Social Life in the Insect World

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PTE

E LEAVES

which the larv? of the Cigale have come up from the depths to undergo metamorphosis. We see them more or less everywhere, except in fields where the soil has been disturbed by ploughing. Their usual position is in the driest and hotte

e south, abounds in such holes. During the last days of June I have made an examination o

s done is responsible for this difference. The dung-beetle works from without inwards; she begins to dig at the mouth of the burrow, and afterwards re-ascends and accumulates the excavated material on the surface. The larva of the Cigale, on the contrary, works outward from within, upward from below; it opens the

the shortest passage. It is perfectly free along its entire length. We shall search in vain for the rubbish which such an excavation must apparently produce; we shall find nothing of the sor

the excavation has a total volume of about twelve cub

ne but that of excavation. On the contrary, the walls are neatly daubed, plastered with a sort of clay-like mortar. They are not precisely smooth, indeed they are disti

ascent a matter of difficulty, and retreat impossible. The miner shores up his galleries with uprights and cross-timbers; the builder of underground railways supports the sides and roofs of his tunnels with

rgo transformation, I see it immediately make a prudent retreat, descending to the bottom of its burrow without the

andoned as soon as made. We cannot doubt that the burrow is a kind of meteorological observatory, and that its inhabitant takes note of the weather without. Buried underground at a depth of twelve or fifteen inches, the larva, when ripe for escape, could hardly judge whet

bottom it prepares a carefully built recess. This is its refuge, its place of waiting, where it reposes in peace if its observations decide it to postpone its final departure. At the least sign of

ssues from its cerements-the prudent creature re-descends to the bottom of its burrow for a longer wait. If, on the contrary, the st

to the neighbourhood of the surface in order to ascertain the external climate; sometimes retiring to the depths the better to shelter itself. This explains the chamber

e the twelve cubic inches of earth that represent the average volume of the original contents of the shaft? There is not a trace of t

ment, the material is digested. It passes from end to end through the body of the pioneer, yields during its passage its meagre nutritive principles, and accumulates behind it, obstructing the passage, by which the larva will never return. The work of extreme division, effected partly by the mandibles a

of excavation pass through its body-for earth, even the softest mould, could form no possible part of i

rth. The larva comes from elsewhere; doubtless from a considerable distance. It is a vagabond, roaming from one root to another and implanting its rostrum. When it moves, either to flee from the upper layers of the

of free space necessitated by its movements. Moist, soft, and easily compressible soil is to the larva of the Ci

filled up and disappeared, is probable enough, although nothing in the actual condition of things goes to support the theory; but if we consider the capacity of the shaft and the extreme difficulty of making room for such a volume of debris, we feel dubious once more; for to hide such a quantity of earth a considerable empty space wou

the claws of the fore-feet, have their points covered by little globules of mortar; the others bear leggings of mud; the back is spotted with clay. One is reminded of a scavenger

expect to achieve at once, since nothing on the surface guides my search. But at last I am rewarded, and the larva is just beginning its excavation. An inch of tunn

g their burrows are black and shining, and evidently capable of sight. When it issues into the sunlight the future Cigale must find, often at some distance from its burrow, a suitable twig from which to hang during its metamorphosis, s

ngers, a limpid serum oozes from the hinder part of the body, which moistens the whole surface. Is this fluid, evacuated by the intestine, a product of urinary s

lowed by plasticity. The mud thus obtained penetrates the interstices of the rough soil; the more liquid portion enters the substance of the soil by infiltration; the remainder becomes tightly packed and fills up the inequalities of

insect, although henceforth liberated from the work of a sapper and miner, does not entirely abandon the use of urine as a weapon, employing it as a means of defence. Too

ompressible mud the long column of earth which must be removed from the burrow. The reservoir becom

of a pencil, sometimes no bigger than a straw. The visible portion of this root is only a fraction of an inch in length; the rest is hidden by the surrounding earth. Is the presence of this source of sap fortuito

oisture is renewed. When its reservoir is exhausted by the conversion of dry dust into mud the miner descends to its chamber, thrusts its proboscis into the root, and drinks deep from the vat built into the wall. Its organs well filled, it re-ascends. It resumes work, damping the

with a column of dry earth, which is rather lightly packed. This column is about six inches in height. The larva has just left an excavation three times as deep, made in soil of the same kind, but offering a far greater resistance. B

eans of replenishing it. My suspicions are well founded. For three days the prisoner struggles desperately, but cannot ascend by so much as an inch. It is impossible to fix the material removed in the a

s full the result

ms a sticky paste which can be thrust aside with the assurance that it will remain where it is placed. The shaft is gradually opened; very unevenly, to be sure, and it is almost choked up behind the insect as it climbs upwards. It seems as though the creature recognises the impossibility of renewing

f a shrub. Once found, it climbs and firmly clasps its support, the head upwards, while the talons of the fore feet close with an unyielding grip. The other claws, if the direction of the twig is convenient, assist in supporting it; otherwise the claws of t

places. Heat and a prolonged air-bath are necessary to harden and colour the fragile creature. Some two hours pass without any perceptible change. Hanging to its deserted shell by the two fore limbs, the Cigale sways to the least breath of air, still feebl

in detaching it. For some months yet and even during the winter you will often find these forsaken skins hanging from the twigs in the precis

le were I to listen to all that my neighbours, the peasants,

AND THE EMP

recommending the Cigale as a sovereign remedy. The insects in the adult form are collected in summer. They are strung into necklaces which are dried in the sun

d to recommend the same remedy. Dioscorides tells us: Cicad?, quae inassatae manduntur, vesicae doloribus prosunt. Since the distant days of this patriarch of materia medica the Proven?al peasant has retained his faith in the remedy revealed to him by the Greeks, who came from Phoc?a with the olive, the fig, and the vine. Only one thing is changed: Dioscorides advises us to eat the Cigales roasted, but now they are boiled, a

h its urine to build a meteorological station and a shaft connecting with the outer world? Your powers should equal those

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G OF TH

h lives on the flowering ash. Both of these are widely distributed and are the only species known to the country folk. Th

are the shutters, the lids, the dampers of the musical-box. Let us remove them. To the right and left lie two spacious cavities which are known in Proven?al as the chapels (li capello). Together they form

ation. Acoustics give the lie to the popular belief. You may break the mirrors, remove the covers with a snip of the scissors, and tear the yellow anterior membrane, but these mutilations do not silence the song of the Cigale; they merely change it

ed by the overlapping damper. We will call this the window. This opening gives access to a cavity or sound-chamber, deeper than the "chapels," but of much smaller capacity. Immediately behind the attachment of the posterior wings is a

arger diameter by a bundle of three or four brown nervures, which give it elasticity. Its entire circumference is rigidly fixed. Let us suppose that this convex scale is pulled out of shape from the inte

Pressed out of shape by the thumb and released, it yielded a very distressing, tinkling click. Nothing else was needed to take the popular mind by storm. The

is the convexity of the cymbals altered? Let us return to the "church" and break down the yellow curtain which closes the front of each chapel. Two thick muscular pillars are visible, of a pale orange colour; they join at an angle, forming a V, of which the point lies on the m

, shorten and lengthen. By means of its terminal thread each sounds its cymbal, by depressing it and immediately releasing

orceps and pull it in a series of careful jerks. The extinct cri-cri comes to life again; at each jerk there is a clash of the cymbal. The sound is feeble, to be sure, deprived of the

him. But introduce a needle by the lateral aperture which we have named the "window" and prick the cymbal at the bottom of the sound-box. A little touch and the perforated cymbal is silent. A similar operation on the other side of the insect and the insect is dumb, though otherwise as vigorous as be

e chapels as well as the windows of the sound-boxes. The sound is then muted, muffled, diminished. When the abdomen rises the chapels are open, the windows unobstructed, and the sound acquires its full volume. The rapi

oscillating with increasing rapidity, it acquires its maximum volume; it remains for a few seconds at the same degree of intensity, then becomes weaker by degrees, and degenerates into a shake, which decreases as the abdomen returns to rest

song is then continuous, but always with an alternation of crescendo and diminuendo. The first notes are heard about seven or eight o'clock in the morning, and the orchestra c

ts of a series of cries-can! can! can! can!-with no intervals of silence subdividing the poem into stanzas. Thanks to its monotony and its harsh shrillness, it is a most odious sound, especially when the orchestra consists of hundreds of performers, as is often the case in my two plane-trees during the d

racter. The sound-box is lacking, which suppresses the entrance to it, or the window. The cymbal is uncovered, and is visible just behind the a

LT CIGALE,

LT CIGALE,

THE FLOWERING ASH

compared to the blade of a watchman's rattle, only instead of engaging with the teeth of a rotating wheel they touch the nervures of the vibrating cymbal. From this fact, I imagine,

articulation with the thorax. But the insect is motionless when it sings; there is nothing of the rapid vibrations of the belly which modulate the song of the common Cigale. The chapels are very small; almost negligible as resonators. There are mirrors, as in the common Cig

of the species and the preservation of the individual. The rest of the abdomen presents a spacious cavity, and consists simply of the integuments of the walls, except on the dorsal side, which is lined with a thin muscular layer, and supports a fine digestive canal, almost a thread. This large cavity, equal to nearly half the tot

with the laws affecting musical resonators; if I fit into the aperture of the open body a tube or trumpet of paper the sound grows louder as well as deeper. With a paper cone corresponding to the pitch of the note, with its large end

in the abdomen. We must admit that one must truly have a real passion for song before one would empty one's chest and stomach in order to make room for a musical-box. The necessary vital

on, it could acquire, in the course of progress, a ventral resonator comparable to my paper trumpets, th

ly visible on the exterior. Pierce them with the point of a needle, and immediately you have perfect silence. If only there were, in my plane-trees, among the insects whi

estion arises: What is the object of these musical orgies? The reply seems obvious: t

ociety upon me. For two months every summer I have them under my eyes, and their voice in my ears. If I do not listen to them very willingly I observe them with co

also move round the branch with slow lateral steps, so as to keep upon that side which is most brilliantl

in calling a person who is at one's elbow. Moreover, I have never seen a female rush into the midst of even the most deafening orchestra. Sight is a sufficient

no sign of satisfaction in the females; I have never seen them tremble or sway upon th

ge them in their work. Harvesters of ideas and of ears of grain, we follow the same calling; the latter produce food for the s

of suggesting the impression produced by this clashing of cymbals upon those who inspire it. The most I can say is that their impassive ext

anxious, and on their guard. But the Cigale is far from sharing in such emotions. It has excellent sight. Its great faceted eyes inform it of all that happens to right and left; its three stemmata, like little ruby telescopes, explore the sky above its head. If it sees us coming it is silent at once, and flies away. But let us get

nd I will mention only one,

ore my house. There were two of these boxes stuffed full of powder as though for the most solemn rejoicing. Never was politician making his electoral progress favoured with a bigger charge. To prevent damage to my windows the sashes

umber of singers was counted by each of us, as well as the volume and rhythm of the song. We s

e, the volume the same. The six witnesses were unanimous: the loud explosion had not m

I am not going to venture so far as that; but if any one bolder than myself were to make the assertion I really do not know what reasons I could invoke to disprove

ned edge of its wing-covers; when the green tree-frog swells its throat in the foliage of the bushes, distending it to form a resonant cavity when the rain is imminent, is it calling to it

majority whom the conjunction of the sexes leaves silent. In the violin of the grasshopper, the bagpipe of the tree-frog, and the cymbals of the

eeling themselves alive, just as we rub our hands in a moment of satisfaction, I should not be particularly shocked. That there is a sec

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HE EGGS AND T

quest. I find these eggs not only on the mulberry-tree, but on the peach, the cherry, the willow, the Japanese privet, and other trees. But these are exceptions; what the Cigale really prefers is a slender twig of a thickness varying from that of a straw to that of a pe

nce have fallen so that it retains its upright position. The insect prefers a long, smooth, regular twig which can receive the whole of its eggs. The best batches of eggs which I have found have been la

t, no matter what its nature, s

such as one might make with the point of a pin, which, if plunged obliquely downwards into th

s, incapable of recognising the order of their succession or the work of the individual. One characteristic is always present, namely, the oblique direction of the wood

n a straight line. Their number varies; it is small when the mother, disturbed in her operations, has flown away to

parted at the moment when the eggs are laid, recover themselves when the double saw of the oviduct is removed. Sometimes, but by no means always, you may see between the fibres a tiny glist

tween one opening and that lying below it. Sometimes the separating partition is lacking, and the various chambers run into one another, so tha

ten. The total number of chambers varying from thirty to forty, it follows that the Cigale lays fro

heights at which the prowling brigands of the turf are not to be feared. The sparrow, it is true, will greedily devour it. From time to time he will deliberately and meditatively descend upon the plane-trees from the neighbouring roof and snatch up the singer, who sque

g. Night has come, and with it repose; but a repose frequently troubled. In the thick foliage of the plane-trees there is a sudden sound like a cry of anguish, short and strident. It is the despairing lamentation of the Cigale surpris

hbouring plane-tree uttering shrill squeaks. I ran to see what it was. I found a green grasshopper eviscerating a struggling Cigale. In vain did the la

ALE LAYING

HOPPER, THE FALSE

UE CIGALE, A DWE

e was resting; and the struggles of the unfortunate creature as it was dissected alive had resulted in the

rocious than the insect; it pursues a creature smaller than itself. The locust, on the contrary, assails a colossus, far larger and far more vigorous than its enemy; yet the result is a foregone concl

during the hours of the night and early morning, although the cymbals have long been silent. The sea-green bandit has fallen upon some slumbering Cigale. When I wished to rear some green grasshoppers I had not far to seek for the diet of my pension

to produce such a vast number of offspring. The real danger is elsewhere, as we sha

the support preferred by the insect, as previous observations had assured me. It was also the plant which best lent itself to my experiments, on account of its long, smooth stems. Now, during the first years of my residence in the South I replaced the thistles in my paddoc

danger of being disturbed during the delicate operation of laying. When the first occupant has departed another may take her place, and so on indefinitely. There is abundance of room for all; but each prefers to be alone as her tu

e hilt into the twig. So perfect is the tool that the operation is by no means troublesome. We see the Cigale tremble slightly, dilating and contracting the extremity of the abdomen in frequent palpitations. This is all that can be seen. The boring instrument, consisting of a double saw, alternat

woody fibres which have been displaced return to their position, and the Cigale climbs a little higher, moving upwards in a straight line, by about the len

she is a very idle walker. At the most you may see her, on the living twig from which she is drinking, moving at a slow, almost solemn pace, to gain a more sunny point close at hand. On the dry twig in which she deposits her eggs she observes the same formal habits, and even

esents the same surface all over? A lover of the sun, she chooses that side of the twig which is most exposed to it. So long as she feels the heat, her supreme j

