THE CIGALE 53 



or one-sixth of an inch in length ; entirely black, with 

 knotty antennae, which are slightly thicker towards 

 their extremities. The unsheathed ovipositor is implanted 

 in the under portion of the abdomen, about the 

 middle, and at right angles to the axis of the body, 

 as in the case of the Leucospis, the pest of the apiary. 

 Not having taken the precaution to capture it, I do 

 not know what name the entomologists have bestowed 

 upon it, or even if this dwarf exterminator of the 

 Cigale has as yet been catalogued. What I am 

 familiar with is its calm temerity, its impudent 

 audacity in the presence of the colossus who 

 could crush it with a foot. I have seen as many 

 as three at once exploiting the unfortunate female. 

 They keep close behind the Cigale, working busily 

 with their probes, or waiting until their victim deposits 

 her eggs. 



The Cigale fills one of her egg-chambers and climbs 

 a little higher in order to bore another hole. One of 

 the bandits runs to the abandoned station, and there, 

 almost under the claws of the giant, and without the 

 least nervousness, as if it were accomplishing some 

 meritorious action, it unsheathes its probe and thrusts 

 it into the column of eggs, not by the open aperture, 

 which is bristling with broken fibres, but by a lateral 

 fissure. The probes works slowly, as the wood is 

 almost intact. The Cigale has time to fill the adjacent 

 chamber. 



As soon as she has finished one of these midges, 

 the very same that has been performing its task below 

 her, replaces her and introduces its disastrous egg. 

 By the time the Cigale departs, her ovaries empt}', the 



