The Empusa 



in the sun. Besides, her acrobatic feats do 

 not cover a long period. The Empusa, 

 on the other hand, maintains her curious 

 equilibrium for ten months on end, without 

 a break. Hanging from the trelliswork, 

 back downwards, she hunts, eats, digests, 

 dozes, casts her skin, undergoes her trans- 

 formation, mates, lays her eggs and dies. 

 She clambered up there when she was still 

 quite young; she falls down, full of days, a 

 corpse. 



Things do not happen exactly like this 

 under natural conditions. The insect stands 

 on the bushes back upwards; it keeps its 

 balance in the regular attitude and turns over 

 only in circumstances that occur at long in- 

 tervals. The protracted suspension of my 

 captives is all the more remarkable inasmuch 

 as it is not at all an innate habit of their 

 race. 



It reminds one of the Bats, who hang, 

 head downwards, by their hind-legs from the 

 roof of their caves. A special formation of 

 the toes enables birds to sleep on one leg, 

 which automatically and without fatigue 

 clutches the swaying bough. The Empusa 

 shows me nothing akin to their contrivance. 

 The extremity of her walking-legs has the 



20I 



