THE EMPUSA 37 



open, stretch out, grasp a mesh and draw it to them. 

 When the short walk is over, the lethal arms are brought 

 back against the chest. One may say that it is nearly 

 always the four hind-shanks which alone support the 

 suspended insect. 



And this reversed position, which seems to us so try- 

 ing, lasts for no short while : it is prolonged, in my cages, 

 for ten months without a break. The Fly on the ceiling, 

 it is true, occupies the same attitude; but she has her 

 moments of rest : she flies, she walks in a normal posture, 

 she spreads herself flat in the sun. Besides, her acrobatic 

 feats do not cover a long period. The Empusa, on the 

 other hand, maintains her curious equilibrium for ten 

 months on end, without a break. Hanging from the 

 trellis-work, back downwards, she hunts, eats, digests, 

 doses, casts her skin, undergoes her transformation, 

 mates, lays her eggs and dies. She clambered up there 

 when she was still quite young; she falls down, full of 

 days, a corpse. 



Things do not happen exactly like this under natural 

 conditions. The insect stands on the bushes back up- 

 wards ; it keeps its balance in the regular attitude and 

 turns over only in circumstances that occur at long in- 

 tervals. The protracted suspension of my captives is all 

 the more remarkable inasmuch as it is not at all an innate 

 habit of their race. 



It reminds one of the Bats, who hang, head down- 

 wards, by their hind-legs from the roof of their caves. 

 A special formation of the toes enables birds to sleep on 

 one leg, which automatically and without fatigue clutches 



