THE CYCLE OF LIFE 419 



' In the course of two weeks,' Fabre writes, ' I have seen 

 the same Mantis treat seven husbands in this fashion. 

 She admitted all to her embraces, and all paid for the 

 nuptial ecstasy with their hves '. But we must remember 

 that these same female Mantises make a beautiful and 

 elaborate cradle for the eggs, beating up a somewhat silken 

 secretion into a spongy foam which hardens in the 

 air. 



The same mysterious ' post-matrimonial cannibaHsm ' is 

 illustrated by some scorpions and spiders, by some crickets, 

 and by the so-called ' golden ' Scarabee beetle. It must 

 be remembered, however, that most of the records relate 

 to creatures in captivity. Fabre relates in regard to the 

 ' golden Scarabaeus,' which does such good work in destroy- 

 ing caterpillars that creep on the ground, such as the pro- 

 cession caterpillar, that between the middle of June and 

 the first of August, twenty-five comfortably-cased Scarabees 

 were reduced to five — all females. He saw one of the 

 females devouring a male, and he found that all the corpses 

 of the males had been eviscerated. The fact that the 

 males did not seem to resist, suggests that they may be 

 naturally moribund after mating. 



Parental Care and the Family. — In many animals, 

 from worm to frog, the mother discharges a large number 

 of eggs, and leaves them to develop. Sometimes, 

 indeed, as in some marine worms and in many butterflies 

 and moths, she dies soon after reproduction. Even in 

 strong animals hke lampreys and eels, death seems to 

 follow hke a nemesis close on the heels of reproduction. 

 It must be admitted that the hberation of huge numbers 

 of ova — sown broadcast in the waters — ^is a wasteful pro- 

 cess. There is great mortahty and many of the eggs are 



