THE CIGALE 61 



frosts will be here. To wander on 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 cases it is impossible of realisation. What 

 use are the claws of this tiny flea against rock, sandstone, 

 or hardened clay ? The creature must perish if it cannot 

 find a subterranean refuge in good time. 



Everything goes to show that the necessity of this first 

 foothold on the soil, subject as it is to so many accidents, 

 is the cause of the great mortality in the Cigale family. 

 The little black parasite, the destroyer of eggs, in 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 

 strength requires a batch of three or four hundred eggs 

 from each mother. Subject to many accidents, the 

 Cigale is fertile to excess. By the prodigality of her 

 ovaries she conjures the host of perils which threaten 

 her offspring. 



During the rest of my experiment I can at least spare 

 the larvae the worst difficulties of their first establishment 

 underground. I take some soil from the heath, which is 

 very soft and almost black, and I pass it through a fine 

 sieve. Its colour will enable me more easily to find the 

 tiny fair-skinned larvae when I wish to inform myself 

 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 



