320 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



Roman figures ; you will abandon the task, stupefied 

 by the confusion of symbols ; and will recognise what 

 a revolution was made in arithmetic by the discovery 

 of the zero. Like the egg of Columbus, it was a 

 very little thing, but it had to be thought of. 



While hoping that the future will sink the unfortunate 

 "fuller" in oblivion, we will use the term "pine 

 chafer " between ourselves. Under that name no one 

 can possibly mistake the insect in question, which 

 frequents the pine-tree only. 



It has a handsome and dignified appearance, rival- 

 ling that of Oryctes iiasicornis. Its costume, if it has 

 not the metallic splendour dear to the Scarabaei, 

 the Buprestes and the rose-beetles, is at least unusually 

 elegant. A black or chestnut background is thickly 

 sown with capriciously shaped spots of wl^ite velvet ; 

 a fashion both modest and handsome. 



The male bears at the end of his short antennae 

 a kind of plume consisting of seven large superimposed 

 plates or leaves, which, opening and closing like the 

 sticks of a fan, betray the emotions that possess him. 

 At first sight it seems that this magnificent foliage 

 must form a sense-organ of great perfection, capable 

 of perceiving subtle odours, or almost inaudible 

 vibrations of the air, or other phenomena to which 

 our senses fail to respond ; but the female warns 

 us that we must not place too much reliance on such 

 ideas ; for although her maternal duties demand a 

 degree of impressionability at least as great as that 

 of the male, yet the plumes of her antennae are 

 extremely meagre, containing only six narrow leaves. 



What then is the use of the enormous fan-like 



