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diff --git a/3422.txt b/3422.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1a32bc --- /dev/null +++ b/3422.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9385 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of the Fly, by J. Henri Fabre + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life of the Fly + With Which are Interspersed Some Chapters of Autobiography + +Author: J. Henri Fabre + +Translator: Alexander Teixeira de Mattos + +Posting Date: February 28, 2009 [EBook #3422] +Release Date: September, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF THE FLY *** + + + + +Produced by Gerry Rising + + + + + +THE LIFE OF THE FLY: + +With Which are Interspersed Some Chapters of Autobiography + + +By J. Henri Fabre + + +Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos + +Fellow of the Zoological Society of London + + + + +CONTENTS + + TRANSLATOR'S NOTE + + I THE HARMAS + II THE ANTHRAX + III ANOTHER PROBER (PERFORATOR) + IV LARVAL DIMORPHISM + V HEREDITY + VI MY SCHOOLING + VII THE POND + VIII THE CADDIS WORM + IX THE GREENBOTTLES + X THE GRAY FLESH FLIES + XI THE BUMBLEBEE FLY + XII MATHEMATICAL MEMORIES: NEWTON'S BINOMIAL THEOREM + XIII MATHEMATICAL MEMORIES: MY LITTLE TABLE + XIV THE BLUEBOTTLE: THE LAYING + XV THE BLUEBOTTLE: THE GRUB + XVI A PARASITE OF THE MAGGOT + XVII RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD + XVIII INSECTS AND MUSHROOMS + XIX A MEMORABLE LESSON + XX INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S NOTE + +The present volume contains all the essays on flies, or Diptera, from +the Souvenirs entomologiques, to which I have added, in order to make +the dimensions uniform with those of the other volumes of the series, +the purely autobiographical essays comprised in the Souvenirs. These +essays, though they have no bearing upon the life of the fly, are +among the most interesting that Henri Fabre has written and will, I am +persuaded, make a special appeal to the reader. The chapter entitled The +Caddis Worm has been included as following directly upon The Pond. + +Since publishing The Life of the Spider, I was much struck by a passage +in Dr. Chalmers Mitchell's stimulating work, The Childhood of Animals, +in which the secretary of the Zoological Society of London says: 'I have +attempted to avoid the use of terms familiar only to students of zoology +and to refrain from anatomical detail, but at the same time to refrain +from the irritating habit assuming that my readers have no knowledge, no +dictionaries and no other books.' + +I began to wonder whether I had gone too far in simplifying the +terminology of the Fabre essays and in appending explanatory footnotes +to the inevitable number of outlandish names of insects. But my doubts +vanished when I thought upon Fabre's own words in the first chapter of +this book: 'If I write for men of learning, for philosophers...I write +above all things for the young. I want to make them love the natural +story which you make them hate; and that is why, while keeping strictly +to the domain of truth, I avoid your scientific prose, which too often, +alas, seems borrowed from some Iroquois idiom!' + +And I can but apologize if I have been too lavish with my notes to this +chapter in particular, which introduces to us, as in a sort of litany, +a multitude of the insects studied by the author. For the rest, I have +continued my system of references to the earlier Fabre books, whether +translated by myself or others. Of the following essays, The Harmas has +appeared, under another title, in The Daily Mail; The Pond, Industrial +Chemistry and the two Chapters on the bluebottle in The English Review; +and The Harmas, The Pond and Industrial Chemistry in the New York +Bookman. The others are new to England and America, unless any of them +should be issued in newspapers or magazines between this date and the +publication of the book. + +I wish once more to thank Miss Frances Rodwell for her assistance in the +details of my work and in the verification of the many references; and +my thanks are also due to Mr. Edward Cahen, who has been good enough to +revise the two chemistry chapters for me, and to Mr. W. S. Graff Baker, +who has performed the same kindly task towards the two chapters entitled +Mathematical Memories.--Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. Chelsea, 8 July, +1913. + +[Recorder's Note: Most Translator's Footnotes have been omitted from +this text, but some of his references to localities and insect names +are included in brackets. I apologize to English readers for changes to +American spelling.