The Life of the Grasshopper 



mains more or less the same from year to 

 year. 



Here a serious question arises. Can the 

 Mantis have acquired her present fecundity 

 by degrees? Can she, as the ravages of the 

 Ant and others reduced her progeny, have 

 increased the output of her ovaries so as to 

 make up for excessive destruction by ex- 

 cessive production? Could the enormous 

 brood of to-day be due to the wastage of 

 former days? So think some, who are 

 ready, without convincing proofs, to see in 

 animals even more profound changes brought 

 about by circumstances. 



In front of my window, on the sloping 

 margin of the pond, stands a magnificent 

 cherry-tree. It came there by accident, a 

 sturdy wilding, disregarded by my prede- 

 cessors and to-day respected far more for its 

 spreading branches than for its fruit, which 

 is of very indifferent quality. In April it 

 forms a splendid white-satin dome. Its 

 blossoms are as snow; their fallen petals car- 

 pet the ground. Soon the red cherries ap- 

 pear in profusion. O my beautiful tree, how 

 lavish you are and what a number of baskets 

 you will fill ! 



And for this reason what revelry up 

 182 



