The Pine Cockchafer 



end of his short antennae seven large super- 

 posed leaves, which, opening and closing Hke 

 a fan, betray the emotions of the moment. 

 At first sight one would take this superb foli- 

 age for a sense-organ of great perfection, 

 ^apable of perceiving subtle odours, almost 

 inaudible waves of sound or other means of 

 information unknown to our senses; but the 

 female warns us not to go too far in this 

 direction. Her maternal duties demand 

 that she should possess a susceptibility to 

 impressions at least as great as that of the 

 other sex; and yet her antennary plumes are 

 very small and consist of six niggardly leaves. 



Then what Is the use of the male's enor- 

 mous fan? The seven-leaved apparatus is 

 to the Pine-chafer what his long, quivering 

 horns are to the Capricorn and the panoply 

 of the forehead to the Onthophagus and the 

 forked antlers of the mandibles to the Stag- 

 beetle. Each decks himself In his own fash- 

 Ion with nuptial extravagances. 



The handsome Cockchafer appears at the 

 summer solstice, almost simultaneously with 

 the first Clcadae.^ His punctual advent gives 

 him a place In the entomological calendar, 



1 Cf. The Life of the Grasshopper: chaps, i to v. — 

 Translator's Note. 



199 