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE HARMAS + +This is what I wished for, hoc erat in votis: a bit of land, oh, not so +very large, but fenced in, to avoid the drawbacks of a public way; an +abandoned, barren, sun scorched bit of land, favored by thistles and by +wasps and bees. Here, without fear of being troubled by the passersby, I +could consult the Ammophila and the Sphex [two digger or hunting wasps] +and engage in that difficult conversation whose questions and answers +have experiment for their language; here, without distant expeditions +that take up my time, without tiring rambles that strain my nerves, +I could contrive my plans of attack, lay my ambushes and watch their +effects at every hour of the day. Hoc erat in votis. Yes, this was my +wish, my dream, always cherished, always vanishing into the mists of the +future. + +And it is no easy matter to acquire a laboratory in the open fields, +when harassed by a terrible anxiety about one's daily bread. For forty +years have I fought, with steadfast courage, against the paltry plagues +of life; and the long-wished-for laboratory has come at last. What it +has cost me in perseverance and relentless work I will not try to say. +It has come; and, with it--a more serious condition--perhaps a little +leisure. I say perhaps, for my leg is still hampered with a few links of +the convict's chain. + +The wish is realized. It is a little late, O my pretty insects! I +greatly fear that the peach is offered to me when I am beginning to +have no teeth wherewith to eat it. Yes, it is a little late: the wide +horizons of the outset have shrunk into a low and stifling canopy, more +and more straitened day by day. Regretting nothing in the past, save +those whom I have lost; regretting nothing, not even my first youth; +hoping nothing either, I have reached the point at which, worn out by +the experience of things, we ask ourselves if life be worth the living. + +Amid the ruins that surround me, one strip of wall remains standing, +immovable upon its solid base: my passion for scientific truth. Is that +enough, O my busy insects, to enable me to add yet a few seemly pages +to your history? Will my strength not cheat my good intentions? Why, +indeed, did I forsake you so long? Friends have reproached me for it. +Ah, tell them, tell those friends, who are yours as well as mine, +tell them that it was not forgetfulness on my part, not weariness, nor +neglect: I thought of you; I was convinced that the Cerceris [a digger +wasp] cave had more fair secrets to reveal to us, that the chase of the +Sphex held fresh surprises in store. But time failed me; I was alone, +deserted, struggling against misfortune. Before philosophizing, one had +to live. Tell them that; and they will pardon me. + +Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the +solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a +page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression +of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only +on condition of being obscure. Come here, one and all of you--you, the +sting bearers, and you, the wing-cased armor-clads--take up my defense +and bear witness in my favor. Tell of the intimate terms on which I live +with you, of the patience with which I observe you, of the care with +which I record your actions. Your evidence is unanimous: yes, my pages, +though they bristle not with hollow formulas nor learned smatterings, +are the exact narrative of facts observed, neither more nor less; and +whoever cares to question you in his turn will, obtain the same replies. + +And then, my dear insects, if you cannot convince those good people, +because you do not carry the weight of tedium, I, in my turn, will say +to them: 'You rip up the animal and I study it alive; you turn it into +an object of horror and pity, whereas I cause it to be loved; you labor +in a torture chamber and dissecting room, I make my observations under +the blue sky to the song of the cicadas, you subject cell and protoplasm +to chemical tests, I study instinct in its loftiest manifestations; +you pry into death, I pry into life. And why should I not complete +my thought: the boars have muddied the clear stream; natural history, +youth's glorious study, has, by dint of cellular improvements, become a +hateful and repulsive thing. Well, if I write for men of learning, for +philosophers, who, one day, will try to some extent to unravel the tough +problem of instinct, I write also, I write above all things for the +young. I want to make them love the natural history which you make them +hate; and that is why, while keeping strictly to the domain of truth, I +avoid your scientific prose, which too often, alas seems borrowed from +some Iroquois idiom. + +But this is not my business for the moment: I want to speak of the +bit of land long cherished in my plans to form a laboratory of living +entomology, the bit of land which I have at last obtained in the +solitude of a little village. It is a harmas, the name given, in this +district [the country round Serignan, in Provence], to an untilled, +pebbly expanse abandoned to the vegetation of the thyme. It is too poor +to repay the work of the plow; but the sheep passes there in spring, +when it has chanced to rain and a little grass shoots up. + +My harmas, however, because of its modicum of red earth swamped by