32 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



shrivelled leather of an old boot. Any support will serve, 

 as long as there is an uneven surface to form a solid founda- 

 tion. 



In size the nest is between one and two inches long, and 

 less than an inch wide ; and its colour is as golden as a grain 

 of wheat. It is made of a frothy substance, which has become 

 solid and hard, and it smells like silk when it is burnt. The 

 shape of it varies according to the support on which it is based, 

 but in all cases the upper surface is convex. One can dis- 

 tinguish three bands, or zones, of which the middle one is 

 made of little plates or scales, arranged in pairs and over- 

 lapping like the tiles of a roof. The edges of these plates 

 are free, forming two rows of slits or little doorways, through 

 which the young Mantis escapes at the moment of hatching. 

 In every other part the wall of the nest is impenetrable. 



The eggs are arranged in layers, with the ends containing 

 the heads pointed towards the doorways. Of these doorways, 

 as I have just said, there are two rows. One half of the grubs 

 will go out through the right door, and the other half through 

 the left. 



It is a remarkable fact that the mother Mantis builds this 

 cleverly-made nest while she is actually laying her eggs. 

 From her body she produces a sticky substance, rather like 

 the Caterpillar's silk-fluid ; and this material she mixes with 

 the air and whips into froth. She beats it into foam with 

 two ladles that she has at the tip of her body, just as we beat 

 white of egg with a fork. The foam is greyish-white, almost 

 like soapsuds, and when it first appears it is sticky ; but two 

 minutes afterwards it has solidified. 



In this sea of foam the Mantis deposits her eggs. As each 

 layer of eggs is laid, it is covered with froth, which quickly 

 becomes solid. 



In a new nest the belt of exit-doors is coated with a material 

 that seems different from the rest a layer of fine porous 

 matter, of a pure, dull, almost chalky white, which contrasts 

 with the dirty white of the remainder of the nest. It is like 



