THE CRICKET 131 



larva casts its skin. I secured one at the point of being trans- 

 formed. At this stage the future wings and wing-cases form 

 four tiny flaps, which, by their shape and scantiness, and by 

 the way they stick out in different directions, remind me of 

 the short jackets worn by the Auvergne cheesemakers. The 

 larva cast off these garments before my eyes. 



The wing-cases developed bit by bit, and opened out. 

 There was no sign to tell me which would overlap the other. 

 Then the edges touched : a few moments longer and the right 

 would be over the left. This was the time to intervene. 



With a straw I gently changed the position, bringing the 

 left edge over the right. In spite of some protest from the 

 insect I was quite successful : the left wing-case pushed 

 forward, though only very little. Then I left it alone, and 

 gradually the wing-cases matured in the inverted position. 

 The Cricket was left-handed. I expected soon to see him 

 wield the fiddlestick which the members of his family never 

 employ. 



On the third day he made a start. A few brief grating 

 sounds were heard the noise of a machine out of gear shift- 

 ing its parts back into their proper order. Then the tune 

 began, with its accustomed tone and rhythm. 



Alas, I had been over-confident in my mischievous straw ! 

 I thought I had created a new type of instrumentalist, and I 

 had obtained nothing at all ! The Cricket was scraping with 

 his right fiddlestick, and always would. With a painful effort 

 he had dislocated his shoulders, which I had forced to harden 

 in the wrong way. He had put back on top that which ought 

 to be on top, and underneath that which ought to be under- 

 neath. My sorry science tried to make a left-handed player 

 of him. He laughed at my devices, and settled down to be 

 right-handed for the rest of his life. 



Enough of the instrument ; let us listen to the music. 

 The Cricket sings on the threshold of his house, in the cheerful 

 sunshine, never indoors. The wing-cases utter their cri-cri 

 in a soft tremolo. It is full, sonorous, nicely cadenced, and 



