The Locusts: the last Moult 



The four stumps, which issued from their 

 sheaths shortly after the corselet split its 

 keel down the middle, contain, as we have 

 seen, the wings and wing-cases, with their net- 

 work of nervures. This network, if not per- 

 fect, has at least the general plan of its 

 numberless details mapped out. To unfurl 

 these poor bundles and convert them into 

 generous sails, it is enough that the organ- 

 ism, acting in this case like a forcing-pump, 

 should shoot a stream of humours, which 

 have been kept in reserve for this moment, 

 the hardest of all, into the little channels 

 already prepared for their reception. With 

 the channel marked out in advance, a slight 

 injection is sufficient to explain the rapid 

 spread. 



But what were the four strips of gauze 

 while still contained in their sheaths? Are 

 the wings spatules and the three-cornered 

 pinions of the larva moulds whose creases, 

 corners and sinuosities shape their contents 

 in their own image and weave the tissues of 

 the future wing and wing-case? If we had 

 to do with a real instance of moulding, our 

 brains could call a halt. We should say 

 to ourselves that it was quite simple for the 

 thing moulded to correspond with the shape 



417 



