The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-06-28
EGGS OF INSECTS.

ESSS OF iNSES -
some Are Round, some Like n Pyramid
and Others Like Flask.
Insects eggs are not all of an oval
form, like those of birds, but some
are like a pear, some like an orange,
some like a pyramid, and some like a
flask
The egg Of the gnat, for instance,
may be compared, in shape, to that or
Powder-Haslz. and the mother gnat
lays about three hundred ut n time.
Now, each egg, by itself, would sink TO
the bottom of the Wator; yet the gnat
puts til whole three hundred to-
gether in the form OF a little boat.
and in such way that they will all
swim on the surface of the water; and
a very curious way she has of manag-
ing this.
Like other insects, the gnaG mas six
legs. -Four OF these (the four fore
leEs) she fastcns to floating leaf, on
10 the side Of "a bucket. if she is on
the water contained IN bucket. Her
body is thus held level with the water,
except the last ring OF her abdomen.
which l. little raised. This being
done, she begins 20 mako use Of her
other two legs Cor hind legs), and
crosses them in the shape Of the letter
y. The open part OF this y, next to
her tail, serves a. kind OF scafTold-
ing, TO support the eggs she lays, IN
til the boat il formed. Each egg.
when laid, is covered with a kind of
glue; and the gnat holdsthe first laid
in, h.. u,
second egg is laid by its side, and
glued to it; she then CLUES another
egg TO its other side. All these stick
together thus:
making a kind Of triangle, or figure of
three, and this is the beginning ,of the
boat Thus she goes on. piling egg
upon egg, always keeping the boat in
proper shape by her useful hind legs.
As the boat grows in size she pushes
1t from her by degrees, still adding to
the unfinished end next to her body.
When the boat is half built her hind
legs are stretched out thus:
e
The Y, or cross form, is no longer
wanted, and she holds up the boat as
cleverly as II it were done with two
outstretched arms.
The boat is ut length completed,
and an excellent boat it l., quite
water-tight. For, though it is very
small and delicate, Yet no tossing OF
tho waves will sink it; and nothing can
fill it with water, or turn it upside
down. In fact, the gluo with which il
/ is covered prevents it from ever
being wet. Even if the boat be pushed
! down 10 the bottom OF the wajer' up
! it comes again quite dry; so that it is
! better than the best life-boat that has
ever yet been invented.
The eggs of insects are not, like
those of birds, always smooth, but
are sometimes ribbed, and sometimes
tiled, or otherwise sculptured or
carved on the outside.
The shell OF an insects egg IS rarely
or never brittle like that of a bird,
but composed OF tough membrane,
/ which in some instances can be
stretched out, as appears from the
eggs of ants and some other insects,
growing considerably larger in the
process Of Matching.
The mother insects usually dying
before their eggs are hatchcd do not
sit upon them like birds except in
the singular instance of the carwig,
which appears to attend more to
shifting the eggs about to places where
they may receive moisture than to-
Matching them by covering them. Ants
shift their eggs cco~ding TO the
changes OF the day and night, and also
OF the weather, placing them near the
surface Of their nests when it is warm
and dry, and deep down when it is
cold or wet.
In consequence OF being exposed to-
the same temperature, all the eggs Of
any particular species, in any given
district, are hatchcd exactly at tho
same time, or at most within q few
days; and when such eggs are numer-
Gus an immense number of catcrpillars
make their appearance all at once on
plants and bushes, and give rise to tho
notion that they are brought by winds
or generated by what j called blighting
weather, though this is as absurd as
it would be to say the wind could
bring a flock of cattle, or that the
oAlGAI SO1io SSHS4 stOS d IIlSilt OF spar
rows or rocks without eggs TO hatch
them from. "A
BY looking carefully on the bark of
rose or currant bushes. or on the back
ribs OF gooscberry leaves, the eggs
may be found sometimes in patches,
sometimes in rows, whence the cater
pillars are Matched that creep into the
buds, or stream over the leaves and
devour them-N. Y. Ledger.