The Cicada: leaving the Burrow 



better to flatten it with his claws and reducing 

 the dusty rubbish to mud which can be heaped 

 up around him and leave a clear thorough- 

 fare. That is how things must happen. So 

 logic and the circumstances of the case tell 

 us, in the absence of direct observation, which 

 is not feasible here. 



If this root-cask fail, if moreover the 

 reservoir of the intestine be exhausted, what 

 will happen then? We shall learn from the 

 following experiment. I catch a grub as it 

 is leaving the ground. I put it at the bottom 

 of a test-tube and cover it with a column of 

 dry earth, not too closely packed. The 

 column is nearly six inches high. The larva 

 has just quitted an excavation thrice as deep, 

 in soil of the same nature, but offering a 

 much greater resistance. Now that it is 

 buried under my short, sandy column, will 

 it be capable of climbing to the surface? If 

 it were a mere matter of strength, the issue 

 would be certain. What can an obstacle 

 without cohesion be to one that has just 

 bored a hole through the hard ground? 



And yet I am assailed by doubts. To 

 break down the screen that still separated it 

 from the outer air, the larva has expended 

 its last reserves of fluid. The flask is dry; 



39 



