Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/270

258 or fifteen centimetres in length, lays eggs, it is said, as large as those of a humming bird.

The blowfly has an oblong, angular egg, with lozenge-shaped compartments forming a kind of network. They are very white and composed of two distinct envelopes, of which the outer one is a real shell like that of a hen's egg, and breaks as easily.

The egg of the ant is uniform, smooth, tight and bright, without any division. When the larva has come from it, only a very thin membrane is left, which rolls up and is reduced to an imperceptible point; and even if the egg does not hatch, it is still so small as to escape the eyes. This is why these eggs are so little known, for what is commonly and improperly called the egg is really the larva, and is endowed with life and motion. These eggs, or rather these larvæ, of ants are very much sought after by barnyard fowl. An old woman of Paris gained a very comfortable income by selling them at the Jardin d'Acclimatation to feed the pheasants. She collected them in the woods of the suburbs, indifferent to the bites she received from the old ants. Her trade extended from June till the end of September. Ants' eggs are considered a choice dish in some countries. They are spread upon a slice of bread and butter, and sauces considered excellent are made with them. They are esteemed as a costly food in Siam, within the reach only of well-to-do people. They are the object of an important trade in some countries of northern Europe, where they are cooked in boiling water, and yield a kind of vinegar or formic acid.

The eggs of certain aquatic insects resembling noctonectæ (Corixo femorale and Corixo mannaria, Geoffroy, and Noctoneda Americana) are eaten in Mexico. They are usually found deposited on the reeds and rushes of the lakes, especially of Lake Tezcuco. The egg-laden reeds and rushes are cut, dried, and beaten over cloths, to detach the myriads of eggs which are fastened on them. The eggs are very carefully cleansed, and are, after that operation, winnowed, put up in sacks like flour, and sold as material for cakes. This novel aliment, which is called hantlé, and is really water-flea bread, is the object of considerable trade in the markets of Mexico. It has a pronounced fishy flavor, and was used by the natives prior to the conquest. The eggs of another species (Corixa esculenta), which resemble manna, are eaten in Egypt, and form an element of very choice dishes.

The eggs of insects resist considerable variations of temperature. The most rigorous cold of our winters is fatal to the eggs only of the most delicate species; and the eggs can likewise resist the most intense tropical heats.—Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from La Nature.