The Life of the Grasshopper 



visible in the depths of the foam; sometimes 

 there are two or three or more. In such 

 cases, it is a fortuitous association, the 

 fabrics of the several workers being so close 

 together that they merge into one common 

 edifice. 



Let us see the work begin and, with the 

 aid of a magnifying-glass, follow the crea- 

 ture's proceedings. With her sucker in- 

 serted up to the hilt and her six short legs 

 firmly fixed, the Cicadella remains motion- 

 less, flat on her stomach on the long-suffering 

 leaf. You expect to see froth issuing from 

 the edge of the well, effervescing under the 

 action of the insect's implement, whose 

 lancets, ascending and descending in turns 

 and rubbing against each other like those 

 of the Cicada, ought to make the sap foam 

 as it is forced out. The froth, so it would 

 seem, must come ready-made from the punc- 

 ture. That is what the current descriptions 

 of the Cicadella tell us; that was how I my- 

 self pictured it on the authority of the 

 writers. All this is a huge mistake : the real 

 thing is much more ingenious. It is a very 

 clear liquid that comes up from the well, 

 with no more trace of foam than in a dew- 

 drop. Even so the Cicada, who possesses 

 430 



