28 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



hopper alights on it at once. Jealously she kicks away 

 any one trying to bite at the delicious morsel. Selfish- 

 ness reigns everywhere. When she has eaten her fill, 

 she makes way for another, who in her turn becomes 

 intolerant. One after the other, all the inmates of the 

 menagerie come and refresh themselves. After cram- 

 ming their crops, they scratch the soles of their feet a 

 little with their mandibles, polish up their forehead and 

 eyes with a leg moistened with spittle and then, hanging 

 to the trellis-work or lying on the sand in a posture of 

 contemplation, blissfully they digest and slumber most 

 of the day, especially during the hottest part of it. 



It is in the evening, after sunset, that the troop becomes 

 lively. By nine o'clock the animation is at its height. 

 With sudden rushes they clamber to the top of the dome, 

 to descend as hurriedly and climb up once more. They 

 come and go tumultuously, run and hop around the cir- 

 cular track and, without stopping, nibble at the good 

 things on the way. 



The males are stridulating by themselves, here and 

 there, teasing the passing fair with their antennae. The 

 future mothers stroll about gravely, with their saber half- 

 raised. The agitation and feverish excitement means 

 that the great business of pairing is at hand. The fact 

 will escape no practised eye. 



It is also what I particularly wish to observe. My 

 wish is satisfied, but not fully, for the late hours at which 

 events take place did not allow me to witness the final 

 act of the wedding. It is late at night or early in the 

 morning that things happen. 



