The Life of the Grasshopper 



had better descend into the earth without 

 delay; and that to a good depth. This one 

 imperative condition of safety is in many 

 cases impossible to realize. What can little 

 Fiea's-claws do against rock, flint or hard- 

 ened clay? The tiny creature must perish 

 unless it can find an underground refuge in 

 time. 



The first establishment, which is exposed 

 to so many evil chances, is, so everything 

 shows us, a cause of great mortality in the 

 Cicada's family. Already the little black 

 parasite, the destroyer of the eggs, has told 

 us how expedient it is for the mothers to ac- 

 complish a long and fertile laying; the diffi- 

 culties attendant upon the initial installation 

 in their turn explain why the maintenance of 

 the race at its suitable strength requires 

 three or four hundred eggs to be laid by each 

 of them. Subject to excessive spoliation, the 

 Cicada is fertile to excess. She averts by the 

 richness of her ovaries the multitude of 

 dangers threatening her. 



In the experiment which it remains for 

 me to make, I will at least spare the larva 

 the difficulties of the first installation. I se- 

 lect some very soft, very black heath-mould 

 and pass it through a fine sieve. Its dark 



104 