, the full series of forty would represent a period of six or seven hours. The sun will of course move through a considerable distance before t

task a diminutive fly, also full of eggs, busily ex

ds their extremities. The unsheathed ovipositor is implanted in the under portion of the abdomen, about the middle, and at right angles to the axis of the body, as in the case of the Leucospis, the pest of the apiary. Not having taken the precaution to capture it, I do not know what name the entomologists have bestowed upon it, or even if this dwarf exterminato

s of the giant, and without the least nervousness, as if it were accomplishing some meritorious action, it unsheathes its probe and thrusts it into the column of eggs, not by the op

sastrous egg. By the time the Cigale departs, her ovaries empty, the majority of the egg-chambers have thus received the alien egg which will

her, meditating their crime. Too peaceable giantess! if you see them why do you not seize them in your talons, crush the pigmies at their work, so that you m

one-tenth of an inch, their diameter about one-fiftieth. They are packed in a row, slightly overlapping one another. The eggs of the Cacan are slightly smaller, and are assembled in r

orward end of the egg, two tiny points of chestnut brown, which are the eyes of the embryo in formation. These two shining eyes, which almost seem to gaze

he eggs have recently hatched out. There are certain cast-off articles of clothing, certain rags and tatters, left on the threshold of the

hambers. My domestic researches had been pursued in vain. Two years running I had collected, in boxes, tubes, and bottles, a hundred twigs of ev

er to keep them at a high temperature. No, venerable master! neither the temperate shelter of our studies and laboratories, nor the incubating warmth of our bodies is sufficient here; w

ion; but I always came too late; the young Cigales had departed. At most I sometimes found one hanging by a thread to

pe I proposed once more to examine the egg-chambers and their contents. The morning was cold, and the first fire of the season had been lit in my room. I placed my little bundle on a chair before the fire, but without

ly alive; scores and scores of the young larv? were emerging from their egg-chambers. Their numbers were such that my ambition as observer was amply satisfied. The eggs were ripe,

ink that an egg had been somehow displaced, had been removed from the bottom of the chamber to its aperture. An egg to move in this narrow passage! a walking egg! No, that is impossible; eggs "do not do such things!" This is some mistake. We will break open the twig, and the mystery

degree of mobility must enable the grub to escape from the egg-shell and, with greater difficulty, from the woody tunnel leading to the open air. Moving outwards a little from the body, and then moving back again, this lever serves as a means of progression, its terminal hooks being already fairly strong. The four other feet are still covered by the common envelope, and are absolutely inert. It is

ome more or less appropriate words of Greek and fabricate a portentous nomenclature? No, for I feel sure that barbarous alien phrases are onl

mpty egg-shells. Under these conditions the larva as it will be presently, when it has torn its temporary wrappings, would be unable to effect the difficult passage. With the encumbrance of antenn?, with long limbs spreading far out from the axis of the body, with curved, pointed talons which hook themselves into their medium of support, everything would militate against a prompt liberation. The eggs in one chamber hatch almost simultaneously. It is therefore essential that the f

the entrance. It gradually works itself forward, but so slowly that the magnifying-glass scarcely reveals its progress. At the end of half an ho

ormal larva; the only form known to Réaumur. The rejected coat forms a suspensory thread, expanding at its free end to form a little cup. In this cup is inserted the end of the abdome

s; the fore-limbs, which are relatively powerful, open and shut their talons. I can scarcely think of any more curious spectacle than that of this tiny gymnast hanging by its tail, swinging to the faintest breath, and preparing in

appeared, the aperture of the nest is thus hung with a branch of fine, short threads, twisted and knotted together, like dried white of egg. Each thread

ntion. The tiny creature, no bigger than a flea, has preserved its tender newly-hatched flesh from contact with

n the road which still contains a little water; or on the sand, the region of famine where nothing grows; or upon a soil of clay, too tenacious t

the surface would expose it to grave perils. It must contrive without delay to descend into the earth, and that to no trivial depth. This is the unique and imperative condition of safety, and in many

itself evokes the necessity of a large batch of eggs; and the difficulty which the larva experiences in effecting a safe lodgment in the earth is yet another explanation of the fact that the maintenance of the race at its proper

yself of passing events; its lightness makes it a suitable refuge for such weak and fragile beings. I pack it Pretty firmly in a glass vase; I plant in it a little tuft of thyme; I sow in it a few grains of wheat. There is no hole at the bottom of the vase, although there should be one for the benefit of the thyme and the corn; bu

pace hither and thither; they soon explore the surface of their world, and some try vainly to climb the sides of the vase. Not one of them seems inclined to

em to a standstill. Apparently they are seeking for a favourable point before descending into the earth. But there is no need for this hesitating exploration on the soil I have prepar

ich the tiny creatures could make no impression. The larva must wander at hazard, must make a pilgrimage of indefinite duration before finding a favourable place. Very many, no doubt, perish, exhausted by their fruitless search. A voyage of e

g such an excavation as the point of a thick needle would enter. With a magnifying-glass I watch their picks at work. I see their talons raking atom

and the wheat. I find all my larv? at the bottom, arrested by the glass. In twenty-four hours they had sunk themselves through

ttle nourishment by implanting their proboscis? This is hardly probable, for a few rootlets were pressed against th

igs and branches; as a larva it sucks the sap of roots. But at what stage does it take the first sip? That I do not know as yet, but the foregoing experiment seems to show that the newly

of the soil. This time they commence to dig at once, and have soon disappeared. Finally the vase is

dhere to the roots; they have not grown; their appearance has not altered. Such as they were at the beginning of the experiment, such they are now, b

ss the whole of the winter in a state of complete abstinence. The young Cigales apparently behave in a very similar fashion. Once they have burrowed to such depths as will safe

nder the magnifying-glass. It was like looking for needles in a haystack; but at last I recovered my little Cigales. They were dead, perhaps of cold, in spite of the

ion, so that the little creatures could choose according to their taste. These conditions are by no means impracticable, but how, in the large earthy mass, containing at least a cubic yard o

h, to find these impetuous excavators under the spade; but to surprise them fixed upon the roots which incontestably nourish them is quite another matter. The dist

r me all the larv?, large and small, unearthed in the course of their labour. The total collection amounted to several hundreds. They were divided, by very clearly marked differences of size, into three categories: the large larv?, with rudiments of wings, such as those larv? caught upon leaving the

rs execute their feeble solos until the middle of September. This is the end of the concert. As all the larv? do not issue from the ground at the same time, it is evident that the singers of S

he darkness he has worn a dirty parchment overall; for four years he has mined the soil with his talons, and now the mud-stained sapper is suddenly clad in the finest raiment, and provided with wings tha

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TIS.-TH

d it with cymbals, which are a prime element of popularity, it would soon have eclipsed the renown of the celebrated singer, so strange is its shape, and so pecul

is never slow in perceiving analogies; he will always generously supplement the vagueness of the facts. He has seen, on the sun-burned herbage of the meadows, an insect of commanding appearance, drawn up in majestic attitude. He has noticed its wide, delicate wings of green, trailing behind it like long

unfortunate passer-by. It is an exception that we should never look for in the vegetarian family of the Orthoptera, but the Mantis lives exclusively upon living prey. It is the tiger of the peaceful insect peoples; the ogre in ambush w

ouring, and its long gauzy wings. No ferocious jaws, opening like shears; on the contrary, a fine pointed muzzle which seems to be made for billing and cooing. Thanks to a flexible neck, set freely upon the t

powerful. Its object is to throw forward the living trap which does not wait for the victim, but goes in search of it. The snare is embellished with a certain amount of ornamentati

black and short and green. This alternation of unequal lengths makes the weapon more effectual for holding. The outer row is simpler, having only four teeth. Finally, three needle-lik

eth are smaller, more numerous, and closer than those of the thigh. It terminates in a strong hook, the point of wh

nd person to free me from my tenacious captive! To free oneself by violence without disengaging the firmly implanted talons would result in lacerations such as the thorns of a rosebush will produce. None of our insects is so inconvenient to

ddenly unfolded, the three long joints of the deadly fore-limbs shoot out their terminal talons, which strike the victim and drag it backwards between the two saw-blades of the thighs. The vice closes with a movement like that of the forearm upon the

ticated. There is no difficulty here; the Mantis is quite indifferent to imprisonment under glass, provided it

uft of thyme and a flat stone on which the eggs may be laid later on complete the furnishing of such a dwelling. These cages are placed in a row on the large t

already swollen, are more numerous every day. Their slender companions, on the other hand, are somewhat rare, and I often have some trouble in completing my coupl

e disdainfully tasted and thrown aside. On its native bushes I trust the Mantis is more economical. Game is not too abundant, so that she doubtless devours her prey to the last atom;

and jam or of melon, search morning and evening on the neighbouring lawns, where they fill their game-bags, little cases made from sections of reeds, with l

faced Decticus, armed with powerful mandibles from which it is wise to guard one's fingers; the grotesque Truxalis, wearing a pyramidal mitre on its head; and the Ephippigera of the vineyards, which clashes its cymbals and carries a sabre at the

g in wait among the bushes it must profit by the prizes bestowed upon it by hazard, as in its cage it profits by the wealth of diet due to my generosity. The hunting of such bi

e murderous arms of the Mantis. But in my cages I have never known the audacious huntress to recoil before any other insect. Grey cricket, Decticus, Epeirus or Truxalis

shock would not produce a more immediate result. The transition is so sudden, the mimicry so threatening, that the unaccustomed observer will draw back his hand, as though at some unknown danger.

orming a pyramidal prominence which dominates the back; the end of the abdomen curls upwards crosier-wise, then falls and unbends itself with a sort

extent, forming a cross with the body, and exhibiting the axill? ornamented with rows of pearls, and a black spot with a central point of white. These two eyes, faintly recalling those of the peacock

as on a pivot as the other changes place. The object of this mimicry seems evident; the Mantis wishes to terrorise

threatened creature is aware of its danger. It sees, springing up before it, a terrible spectral form with talons outstretched, ready to fall upon it; it feels itself face to face with death, and fails to flee while yet there is time.

n behave in almost the same way. Once within reach of the enchantress, the grappling-hooks are thrown, the fangs strike, the double saws close together and hold the victim in a vice. Vainly the captive strugg

enough to throw forward the talons; this is so in the case of the Epeirus, which is seized by the middle of the body, without a thought of its venomous claws. With the smaller c

es, fascinates or absorbs the prey, while it enables her talons to strike with greater certainty. Her gins close on a demoralised vict

ngles, forming with them a multitude of meshes. In the spectral attitude the wings are outspread and erected in two parallel planes which are almost in contact, like the wings of butterflies in repose. Between the two the end of the abdomen rapidly curls and uncurls. From the rubbing of

ent for the completion of this enormous meal. Such an orgy is rare. I have witnessed it two or three times, always asking myself where the gluttonous creature found room for so much food, and how it contrived to reve

. In spite of the fine-pointed muzzle, which hardly seems made for such ferocity, the entire insect disappears excepting the wings, of which only the base, which is slightly fleshy, is consumed. Legs, claws, horny integuments, all else is eaten

articulation between the back and the neck is stretched and opens slightly. The snout of the Mantis gnaws and burrows into this undefended spot with a certain persistence, and a large wound is opened in the neck.

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TIS.-CO

lacid creature, devoutly self-absorbed; and we find a cannibal, a ferocious spectre, biting open the heads of its captives after demoralising them with terror. But we have

e cover. There was sufficient space in the common lodging and room for the captives to move about, though for that matter they are not fond of movement, being heavy in the abdome

ests might well, in a season of dearth, have lost their tempers and begun to fight one another; but I was careful to keep the

ovaries perverted my flock, and infected them with an insane desire to devour one another. There were threats, horrid encounters, and cannibal feasts. Once more the spectral pose was seen, the hissing of the wings, and the terrible gesture of the talons outstretched and raised above the head. The females could not have looked more terrible before a grey cricket or a Decticus. Without any motives that I could see, two neighbours suddenly arose in the attitude of conflict. They tu

riposte. The fencing reminds one not a little of two cats boxing one another's ears. At the first sign of blood on the soft abdomen, or even at the slightest wound, one admits herself t

for the victor seizes her in her vice-like grip and at once commences to eat her; beginning, needless to say, at the back of the neck. The odious meal proceeds as calmly as if it were merely

other. The Mantis is not so scrupulous; she will eat her fellows w

nfusion of a crowd let us isolate the couples under different covers. Thus each pair will have their own dwelling, where nothing can trou

ck and raises his thorax. His little pointed face almost seems to wear an expression. For a long time he stands thus motionless, in contemplation of the desired one. The latter, as though indiffere

panion; he clings to her desperately, and steadies himself. The prelude to the embr

stress as the giver of fertility, she also loves him as the choicest of game. During the day, or at latest on the morrow, he is seized by his companion, who first gnaws through the bac

al feasts. After a rest, of variable duration, whether the eggs have been laid or not, a second male is welcomed and devoured like the first. A third succeeds him, does his duty, and affords yet another meal. A

le. At such times the Mantis is all nerves. Under covers which contain large households the females devour one another more frequently tha

ages he is given a respite, often of a whole day. What really happens by the roadside and in the thickets I do not know; chance, a poor schoolmistress, has never instructed me concerning the love-affairs of the Mantis when at liberty. I am ob

ance of his vital functions, holding the female tightly embraced-but he had no head, no neck, scarcely any thorax! The female, her head tur

on. Here was a creature decapitated, amputated as far as the middle of the thorax; a corpse which still struggled to

nothing, is not so difficult to understand, since insects can hardly be accused of sentimentality; but to devour him during the act surpass

more so, than those of the spider. I do not deny that the limited area of the cage may favour the massacre of the males; but the cause of such butchering must be sought elsewhere. It is perhaps a remi

ve the customs of an earlier age. The utilisation of the males as food is a custom in the case of other members of the Mantis family. It is, I must admit, a general habit. The little grey Mantis, so small and looking so harmless in her cage, which never seeks to harm her neighbours in spite of her crowded quarters, falls upon her male and devours him as ferociously as the Praying Mantis. I have worn myself out in trying to pro

PTE

NTIS.-

ootek, or the "egg-box." I shall not make use of this barbarous expression. As one does not speak of the "egg-box" of the titmouse, meaning

the nest are one and a half inches long by three-quarters of an inch wide, or a trifle larger. The colour is a pale tan, like that of a grain of wheat. Brought in contact with a flame the nest burns readily, and emits an odour like that of burning silk. The material of the nest is in fact a substance similar to silk, but instead of being drawn into a thread it is allowed to harden while a mass of spongy foam. If the nest is fixed on a b

g like the tiles of a roof. The edges of these plates are free, leaving two parallel series of fissures by which the young can issue when the eggs are hatched. In a nest recently abandoned this zone is covered with fine cast-off ski

d, have a perfect continuity of surface. The little Mantes, which are very feeble when first hatched, could not possibly make their way through the tenacious s

surrounded as to the bottom and sides by a thick porous rind, like solidified foam. Above the eggs are the curved plates, which are set ver

ll slip into the interval between two adjacent flaps or leaves, which form a prolongation of the core; they will then find a narrow passage, none too easy to effect, but sufficient, having regard to the curious provision which we shall deal with directly; they will th

ouped in layers. A protective rind, a kind of solidified foam, envelops this core, except at the top, along the central line, where the porous rind is replaced by thin overlapping leaves. The fr

THE PRAYI

OF THE SAME. 3, 3a. NE

SE SECTION

SELECTION

F THE GRE

SISYPHUS (se

T OF THE

SISYPHUS WITH DEJ

HROUGH T

ceeded, not without difficulty, as the eggs are laid without warning and nearly always at night. After a great deal of futile endeavour, chance at last favoure

covers. I have been careful to provide the insects with roughened stones and tufts of thyme, both being very commonly used as foundations in the open fields. The captives

oming detached. It is true that the female always selects an uneven support on which the foundations of the nest can be shaped, thus obtaining a firm ho

to lift up the dome of wire gauze, tilt it, reverse it, turn it over and reverse it again, without causing the insect to delay her task for a moment. I was able, with my tweezers, to raise the long wings in order to observe rather more closely what was taking place beneath t

is of a greyish white, slightly viscous, and almost like soapsuds. At the moment of its appearance it adheres slightly to the end of a straw plunged i

URING THE MALE IN

IS COMPLETI

RAB?I CUTTING

lthough the foam appears at the orifice of the genital organs; it is borrowed from the atmosphere. The Mantis builds more especially with air, which is eminently adapted to protect the nest against changes of

nd shut with a rapid, incessant movement, beating the viscous liquid and converting it into foam as it is secreted. Beside the two oscillating ladles we see the internal organs r

ces in the arc described, suddenly, and at frequent intervals, it plunges deeper into the foam, as though burying something at the bottom of the frothy mass. Each time it does so an egg is doubtless deposited; but the operation is so rapid, and takes place un

m thus obtained spreads itself over the sides and at the base of the layer of eggs, and projects through the meshes of the wire gauz

us than that of the outer shell, the Mantis must employ her secretion as it emerges, without beating it into a foam. The layer of eggs once deposited, the tw

white, which contrasts distinctly with the remainder of the nest, which is of a dirty white. It resembles the ici

learly defined, with its double series of leaves with free edges. Exposure to the weather, wind, an

the unity of the materials of the nest. The organ which secretes the substance of the nest consists of cylindrical tubes, having a curious tangled appearance, which are arranged in two groups of twenty each.

