THE OAK EGGAR 207 



under the same cover as the moth. It did not occur to 

 me for a moment that this cohabitation could lead to any 

 harm. The Mantis was so slender, and the other so 

 corpulent ! 



Alas ! I little knew the fury of carnage animating the 

 creature that wielded those tiny grappling-irons ! Next 

 morning I met with a disagreeable surprise : I found the 

 little Mantis devouring the great moth. The head and 

 the fore part of the thorax had already disappeared. 

 Horrible creature ! at what an evil hour you came to 

 me ! Goodbye to my researches, the plans which I had 

 caressed all night in my imagination ! For three years 

 for lack of a subject, I was unable to resume them. 



Bad luck, however, was not to make me forget the 

 little I had learned. On one single occasion about sixty 

 males had arrived. Considering the rarity of the Oak 

 Eggar, and remembering the years of fruitless search on 

 the part of my helpers and myself, this number was no 

 less than stupefying. The undiscoverable had suddenly 

 become multitudinous at the call of the female. 



Whence did they come ? From all sides, and un- 

 doubtedly from considerable distances. During my 

 prolonged searches every bush and thicket and heap of 

 stones in my neighbourhood had become familiar to me, 

 and I can assert that the Oak Eggar was not to be found 

 there. For such a swarm to collect as I found in my 

 laboratory the moths must have come from all directions, 

 from the whole district, and within a radius that I dare 

 not guess at. 



Three years went by and by chance two more cocoons 

 of the Monk or Oak Eggar again fell into my hands. 

 Both produced females, at an interval of a few days 



