148 THE UNIVERSE. 



palace. So soon as ever she is installed in her sumptuous 

 abode, the nurses, now full of tenderness, load her with 

 more agreeable and sweeter-scented bee-bread, and under 

 the influence of this ambrosia the organs of fecundation ap- 

 pear in the larva, which was only called to the most hum- 

 ble condition ; henceforth she is a queen ! 



Is it possible to carry further the intimate knowledge of 

 one's being and the divine art of modifying its nature ? 



Maternal instinct also enables the insect to accomplish 

 works which I was about to call herculean ; but I must go 

 further, and call them more than herculean. This instinct 

 develops a prodigious perseverance and an incomprehensi- 

 ble power. 



Linnaeus saw one of the flies which attack large cattle 

 (an (Estrus) follow a reindeer a whole day, though drag- 

 ging its sledge at a gallop over the snow. The ominous 

 fly flew almost continually by its side, watching for the 

 moment when it might introduce one of its eggs beneath 

 the skin ! 



These creatures, so contemptible as to their size, astonish 

 us by their ingenious tenderness : their maternal foresight 

 is unbounded. Some of them imitate the rabbit, which de- 

 nudes all its belly to form a soft pillow for its nest of young. 

 They go even further than the mammal : it only deprives 

 itself of a part of its wool, whilst some butterflies, to pro- 

 tect their offspring, tear all the hair off their bodies, and 

 expire so soon as this act of devotion is accomplished. One 

 of the pests of our fir forests, the Bombyx dispar, acts in 

 this way. Its nest is composed of a double shelter, a fine 

 down on which the eggs lie, and which covers them closely, 