ming, so to speak, the cream of the cream, gathering it together, and retaining it along the hump of the nest in such a way as to form a band like a ribbon of icing. What remains after this sc

h smaller. A process of selection results from variations in density, and here and there we see foam white as snow resting on the dirty foam from which it is produced. Something of the kind occurs when the Mantis builds her nest. The two appendices whip the viscous secretion

ough the double series of overlapping leaves. The little I have been able to learn amounts to this: The end of the abdomen, deeply cleft in a horizontal direction, forms a kind of fork, of which the upp

laments. The latter delimit the zone, one working on either side, feeling the edges of the belt, and apparently testing it and jud

res, the gates of exit which they shelter? I do not know; I

series of open fissures! We are lost in the face of such a wonder. Yet how easily the work is performed! Clinging to the wire gauze, forming, so to speak, the axis of her nest, the Mantis barely moves. She bestows not a glance on the marvel which is growing behind her; her limbs are used only for support; they take no part in the building of the nest. The nest is built, if we may say so, automatica

lication of one of the most valuable lessons of physical science in the matter of the conservation o

a mass of foam consisting of well-beaten eggs. The whole was exposed to the heat of an oven. In a few minutes a light omelette was obtained, piping hot, but the cheese in the centre was as cold as at the outset. The air impris

of life contained in the central core. It is true that her aim is reversed; the coagulated foam of the nest is a safeguard against cold, not against heat, but what will afford pr

How is it that the Mantis, for who knows how many ages, has been able to outstrip our physicists in this problem in calorics? How did she learn to surround her egg

The little Grey Mantis (Ameles decolor), which differs so widely from the Praying Mantis in that the wings of the female are almost completely absent, builds a nest hardly as large as a cherry-stone, and covers it skilfully with a

s, arranged side by side in three or four series, sloping together at the neck. Here there is a complete absence of the porous envelope, although the nest is exposed to the weather, like the previous examples, affixed to some twig or fragment of rock. The lack of

ult?-one of the innumerable combinations which fall from the urn of chance? If so, let us not reco

ccomplishment of the work. Directly the period of labour is over, the mother withdraws, indifferent henceforth to her completed task. I have watched her, half expecting to see her return, to discover some tenderness for the cradle of her family. But no: not a trace of maternal pleasure. The work is done, and concerns her no longer. Crickets appr

to adventure upon matrimony no less than seven times. Each time the readily consoled widow devoured her mate. Such habits point to frequent laying; and we find the appearance confirmed, though not as a general rule. Some

e of the nest or near the ends. The numbers contained by the widest and narrowest layers will give us an approximate average. I find that a nest of fair size contains about four hundred eggs. Thus the maker of the three nests, of which the last was half

of tigno; it even enjoys a certain celebrity. But no one seems to be aware of its origin. It is always a surprise to my rustic neighbours when they learn that the well-known tigno is the nest of the common Mantis, the Prègo-Diéu. This ignora

efore be good for something; it must possess virtue of some kind. So in all ages have the simp

is of the simplest. The nest is cut in two, squeezed and the affected part is rubbed with the cut surface as the juices flow from it. This specific,

ed unguent, observed the swelling to diminish; none of us found that the pain and discomfort was in the least assuaged by the sticky varnish formed by the juices of the crushed tigno. It is not easy to believe that others are more successful, but the popular renown of the specific survives in spite of all,

n wise in such matters gather them beneath a propitious moon, and preserve them piously in some corner of the clothes-press or wardrobe. They sew them in the lining of the pocket, lest they should be pulled out with the handkerchief and lost; they will grant

s which form the tomb of the science of a past age. An English naturalist of the sixteenth century, the well-known physician, Thomas Moffat, informs us that children lost in the country would inquire their way of th

TER

GARDENER.-I

ne million and eighty thousand bullocks and seventeen hundred thousand swine, which enter a train of machinery alive and issue transformed into cans of preserved me

the sand, their backs warmed by the board, which is visited by the sun, they slumber and digest their food. By good luck I chance upon a procession of pine-caterpillars, in process of de

haps a hundred and fifty, move forward in an undulating line. They pass near the piece of board, one following the other like

ctions; the procession is attacked in the van, in the rear, in the centre; the victims are wounded on the back or the belly at random. The furry skins are gaping with wounds; their contents escape in knots of entrails, bright green with their aliment, the needles of the pine-tree; the caterpillars writhe, strugglin

-houses of Chicago. But only the ear of the mind can hear the shrieks and lamentations of the eviscera

wallow in peace, away from the inquisitive eyes of his fellows. This mouthful disposed of, another is hastily cut from the body of some victim, an

ng to do but to kill, like the knackers in the meat factories, and if the staff numbered a hundred-a very modest figure as compared with the staff of a la

and swing it along to the butcher's knife; it has no sliding plank to hold the victim's head beneath the pole-axe of the knacker; it has to fall upon its prey, overpower

. Under the skin of the civilised being there lurks almost always the ancestor, the savage contemporary of the cave-bear. True humanity does not yet exist; it is g

he ancient social organism; only yesterday was it realised that man, e

in the origin of Eve: she was the superfluous bone, the thirteenth rib which Adam possessed in the beginning. It has at last been admitted that woman possesses a soul like our own, but even superior in tenderness and devotion. She has been allowed to educate h

absurdities. That our conquerors, victors of battles and destroyers of nations, are detestable scourges; that a clasp of the hand is preferable to a rifle-shot; that the happiest people is not that which possesses the largest battalions, but that which l

t height, it is to be feared. We are afflicted by an indelible taint, a kind of original sin, if we may call sin a state of things with which our will has nothing to do. We are

dispense with them-we must find the wherewithal to fill them, and the powerful will live by the sufferings of the weak. Life is a void that only death can fill. Hence the endless butchery by which

the satisfied. Then follows the battle for the right of possession. Man raises armies; to defend his harvests, his granaries, and his cellars, he resorts t

who were on the point of self-burial when I gave them over to the butchers? Was it to enjoy the spectacle of a frenzied massacre? By no means; I have always pitied the su

re vulgarly known as the Gardener Beetle. How far is this title deserved? What game does the Gardener Beetle hunt? From what vermin

apeless fragments, which are carried hither and thither, to be consumed at leisure under the shelter of the wooden board. One well-fed beetle decamps, his booty in his jaws, hoping to finish his feast in peace. He is met by companions who are attracted by the morsel hanging from the mandibles of the fugitive, and audaciously attempt to rob him. First two, then three, they all endeavour to deprive the legitimate owne

how many flocks I provide them with, they are all consumed. But no one, that I know of, has ever found the Golden Gardener and its larva in the silken cocoons of the Bombyx. I do not expect ever to make such a discovery. These cocoons are inhabited only in winter, whe

for the beetle. Day after day it wanders about the vivarium in company with the assassins. The latter apparently ignore its presence. From time to time one of them will halt, stroll round the hairy creature, examine it, a

y creature decides upon a serious attack. There are four of them; they industriously attack the caterpillar, which finall

too large the beetle is unable to handle them. The caterpillars of the Sphinx moth and the Great Peacock moth, for example, would fall an easy prey to the beetle were it not that at the first bite of the assailant the intended victim, by a contortion of its powerful flanks, sends the former flying. After several attacks, all of

verhead. I have never seen it exploring the twigs of even the smallest of bushes. When caged it pays no attention to the most enticing caterpillars if the latter take refuge in a tuft of thyme, at a few inches above the gro

e to the beetle; it is safe from the latter unless crippled, half crushed, or projecting from the shell. Its relatives, however, do not share this dislike. The horny Procrustes, the great Scarabicus, entirely black and larger than the Carabus

PTE

N GARDENE

f our kitchen-gardens, our flower-beds and herbaceous borders. If my inquiries add nothing to its established reputation in this respect, they will nevertheless, in the following pages, show the in

um. In capturing him I notice that the extremities of the wing-covers are slightly damaged. Is this the result of a struggle between rivals? There is nothing to tell me. The essential thing is that the in

vers. The operation has been performed very cleanly, without any dismemberment. Claws, head, corselet, all are correctly in place; the abdomen only has a gaping wound through w

er, the Praying Mantis, the lob-worm, the caterpillar, and other favourite insects, have all been given in alternation and in suffi

ure none of the same family will cry a halt, none will attempt to come to its aid. Among the carnivorous insects the matter may develop to a tragic termination. With them, the passers-by will of

nd? At first there was every appearance that their relations were perfectly pacific. During their sanguinary meals there is never a scuffle between the feasters; nothing but mere mouth-to-mouth thefts. There are no quarrels during the long siestas in the shelter of the board. Half

intact; it is reduced to the condition of a mere golden husk; like the defenceless beetle I have already spoken of, it is as empty as an oyster-she

y; it is to all appearances untouched. Place it on its back; it is hollow, and has no trace of flesh left beneath its carapace. A little later, and I find another empty r

ing reduced at the expense of sound and healthy insects? It is not easy to elucidate the matter, since the atrocities are commonly

gerly munching with her mandibles. The victim, who is in the prime of life, does not defend himself, nor turn upon his assailant. He pulls his hardest in the opposite direction to free himself from those terrible fangs; he advances and recoils as he is overpowered by or overpowers the assassin; and t

R: THE MATING SEAS

RATED BY T

in finally yields; the wound enlarges, and the viscera are removed and devoured by the matron, who empties the carapace, her head buried in the body of her late companion. The legs of the miserable victim tremble, announcing the end. The murdere

etween the middle of June and the 1st of August the inhabitants of the cage, twenty-five in number at the outset, are reduced to five, all of whom

ing the male, having opened the abdomen under the wing-covers, or having at least attempted to do so. As for the rest of the massacres, although direct observation was lac

ture allows himself to be devoured without retaliating. It seems as though an invincible repugnance prevents him from offering resistance and in turn devouring the devourer. This tolerance reminds one of the scorpion of Languedoc, which on the termination of the hymeneal rites allows the female to devour him without attempting to employ his weapon, t

es when the latter have no further use for them. For four months, from April to August, the insects pair off continually; so

head a trifle as a sign of acquiescence, while the cavalier beats the back of her neck with his antenn?. The embrace is brief, and they abruptly separate; after a little refreshment the two parties are re

g lovers; there were five females to twenty males. No matter; there was no ri

ght excess of size was the distinctive sign of the female. My menagerie, so ill-proportioned in the matter of sex, was therefore the result of chance. I do not suppose this preponderance of males exists in natural conditions. On the other hand, one never sees such numerous groups at liberty, in the shelter of the same stone. The Gardener lives an almost solitary li

hey could not thrive better in the open; perhaps not so well, for food is less abundant under natural conditions. In

females to persecute the males whom they no longer require; to fall upon them from the rear and eviscerate them. This pursuit of their one

turned over many stones, but have never chanced upon this spectacle, but what has occurred in my menagerie is sufficient to convince me. What a world these beetles live in, w

e of the Praying Mantis, the Golden Gardener, and the scorpion of Languedoc. An analogous yet less brutal practice-for the victim is defunct before he is eaten

cticus and the Grasshopper are essentially carnivorous. Encountering a dead body of t

breeding season, before the eggs are laid, the Ephippigera turns upon her still

ical thighs, and even swallows a few mouthfuls of the instrumentalist. It is probable that this deadly aversion of the female for the male at the end of the mating season is fa

PTE

IELD-

, will call the superlative virtue of the observer. In April, May, or later we may establish isolated couples in ordinary flower-pots containing a layer of beaten

itute for the cages of wire gauze, although the latter are preferable. We shall return to the point presently

t. Finally she withdrew her oviduct, and effaced, though without particular care, the traces of the hole in which her eggs were deposited, rested for a moment, walked away, and repeated the operation; not once, but many times, first here, then there, all ove

ndrical in form, with rounded ends, and measure about one-tenth of an inch

ulties of the operation will allow, I have estimated the eggs of a single female, upon passing the earth throu

y regular aperture, to the edge of which adheres a little valve like a skull-cap which forms the lid. Instead of breaking at random under the thrusts or the cuts of the n

nd right at the end of the cylinder, a tiny circular capsule or swelling is seen. This marks the line of rupture, which is now preparing. Presently the translucency of the egg al

y have prepared the line of least resistance. The end of the egg, pushed by the head of the inmate, become

or of exit. The egg of the bird breaks clumsily under the blows of a wart-like excrescence which is formed expressly upon the beak of the unborn bir

of a powdery quality, which offers no particular resistance, he soon arrives at the surface, and henceforth knows the joys of the sun, and the perils of intercourse with the living; a tiny, feeble creature, little larger than a flea. His c

is long vibrating antenn?; he toddles and leaps along wit

o not know. I offer him adult diet-the tender leaves of a lettuce. He di

x thousand Crickets, an attractive flock, to be sure, but one I cannot bring up in my ignorance of the treatment requ

have before my door next year if all goes well! But no! There will probably be silence, for the terrible extermination wi

nd the ant. I am afraid this latter, hateful filibuster that it is, will not leave me a single Cricket

ues and never tire of its praises; the naturalists hold it in high esteem and add to its reputation daily; so true

agger; and the ant, the maleficent creature which in the villages of the South of France saps and imperils the rafters and ceilings of a dwelling with the same energy i

es of Crickets in my orchard, so numerous at the outset, were so far decimated that I could

y grown to a considerable size; he is all black, like the adult, without a vestige of the white cincture of the early days. He has no domi

RICKET. A DUEL

CKET. THE DEFEAT

D BY TH

at I have learned from the insect in captivity. The burrow is never made at a bare or conspicuous point; it is always commenced under the shelter of a faded lea

rit or gravel of any size. I see him stamping with his powerful hinder limbs, which are provided with a double row of spines; I s

orifice, always tail first, and always raking and sweeping. If fatigue overcomes him he rests on the threshold of his burrow, his head projecting outwards, his antenn?

me daily. The burrow will be made deeper and wider as the growth of the inmate and the inclemency of the season demand. Even in winter, if the weather is mild, and the sun smiles upon the threshold of his dwelling, one may sometimes surprise the Cr

of the crested lark, which ascends like a lyrical firework, its throat swelling with music, to its invisible station in the clouds, whence it pours its liquid arias upon the plain below. From the ground the chorus of the Crickets replies. It is monotonous and artless, yet how well it harmonises, in its very simplicity, with the rustic gaiety of a world renewed! It is the hosanna of the awak

he source of your music!" Like all things of real value, it is very simple; it is based on the s

gement is the reverse of that exhibited by the green grasshopper, the Decticus, the Ephippigera, and their relations. The Cricket is right-hand

the flank of the abdomen and is covered with fine oblique and parallel nervures. The powerful nervures of the dorsal portion of the wi

e the other, the smaller and posterior, is oval. Each space is surrounded by a strong nervure and goffered by slight wrinkles or depressions. These two spaces represent the mirror

it set all four tympanums vibrating at once; the lower pair by direct friction, the upper pair by the vibration of the wing-cover itself. What a powerful sound results! Th

oud or soft. The wing-covers, as we have seen, are prolonged in a deep fold over each flank. These folds are the dampers, which, as they are pressed downwards or slightly rai

ls rise up against one another, biting at one another's heads-these solid, fang-proof helmets-roll each other over, pick themselves up, and separate. The vanquished Cricke

r to curl it and moisten it with saliva. With his long hind legs, spurred and laced with red, he stamps with impatience and kicks out at nothing. Emot

hide herself in the folds of her lettuce leaves; but she lift

ices, et se cup

id the poet of the delightful eclogue, two thousand years ago. S

PTE

ALIAN

inger little known in the North. The sunny hours of spring have their singer, the Field-Cricket of which I have written; while in the summer, during the stillness of the night, we hear the note of the Italian C

is natural in view of its nocturnal habits. In handling it one is afraid of crushing it between the fingers. It lives an aerial existence; on shrubs and bushes of all kinds, on tall herbage

s, into which the insect strays, attracted thither by the fodder. But no one, so mysterious are the manners of the pallid Cricket, knows exactly what is the s

vibrating membranes. If the insect is not in any way disturbed as it sits in the low foliage, the note does not vary, but at the least noise the performer becomes a ventriloqui

n! It is impossible to detect, by means of the ear, the direction from which the chirp really comes. Much patience and many precautions will be required before you can capture the insect

of vibrating over its whole area. Their shape is that of the segment of a circle, cut away at the upper end. This segment is bent at a right ang

fth runs approximately at right angles to these. This last nervure, which is of a slightly reddish hue, is the fundamental element of the musical device; it is, in short, the bow, the fiddlestick, as is pr

bow, the callosity, and the nervures occupy the upper face. It will be found that

il, only touching along the internal edges. The two bows, the toothed nervures, engage obliquely one w

