However meagre the contents of the pod there is a superabundance of consumers.

Dividing the sum of the eggs upon such or such a pod by that of the peas contained therein, I find there are five to eight claimants for each pea; I have found ten, and there is no reason why this prodigality should not go still further.
Many are called, but few are chosen! What is to become of all these supernumeraries, perforce excluded from the banquet for want of space?
The eggs are of a fairly bright amber yellow, cylindrical in form, smooth, and rounded at the ends.

Their length is at most a twenty-fifth of an inch.

Each is affixed to the pod by means of a slight network of threads of coagulated albumen.

Neither wind nor rain can loosen their hold.
The mother not infrequently emits them two at a time, one above the other; not infrequently, also, the uppermost of the two eggs hatches before the other, while the latter fades and perishes.