The Cionus 



laboratory, what exquisite chemistry in a 

 scrap of intestine ! 



What use are these minute details, noted 

 hour by hour? Why these puerilities? 

 What matters to us the industry of a 

 wretched grub, hardly known even to the pro- 

 fessional experts? 



Well, these puerilities involve the most 

 weighty problems that we are privileged to 

 discuss. Is the world an harmonious crea- 

 tion, governed by a primordial force, a causa 

 causarum? Or is it a chaos of blind con- 

 flicting forces, whose reciprocal thrusts pro- 

 duce a chance equilibrium, for better or for 

 worse? Minute entomological details ex- 

 amined with some thoroughness, may serve 

 us better than syllogisms, in the scientific in- 

 vestigation of these trifles and others like 

 them. The humble Cionus, for its part, tells 

 us of a primordial force, the motive power 

 of the smallest as of the greatest things. 



A day is not too long to give the bladder 

 a good lining. Next day, the larva molts 

 and passes into the nymphal state. Let us 

 complete its story with the data gleaned in 

 the fields. The cocoons are often found on 

 the grass near the food-plant, on the stalks 

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