The Locusts: the last Moult 



narrow strips, the germs of the wings, stand 

 in the centre of the uncovered space and 

 diverge slightly. The position for the moult 

 has now been taken with the necessary 

 stability. 



The first thing to be done is to burst the 

 old tunic. Behind the corselet, under the 

 pointed roof of the prothorax, pulsations 

 are produced by alternate inflation and de- 

 flation. A similar operation is performed in 

 front of the neck and probably also under 

 the entire covering of the shell that is to be 

 split. The delicacy of the membranes at the 

 joints enables us to perceive what is going 

 on at these bare points, but the harness of 

 the corselet hides it from us in the central 

 portion. 



It is there that the insect's reserves of 

 blood flow in waves. The rising tide ex- 

 presses itself in blows of an hydraulic bat- 

 tering-ram. Distended by this rush of hu- 

 mours, by this injection wherein the organism 

 concentrates its energies, the skin at last 

 splits along a line of least resistance pre- 

 pared by life's subtle previsions. The fissure 

 yawns all along the corselet, opening pre- 

 cisely over the keel, as though the two sym- 

 metrical halves had been soldered. Un- 



403 