a +huge mass of stones, has received a rough first attempt at cultivation: +I am told that vines once grew here. And, in fact, when we dig the +ground before planting a few trees, we turn up, here and there, remains +of the precious stock, half carbonized by time. The three pronged fork, +therefore, the only implement of husbandry that can penetrate such +a soil as this, has entered here; and I am sorry, for the primitive +vegetation has disappeared. No more thyme, no more lavender, no more +clumps of kermes oak, the dwarf oak that forms forests across which we +step by lengthening our stride a little. As these plants, especially the +first two, might be of use to me by offering the Bees and Wasps a spoil +to forage, I am compelled to reinstate them in the ground whence they +were driven by the fork. + +What abounds without my mediation is the invaders of any soil that is +first dug up and then left for a long time to its own resources. We +have, in the first rank, the couch grass, that execrable weed which +three years of stubborn warfare have not succeeded in exterminating. +Next, in respect of number, come the centauries, grim looking one +and all, bristling with prickles or starry halberds. They are the +yellow-flowered centaury, the mountain centaury, the star thistle and +the rough centaury: the first predominates. Here and there, amid their +inextricable confusion, stands, like a chandelier with spreading, orange +flowers for lights, the fierce Spanish oyster plant, whose spikes are +strong as nails. Above it, towers the Illyrian cotton thistle, whose +straight and solitary stalk soars to a height of three to six feet and +ends in large pink tufts. Its armor hardly yields before that of the +oyster plant. Nor must we forget the lesser thistle tribe, with first +of all, the prickly or 'cruel' thistle, which is so well armed that the +plant collector knows not where to grasp it; next, the spear thistle, +with its ample foliage, ending each of its veins with a spear head; +lastly, the black knapweed, which gathers itself into a spiky knot. +In among these, in long lines armed with hooks, the shoots of the blue +dewberry creep along the ground. To visit the prickly thicket when the +Wasp goes foraging, you must wear boots that come to mid-leg or else +resign yourself to a smarting in the calves. As long as the ground +retains a few remnants of the vernal rains, this rude vegetation does +not lack a certain charm, when the pyramids of the oyster plant and the +slender branches of the cotton thistle rise above the wide carpet formed +by the yellow-flowered centaury saffron heads; but let the droughts of +summer come and we see but a desolate waste, which the flame of a match +would set ablaze from one end to the other. Such is, or rather was, +when I took possession of it, the Eden of bliss where I mean to live +henceforth alone with the insect. Forty years of desperate struggle have +won it for me. + +Eden, I said; and, from the point of view that interests me, the +expression is not out of place. This cursed ground, which no one would +have had at a gift to sow with a pinch of turnip seed, is an earthly +paradise for the bees and wasps. Its mighty growth of thistles and +centauries draws them all to me from everywhere around. Never, in my +insect hunting memories, have I seen so large a population at a single +spot; all the trades have made it their rallying point. Here come +hunters of every kind of game, builders in clay, weavers of cotton +goods, collectors of pieces cut from a leaf or the petals of a flower, +architects in pasteboard, plasterers mixing mortar, carpenters +boring wood, miners digging underground galleries, workers handling +goldbeater's skin and many more. + +Who is this one? An Anthidium [a tailor bee]. She scrapes the cobwebby +stalk of the yellow-flowered centaury and gathers a ball of wadding +which she carries off proudly in the tips of her mandibles. She will +turn it, under ground, into cotton felt satchels to hold the store of +honey and the egg. And these others, so eager for plunder? They are +Megachiles [leaf-cutting bees], carrying under their bellies their +black, white or blood red reaping brushes. They will leave the thistles +to visit the neighboring shrubs and there cut from the leaves oval +pieces which will be made into a fit receptacle to contain the harvest. +And these, clad in black velvet? They are Chalicodomae [mason bees], who +work with cement and gravel. We could easily find their masonry on the +stones in the harmas. And these noisily buzzing with a sudden flight? +They are the Anthophorae [wild bees], who live in the old walls and the +sunny banks of the neighborhood. + +Now come the Osmiae. One stacks her cells in the spiral staircase of an +empty snail shell; another, attacking the pith of a dry bit of bramble, +obtains for her grubs a cylindrical lodging and divides it into floors +by means of partition walls; a third employs the natural channel of a +cut reed; a fourth is a rent-free tenant