Preface xxiii 



rhythmic flow of blood in her skull and acting 

 after the manner of a piston. The rivets of 

 the lid gradually give way ; and, as soon as 

 the insect is free, she lays aside her mechanical 

 helmet. 



Another species of bug, the Reduvius persona- 

 tus, which lives mostly in lumber-rooms, where 

 it Ues hidden in the dust, has invented a still 

 more astonishing system of hatching. Here, 

 the lid of the egg is not riveted, as in the case 

 of the Pentatomidae, but simply glued. At the 

 moment of liberation, the lid rises and we see : 



' . . . a spherical vesicle emerge from the 

 shell and gradually expand, like a soap-bubble 

 blown through a straw. Driven further and 

 further back by the extension of this bladder, 

 the lid falls. 



* Then the bomb bursts ; in other words, the 

 bUster, swollen beyond its capacity of resistance, 

 rips at the top. This envelope, which is an 

 extremely tenuous membrane, generally remains 

 clinging to the edge of the orifice, where it 

 forms a high, white rim. At other times, the 

 explosion loosens it and flings it outside the 