ALIAN

ated or wrinkled, or on one of the four smooth radiating nervures. Thus in part are explained the illusions pr

s another and easily discovered source. To produce the loud, open sounds the wing-covers are fully lifted; to produce the muted, muffled notes they are low

ome from a distance. The White Cricket knows this secret of acoustics. It misleads those that seek it by pressing the edge of its vibrating membranes to the soft fles

owering the elytra so as to enclose the abdomen in a varying degree, but none of them

purity of the sound, and its soft tremolo. I know of no insect voice more gracious, more limpid, in the profound peace of the nights of August.

t lavender. The shrubs and the terebinth-trees contain their orchestras. With its clear, sweet voice, all this tiny world is questioning, replyi

lpitates the insect symphony. The atom telling of its joys makes me forget the spectacle of the stars. We know no

the secret of life. What is there, up there? What do these suns warm? Worlds analogous to ours, says reason; planets on which life is evolving in an endless variety of forms. A superb conception of the universe, but after all a pure c

I lean against the hedge of rosemary, I bestow only an absent glance upon the constellation of Cygnus, but give all my attent

PTE

ETLE.-THE INSTI

n the father a general indifference as to the fate of the family. Very few insects form exceptions to this rule. Although all are imbued with a mating instinct that is almost frenzied, near

lp, to fill their mouths and stomachs, provided they find themselves in propitious surroundings. All that the prosperity of the race demands of the Pierides, or Cabbage Butterflies, is that they should deposit their eggs on the leaves of the cabbage; wh

lf the moment it is hatched; or a site which will allow the young to find their proper sustenance for themselves. There is no need of a father in these various cases. After mating, the discar

t both of food and of shelter in advance. The Hymenoptera in particular are past-masters in the provision of cellars, jars, and other utensi

her only, who wears herself out at her task. The father, intoxicated with sunlight, lies idle on the threshold of the workshop, w

perhaps alleging the excuse of his relative weakness. But this is a poor excuse; for to cut out little circles from a leaf, to rake a little cotton from a downy plant, or to gather a little mortar from a muddy spot, would hardly b

ale of the genus, in whom we should expect the requirements of the young to develop the highest aptitudes, is as useless as a

-beetle keep house together and know the worth of mutual labour. Consider the male and female Geotrupes, which prepare together the patrimony of their larv?; in their case the father

are fully as interesting. All three are members of the corporation of dung-beetles. I will relate their habits, but b

stinacy is perpetually leading it. In allusion to these frantic gymnastics Latreille has given the insect the name of Sisyphus, after the celebrated inmate of the classic Hades. This unhappy spirit underwent terrible exertions in his efforts to heave to the top of a mountain a

for my own part, I left many blood-stained tatters on the crags of the inhospitable mountain; I sweated, strained every nerve, exhausted my veins, spent without reckoning my reserves of energy, in order to carry upward and lodge in a place of security that cr

is sometimes food for himself, sometimes for his offspring. He is very rare hereabouts; I should never have succeeded in obtaining a sufficient num

le, his great delight. At a distance of twenty yards his clear sight distinguishes the refuse-tip of a beetle's burrow from a chance lump of earth; his fine ear will catch the chirping of a

nsectorium, in which the Scarab?us makes his balls; his garden, the size of a handkerchief, in which he grows haricot beans, which are often dug up to see if the little roots are growing longer; his

he lifeless study of books with the living study of the fields; if only the red tape of the curriculum, so dear to bureaucrats, would not strangle all willing initiative. Little Paul and I will stud

knapsack the usual viaticum-apples and a crust of bread. The month of May is near; the Sisyphus should have appeared. Now we must explore at the foot of the mountain, the scanty pastures through which the herds have passed; we

of dislodging the beetle. He shows such zeal, has such an instinct for likely hiding-places, that after a brief search I am rich b

ne. Their shape is extremely curious. The body is dumpy, tapering to an acorn-shaped posterior; the legs are very long, resembling those of the spide

y arrives. With equal zeal the two partners take part in the kneading, transport, and baking of the food for their offspring. With the file-like forelegs a morsel of convenient size is shaped fro

he ball. Before it is moved, even before it is cut loose from its point of support, the fragment is modelled into the

nt. Her long hinder legs on the soil, her forelegs on the ball, she drags it towards her as she walks backwards. The father pushes behind, moving tail first, his head held low. This is exactly the method of the Scarab?us beetles, which also work in c

be avoided by a leader who hauls backwards. But even if the Sisyphus saw the obstacles she would no

e for his legs, clutches the ball, grows on to it, so to speak, thus adding his weight to that of the burden, and awaits events. The effort is too great to last. Ball and beetle fall together. The mother, fro

n the air. This is a mere nothing. They pick themselves up and resume their positions, always quick and lively. The accidents which so often throw them on their backs seem to cause them no concern; one would even t

etween his hind legs, which are raised in the air. He juggles with the precious burden; he tests its perfections between his curved legs, calliper-wise. Seeing him frisking in this joyful occupation, who can doubt that he experiences all the satisfactions of a father assured of the future

head. Soon the pit is deep enough to receive the ball; she cannot dispense with the close contact of the sacred object; she must feel it bobbing behind her, against her back, safe from all parasites and robbers, before she can decide to burrow further. She fear

es well. Digging is resumed, and the descent continues, always with the same prudence; one beetle dragging the load, the other regulating its descent and clearing away all rubbish that might hinder the

n can be of no assistance, the mother habitually delays her reappearance until the following day. When she finally emerges the father wakes up, leaves his hiding place, and rejoins her. The reun

cake of droppings, forget the fair confectioners for whom they have worked as journeymen, and devote themselves to the services of others, encountered by chance; there must

s destined to be the inheritance of a larva; he shares in the work of transport, even if he plays a secondary part; he watches over the pellet when the mother is absent, seeking for a suitable site

is selfish; the two partners labour only for their own good. The feast is for themselves alone. In the labours that concern the family the female Scarab?us receives no assistance. Alone she moulds her sphere, extracts it from the lump and rolls it backwards, with her back to her task, i

around at her work. Its very exiguity proves that the male cannot remain underground; so soon as the chamber is ready he must

ed ball of the Scarab?us, a reproduction whose very smallness gives an added value to the polish of the surface and the beauty of it

arts. Part of the surface, which is otherwise intact, disappears under a shapeless mass. The origin of these knotted excrescences completely deceived me at first. I

serve of excreta in this hunch enables it to seal accidental perforations of the shell of its lodging with an instantaneous jet of m

sposal, while evading the necessity of opening temporary windows by which the ordure can be expelled. Whether for lack of sufficient room, or for other reasons which

at some point on the surface; the wall softens, becomes thinner, and then, through the softened shell, a jet of dark green excreta

t could not employ within. This practice of forming oubliettes in the shell of its prison does not endanger the grub, as they are immediately closed, and hermetically sealed by the base of the jet, which is compressed

air is mild. In the first fortnight of July, before the terrible dog-days have arrived, the members of its family break their shells and set forth in search of the heap of droppings which will furnish them with food and lod

of more than nine to each couple; a figure which the Scarab?us sacer is far from attaining. To what should we attribute this superior fertility? I can only see one

TER

: THE PHILAN

the matter closely. The double diet is more apparent than real; the stomach which fills itself with the nectar of flowers does not gorge itself with flesh. When she perforates the rump of her victim the Odynerus does not touch the flesh, which is a diet absolutely contrary to her tastes; she confines herself to drinking the defensive liquid which the grub distils at the end of its intestine. For her this liquid is doubtless a beverage of delicious flavour, with which she relieves from time

secondary detail, and impracticable with game of a different kind. But there may well be a certain amount of variety in the means of direct utilisation. Why, for example, when the victim which has just been paralysed or rendered insensible by stinging contains in the stomach a delicious

tion also: I wanted to study, absolutely at leisure, the methods by which the various predatory species dealt with their victims. In the case of Philanthus I made use of the improvised cage already described; and Philanthus it was who furnished me with my first data on the subject. She responded to my hopes with such energy that I thought myself in possession of an unequalled method of observation, by means of which I could witness again and again, to satiety even, incidents of a kind so difficult to surprise in a state of nature

quiet down, and the brigand begins to notice her surroundings. The antenn? point forward, seeking information; the hinder legs are drawn up with a slight trembling, as of greed and rapacity, in the thighs; the head turns to the right and the left, and follows the evolu

pon its back, and Philanthus, mouth to mouth and abdomen to abdomen, clasps it with her six legs, while she seizes its neck in her mandibles. The abdomen is then curved forward and gropes for a moment for the desired spot in the upper part of the thorax, which it

e bee into the proper position for the final stroke, she swings the poor creature round and back again with the careless roughness of a child dandling a doll. Her pose is magnificent, solidly based upon her sustaining tripod, the two poster

ow many assassinations in captivity. Without a single exception, the bee has always been stung in the throat. In the preparations for the final blow the extremity of the abdomen may of course touch here and there, at different points of the thorax or abdome

s point attacked rather than another? Is it the only point that is vulnerable? Stretch open the articulation of the corselet to the rear of the first pair of legs. There you will see an area of defenceless skin, fully as delicate as that of the throat, but much more extensive. The horny armour of the bee has no larger breach. If the Philanthus were guided solely by considerations of vulnerability she woul

with which my previous studies of paralysed victims have made me familiar: the antenn? slowly waving, the mandibles opening and closing, the palp? trembling for days, for weeks, even for months. The thighs tremble for a minute or two at most; and the struggle is over. Henceforth there is c

vital centres being poisoned, immediate death must follow. If the object of the Philanthus were merely to cause paralysis she would plunge her sting into the defective corselet, as does the Cerceris in attacking the weev

aralysis only. What art, to destroy a miserable bee! In what fencing-school did the slayer learn that terrible upward thrust beneath the chin? And as she has learned it, how is it that her victim, so learned in matters of architecture, so conversant with the politics of Socialism, has so far learned nothing in her own defence? As vigorous as the aggressor, she also carries a rapier, which is even more formidable and more painful in its results-at all events, when my finger is the victim! For centuries and centuries Philanthus has stored her cellars with the corpses of bees, yet the innocent victim submits, and the annual decimation of her race

e to imprisonment has passed the bee takes next to no notice of its terrible neighbour. I have seen it side by side with Philanthus on the same flower; assassin and future victim were drinking from the same goblet. I have seen it stupidly coming to inquire what the stranger might be, as the latter crouched watching on the floor. When the murderer springs it is usually upon some bee which passes before her, and throws itself, so to speak, into her clutches; either thou

. These blows have no serious results. In the position assumed by the two as they struggle the abdomen of the Philanthus is inside and that of the bee outside; thus the sting of the latter has under its point only the dorsal face of the enemy, which is convex a

on is abandoned, and the ventral area, more vulnerable than the back, is exposed to the sting of the bee. Now the dead bee retains for some minutes the reflex use of the sting, as I know to my cost: for removing the bee too soon from the aggressor, and ha

ulent but pacific Eristales; it was one of the bees, which by chance had thrust truly in the mellay. When and how? I do not know. This accident is unique in my experience; but it throws a light upon the question. The bee is capable of withstanding its adversary; it can, with a thrust of its envenomed needle, kill the would-be killer. That it does not defend itself more skilfully when it falls into the hands o

, and often also in the more ample articulation of the corselet, behind the first pair of legs; perfectly aware of the fine membrane in that part, although it does not take advantage of the fact when employing its sting, although this vulnerable point is the more accessible of the two breaches in the bee's armour. I see it squeezing the bee's stomach, compressing it with it

the neck and the thorax, and once more applies the pressure of its abdomen to the honey-sac of the bee. The honey oozes forth and is instantly licked up. This odious meal at the expense of the corpse is taken in a truly sybaritic attitude: the Philanthus lies upon its side with the bee between its legs. This atrocious meal lasts often half an hour and long

te without appeasing the bandit. I have offered a fourth, a fifth; all are accepted. My notes record that a Philanthus sacrificed six bees in succession before my eyes, and emptied them all of honey in the approved manner. The killing came to an end not because the glutton was satiated, but because m

their cups of nectar. The male, indeed, being stingless, knows no other means of supporting himself. The mothers, without neglecting the flowers as a general thing, live by brigandage as well. It is said of the Labba, that pirate of the seas, that it pounces upon sea-birds as they rise from the waves with captured fish in their beaks. With a blow of t

desired prey-not always an easy proceeding-I have planted a few heads of flowers and a couple of thistle-heads sprinkled with drops of honey, renewed at need. On these my captives feed. In the case of the Philanthus the honeyed flowers, although welcomed, are not i

e condiment, the aromatic juice of the anal pouch; the Philanthus demands a full diet, or at least a notable supplement thereto, in the form of the contents of the stomach. What a hecatomb

arv?; without having recourse to the bloody extirpation of the stomach, the Philanthus intends to obtain its honey. By skilful manipulation, by cunning massage, she must somehow make the bee disgorge. Suppose the bee stung in the rear of the corselet and paralysed. It is deprived of locomotion, but not of vitality. The digestive apparatus, in particular, retains in full, or at least in part, its normal energies, as is proved by the frequent dejections of paralysed victims so long as the intestine is not emptied; a fact notably exemplified by the victims of the Sphex family; helpless creatures which I have before now kept al

thief. We see, therefore, that the Philanthus is obliged to inflict a sudden death which instantly destroys the contractile power of the organs. Where shall the deadly blow be deliver

isgorge, in emptying the crop distended with honey, this diabolical skill cannot be merely an alimentary resource, above all when in common with other insects she has access to the refectory of the flowers. I cannot regard her talents as inspired solely

or the truth, and the checks encountered in the search, and give him the results of my long inquiry. Everything has its appropriate and harmonious reason. I am too fully persuaded of this to believ

s waste, which will shrivel where it lies and be dissected by ants. If, on the other hand, she intends to place it in the larder as a provision for her larv?, she clasps it with her two intermediate legs, and, walking on the other four, drags it to and fro along the edge of the bell-glass in search of an exit so that she may fly off with her prey. Having recognised the circular wall as impassable, she climbs its sides, now holding the bee in her mandibles by the antenn?, clinging as she climbs

true corpses; they are manipulated, squeezed, exhausted of their honey, just as the

was already settled by what occurred in captivity. My scrupulous watching at various times was rewarded. The majority of the hunters immediately entered their nests, carrying the bees pressed against their bodies; some halted on the neighbouring undergrowth; a

y be obliged to follow the method of the Bembex, whose larva receives, at intervals, the necessary nourishment; the amount increasing as the larva grows. The facts confirm this deduction. I spoke just now of the tediousness of my watching when watching the colonies of the Philanthus. It was perhaps even more tedious than when I was keeping an eye upon the Bembex. Before the burrows of Cerceris

d expedition. Two captures by the same huntress is the most that I have seen in my long watches. Once the family is provided with sufficient food for the moment the mother postpones further hunting trips until hunting becomes necessary, and busies h

ded by hands more vigorous but less expert than my own, are indispensable; but the conduct of the excavation is anything but satisfactory. At the extremity of the long gallery-it seems as thou

upport. It reminds one of a short club, planted by the end of the handle, in a line with the horizontal axis of the cell. Other cells contain the larva in a stage more or less advanced. The grub is eating the last victim proffered; around it lie the remains of food already consumed. Others, again, show me a bee, a single bee, still intact, and hav