of the vacant galleries of +some mason bee. Here are the Macrocerae and the Eucerae, whose males are +proudly horned; the Dasypodae, who carry an ample brush of bristles on +their hind legs for a reaping implement; the Andrenae, so manifold in +species; the slender-bellied Halicti [all wild bees]. I omit a host of +others. If I tried to continue this record of the guests of my thistles, +it would muster almost the whole of the honey yielding tribe. A learned +entomologist of Bordeaux, Professor Perez, to whom I submit the naming +of my prizes, once asked me if I had any special means of hunting, +to send him so many rarities and even novelties. I am not at all an +experienced and, still less, a zealous hunter, for the insect interests +me much more when engaged in its work than when struck on a pin in a +cabinet. The whole secret of my hunting is reduced to my dense nursery +of thistles and centauries. + +By a most fortunate chance, with this populous family of honey gatherers +was allied the whole hunting tribe. The builders' men had distributed +here and there in the harmas great mounds of sand and heaps of stones, +with a view to running up some surrounding walls. The work dragged on +slowly; and the materials found occupants from the first year. The mason +bees had chosen the interstices between the stones as a dormitory where +to pass the night, in serried groups. The powerful eyed lizard, who, +when close pressed, attacks both man and dog, wide mouthed, had selected +a cave wherein to lie in wait for the passing scarab [a dung beetle +also known as the sacred beetle]; the black-eared chat, garbed like a +Dominican, white-frocked with black wings, sat on the top stone, +singing his short rustic lay: his nest, with its sky blue eggs, must be +somewhere in the heap. The little Dominican disappeared with the loads +of stones. I regret him: he would have been a charming neighbor. The +eyed lizard I do not regret at all. + +The sand sheltered a different colony. Here, the Bembeces [digger wasps] +were sweeping the threshold of their burrows, flinging a curve of dust +behind them; the Languedocian Sphex was dragging her Ephippigera [a +green grasshopper] by the antennae; a Stizus [a hunting wasp] was +storing her preserves of Cicadellae [froghoppers]. To my sorrow, the +masons ended by evicting the sporting tribe; but, should I ever wish to +recall it, I have but to renew the mounds of sand: they will soon all be +there. + +Hunters that have not disappeared, their homes being different, are the +Ammophilae, whom I see fluttering, one in spring, the others in autumn, +along the garden walks and over the lawns, in search of a caterpillar; +the Pompili [digger or hunting wasp], who travel alertly, beating their +wings and rummaging in every corner in quest of a spider. The largest +of them waylays the Narbonne Lycosa [known also as the black-bellied +tarantula], whose burrow is not infrequent in the harmas. This burrow is +a vertical well, with a curb of fescue grass intertwined with silk. You +can see the eyes of the mighty Spider gleam at the bottom of the den +like little diamonds, an object of terror to most. What a prey and what +dangerous hunting for the Pompilus! And here, on a hot summer afternoon, +is the Amazon ant, who leaves her barrack rooms in long battalions and +marches far afield to hunt for slaves. We will follow her in her raids +when we find time. Here again, around a heap of grasses turned to mould, +are Scoliae [large hunting wasps] an inch and a half long, who fly +gracefully and dive into the heap, attracted by a rich prey, the grubs +of Lamellicorns, Orycotes and Ceotoniae [various beetles]. + +What subjects for study! And there are more to come. The house was as +utterly deserted as the ground. When man was gone and peace assured, the +animal hastily seized on everything. The warbler took up his abode in +the lilac shrubs; the greenfinch settled in the thick shelter of the +cypresses; the sparrow carted rags and straw under every slate; the +Serin finch, whose downy nest is no bigger than half an apricot, came +and chirped in the plane tree tops; the Scops made a habit of uttering +his monotonous, piping note here, of an evening; the bird of Pallas +Athene, the owl, came hurrying along to hoot and hiss. + +In front of the house is a large pond, fed by the aqueduct that supplies +the village pumps with water. Here, from half a mile and more around, +come the frogs and Toads in the lovers' season. The natterjack, +sometimes as large as a plate, with a narrow stripe of yellow down his +back, makes his appointments here to take his bath; when the evening +twilight falls, we see hopping along the edge the midwife toad, the +male, who carries a cluster of eggs, the size of peppercorns, wrapped +round his hindlegs: the genial paterfamilias has brought his precious +packet from afar, to leave it in the water and afterwards retire under +some flat stone, whence he will emit a sound like a tinkling bell. +Lastly, when not croaking