The Life of the Grasshopper 



of the mould. But our halt would be short 

 lived, for the mould in its turn would want 

 explaining: we should have to seek for a 

 solution of its infinite intricacies. Let us not 

 go so far back; we should be utterly in the 

 dark. Let us rather keep to facts that can 

 be observed. 



I examine through the magnifying-glass a 

 pinion of a larva ripe for transformation. I 

 see a bundle of fairly thick nervures radi- 

 ating fanwise. Other nervures, paler and 

 finer, are set in the intermediate spaces. 

 Lastly, the fabric is completed by a number 

 of very short transversal lines, more delicate 

 still and chevron-shaped. 



This, no doubt, gives a rough outline of 

 the future wing-case; but how different 

 from the mature structure ! The arrange- 

 ment of the radiating nervures, the skeleton 

 of the edifice, is not at all the same ; the net- 

 work formed by the transversal veins in no 

 way suggests the complicated pattern which 

 we shall see later. The rudimentary is 

 about to be succeeded by the infinitely com- 

 plex, the crude by the exquisitely perfect. 

 The same remark applies to the wing-spatule 

 and its outcome, the final wing. 



It is quite evident, when we have the pre- 

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