THE GREY LOCUST 311 



rigidity, just as a piece of lace or linen needs only to be 

 ironed. 



In three hours or more the explanation is complete. 

 The wings and elytra stand erect over the locust's back 

 like an immense set of sails ; at first colourless, then of a 

 tender green, like the freshly expanded wings of the 

 Cigale. I am amazed at their expanse when I think of 

 the miserable stumps from which they have expanded. 

 How did so much material contrive to occupy so little 

 space ? 



There is a story of a grain of hemp-seed that contained 

 all the body-linen of a princess. Here we have some- 

 thing even more astonishing. The hemp-seed of the 

 story needed long years to germinate, to multiply, and 

 at last to give the quantity of hemp required for the 

 trousseau of a princess ; but the germ of the locust's 

 wing has expanded to a magnificent sail in a few short 

 hours. 



Slowly the superb erection composed of the four flat 

 fan-like pinions assumes rigidity and colour. By to- 

 morrow the colour will have attained the requisite shade. 

 For the first time the wings close fan-wise and lie down 

 in their places ; the elytra bend over at their outer edges, 

 forming a flange which lies snugly over the flanks. The 

 transformation is complete. Now the great locust 

 has only to harden its tissues a little longer and to tan 

 the grey of its costume in the ecstasy of the sunshine. 

 Let us leave it to its happiness, and return to an earlier 

 moment. 



The four stumps which emerge from their coverings 

 shortly after the rupture of the corselet along its median 

 line contain, as we have seen, the wings and elytra with 



