28 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



claws of the two fore legs will suffice. There follows a 

 moment of repose, while the supporting limbs stiffen in 

 an unbreakable hold. Then the thorax splits along the 

 back, and through the fissure the insect slowly emerges. 

 The whole process lasts perhaps half an hour. 



There is the adult insect, freed of its mask, and how 

 different from what it was but now ! The wings are 

 heavy, moist, transparent, with nervures of a tender 

 green. The thorax is barely clouded with brown. All 

 the rest of the body is a pale green, whitish in 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 feeble and still green. Finally, the 

 brown colour appears and rapidly covers the whole body; 

 the change of colour is completed in half an hour. 

 Fastening upon its chosen twig at nine o'clock in the 

 morning, the Cigale flies away under my eyes at half-past 

 twelve. 



The empty shell remains, intact except for the fissure 

 in the back ; clasping the twig so firmly that the winds of 

 autumn do not always succeed 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 precise attitude assumed by the larva at the moment 

 of metamorphosis. They are of a horny texture, not 

 unlike dry parchment, and do not readily decay. 



I could gather some wonderful information regarding 

 the Cigale were I to listen to all that my neighbours, the 

 peasants, tell me. I will give one instance of rustic 

 natural history. 



