456 THE WOXDER OF LIFE 



appendage. This qu&iut form moults and there comes 

 forth a migratory !&"<*, no bigger than a flea, which hangs 

 by its tail for an hot . .; *& a day at the end of a thread, waving 

 its antennae and K^ding its legs. It falls to the ground 

 and seeks for a si- < of pervious soil into which to burrow. 

 It becomes a fk- %.- Imrrower and taps the roots of plants, 

 probably reins* wig, Fabre thinks, for four years under- 

 ground. We ^.tiMire to quote from his Social Life in the 

 Insect Wc-r*>,i'._ i'te summing up of this extraordinary life- 

 history. 



<* of hard labour underground, and a month 



' .- *- -, * the sun ; such is the life of the Cigale. Do 



>**in reproach the adult insect with his trium- 



filluigfiA) fe nomrnoo aril to auoHqionjBisM XV .oil 

 Mil ol (I) auififiqaaoJqaJ Mlil-abald-afcijpl aril rnoit 

 / (.bimibS \\N) (C)y[ 3 ,l !3 gp|g 



wings that rival * with 



heat and flooded < joy. 



Hia cyn.h,:-.- ?. ; ;; y., - ch felicity, 



so well earned althi' il\ 



The common house-fly (Mttsco domestica) can pass through 

 the whole of its intricate development with three larval 

 stages and a pupal stage in eight days, if the temperature 

 is steady and high (35 C.), but the same process may be 

 lengthened out over several weeks. According to Hewitt, 

 the flies become sexually mature in 10-14 days after their 

 emergence from the pupa-stage. Each fly lays from 120-150 

 eggs in a single batch, and may lay as many as six batches 

 during its short life. Except in warm stables and the like, 

 where reproduction may go on practically wi 

 the breeding period is usually from h 