; but to slaughter it in order to empty its stomach-no, gluttony cannot be the only motive. And as the bees placed in the cells are squeezed dry no less than the others, the idea occurs to me that as a beefsteak garnished with confitures is not to every one's taste, so the bee sweetened with honey may well be distasteful or even harmful to the larv? of the Philanthus. What would the

guish, show themselves disdainful of their food, give a negligent bite here and there, and finally, one and all, die beside their uncompleted meal. All my attempts miscarry; not once do I succeed in rearing my larv? as far as the stage of spinning the cocoon. Yet I am no novice in my duties as dry-nurse. How many pupils have passed through my hands and have reached the final st

ee is largely consumed. If hesitation and repugnance were manifested at this point they came too late to be conclusive; the sickness of the larv? might be due to other causes, known or unknown. We must offer honey at the very beginning, before artificial rearing has

hesitates for a long time; then, urged by hunger, begins again; tries first on one side, then on another; in the end it refuses to touch the bee agai

bed at the first bites? I cannot say; but, whether poisonous or merely repugnant, the bee smeared with honey is always fatal to them; a fa

of medium growth, to avoid the vicissitudes of extreme youth; I collect the bodies of the grubs and insects which form their natural diet and smear each body with honey, in which condition I return them to the larv?. A distinction is apparent: all the larv? are not equally suited to my experiment. Those larv? must be rejected which are n

il a later period. As I have shown in a previous volume, the grub of the Scolia has taught me much in this respect. The only larv? acceptable for this experiment are those which are fed on a number of small insects, which are attacked without any special art, dismembered at random, and quickly consumed. Among such larv? I have experimented with those provided by chance-those of various Bembeces, fed on Diptera; those of the Palaris,

nge occurs in the stomach of the insect that the adult should passionately seek that which the larva refuses under peril of death? It is no question of organic debility unable to support a diet too substantial, too hard, or too highly spiced. The grubs which consume the larva of the Cetoni?, for example (the Rose-chafers), those which feed upon the leathery crick

uld obviously be courting a flat refusal to offer a heap of young crickets to the larv? of the Anthophorus and the Osmia, for example; the honey-fed grub would not bite such food. It would be absolutely useless to make such an experiment. We must find the equivalent of

lbumen, graduating the dose of the latter so that its weight largely exceeds that of the bee-bread. Thus I obtain pastes of various degrees of consistency, but all firm enough to support

ified according to my recipes. All is eaten; even the portions which I feared contained an excessive proportion of albumen. Moreover-a matter of still greater importance-the larv? of the Osmia fed

ther isomer of albumen. The gramnivorous nestling is fed first upon worms and grubs, which are best adapted to the delicacy of its stomach; many newly born creatures among the lower orders, being immediately left to their own devices, live on animal diet. In this way the original method of alimentation is continued-the method which builds flesh out of flesh and makes bloo

he point of interrogation, already encountered elsewhere, erects itself once again. Why is the larva of the Osmia, which thrives upon albumen, actually fed upon honey d

he egg, as do many adult insects also. But the struggle to fill the belly, which is actually the struggle for life, demands something better than the precarious chances of the chase. Man, at first an eager hunter of game, collected flocks and became a shepherd in order to p

endants to-day; they devoured the victim entire. From beginning to end they remained carnivorous. Later there were fortunate innovators, whose race supplanted the more conservative element, who discovered an inexhaustible source of nourishment, to be obtained without painful search or dangerous conflict: the saccharine exudation of the flowers. The wasteful sys

ng exclusively agricultural, this insect has acquired a degree of moral and physical prosperity that the predatory species are far from sharing. Hence the flourishing colonies of the Anthophor?, the Osmi

h as we like to look for in a host of "transformist" arguments which are put forward as irrefutable. Well, I make a present of my deductive theory to whosoever

of violent affirmations and malign interpretations. Undeceived by the facts, I hasten to apologise and express my esteem for the Philanthus. In emptying the stomach of the bee the mother is performing the most praiseworthy of all duties; she is guarding her family against poison. If she sometimes kills on her own account and abandons the body after exhausting it of h

process must be effected without wounding the victim, for the larva must receive the latter fresh and moist; and this would be impracticable if the insect were paralysed on account of the natural resistance of the organs. The bee must therefore be killed outright instead of being paralysed, otherwise the honey could not be removed. Instantaneous death can be assured only by a lesion of the primordial centre of life. The st

tself a small insect; the Cerceris ornata, Fabr., which also kills Halictus; and the Polaris flavipes, Fabr., which by a strange eclecticism fills its cells with specimens of most of the Hymenoptera which are not beyond its powers. What do these four huntresses, and others of similar habits, do with their victims when the crop

PTE

EACOCK, OR

livery of chestnut velvet and its collar of white fur? The greys and browns of the wings are crossed by a paler zig-zag, and bordered with smoky white; and in the

f black hairs are set pearls of a turquoise-blue. The burly brown cocoon, which is notable for its curious tunnel of exit, like an eel

her immediately, all damp with the moisture of metamorphosis, in a cover of wire gauze. I had no particular intentio

next to mine. Little Paul, half undressed, was rushing to and fro, running, jumping, stamping, and overturning the chairs as if p

on. It was an invasion of giant butterflies; an invasion hitherto unexampled in our house. Four we

my mind. "Put on your togs, kiddy!" I told my son; "put down yo

In the kitchen we met the servant; she too was bewildered by the state of affairs. Sh

or less. What would it be upstairs, where the prisoner was, the cause of this inv

EACOCK OR E

turning, mounting to the ceiling, re-descending. They rushed at the candle and extinguished it with a flap of the wing; they fluttered on our shoulders, clung to our clothing, gra

the total must have been nearly forty. It was a memorable sight-the Night of the Great Peacock! Come from all points of the compass, warn

ngered the visitors; they threw themselves into it stupidly and singed themselves slightly. On

Every night, when it was quite dark, between eight and ten o'clock, the butterflies arrived one by one. The weather was stormy; the sky heavily cl

make a kind of outer vestibule to the entrance; it is protected from the mistral by groups of pines and screens of cypress. A thicket of evergreen shrubs forms a rampart at a

its single pupils, goes forward without hesitation, and threads the obstacles without contact. So well it directs its tortuous flight that, in spite of all the ob

ordinary sight could not be the sense that warns the butterfly at a distance and brings

t concerning the precise position of the attractive object. I have mentioned that the nursery on the other side of the house to my study, which was the actual goal of the visitors, was full of butterflies before a light was taken

. When the captive was in my study the butterflies did not all enter by the open window, the direct and easy way, the captive being only a few yards fro

nown to our physical science. Something other than radiant energy warned them at a distance, led them to the neighbourhood of the precise spot, and left the final discovery to be made after a

s the antenn?; in the male butterfly they actually seem to be sounding, interrogating empty space with their long feathery plumes. Are these splendid plumes merely items of

the second window, which had remained closed. The others, having concluded their ballet by about ten o'clock at night, had left as they had

e moved; there was scarcely a flutter of the wings. Their condition was excellent; the wound did not seem to be in the least serious. They were not perturbed by ph

the mutilated butterflies at the moment of resuming their nocturnal flight; the difficulty of the search must not be lessened. I therefore r

y had fallen on the floor, and no longer had the strength to recover themselves if turned over on their backs. They were exha

cted them the night before? Deprived of their antenn?, would they be able to fin

room, of which I closed the door. This gradual elimination allowed me to count the visitors exactly without danger of counting the same butterfly more than once. Moreover, the provisional

operated on earlier in the day, which were strong enough to leave my study and fly back to the fields, only one had returned to the cage. A poor result, in

n the ground, almost inert. Taken between the fingers, several of them gave scarcely a sign of life. Little was to be h

ft open for the rest of the day. Those might leave who could; those could join in the carnival who were able. In order to put those that might leave the room to the test of a search, the cag

y returned to the cage that night? Not one. My captives that night were only seven, all new-comers, all wearing antenn?. This result seemed

nsions similar to Master Mouflard's? Deprived of their beautiful plumes, were they ashamed to appear in the midst of their rivals, and to prefer their suits? Was it

I removed a little of the hair from the centre of the corselet or neck. This slight tonsure did not inconvenience the insects, so easily was the silky fur removed, nor did

, of course, was again in a new place. In two hours I captured twenty butterflies, of whom two were tonsured; no mo

ar, although furnished with their supposed guides, their antenn?? To this I can see only o

ance, in spite of obstacles. A few hours, for two or three nights, are given to its search, its nuptial flights. If it cannot profit by them, all is ended; the compass fails, t

d from the servitude of the stomach, has no means of restoring its strength. Its buccal members are mere vestiges, useless simulacra, not real organs able to perform their duties. Not a sip of honey can ever enter its stomach; a magnificent prerogative, if it is not long

d? By no means. Like those marked with the tonsure, which had undergone no damaging operation, they proved only that their time was finished. Mutilated or intact, they could do no more on

one part of the house, now to another. I caught them with the net and released them as soon as captured in a clos

ing absolutely undiscoverable, in my immediate neighbourhood the cocoons of the Great Peacock are at least extremely rare, as the trees on which they are found are not common. For two winters I visited all the decrepit almond-trees at hand, inspected them all at the base of the trunk, under

had entered the open window; but how could it help them out of doors, among unfamiliar surroundings? Even the fabulous eye of the lynx, which could see through walls, would not be

ear. Does she perhaps emit vibrations of such delicacy or rapidity that only the most sensitive microphone could appreciate them? The idea is barely possible;

r search. Are there effluvia analogous to what we call odour: effluvia of extreme subtlety, absolutely imperceptible to us, yet capable of stimulating a sense-organ far more sensitive than our own? A simple

l of the same substance. When the hour of the nocturnal visit arrived I had only to stand at the door of the room to smell a smell as of a gas-works. Well, my artifice failed.

inth day, exhausted by her fruitless period of waiting, the female died, having first deposited her barre

preparations for repeating at will the experiments already made an

to buy caterpillars

he fields, finding from time to time the Great Peacock caterpillar, and bringing it to me clinging to the end of a stick. They did not dar

tion. Friends interested in my researches came to my aid. Finally, after some trouble, what with an open market, commercial negotiations, and searching, at the cost of many

been. Winter returned. The mistral shrieked, tore the budding leaves of the plane-trees, and scattered them over the grou

r none came from without. Yet there were some in the neighbourhood, for those with large antenn? which issued from my collection of cocoons were placed in the garden directly they had emerged, and w

ed by heat and lessened by cold as is the case with many odours. My year was lost. Research is disappoint

rned I was tolerably provided. The season was fine, responding to my hopes. I foresaw the affluence of butterflies

There was no movement on her part; not even a flutter of the wings. One would have thought her indifferent to all that occurred. No odour was emitted that was p

his best to penetrate the enclosure, without betraying any sign of jealousy of the others. Tiring of their fruitless attempts, they would fly away and join the dance of the gyrating crowd. Some, in despair, would escape by

right wing of the house, or fifty yards away in the left wing; in the open air, or hidden in some distant room. All these sudden removals, d

ered about the cage for a couple of hours, and some even passed the night there. On the following day, at sunset, when I moved the cage, all were out of doors. Although t

rch elsewhere. No; contrary to my expectation, nothing of the kind appeared. None came to the spot which had been so crowded the night before; none paid even a passing visit. The room was r

night, must have been able to see her by the vague luminosity of what for us is the dark. What would happen if I imprisone

le surrounding neighbourhood, to warn pretenders at a distance of a mile or more, does the newly emerged female make use of electric or magnetic waves, known or unknown, that a screen of one material would arrest wh

-plate, wood, and cardboard. All were hermetically closed, even sealed with

e evening were propitious. Whatever its nature, whether of glass, metal, card, or woo

female in a large glass jar, and laced a piece of thin cotton batting over the mou

of their search lay in the cage of open wire-work freely exposed on a table. I have a vivid memory of one evening when the recluse was hidden in a hat-box at the bottom of a wall-cupboard. The arrivals went straight

the signals of the female. To give them free passage and allow them to penetrate to a distance one condition is indispensable: the enclosure in which the captive is confined must not be hermet

follow it in all its intimate actions. The lover needs no light to attain his ends; but my imperfect human vision cannot penetrate the darkness. I should require a candle at least, and a candle would be constantly e

er. The moment they enter, they rush frantically at the flame, singe their down, and thereupon, terrified by the heat, are of no profit to the observer. If, in

ACOCK MOTH.

Y THE LIGH

re-gauze cover, crowding eagerly about the prisoner; others, saluting her in passing, flew to the lamp, circled round it a few times, and then, fascinated by the luminous splendour radiating from the opal cone of light, clung th

day they were still there. The intoxication of the

moment the observer requires artificial light. I renounced the Great Peacock and its nocturnal habits. I r

e chronological order of my record in order to say a few words concerning another insect, which appear

like that of the Great Peacock, but considerably less in size. The anterior extremity, which is defended by an arrangement of fine twigs, converging, and free at the converging ends, forming a device not unlike an e

gauze cover in my study. I opened the window to allow news of the event to reach the surrounding country, and left it open so that such

hich were grouped, in concentric crescents, black, white, red, and yellow ochre: almost the colouring of the Great Peacock, but more vivid. Three or four times in my life I had encountered this butterfly, so remarkable for its size an

the Lesser Peacock seem to be in our country? Would he, in some distant hedge, receive warning of the bride

enly ran to rejoin us, his cheeks glowing. Between his fingers we saw the fluttering wings of a handsome butterfly, c

m we are waiting for. Fold your napkin and co

one by one. All came from the north. This detail is significant. A week earlier there had been a savage return of the winter. The bise blew tempestuously, killing the early almond blossom.

by fragrant atoms suspended in the air, they should have arrived in the opposite direction. Coming from the south, we might believe them to be warned by effluvia carried on the wind; coming from the north in time of mistral, that resistles

thus hesitating you would say that they were puzzled to find the exact position of the lure which called them. Although they had come from such a distance without a mistake, they seemed imperfectly inf

what I had already learned. I will confine myself to stating two facts. In the first place, the Lesser Peacock is diurnal; that is to say, it celebrates its mating under the dazzling brilliance of noon. It needs the full force of the

ticles that might inform the sense of smell, does not prevent the butterflies from arriving f

came too late, when I had nothing to ask of it, but another, no matter what, pr

PTE

GGAR, OR

ring, who frequented the house as a dealer in turnips and tomatoes, arrived one day with his basket of vegetables. Having received the few halfpence expected by his mother as the price of the garden-s

all have lots of rides on the wooden horses. In the meantime here is a penny for you. Don't forget it when you make up your accounts; don't mix it with your

ocoon, firm to the touch and of a tawny colour. A brief reference to the text-books almost convinced me that this was a cocoon of the Bomb

in captivity, in the interior of an apartment, and even in a closed box. It was far from the country, amidst the tumult of a large city. Nevertheless, the event was known to those concerned

eyes, and at the same time to devise experiments, is quite another thing. Wha

e of the male; a monk's robe of a modest rusty red. But in the case of the female the brown fustian gives

nty years. It is true that I am not a fervent butterfly-catcher; the dead insect of the collector's cabinet has little interest for me; I must have it living, in the exercise of its functions. But although

y their children, sharp-sighted snappers-up of trifles; I myself hunted often under heaps of withered leaves; I inspected stone-heaps and visited hollow tree-trunks. Useless p

usual wire cover in the centre of my laboratory table, littered as it was with books, bottles, trays, boxes, test-tubes, and other apparatus. I have explained the situation in speaking of the Great Peacock.

front of the wire cover, on the side nearest to the light, the prisoner was motionless, inert. There was no os

s have not the least idea she elaborated a mysterious lure which would bring her lovers from the four corners of the sky.

success, for the days were passing and nothing had occurred, when towards three in the afternoon, the weather be

re resting as though exhausted by a long journey. I could see others approaching in the distance, flying over the walls, over the screens of cypress. The

, as being about sixty in number, so far as the movement and confusion allowed me to count them at all. After circling a few times over the cage many of them went to the open window, but returned immediately to recommence their evolutions. The most eager alighted on

ardour of the butterflies also cooled. Many went out not to return. Others took up their positions to wait for the gaieties of the following day; they clung to the cross-bars of the closed window as the mal

on on account of its exceptionally small size. Preoccupied with the events of the afternoon, and absent-minded, I hastily placed the predatory insect under the

the little Mantis devouring the great moth. The head and the fore part of the thorax had already disappeared. Horrible creature! at what an evil hour you came

