The Young Queens 



egg and bursts it open. The ultimate 

 victor has therefore this fresh enemy to 

 subdue ; but the conquest is easy, for the 

 triongulin, deep in the satisfaction of its 

 pre-natal hunger, clings obstinately to the 

 egg, and does not even attempt to defend 

 itself. It is quickly despatched; and the 

 other is at last alone, and possessor of 

 the precious egg it has won so well. It 

 eagerly plunges its head into the opening 

 its predecessor had made ; and begins the 

 lengthy repast that shall transform it into 

 a perfect insect. But nature, that has 

 decreed this ordeal of battle, has, on the 

 other hand, established the prize of vic- 

 tory with such miserly precision that 

 nothing short of an entire egg will suffice 

 for the nourishment of a single triongulin. 

 So that, as we are informed by M. Mayet, 

 to whom we owe the account of these dis- 

 concerting adventures, there is lacking to 

 our conqueror the food its last victim con- 

 277 



