MATERNAL SOLICITUDE IN RHYNCHOTA. 117 



any bad intention, but without any discretion. The Httle beggars 

 are so small, so feeble, that, passing by, he grazes them with the 

 end of his foot and overturns them. Like turned turtles, they 

 vainly kick about ; no one heeds them. During three months' 

 assiduous observations I have not noted the slightest appearance 

 of the maternal solicitude so celebrated by the compilers. The 

 newly hatched bugs, packed one against the other, remain 

 stationary for several days on the empty eggs ; there they 

 acquire a firmer consistency and brighter colouring. Hunger 

 comes ; one of the youngsters leaves the group in search of 

 refreshment ; the others follow, happy in their mutual prox- 

 imity, like sheep at pasturage ; the first in moving sets in 

 motion the whole band, who set out for tender places where 

 they may implant their beaks and imbibe ; then they all return 

 to their natal place for repose upon the empty eggs. Expedi- 

 tions in common are repeated over an increasing radius, till at 

 last, somewhat strengthened, the society separates and breaks 

 up, never to return to its place of birth. Henceforth each one 

 lives in his own way. What, then, would happen if, when the 

 troop moves away, there should encounter them a mother of 

 slow gait, a frequent case among the sedate bugs ? The young 

 ones, I suppose, would confidently follow this chance leader, as 

 they follow those among themselves who are the first to take to 

 the road ; there would then be some similarity to a hen at the 

 head of her chickens ; this casual occurrence would lend an 

 appearance of maternal cares in a stranger heedless of her 

 bundle of brats. 



" The good De Geer appears to me to have been duped in 

 some such manner : a little colour, involuntarily embellished, 

 has completed the tableau ; and then are vaunted in books the 

 family virtues of the grey bug." 



Fabre has been led into error, first by his ignorance of 

 systematic Rhynchotology ; as I have previously remarked, the 

 form of bug which DeGeer had under observation belongs to a 

 subfamily not closely allied to that embracing the bugs watched 

 by Fabre ; secondly, by his negligence of previous literature, 

 except that of DeGeer (and incidentally Modeer) and Boitard ; 

 yet we have an independent observer, Montrouzier, ignorant, 

 apparently, of all previous similar records, who notes a like 

 habit in yet another subfamily, more remote still from either, 

 and that almost at the antipodes of Europe. Moreover, DeGeer's 

 accounts are explicitly corroborated by two competent field ento- 

 mologists whose integrity and capacity have never before been 

 questioned, and one of these (Parfitt) was by his own account 

 ignorant of any literature on the subject. So that Fabre's gibe 

 at Messieurs the Compilers has failed to score. Boitard's 

 account may perhaps be treated a little incredulously, and pos- 

 sibly also Modeer's interpretation of the paternal gymnastics. 