. Considering the rarity of the Oak Eggar, and remembering the years of fruitless search on the part of my helpers and myse

f stones in my neighbourhood had become familiar to me, and I can assert that the Oak Eggar was not to be found there. For such a swarm to collec

in fell into my hands. Both produced females, at an interval of a few days towa

ght. They laughed at all my tricks. Infallibly they found the prisoners in their wire-gauze prisons, no matter in what part of the house they were placed; they discovered them in the depths of a wall-cupboard; they

ete ignorance of the recluse. Not a single one arrived, even when the box was exposed and plain to see on the window-sill. Thus the

t would mask the extra-subtle emanations of the female, which were imperceptible to human olfactory organs. I repeated the e

thaline; others the essential oil of spike-lavender; others petroleum, and others a solution of alkaline sulphur giving off a stench of rotten eggs. Short of asphyxi

of sulphuretted hydrogen were predominant. I must add that tobacco was habitually smoked in this room, and in abundance. The concerted od

r to add to their difficulties. Seeing nothing when once they had entered, and immersed in an extraordinary atmosphere in which any subtle fragrance should hav

eacock, I ought logically to have abandoned the theory that the moths are guided to their wedding festivities by means of strongly scented effluvia. That I

rt. The glass was set upon a table facing the open window. Upon entering the room the moths could not fail to see the prisoner, as she stood directly in the way. The tray, containing a layer of sand, on which the female had passed the pre

s, where the female was plainly to be seen, the light falling full upon her prison. Not a glance, not an inquiry. Th

, until sunset, the moths danced about the empty cage the same saraband that the actual presence of the female had previo

ded by the sense of sight; they passed the bell-glass actually containing the female without halting for a moment, although

sometimes resting on the sand in the tray. Whatever she touched-above all, apparently, with her distended abdomen-was impregnated, as a result of long contact, with a certa

es of wire and the sand on which the magic philtre had been poured; they crowded round the des

communication between the inside and the outside was insufficient, and the males, perceiving no odour, did not arrive so long as that condition of things obtained. It was plain that this failure of transmission was not due to the action of the glass as a screen simply, for if I established a free communication b

he morning I established the female under the usual wire-gauze cover. For support I gave her a little twig of oak as before. There,

turated with the emanations, and laid it on a chair not far from the open window. On the other

, came and went, always in the neighbourhood of the window, not far from which was the chair on which the twig lay. None made for the large table, on

they explored it over and under, probed it, raised it, and displaced it so that the twig finally fell to the floor. None the less they continued to probe between the leaves. Unde

l object of their desires was there, close by, under a wire cover which was not even veiled. None took any note of it. On the floor, a handful of butterflies were still hustling the bunch of leaves on which the female had reposed that morning; others, o

-bed of wood, glass, marble, and metal. All these objects, after a contact of sufficient duration, had the same attraction for the males as the female moth herself. They retained this property for a longer or shorter time, according to their nature. Cardboard, flannel, dust, sand, and p

rrow-necked bottle, just permitting of the passage of a male moth. The visitors entered the vessels, struggled, and did not know how to extricate themselves. I had devised a trap by means of which I could exterminate

ile female emits an odour of extreme subtlety, imperceptible to our own olfactory sense-organs. Even with their noses touching the m

for any length of time, when this object becomes a centre of attract

g-place, around which the visitors had crowded, there was no visible t

ouch and placed elsewhere the female loses her attractiveness for the moment and is an object of indifference; it

organs must settle to their work. Born in the morning, the female of the Great Peacock moth sometimes has visitors the night of the same day; but more

"feelers" as a kind of directing compass?-I resumed, but without attaching much importance to the matter, my previous experiment of amputation. None of those operated on returned. Do

orchard I find its cocoon, which is easily confounded with that of the Oak Eggar. I was at first deceived by the resemblance. From six cocoons, which I expected to yield Oak Eggars, I obtained

are of what was passing in my study? Why did their feathery "feelers" leave them in ignorance of events which would have brought flocks of the othe

PTE

TER: THE BOLB

t nothing very remarkable as compared with the surprises reserved for us by the future, when, better instructed as to the why and wherefore of things than no

the insufficiency of our impressions, and the very indifferent efficacy of our sense-or

the fallen mule from the heights of the clouds; the blind bats guided their flight without collision through the inextricable labyrinth of threads devised by Spallanzani; the carrier pigeon, at a hundred leagues from home, infallibly

animal goes forward, scenting the wind, at a moderate pace. He stops, questions the soil with his nostrils, and, without excitement, scratches

ts the digger, sniffing at the bottom of the hole. Have no fear that stones and roots will con

e nasal passages of the animal are the seat of the perceptive organ; but is the thing perceived always a simple smell in the vulgar accep

there was not much outside show about him, this artist that I so desired to see at work; a dog of doubtful breed, placid and

titor, admitted me of his company, a favour of which he was not prodigal. From the moment of his regarding me not as an apprentice, but merely as a curious spectator, who drew and wro

by his paw should be excavated, and the object indicated was to be extracted without reference to its marketable value. In no case was the experience of the master to intervene in order to divert the dog from a spot where the

dog obtained for me both large and small, fresh and putrid, odorous and inodorous, fragrant and offensive. I

s, of sour cabbage; some were fetid, sufficiently so to make the house of the collector noisome. Only the true truffle possessed the aroma dear to epicures. If odour, as we understand it, is the dog's only guide, how does he manage

ned the cryptogam pushing back the soil with its button-like heads, these points, where the ordinary fungoid odour was certainly very pronounced, were never selected by the d

must perceive effluvia of another order as well; entirely mysterious to us, and therefore not utilised. Light has its dark rays-rays without effect upon our ret

ves, at least it is clear that it would be erroneous to refer everything to human standards. The world of sensations is far larger than the limits

show as no more than a wretched gleaning. Under the sickle of science will one day fall the sheaves whose grain would appear to-day as senseless paradoxes. Scie

ter under the soil, at a depth of a foot or two; he must have the help of a dog or a pig, whose scent is able to discover the secrets of the soil. These secrets are know

is found in human excrement in the autumn. The latter finds its refuge on the surface of the soil, at the foot of a wall or hedge or under a bush; but how does the former know just where the truffle lies under the soil, or at what depth? To penetrate to that depth, or to seek in the subsoil, is impossible. Its fragile limbs, barely able to move a grain of sand, its extended wings, which would bar all progre

ns; it has the talents of the truffle-dog, and doubtless in a higher degree, for it knows natu

sible; the insect is rare, flies off quickly when alarmed, and is lost to view. To observe it closely under such conditions would mean a

ras gallicus, Muls. By rubbing the end of the abdomen against the edge of the wing-cases it produces a gentle chirping sound like the cheeping of nestlin

ffered it the kind of diet most appreciated by its supposed relatives, but never, never would it touch such food. For whom did I take it? Fi

towards Toussaint, after the autumnal rains, you may find an abundance of the mushrooms or "toadstools" that affect the conifers; especially the delicious Lactaris, which turns green if the points are rubbe

ng away through the rosemary bushes; dung-beetles, which are storing food for the winter and throwing up their rubbish on the threshold of their burrows. And then the fine sand, soft to the touch, easily tunnelled, easily exca

I have watched two insects which are found there without getting to the bottom of their domestic secrets. One is the Minotaurus typh?us, whose male carries on his corselet th

e neighbourhood of its dwelling, a few fragments of sheep-dung and ancient olives which the summer suns have dried. It stacks them in a row at the end of its burrow, closes the door, and consumes the

burrow of the Phalangist is surmounted by a voluminous rubbish-dump, the materials of which are piled in the form of a cylinder as long as the finger. Each of these dumps is a load of refuse and rubb

ted soil. It is therefore easy to inspect it, if we take care first of all to dig a trench so that the wall of the burrow may be afterwards cut away, slice by slice, w

asily acquires another. Often, on the other hand, the insect will be found at the bottom of the burrow; sometimes a male, sometimes a female, but always alone. The two sexes, equally zealou

d embracing a small subterranean fungus, entire or partly consumed. It presses it convulsively to its bosom and will not be parte

vered with fine warts, having an appearance not unlike shagreen; the interior, which has no communication with the exterior, is smooth and white. The pores, ovoidal and diaphanous, are con

s the soil, and interrogates it as to its contents, exactly as does the truffle-gatherer's dog. The sense of smell warns it that the desired object is beneath it, covered by a few inches of sand. Certain of the precise point where the tre

rn to be abandoned. So many truffles eaten necessitate so many burrows, which are mere dining-rooms or pilgrim's larders. Thus pa

time; the little cryptogam is not so common that I could hope to find it without a guide. The truffle-hunter must have his dog; my guide should be the Bolboceras itself. Behold

avourable; for its burrows are numerous. Let us dig, then, in the neighbourhood of these holes. The sign is reliable; in a few hours, thanks to the signs of the Bolboceras, I obtain a handf

iently far apart, and are eight inches in depth. A Hydnocystis is placed at the bottom of each; a fine straw is then inserted, to show me the precise position later. Finally the six holes are filled with sand which is beaten down

d finally all take to earth at the edge of their enclosure. Night comes, and all is quiet. Two hours later I pay my prisoners a last visit. Three are still buried under a thin layer of sa

s methodically removed in vertical slices. At the bottom of

here the fungus lies. There has been no hesitation, no trial excavations which have nearly discovered the object of search. This is proved by the surface of the soil, which is everywhere just as I left it when smoothing it down. The insect

appreciable scent whatever. A little pebble taken from the soil would affect our senses quite as strongly with its vague savour of fresh earth. As a finder of underground fungi the Bolboceras is the rival of the dog

r insect could perceive such subtle effluvia, nor even the odour of the truffle. To attract insect or animal at a great distance powerful odours

soon as the creature is swollen with the gases of putrefaction, and the fur commences to fall from the greenish skin, a host of insects arrive-Silphid?, Dermes

escape from the stench by recoiling a few paces. In comparison with their sense of smell mine is mi

purple, some twenty inches in length, which is twisted at the base into an ovoid purse about the size of a hen's egg. Through the opening of this capsule rises the central column, a

e such a terrible odour. Set free by the sun and the wind, it is odious, intolerable.

the peasant finds beneath his spade and throws disembowelled on the path. They fall upon the great leaf, whose livid purple gives it the appearance of a strip of putrid flesh; they dance with imp

backs and bellies, wing-covers and legs, which swarms and rolls upon itself, rising and falling, seething and boiling, shaken by continu

irlpool, retaken by their madness. The lure is irresistible. None will break free from the swarm until the evening, or perhaps the next day, when the heady fumes will have evaporated. Then the units of the swarm disengage themselves from their mutual embraces, and slowly, as t

liberty to escape, as is proved by the final exodus, which is in no way impeded. Deceived by a fallacious odour, were they endeavouring to lay and establish their eggs as they would have done under the shelter of a corpse? No; there

census, and I wished to ensure its accuracy. A few drops of carbon bisulphide quieted the swarm. The census proved that there were more than four hundred insects in

ed body of a mole, flattened by the feet of pedestrians, mummified by the heat of the sun, he would slide himself over it, from the tip of his nose to the root of

se, shake himself, and proceed on his way, delighted with his toilet. Do not let us scold h

although perfectly free to escape; numbers perish in the tumultuous orgy. They are not retained by the desire of food, for the arum provides them with nothing eatable; they do not come to breed, for they t

we do not know. The Necrophori, in quest of a place where to establish their family, travel great distances to

istance; it inhabits the places wherein the cryptogam is found. Faint as are the effluvia of this subterranean fungus, the prospecting epicure, being specially equipped, perceives them with the greatest ease; but then he ope

ptive female? They come from the confines of the horizon. What do they perceive at that distanc

h he recognises by their scent. Yet can he find the truffle at a hundred yards? or his master, in the complete absence of a trail? No. With all his f

ous material becomes diffused through the air to which it communicates its agreeable or disagreeable aroma. Odour and taste are to a certain ext

le. Thus the Dermestes and Saprinid?, those lovers of corpse-like odours, are warned by molecular diffusion. In the same way the putrid frog emits a

en so speedily, must saturate with its molecules an enormous hemisphere of air-a hemisphere some miles in diameter! What the atrocious fetor of the Arum cannot do the absence o

which should have overcome and annihilated any particularly delicate effluvi

d obliterate ripples. In the two cases cited we have waves of the same nature. But a clap of thunder does not diminish the feeblest jet o

plained. Without any material emanation a luminous point shakes the ether with its vibrations and fills with light a sphere of indefinite magnitude. So, or in some such manner, must the warning effluvi

t of etheric waves.[7] The former domain alone is known to us. It is also known to the insect. It is

the essential sensory equipment. The Great Peacock moth and the Oak Eggar know it at the time of their nuptia

the insect, one day give us a radiograph sensitive to odour

TER

EPHANT

h its cog-wheels interacting and its connecting-rods oscillating, will reveal the ingenious combination in which all things are skilfully disposed to produce the desired effects. It is the same with cer

is a living caricature, this beetle with the prodigious snout. The latter is no thicker than a horsehair, reddish in colour, almost rectilinear, and of such length th

, if the only end of life is to make money by hook o

t humble materials the bread of thought is kneaded; a nutriment no less necessary than the bread made fro

to those which we ourselves use in order to perforate hard materials. Two diamond-points, the mandibles, form the terminal armature of the drill. Like the

e, it is not a certitude. I can only discove

work, in the earlier half of October. My surprise is great, for at this late season all industr

t the thickets. Yet if the beetle with the long beak exploits the acorns, as I think it does, the time presses if I am to catch it at its work. The acorns,

servation is impossible while the branches are shaken by the mistral. I detach the twig and lay it gently upon the ground. The insect takes n

p curvature of the acorn. It is working its drill. Slowly and awkwardly it moves around its implanted weapon, describing a semicircle whose centre is the point of the drill, and the

e follows, and finally the instrument is withdrawn. What is going to happen next? Nothing on this occasion. The Balaninus aba

on have sufficient insects to people my laboratory cages. Foreseeing a serious difficulty in the slowness with whic

d never, even with the greatest good fortune, have had the patience to follow to the end the choice of the acorn, the boring of the h

ush. The first species, which is the most abundant of the three, is that preferred by the Balaninus. The acorn is firm, elongated, and of moderate size; the cup is covered with little warts. The acorns of the pubesce

ts acorns, which are large, ovoidal growths, the cup being covered with scales. The Balaninus could n

l keep them fresh. A suitable number of couples are then introduced into the cages; and the latter are placed at the windows of my study, where they obtain the direct sunlight for

recise moment when the task is commenced. The mother, larger than the male, and equipped

surface it would be impossible, were not the soles of her feet shod with adhesive pads, which enable her to retain her hold in any position.

y to man?uvre the beak. To obtain the best mechanical effect the instrument must be applied perpendicularly to the convex surface of the acorn, and the em

med by the end of the wing-covers and the posterior tarsi. It would be hard to imagine anything more curi

slowly the insect veers round from right to left, then from left to right. Her drill is not a spiral gimlet which will sink itself by a constant r

have found the insect dead in the midst of its task. The body is in an extraordinary position, which would be

pporting surface of the acorn. It is dried, mummified, dead I know not how long. The legs are rigid and contracted under the body. Even if they retained the flexibility and the power of extension t

ill immediately lose her footing, dragged by the elasticity of the snout, which she was forced to bend somewhat at the beginning. Torn away from her foothold, the suspended insect vainly struggles in air; nowhere can her feet, those safety anchors, find a hol

rs round perpetually, rests, and resumes her work. An hour passes, two hours, wearying the observer by their sustained attention; for I wish to witness the p

aid. Three of us take turns, keeping an uninterrupted watch upon the

GREY

RVATURES O

FALLEN A VICTIM T

BOS

en it was nearly night, the sentinel on the watch calls me. The insect appears to have finished. She does, in fact, very cauti

us decamps; abandons her acorn without laying her eggs. I was certainly right to distrust the result of observation in t

er of borings, not followed by the laying of eggs. The duration of the observer's task v

ten unused? Let us first of all discover the position of the egg, and th

adily recognised. Not far from the cup, on the smooth, still green envelope of the acorn a little point is visible; a tiny needle-prick. A narrow brown aureole, t

ing which appears in course of time. Let us shell them. Many contain nothing out of the way; the Balaninus has bored them but has not laid her eggs

edonary matter. The cup furnishes a thin film like swan-skin which imbibes the sapid exudations from the stem, the source of nourishment. I

and it is only there, between the cup and the base of the cotyledons, that the elephant-beetle establishes her egg. T

t directly, but in the tunnel bored by the mother, which is littered with tiny crumbs and half-masticated shavings. With

