The Life of the Grasshopper 



will be the ruin of their contents. A small, 

 quick-hatching grub, one only to each 

 chamber, generously fed on a round dozen 

 raw eggs, will take the place of the Cicada's 

 family. 



O deplorable mother, have centuries of 

 experience taught you nothing? Surely, with 

 those excellent eyes of yours, you cannot fail 

 to see the terrible sappers, when they flutter 

 around you, preparing their felon stroke ! 

 You see them, you know that they are at 

 your heels; and you remain impassive and 

 let yourself be victimized. Turn round, you 

 easy-going colossus, and crush the pigmies ! 

 But you will do nothing of the sort: you are 

 incapable of altering your instincts, even to 

 lighten your share of maternal sorrow. 



The Common Cicada's eggs are of a 

 gleaming ivory-white. Elongated in shape 

 and conical at both ends, they might be com- 

 pared with miniature weavers'-shuttles. 

 They are two millimetres and a half long 

 by half a millimetre wide. 1 They are ar- 

 ranged in a row, slightly overlapping. The 

 Ash Cicada's, which are a trifle smaller, are 

 packed in regular parcels mimicking mi- 

 croscopic bundles of cigars. We will devote 



* About iV x ^ inch. — Translator's Note. 

 94 





