open, and give it a free passage. 
And others have a little lid at the top, that the 
caterpillar has only to push open with its head. 
The egg of one moth is covered with a net-work 
of six-sided meshes; and the egg of another is 
equally curious, for it has a number of little tiles 
at the top, lying one over the other, like a roof. 
We cannot tell why these minute atoms should 
be finished with such care and beauty. We can 
only admire them as the work of an Almighty 
