More Beetles 



lows. The easy-going Cricket suddenly de- 

 velops a shrewish character: she beats the 

 mate who lately wooed her in such impas- 

 sioned serenades; she rends his wings, breaks 

 his fiddle ind even goes so far as to tear a 

 few mouthfuls from the musician.^ So it 

 seems probable that this mortal aversion of 

 the female for the male after the pairing is 

 fairly common, especially among the carniv- 

 orous insects. What is the reason of these 

 atrocious habits? If circumstances favour 

 me, I shall not fail to investigate it. 



Of the whole colony in the cage I have 

 five females left at the beginning of August. 

 Their conduct has changed greatly since the 

 eating of the males. Food has become in- 

 different to them. They no longer run up 

 to the Snail, whom I serve half-stripped of 

 his shell; they scorn the plump Mantis and 

 the Caterpillar, their erstwhile delights; they 

 doze under the shelter of the board and 

 rarely show themselves. Can this mean 

 preparation for the laying? I enquire into 

 this day by day, being most anxious to see 

 the first appearance of the little larvae, an 

 artless first appearance, deprived of all so- 



1 Cf. The Life of the Grasshopper: chap. xvi. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



314 



