CHAPTER XII 



THE WHITE-FACED DECTICUS : THE LAYING 

 AND THE HATCHING OF THE EGGS 



THE White-faced Decticus is an African 

 insect that in France hardly ventures 

 beyond the borders of Provence and Langue- 

 doc. She wants the sun that ripens the 

 olives. Can it be that a high temperature 

 acts as a stimulus to her matrimonial eccen- 

 tricities, or are we to look upon these as 

 family customs, independent of climate? Do 

 things happen under frosty skies just as they 

 do under a burning sun? 



I go for my information to another 

 Decticus, the Alpine Analota (A. alpina, 

 YERSIN), who inhabits the high ridges of 

 Mont Ventoux, 1 which are covered with snow 

 for half the year. Many a time, during my 

 old botanical expeditions, I had noticed the 



1 The highest mountain (6,270 feet) in the neighbour- 

 hood of Serignan. Cf. The Hunting Wasps: chap, xi. 

 Translator's Note. 



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