? She is making sure that the acorn is not already occupied. The larder is amply stored, but it does not contain enough for two. Never in fact, have I found two larv? in the same acorn. One only, alway

has an occupant. This possible occupant would be at the base of the acorn, under the cover of the cup. Nothing could be more secret t

least that it has been prepared for the reception of the egg; its absence tells me that the a

ion is concluded. The beetle, investigating the acorn at close quarters, is often obliged to scrutinise practically the entire surface before detecting the tell-tal

disdaining the result of her work. Why such protracted efforts? Was the beetle piercing the fruit merely to obtain drink and refreshment? Was the beak thrust int

this idea. They also possess the long beak, and could readily make such perforations if they wished; yet I have never seen one take up his stand upon an acorn and work at it with his augu

airs of the breeding-season, find time to waste upon such dearly bought pleasures as the inner juices of the acorn? No, the acorn is not perforated for the purpose of drin

oft cottony layer which is moistened by the sap which oozes from the stalk. The grub, upon hatching out, being as yet incapable of attac

up. There is a period during which the acorn fulfils to perfection the conditions most conducive to the welfare of the gru

der not to inflict unsuitable food on the grub, the mother beetle, not sufficiently informed by the lo

sues at the base of the cup, being carefully tested, are not found to be in the required condition. The elephant-beetles are difficult to please and take infinite pains when the first mouthful of the grub is in question. To place the egg in a position where the new-born grub will find light and juicy and easily digested nutriment is not enough for those far-seeing mothers; their cares look beyond this point. An intermediary peri

consumes the shavings lying loose in the passage; it devours the brown fragments adhering to the walls; finally, being now sufficient

e made solely with the purpose of tasting the material at the base of the acorn and recognising its degree of maturity, the operation might be very much shorter, since t

e boring will be recommenced at a more distant point, through the surface of the acorn itself. When an egg is to be laid the rule is

and fatigue, the rostrum could attain the desired point-the living spring from which the new-born grub is to drink? The mother has her own reasons for toiling in this manner; in do

speaking to us of the infinite pains which preside over the preservation of the l

inks the blackbird, which gladly makes a meal of the insect with the long beak when fruits grow rare at the end of a

? Were man to disappear, annihilated by his own foolish errors, the festival of the life-bringing

perfluity of vegetation. Like all the mighty who are worthy of their strength, the oak is generous; it produces acorns by the bushe

ive of the woods, stores acorns in a gravel-heap near its hay-lined nest. A stranger, the jay, comes in flocks from far away, warned I know not how. For some weeks it flies fea

re their time, and pierced by a round hole through which the larva has escaped after devouring the contents. Under one single oak a basket might easily

s visit the woods the day before and select the best places. Next day, at daybreak, the whole family is there. The father beats the upper branches with a pole; the mother, wearing a heavy hempen apron which enables her to for

One regret mingles with the cheer of the occasion; it is to see so many acorns scattered on the ground which are pierced, spoiled, good for nothing. And man c

ll, for our egoism, which is inclined to see in the acorn only a garland of sausages, would have annoying results. The o

art in this world. If it is good that the blackbird should flute and rejoice in the burgeoning of the spring, then it is no bad thing that acorns should be w

ause the tenderest and most juicy tissues of the fruit are there. But how did it get there, so far from the point of entry? A ver

ad certainly no vision of the electric marvels of our days. He was amusing himself in a childlike manner. Repeat

t of the humblest fact. So again we will ask: by what process did the egg

e solution of that fact would be as follows: the egg is laid at the entrance of the tunnel, at the surface, and the grub, cr

a moment applied the tip of the abdomen to the orifice of the passage just opened by her rostrum. The egg, so it seemed, must be there, at the entranc

t such a thing would be impossible. Moreover, according to the direction of the stem, accordingly as it

her beak and places it in the nearest appropriate nest." Might not the Balaninus follow an analogous method? Does she employ the rostrum to place t

etle certainly does not lay its egg in the open and seize it in its beak. If it did so the delicate ovum wou

ws the eggs at the desired depth; the Leuscopis has a probe which finds its way through the masonry of the mason-bee and lays the egg in the cocoon of the great somnolent larva; but the Balaninus has none of th

ccupying the whole length of the body, is an extraordinary device; a red, horny, rigid rod; I had almost said a rostrum, so greatly does it resemble the implement which the insect carries o

ge, so far the oviscapt, the interior rostrum, will reach. When working upon her acorn the female chooses the point o

echanism, which easily passes through the loose debris of the boring. No sign of the probe appears, so quickly and discreetly does it work; nor is any trace of it to be seen when, th

made me suspect. The long-beaked weevils have an internal probe, an abdominal rostrum, which nothing in their external appearance b

TER

EEVIL-BRU

s evolved in a docile fashion, and has ended by giving us what the ambition of the gardener desired. To-day we have gone far beyond the yield of the Varrons and Columelles, and further still beyond the original pea

Our own country has nothing resembling it. Is it to be found elsewhere?

ed grain which gives us bread? No one knows. You will not find it here, except in the care of man; nor will you find it abroad.

oud of the centuries. Nature delivered them to us in the full vigour of the thing untamed, when their value as food was indifferent, as to-day she offers us the sloe, the bullace, the blackberry, the crab; she gave them to us in the state of imperf

amental species, a poor resource in their original state, we borrowed as they were from the natural trea

have made them, incapable of resistance in the bitter struggle for survival, these vegetables, left to themselves without culture, woul

n, who alone is capable of inducing agrarian abundance, is by that very fact the giver of an immense banquet at which legions of feasters take their place. By creating more juicy and more generous fruits he calls to his enclosures, despite him

the producers. For us, who plough, sow, and reap, and weary ourselves with labour, she ripens the wheat; she ripens it also for the little Calender-beetle, which, a

s of the pea; she swells them also for the weevil, which does no gardener's work, yet takes i

of the beloved plant in a corner of my garden. Without other invitation on my part than this modest expenditure of seed-peas it arrives punctually during the month of May. It has learned that this sto

h it has passed the winter in a state of torpor. The plane-tree, which sheds its rind during the heats of

s, it awakens from its torpor at the first touch of a kindly sun. The almanack of the instincts has aroused it; it knows as well as the gardener wh

ers, a dumpy, compact body, with two large black dots on the rear segment-such is the summar

mild; the sun is warm without being oppressive. It is the moment of nuptial flights; the time of rejoicing in the splendour of the sunshine. Everywhere are creatures rejoicing to be alive. Couples come together, part, and re-form. When towards noon the heat becomes too great, the weevils reti

eggs, expelled perhaps by the exigencies of an ovary incapable of further delay, seem to me in serious danger; for the seed in which the grub must establish itself is as yet no more

dst of its food as quickly as possible, and that it perishes unless it can do so. I am therefore of opinion that such eggs as are deposited in immature pods are lost. However, the

of it. I was anxious to see the female Bruchus at work in her quality of Curculionid, as our classification declares her.[8] The other weevils are Rhyncophora, beaked insects, armed with

ng equipped with a long oviscapt, the mother sows her eggs in the open, with no protection against the heat of the sun and the variations of temperature. Nothing could be simple

de, then on the other, with a jerky, capricious, unmethodical gait. She repeatedly extrudes a short oviduct, which

position is made such as might assist the grub when it seeks to penetrate its larder. Some eggs are laid on the swellings created by the peas beneath; others in the barren va

us note at the outset that each grub requires one pea; it is the necessary ration, and is largely sufficient to one larv

ed in the pod which she has just explored; we might expect her to set a numerical limit on her eggs in conformity with that of the p

re 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

nds. Their length is at most a twenty-fifth of an inch. Each is affixed to the pod by means of

hes. What was lacking to this egg, that it should fail to produce a grub? Perhaps a bath of sunlight; the incubating heat of which the outer egg has robbed it. Whether on account of the f

nal, so that the Bruchid family would be reduced to about half its dimensions if the binary system were the rule. To

ork of the new-born larva; a sub-epidermic tunnel along which the grub works its way, while seeking a point from which it can escape into a pea. This point once attained,

alf-way in, wriggling its tail in the effort to work the quicker. In a short time the grub disappears and is at home. The point of entry, minute, but always easily recognisable by its brown coloration on the pale green b

emain capable of developing into a plant, in spite of the large aperture made by the emergence of the ad

t for it and for no one else. In refusing the few bites that would lead to the death of

ll. Let us also note that the lower pole expands into the umbilical excrescence, which is less easy of perforation than those parts protected by the skin alone. I

n was conducted from the free hemisphere, a portion less vulnerable and more easy of access. Moreover, as the pea in its entirety is too large for a

provisioned inmate; if too large, the abundance of food will permit of several inmates. Exploited in the absence of the pea, the cultivated vetch and the broad bean afford us an excellent examp

rub, we naturally ask what becomes of the superfluous grubs. Do they perish outside when the more precocious have one by one taken their places in

reddish punctuations, perforated in the centre. What are these spots, of which I count five, six, and even more on a single pea? It is impossible to be mistaken: they are the poi

bserved on the dry peas abandoned by the weevils. Does this actually mean that there are several grubs in the pea? Yes. Skin the peas in question, separate the cotyledons, and b

ters are separated one from another by the walls of uneaten substance. With this isolation in separate cells no conflicts need be feared; no sudden bite of the mandibles

ogress of the various larv?. At first nothing noteworthy is to be seen. Isolated in its narrow chamber, each grub nibbles the substance around it, peacefully and parsimoniously

e others in size when the latter cease to eat, and no longer attempt to burrow forwards. They lie motionless and resigned; they die that gentle death which comes to unconscious lives. Henceforth the

digestion of the grub? There, perhaps, being nourished by tenderer, sweeter, and perhaps more tasty tissues, the stomach becomes more vigorous, until it is fit to undert

sel. The journey is laborious, and the grubs must rest frequently in their provisional niches. They rest; while rest

o they hear their brother gnawing at the walls of his lodging? can they feel the vibration set up by his nibbling mandibles? Something of the kind must happen, for from that moment they make no attempt to burrow fu

g, which the other weevils do not require in the same degree. A pea provides it with a sufficiently spacious cell; nevertheless, the cohabitation of two in one pea would be impossib

e pea, can lodge a considerable community, and the solitary can live as a cenobite. Without en

surface, hardens only gradually and remains full of sap until a comparatively late peri

k is made, the grub has only to bore straight down when it quickly reaches the softer tissues. What is the result? I have counted the eggs adhering to a bean-pod and the beans included in the pod, and comparing the two figures I find that there is plenty of room for th

ne pod; a rich food-stuff easily obtained evokes a large batch of eggs. But the case of the pea perplexes me. By what aberration does the mother ab

ty of the food consumed. The Scarab?us, the Sphex, the Necrophorus, and other insects which prepare and preserve alimentary provision for their families, are all of a narrowly limited fer

ng, and takes no account of numbers. In other cases the provision is acquired by audacious brigandage, which exposes the newly born offspring to a thousand mortal accidents. In such cases the mother balances the cha

tirely at her ease, merely moving in the sunshine over her favourite plant, she can ensure a sufficient provision for each of her offspring; she can do so, yet is foolish enough to over-populate the pod of the pea; a

rather have been the bean, one seed of which is capable of supporting half a dozen or more larv?. With the

scs cut from the trunks of trees, the early immigrants would have brought to our virgin land, first the bean, then the pea, and finally the cereal, that best of safeguards against famine. They taught us the care of herds, and the use of bronze, the material of the first metal implement. Thus the dawn of civilisation arose over France. With the bean did those ancient teachers also involuntarily bring us the insect which to-day disputes it with us? It is doubtful; the

mber unknown in the case of the pea, even in the most prolific varieties. Consequently this

the example, the travelling vetch (Vicia peregrina) or the cultivated vetch (Vicia sativa). The number of eggs remains high even upon insufficient pods, because the original food-plant offered

an, which to-day, after such good service, is comparatively neglected. The weevil was of the same opinion as man, and without entirely forgetting the bean and the vetch it established the great

ress in matters of food and drink is not always beneficial. The race would profit better if it remained frugal. On the bean and the vetch the Bruchus founded colonies in which the infant mortality w

is all. In the centre of the pea, a wealthy solitude, it performs the duty of a grub; the sole duty of eating. It nibbles the walls enclosing it, enlarging its lodgment, which is always entirely filled by its c

ently well equipped to open for itself a way out through the pea, which is now completely hardened. The larva knows of this future helplessness, and with consummate art prov

anquillity essential to the delicate processes of nymphosis. An intruder might enter by the

Having come to the skin of the pea it stops short. This membrane, semi-translucid, is the door t

so as to make a line of least resistance. The perfect insect will only have to heave with its shoulder and strike a few blows with its head in order to raise the circular door and knock it off like the lid of a box. The pas

hermit to enter the world. Shall we credit it to the Bruchus? Did the ingenious insect conceive the undertaking? Did it think out a plan and work

rapidity, placing them in glass test-tubes. The grubs prosper as well as in

time to time, is sufficiently thin, what will it do under the conditions of the present test? Feeling itself at the requisite distance fro

d as carefully executed as though the skin of the pea were in its place. Reasons of security have failed to modify the u

-pudding, as from a culinary point of view they are so much waste matter. The larva of the Bruchus, like ourselves, dislikes the skin of the pea. It stops short at the horny covering, simply because it is checked by an uneatable substance. From this ave

hese circles of shadow mark the doors of exit. Most of them open in September. The lid, as though cut out with a punch, det

s, still numerous, are less hasty in quitting the native seed. They remain within during the whole winter, sheltered behind the trap-door, which they take care not to touch. The door of the cell will not open on its hinges, or, to b

e wonderful way in which the processes of life are ordered. Thus regarded entomology is not, I know, to the taste of everybody; the simple creature absorbed in the doings and habits of i

erested knowledge, or you may rue the day. It is by the accumulation of ideas, whether immediately applicable or otherwise, that humanity has done, and will continue to do, better to-day than yesterday, and better to-morrow

peas have nothing to fear from the neighbourhood of those which have been attacked, however long the mixture is left. From the latter the weevils will issue when their time has come; they will fly away from the storehouse if escape

disdains the hard tissues of the vegetable; its tiny mouth is content with a few honeyed mouthfuls, enjoyed upon the flowers. The larv?, on the other hand

onless when it comes to fighting an insect. Indestructible by reason of its numbers, its small size, and its cunning, the little creature laughs at the anger of man. The gardener

ing-cages it issues under my eyes in abundance from the peas infested by the grub of the weevil. The female has a reddish head and thorax; the

he circular trap-door which the grub of the weevil prepared in view of its future deliveranc

ermic covering of the peas. Then, applying her oviscapt, she thrusts it through the side of the pod and perforates the circular trap-door. However far withdrawn into the centre of the pea, the Bruchus, whether larv? or nymph, is reached by the long oviduct. It receives an egg in its tender flesh, and the thing is done. Without possibility of defence, since it is by now a somno

PTE

.-THE HARI

ongue; it is extremely palatable, abundant, inexpensive, and highly nutritious. It is a vegetable meat which, without being bloody and repulsive, is the equivalent

number in the crazy lottery of life. Kindly Haricot, with three drops of oil and a dash of vinegar you were the favourite dish of

country of your origin? Did you come from Central Asia with the broad bean and the pea? Did you make part of that

ity was not acquainted with the haricot. The precious vegetable came hither by the same road

ments. Here are the facts. For years attentive to matters agricultural, I had never seen haricots

concerns their crops. To steal their property is an abominable crime, swiftly discovered. Moreover, the hou

ust know that there are never grubs in the haricot bean. It is a blessed vegetable, respected by the weevil. The pea, the broad bean, the vetch, and the

ricot, so tempting both as to size and flavour, remains untouched. It is incomprehensible. Why should the Bruchus, which without hesitation passes from the excellent to the indifferent, and from the indifferent to the excellent

familiar to it for centuries; it has tested their virtues year by year, and, confiding in the lessons of the past, it bases

attracts its consumers. If it had originated in the Old World the haricot would have had its licensed consumers, as have the pea, the lentil, and the broad bean. The smallest l

ithout the company of the insect which exploits it in its native country; it has found in our fields another world of insects, which have despised it becaus

classics; the haricot never appears on the table of the Greek or Roman peasant.

