The Life of the Grasshopper 



peared is fairly probable, though there is 

 nothing in the condition of things to tell us 

 so; but, if we consider the capacity of the 

 well and the extreme difficulty of finding 

 room for so great a volume of rubbish, our 

 doubts return and we say to ourselves : 



" This rubbish demanded a large empty 

 space, which itself was obtained by shifting 

 other refuse no less difficult to house. The 

 room required presupposes the existence of 

 another space into which the earth extracted 

 was shot." 



And so we find ourselves in a vicious circle, 

 for the mere subsidence of materials flung 

 behind would not be enough to explain so 

 great a void. The Cicada must have a 

 special method of disposing of the super- 

 fluous earth. Let us try and surprise his 

 secret. 



Examine a larva at the moment when it 

 emerges from the ground. It is nearly al- 

 ways more or less soiled with mud, some- 

 times wet, sometimes dry. The digging- 

 implements, the fore-feet, have the points of 

 their pickaxes stuck in a globule of slime; 

 its other legs are cased in mud; its back is 

 spotted with clay. We are reminded of a 

 scavenger who has been stirring up sewage. 



34 



