The Life of the Grasshopper 



within. Now is the time to redouble our 

 vigilance and multiply our visits, especially 

 in the morning. 



Fortune, which loves the persevering, re- 

 wards me for my assiduity. All round this 

 swelling where, by a process of infinite deli- 

 cacy, the line of least resistance has been 

 prepared, the end of the egg^ pushed back 

 by the inmate's forehead, becomes detached, 

 rises and falls to one side like the top of a 

 miniature scent-bottle. The Cricket pops out 

 like a Jack-in-the-box. 



When he is gone, the shell remains dis- 

 tended, smooth, Intact, pure white, with the 

 cap or lid hanging from the opening. A 

 bird's egg breaks clumsily under the blows 

 of a wart that grows for the purpose at the 

 end of the chick's beak; the Cricket's egg, 

 endowed with a superior mechanism, opens 

 like an Ivory case. The thrust of the In- 

 mate's head Is enough to work the hinge. 



The hatching of the eggs Is hastened by 

 the glorious weather; and the observer's pa- 

 tience Is not much tried, the rapidity rivalling 

 that of the Dung-beetles. The summer 

 solstice has not yet arrived when the ten 

 couples Interned under glass for the benefit 

 of my studies are surrounded by their 



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