apido fessis m

mque herbas co

nions. All in good time; this at least would ballast the stomach. Thus refreshed in the open air, listening to the song of the cigales, the gang of harvesters would take their mid-day rest and gently digest their meal in the shadows of the sheave

limping behind his flock of goats. We shall have, says Tityrus, chestnuts, cheese, and fruits. History does not say if Melib?us allowed himself to be tempted. It

ey served cabbage soup, rusty bacon, eggs poached for a minute in the hot cinders, cornel-berries pickled in brine, honey, and fruits. In this rustic abundance one dish was lacking; an essential dish, which the Baucis of our countryside wo

ncient times; I can recollect no mention of the haricot. The worker in the vineyard and the harve

y when they are formulated by the shameless genius of an Aristophanes or a Plautus. What merriment over a simple allusion to the sonorous bean, what guffaws from the throats of Athenian sailors or Roman por

t makes one think of the West Indies or South America, as do caoutchouc and cacao. Does the word as a matter of fact come from the American Indians? Did we receive, together

ayol; the Spaniard, faseolo; the Portuguese, feyao; the Italian, fagiuolo. Here I am on familiar ground: the

rmit me to remark that your translation is incorrect: faselus, faseolus cannot mean haricot. The inconte

que seres vile

dens mittet tib

edias sementem

icultural; the sowing of the faselus must be commenced when the constellation of Bootes disappears

fatal to it, even under Italian skies. More refractory to cold on account of the country of their origin, peas, broad beans, and vetches,

haricot in the Latin tongues? Remembering that the contemptuous epithet vilis is used by the poet in qualification, I am s

n a poet, and a famous poet, M. José-Maria de Heredia, who came to the aid of the naturalist. Without suspecting the service he was rendering, a friend of mine, the village schoolma

u have me say?

sonnet I prefer; I have taken horrible pains wit

auty? You flash pearls, emeralds, and rubies before my astonished eyes: how should I decide

proud of than of all my sonnets, and which has

ed at me mischievously; then, with that beautiful light in his

of the etymology o

ed that I for

serious in tel

ne, on that account, that you were famed for your discovery of the etymology of ha

century: people used the word feve or phaséol: in Mexican, ayacot. Thirty species of haricot were cultivated in Mexico before the conquest. They are still known as ayacot, especially the red haricot, spotted with black or violet. One day at the ho

t I was to suspect the outlandish word of American Indian origin! How right the insect was, in testifying, in its own fashion, that the precious bean came to us from the New Wor

native bean-eaters have mistaken the stranger; they have not had time as yet to grow familiar with it, or to appreciate its merits; they have prudently abstained from touching t

the haricot the New World knows it well enough. By the road of commercial exchange, sooner

shed them by my questions. No one had ever seen the pest of the haricot; no one had ever heard of it. Friends who knew of my inquiries sent me from Maillane, as I have said, information that gave great satisfaction to my naturalist's curiosity. It was accom

st. A veritable plague, such as had never before been known, had fallen upon the haricots, leaving the housewife barely a handful to put in th

sown for use in the kitchen. Since I must sacrifice the toothsome vegetable, let us loose the terrible destroyer on the mass of verdure. The development of the plant is

ects which are already free, and those which the stimulus of the sunshine will presently liberate, will emerge and take to their wings. Finding the maternal haricot close at hand they wil

ng their wing-covers to ease the mechanism of flight; then one by one they fly away, mounting in the luminous air; they grow smaller and smaller to the s

at favourable hours, I inspect the rows of beans pod by pod, flower by flower; but never a Bruchus do I see, nor even an egg. Yet

, the red haricot; partly for the use of the household, but principally for the benefit of the weevil.

f weevils from my glass jars, the general headquarters of the tribe. On each occasion the result is plainly negative. All through the season, until both

also requested to keep a look-out for eggs on all the pods gathered. I myself examine with a magnifying-glass all the haricots coming from my o

containing seeds not far from mature. Each bottle is finally given a population of weevils. This time I obtain some eggs, but I am no further advanced; they are laid on the sides of the bottles, but n

siccation; she refused to settle on my bean-patch because the food she required was not to be found there. What does she require? Evidently the mature, dry, hard haricot, which falls to earth with the sound of a small pebble. I hasten to s

by the sun, are completely desiccated. The process of beating the pods to loosen and separate the beans is thus greatly facilitated. It is the

our granaries but despises the cereal while still on the stalk, it abhors the bean while tender, and prefers to establish

y members. And not one generation only exploits the bean, but three or four in the year. So long as the skin of the bean contains any edible matter, so long do new consumers establish themselves within it, s

ws nothing of these limitations; it empties the haricot completely and leaves a skinful of filth that I have seen the pigs refuse. America is anything but considerate when she sends us her entomological pests. We owe the Phylloxera to America; the P

e permitting of a constant ventilation. These are the cages of my menagerie. In them I rear the haricot-weevil, varying the system of education at will

ose beans are not available those in the natural shelter of their pods are attacked with equal zest. However dry and parchment-like the pods, the grubs have no difficulty in attaining the seeds. When attacked in the field or garden, the bean is attacked in this way through the pod. The bean

s in an unexpected light. Without the slightest hesitation it accepts the dry pea, the bean, the vetch, the tare, and the chick-pea; it goes from one to the other, always satisfied; its offspri

de the bean family is of any use to the Bruchus. Thus limited, its portion is none the less considerable, and it uses and abuses it with the utmost energy. The eggs are white, slender, and cylindrical. There is no method in their distribution, no choice in their deposition. The mother lays them singly or in little groups, on the walls of the jar as well as on the harico

ts implements-its mandibles-which have to perforate the hard substance of the dry bean, which is as tough as wood. The larv? of the Buprestis and the Capricornis, which burrow in the trunks of trees, are similarly shap

surprise it sunk half-way in the commencement of a burrow, at the mouth of which is a white floury powder, the waste from the mandibles. It works its

onsider only the half of this number-supposing the sexes to be equal in number-and at the end of a year the couples issued from this original pair would be represented by

and preparing a circular trap-door which the adult can easily open with a push at the moment of emergence. At the termination of the larval phase the lodgements are betrayed on

es of the heap; the mothers sow their eggs at random; the young larv? establish themselves some in beans that are so far intact, some in beans which are perforated but not yet exhausted; and all t

llow. It exploits the dried and gathered crop in the granary or the storehouse. If it is difficult to attack it in the open it would also be useless. The greater part of its af

PTE

REY L

cent. I am speaking of the Grey Locust, the colossus among our acridians,[10] which is often seen among the vines in September when the g

yellow, or a ruddy brown, or even an ashen grey, like the grey of the adult cricket. The corselet is strongly keeled and indented, and is sprinkled w

up like the gable of a house. They remind one of the skirts of a coat, the maker of which has been ludicrously stingy with the cloth, as they merely cover the creature's nakedness at the small of the back. Underneath there are two narrow appendages, the germs

he breast, and are not employed in supporting the insect, which hangs in a reversed position, the back downwards. The triangular winglets, the sheaths of the elytra, open along their line of juncture and separate la

nflation and deflation. A similar state of affairs is visible in front of the neck, and probably under the entire surface of the yielding carapace. The finenes

ts along the line of least resistance which the subtle previsions of life have prepared. The fissure extends the whole length of the corselet, opening precisely along the ridge of the keel, as though the two symmetrical halves had been soldered together. Unbreakable elsewhere, the envelope has

le, with scarcely a tinge of grey. Slowly it curves upwards a

l, but looking very strange with its great unseeing glassy eyes. The sheaths of the antenn?, without a w

en turned inside out, or crumpled out of shape, or wrinkled at least. Without harming the jointed or knotted covers, the contents, of equal volume and equally knotty, have sli

the cover solely by the claws of the long hind-legs. It hangs in an almost vertical position, the head downwards, swinging like a pendulum if I touch the cover. Four tiny, steely claws are its only support. If they gave or unclasped themselves the insect would be lost, as it is as yet unable to unfurl its enor

strips, vaguely seamed and furrowed, like strings of rolled

mal position. The free extremities, which normally point backwards, are now pointing towards the cricket's head as it

eady at work; liquids are solidifying; albuminous secretions are bringing order out of chaos; but so far no ou

d on the inner faces with a pale rose, which rapidly turns to a vivid crimson. Emergence is easy, th

ines. Moreover, the lower extremity is terminated by four strong spurs. The shank forms a veritable saw, but with two parallel se

elf. Each spur is enclosed in a similar spur; each tooth engages in the hollow of a similar tooth, and the sheath is so closely moulde

ossible; for the discarded sheath is absolutely intact from end to end. Neither the terminal spurs nor the double rows of spines do the slightest damage to the delicate mould. The

imagined that those limbs would moult in scales and patches, or that the sheathing wou

without the slightest display of violence, without a hitch of any kind; and the empty skin remains in place. Still clinging by its claws to the top of the wire cover, it is untorn, unwrinkled, uncreased. Even th

est degree of tearing or scratching, you would laugh at the flagrant impossibility of the task. But life makes light of such absurdit

ly does it fit, unless it were torn to pieces. Yet the difficulty must be evaded, for it is indispensable that the s

ly flexible. In those portions which the progress of the moult exposes to view I see the legs bend under the mere weight of the suspended insect when I tilt the supporti

are certainly softer still, and in the state of exquisite plasticity-I had almost sa

ife I can partially uncover a leg and extract the spines from their serrated mould. They are germs of spines; fl

lves and solidify as they emerge. I am witnessing not the mere removal of leggings from limbs

the claws of the crayfish, at the period of the moult, withdraw

domen begins to emerge. Its fine tunic-like covering splits, and wrinkles, but still encloses the extremity of the abdomen, which

cases. During the whole of the lengthy and meticulous process the four talons have neve

len, apparently, by the reserve of organisable humours which the expansion of the wings and wing-covers will p

r limbs in the empty skin above it. Never did acrobat, hanging by the toes to the bar of a trapeze, raise hims

ld be chosen for the site of the transformation in the open fields. It holds to this with the four anterior limbs. Then th

the winds of winter, without falling from its supporting twig. The transfiguration of the locust takes plac

the firmest grip; yet they yield at the slightest shock when the labour is terminated. There is evidently a conditio

y mentioned. If the insect, shaken by a sudden effort, were to lose its hold, it would be all up with it. It would slowly shrivel on the spot; or at best its wings, unable to expand, would remain as mi

They are still mere stumps, with fine longitudinal seams; almost like little ropes'-ends. Their expansion, which will

o their natural position. Extremely flexible, and yielding to their own weight, they had previously dro

int in the normal direction. They are no longer curved like the petals of a flowe

the framework of the fan, which is readily furled and unfurled. The intervals are crossed by innumerable cross-nervures of slighter substa

few wrinkles, a few flexuous furrows, which announce that the stumps are bu

precise could be distinguished at the outset we soon perceive a

eless bundle at the end of the wing. In vain I let my eyes rest on the spot where the expanding network meets the still shap

rvures; one seems to be watching a process of crystallisation comparable, in its rapidity, to that of a saturated saline s

etwork seems to be gradually weaving itself out of nothing, I can see that the meshes are really already in existence. I can plainly recognise the longitudinal nervures, which are alre

e energy of the vital juices is shooting its shuttle; it is a tissue already complete. To be perfe

f sails; at first colourless, then of a tender green, like the freshly expanded wings of the Cigale. I am amazed at their expanse

nishing. The hemp-seed of the story needed long years to germinate, to multiply, and at last to give the quantity of hemp requi

ngs close fan-wise and lie down in their places; the elytra bend over at their outer edges, forming a flange which lies snugly over the flanks. The transformation is complete. Now the grea

l plan is complete, with all its innumerable details. To expand these miserable bundles and convert them into an ample set of sails it is enough that the organism, acting like a force-pump, should force into the channels already

aths and the triangular winglets of the larva the moulds whose folds, wrinkles, and sinuosities fo

d should conform to the cavity of the mould. But the simplicity is only apparent, for the mould in its turn must somewhere derive the

e a bundle of moderately strong nervures radiating fan-wise. I see other nervures in the intervals, pale and very

the structure, is not at all the same; the network formed by the cross-nervures gives no idea whatever of the complex final arrangement. The rudimentary is succeeded b

g before our eyes, that the wing-sheath of the larva is not a simple mould which elaborates the

eme complication of its surface. Or, to speak more exactly, it is there, but in a potential state. Before becoming an act

oubtful lineaments of the future lace-work. This might well be the factory in which life will shortly set its materials in movement. Nothing more is vis

a prototypical plan, an ideal pattern, which imposes a precise position upon each atom of the tissue. Before the material commences to circulate the configuration is already virtually traced, the courses of

-work emerging from a tiny sheath, speaks to us of another Arc

y of wonders far greater than this matter of a locust's wing; but in g

f spectacles except our spirits be endowed with a tenacious patience. Here by

to consider the great locust of the vineyard. The insect will show him that which is hidden from our curiosity by extreme deliberation in th

the finest cloth. What a mighty artist is Life, shooting her shuttle to weave the wings of the locust-one of those insignifican

him: "What power, what wisdom, what inconceivable perfection i

orces, does not despair of one day obtaining artificially organisable matter-protoplasm, as the o

le patience, your desire is realised: you have extracted from your apparatus an albuminous slime, easily corrupti

edifice? Will you inject it with a hypodermic syringe between

d the material forms a wing-cover, because it finds as guide the ideal archetype of which I spoke but now. It is

tor; have you got it on the end of your syringe? No! Then throw a

PTE

INE-C

atin termination, and you will have, as far as euphony goes, the equivalent of many of the tickets pasted in the entomologist's specimen boxes. The cacophony would be excusable if the barba

e flagrant; sometimes the allusions are ridiculous, grotesque, or merely imbecile. So long as they have a decent sound, how infinitely preferable are locutions in which etymology finds nothing to dissect! Of such would be the word fullo, were it not that it already has a meaning which immediately occurs to the

ouse wrapped in a pink cloth; the right eye of a green lizard torn from the living animal and placed in a bag of kid-skin; the heart of a serpent, cut out with the left hand; the four articulations of the tail of a scorpion, including the dart, wrapped tight

ium qui vocatur fullo, albis guttis, dissectum utrique lacerto adalligant, says the text. To treat fe

INE-C

ontha

ient to make us certain. Pliny himself does not seem to have been very certain of the identity of the remedy. In his time men's eyes had not yet learned to see the insect world. Insects were too small

e work perhaps of the imagination of childhood, and applied it at hazard without informing himself more particularly. The word came down to us embalmed with age; our

should be considered before the aberrations of nomenclature. Why not call our subject the Pine-chafer, in reference to the beloved tree, the para

science of numbers. Try to add a column of Roman figures; you will abandon the task, stupefied by the confusion of symbols; and will recognise what

e will use the term "pine chafer" between ourselves. Under that name no one ca

llic splendour dear to the Scarab?i, the Buprestes and the rose-beetles, is at least unusually elegant. A black or ch

this magnificent foliage must form a sense-organ of great perfection, capable of perceiving subtle odours, or almost inaudible vibrations of the air, or other phenomena to which our senses fail to respond; but the female warns us that we mu

ne-chafer what his long vibrating horns are to the Cerambyx and the panoply of the head to the Onthophagus and the fo

ogical calendar, which is no less punctual than that of the seasons. When the longest days come, those days which seem endless and gild the harvests, it never fails to h

flight, not without spirit, the males especially wheel and wheel about, extending their great antennary plumes; they go to and fro, to and fro, a procession of flying shadows upon the pale blue

occupy the lower branches. They lie there isolated, motionless, indifferent to passing events. They do not avoid the hand about to seize them. Most of them are hangi

nsects cannot behave as in the open. At most I see a male from time to time approaching his beloved; he spreads out the leaves of his antenn?, and agitates them so that they shiver slightly; he is perhaps informing himself if he is welcome. Thereupon he puts on his finest airs and exhibits his attain

means of seduction and appeal? Does the female answer the chirp of her innamorata by a similar chirp? That this may be so under normal conditions, amidst the f

he wing-covers, which are held firm and motionless. There is no special equipment on the rubbing surface nor on the surface rubbed. The magnifying-glass look

ous to that emitted by the chafer. Better still, use a scrap of indiarubber to rub the glass with, and you will reproduce with some

y the soft abdomen of the insect, and the glass is represented by the blade of the wing-cover, which forms a thin, r

N

l, see Elep

ee Mantis

, on the

f the Cigale

the Ci

he Cig

d, the, attracts and c

ensive eff

see Eleph

cestry o

see

evil, s

of Philanthu

x, 16

s Gallicu

ance o

and die

ng of

isi, see

nti, see L

este