122 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



circular capsule or swelling is seen. This marks the line 

 of rupture, which is now preparing. Presently the 

 translucency of the egg allows us to observe the fine 

 segmentation of the tiny inmate. Now is the moment 

 to redouble our vigilance and to multiply our visits, 

 especially during the earlier part of the day. 



Fortune favours the patient, and rewards my assiduity 

 Round the little capsule changes of infinite delicacy have 

 prepared the line of least resistance. The end of the egg, 

 pushed by the head of the inmate, becomes detached, 

 rises, and falls aside like the top of a tiny phial. The 

 Cricket issues like a Jack-in-the-box. 



When the Cricket has departed the shell remains 

 distended, smooth, intact, of the purest white, with the 

 circular lid hanging to the mouth of the door of exit. 

 The egg of the bird breaks clumsily under the blows of a 

 wart-like excrescence which is formed expressly upon the 

 beak of the unborn bird ; the egg of the Cricket, of a 

 far superior structure, opens like an ivory casket. The 

 pressure of the inmate's head is sufficient to work the 

 hinge. 



The moment he is deprived of his white tunic, the 

 young Cricket, pale all over, almost white, begins to 

 struggle against the overlying soil. He strikes it with 

 his mandibles ; he sweeps it aside, kicking it backwards 

 and downwards ; and being of a powdery quality, which 

 offers no particular resistance, he soon arrives at the 

 surface, and henceforth knows the joys of the sun, and 

 the perils of intercourse with the living ; a tiny, feeble 

 creature, little larger than a flea. His colour deepens. 

 In twenty-four hours he assumes a splendid ebony black 

 which rivals that of the adult insect. Of his original 



