The Cricket: the Pairing 

 Et fugit ad salices; el se cupit ante videri^ 



said the delightful eclogue, two thousand 

 years ago. Thrice-consecrated strategy of 

 love, thou art everywhere the same I 



The song is resumed, intersected by si- 

 lences and murmuring quavers. Touched by 

 so much passion, Galatea, I mean Dame 

 Cricket, issues from her hiding-place. The 

 other goes up to her, suddenly spins round, 

 turns his back to her and flattens his ab- 

 domen against the ground. Crawling back- 

 wards, he makes repeated efforts to slip un- 

 derneath. The curious backward manoeuvre 

 at last succeeds. Gently, my little one, 

 gently! Discreetly flattened out, you man- 

 age to slide under. That's done it! We 

 have our couple. A spermatophore, a 

 granule smaller than a pin's head, hangs 

 where it ought to. The meadows will have 

 their Crickets next year. 



The laying of the eggs follows soon after. 

 Then this cohabitation in couples in a cage 

 often brings about domestic quarrels. The 

 father is knocked about and crippled; his 



1 " Then tripping to the woods the wanton hies 



And wishes to be seen before she flies." 

 VIRGIL, Pastorals: book i.; Dryden's translation. 



341 



