THE CIGALE 57 



black eye-spots ; in appearance it is precisely like the fore 

 portion of the butter-coloured egg ; or, as I have said, 

 like the fore portion of a tiny fish. You would think 

 that an egg had been somehow displaced, had been 

 removed from the bottom of the chamber to its aperture. 

 An egg to move in this narrow passage I a walking egg ! 

 No, that is impossible ; eggs ^* do not do such things ! " 

 This is some mistake. We will break open the twig, 

 and the mystery is unveiled. The actual eggs are where 

 they always were, though they are slightly disarranged. 

 They are empty, reduced to the condition of transparent 

 skins, split wide open at the upper end. From them 

 has issued the singular organism whose most notable 

 characteristics are as follows ; — 



In its general form, the configuration of the head and 

 the great black eyes, the creature, still more than the 

 eggy has the appearance of an extremely minute fish. A 

 simulacrum of a ventral fin increases the resemblance. This 

 apparent fin in reality consists of the two fore-limbs, 

 which, packed in a special sheath, are bent backwards, 

 stretched out against one another in a straight line. Its 

 small degree of mobility must enable the grub to escape 

 from the egg-shell and, with greater difficulty, from the 

 woody tunnel leading to the open air. Moving outwards 

 a little from the body, and then moving back again, this 

 lever serves as a means of progression, its terminal hooks 

 being already fairly strong. The four other feet are still 

 covered by the common envelope, and are absolutely 

 inert. It is the same with the antennae, which can 

 scarcely be seen through the magnifying-glass. The 

 organism which has issued from the egg is a boat-shaped 

 body with a fin-shaped limb pointing backwards on the 



