SOCIAL LIFE IN THE 

 INSECT WORLD 



CHAPTER I 



THE FABLE OF THE CIGALE AND THE ANT 



Fame is the daughter of Legend. In the world of 

 creatures, as in the world of men, the story precedes 

 and outlives history. There are many instances of the 

 fact that if an insect attract our attention for this reason 

 or that, it is given a place in those legends of the people 

 whose last care is truth. 



For example, who is there that does not, at least by 

 hearsay, know the Cigale ? Where in the entomological 

 world shall we find a more famous reputation? Her 

 fame as an impassioned singer, careless of the future, 

 was the subject of our earliest lessons in repetition. In 

 short, easily remembered lines of verse, we learned how 

 she was destitute when the winter winds arrived, and 

 how she went begging for food to the Ant, her neigh- 

 bour. A poor welcome she received, the would-be 

 borrower 1 — a welcome that has become proverbial, and 



2 



