Social life in the insect world / by J.H. Fabre ; translated by Bernard Miall.

  • Jean-Henri Fabre
Date:
1937
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Social life in the insect world / by J.H. Fabre ; translated by Bernard Miall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    are very feeble when first hatched, could not possibly make their way through the tenacious substance of the walls. On the interior of these walls are a number of fine transverse furrows, signs of the various layers in which the mass of eggs is disposed. Let us cut the nest in half transversely. We shall then see that the mass of eggs constitutes an elongated core, of very firm consistency, surrounded as to the bottom and sides by a thick porous rind, like solidified foam. : Above the eggs are the curved plates, which are set very closely and have little freedom; their edges constituting the zone of issue, where they form a double series of small overlapping scales. The eggs are set in a yellowish medium of horny appearance. They are arranged in layers, in lines forming arcs of a circle, with the cephalic extremities converging towards the zone of issue. This orientation tells us of the method of delivery. The newly-born larvæ will slip into the interval between two adjacent flaps or leaves, which form a prolongation of the core; they will then find a narrow passage, none too easy to effect, but sufficient, having regard to the curious provision which we shall deal with directly; they will then reach the zone of issue. There, under the overlapping scales, two passages of exit open for each layer of eggs. Half the larvæ will issue by the right hand passage, half by that on the left hand. This process is repeated for each layer, from end to end of the nest. Let us sum up those structural details, which are not easily grasped unless one has the nest before one. Lying along the axis of the nest, and in shape like a date-stone, is the mass of eggs, grouped in layers. A protective rind, a kind of solidified foam, envelopes this core, except at the top, along the central line, where the porous rind is replaced by thin overlapping leaves. The free edges of these leaves form the exterior of the zone of issue; they overlap one another, forming two series of scales, leaving two exits, in the shape of narrow crevices, for each layer of eggs. To be present at the construction of the nest—to learn how the Mantis contrives to build so complex a structure— such was the main point of my researches. I succeeded.
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