Preface xvii 



it to crumble. Gradually, the legs push the 

 rubbish back and the insect advances so much 

 towards the surface/ 



6 



And monster after monster passes, such as 

 the imagination of Bosch or Callot never 

 conceived ! The larva of the Rose-chafer, 

 which, though it has legs under its belly, 

 always travels on its back ; the Blue-winged 

 Locust, unluckier still than the Flesh-fly and 

 possessing nothing wherewith to perforate the 

 soil, to escape from the tomb and reach the 

 light but a cervical bladder, a viscous blister ; 

 and the Empusa, who, with her curved abdo- 

 men, her great projecting eyes, her legs with 

 knee-pieces armed with cleavers, her halberd, 

 her abnormally tall mitre would certainly be the 

 most devilish goblin that ever walked the earth, 

 if, beside her, the Praying Mantis were not so 

 frightful that her mere aspect deprives her 

 |victims of their power of movement when she 

 assumes, in front of them, what the ento- 

 mologists have termed ' the spectral attitude/ 



b 



