310 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



Where nothing precise could be distinguished at the 

 outset we soon perceive a diaphanous surface sub- 

 divided into meshes of beautiful precision. 



Little by little, with a deliberation that escapes the 

 magnifier, this area increases its bounds, at the expense 

 of the shapeless bundle at the end of the wing. In vain 

 I let my eyes rest on the spot where the expanding net- 

 work meets the still shapeless bundle ; I can distinguish 

 nothing. But wait a little, and the fine-meshed tissues 

 will appear with perfect distinctness. 



To judge from this first examination, one would guess 

 that an organisable fluid is rapidly congealing into a net- 

 work of nervures ; one seems to be watching a process of 

 crystallisation comparable, in its rapidity, to that of a 

 saturated saline solution as seen through a microscope. 

 But no ; this is not what is actually happening. Life 

 does not do its work so abruptly. 



I detach a half-developed wing and bring it under 

 the powerful eye of the microscope. This time I am 

 satisfied On the confines of the transparent network, 

 where an extension of that network seems to be gradually 

 weaving itself out of nothing, I can see that the meshes 

 are really already in existence. I can plainly recognise 

 the longitudinal nervures, which are already stiff ; and I 

 can also see — pale, and without relief — the transverse 

 nervures. I find them all in the terminal stump, and 

 am able to spread out a few of its folds under the 

 microscope. 



It is obvious that the wing is not a tissue in the process 

 of making, through which the procreative energy of the 

 vital juices is shooting its shuttle ; it is a tissue already 

 complete. To be perfect it lacks only expansion and 



