Note 1 — Chapter VI · THE ONTHOPHAGI
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
To judge the work and its merit, we must open it. A large empty space, oval in shape, occupies the rear end. This is the birth-chamber, huge in dimensions compared with its content, the egg fixed on the wall, sometimes at the bottom of the cell and sometimes on the side. The egg is a tiny white cylinder, rounded at either end and measuring a millimetre1 in length immediately after it is laid. With no other support than the spot on which the oviduct has planted it, it stands on its hind-end and projects into space.