amid the foliage, the tree frogs indulge in +the most graceful dives. And so, in May, as soon as it is dark, the +pond becomes a deafening orchestra: it is impossible to talk at table, +impossible to sleep. We had to remedy this by means perhaps a little +too rigorous. What could we do? He who tries to sleep and cannot needs +becomes ruthless. + +Bolder still, the wasp has taken possession of the dwelling house. On my +door sill, in a soil of rubbish, nestles the white-banded Sphex: when +I go indoors, I must be careful not to damage her burrows, not to tread +upon the miner absorbed in her work. It is quite a quarter of a century +since I last saw the saucy cricket hunter. When I made her acquaintance, +I used to visit her at a few miles' distance: each time, it meant an +expedition under the blazing August sun. Today, I find her at my door; +we are intimate neighbors. The embrasure of the closed window provides +an apartment of a mild temperature for the Pelopaeus [a mason wasp]. The +earth-built nest is fixed against the freestone wall. To enter her home, +the spider huntress uses a little hole left open by accident in the +shutters. On the moldings of the Venetian blinds, a few stray mason +bees build their group of cells; inside the outer shutters, left ajar, a +Eumenes [a mason wasp] constructs her little earthen dome, surmounted by +a short, bell-mouthed neck. The common wasp and the Polistes [a solitary +wasp] are my dinner guests: they visit my table to see if the grapes +served are as ripe as they look. + +Here, surely--and the list is far from complete--is a company both +numerous and select, whose conversation will not fail to charm my +solitude, if I succeed in drawing it out. My dear beasts of former days, +my old friends, and others, more recent acquaintances, all are here, +hunting, foraging, building in close proximity. Besides, should we wish +to vary the scene of observation, the mountain [Ventoux] is but a +few hundred steps away, with its tangle of arbutus, rock roses and +arborescent heather; with its sandy spaces dear to the Bembeces; with +its marly slopes exploited by different wasps and bees. And that is why, +foreseeing these riches, I have abandoned the town for the village and +come to Serignan to weed my turnips and water my lettuces. + +Laboratories are being founded, at great expense, on our Atlantic and +Mediterranean coasts, where people cut up small sea animals, of but +meager interest to us; they spend a fortune on powerful microscopes, +delicate dissecting instruments, engines of capture, boats, fishing +crews, aquariums, to find out how the yolk of an Annelid's egg is +constructed, a question whereof I have never yet been able to grasp the +full importance; and they scorn the little land animal, which lives +in constant touch with us, which provides universal psychology with +documents of inestimable value, which too often threatens the public +wealth by destroying our crops. When shall we have an entomological +laboratory for the study not of the dead insect, steeped in alcohol, but +of the living insect; a laboratory having for its object the instinct, +the habits, the manner of living, the work, the struggles, the +propagation of that little world, with which agriculture and philosophy +have most seriously to reckon? + +To know thoroughly the history of the destroyer of our vines might +perhaps be more important than to know how this or that nerve fiber of +a Cirriped [sea animals with hair-like legs, including the barnacles and +acorn shells] ends; to establish by experiment the line of demarcation +between intellect and instinct; to prove, by comparing facts in the +zoological progression, whether human reason be an irreducible faculty +or not: all this ought surely to take precedence of the number of joints +in a Crustacean's antenna. These enormous questions would need an army +of workers; and we have not one. The fashion is all for the Mollusk +and the Zoophytes [plant-like sea animals, including starfishes, +jellyfishes, sea anemones and sponges]. The depths of the sea are +explored with many drag nets; the soil which we tread is consistently +disregarded. While waiting for the fashion to change, I open my harmas +laboratory of living entomology; and this laboratory shall not cost the +ratepayers one farthing. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE ANTHRAX + +I made the acquaintance of the Anthrax in 1855 at Carpentras, at the +time when the life history of the oil beetles was causing me to search +the tall slopes beloved of the Anthophora bees [mason bees]. Her curious +pupae, so powerfully equipped to force an outlet for the perfect +insect incapable of the least effort, those pupae armed with a multiple +plowshare at the fore, a trident at the rear and rows of harpoons on the +back wherewith to rip open the Osmia bee's cocoon and break through +the hard crust of the hillside, betokened a field that was worth +cultivating. The little that I said about her at the time brought me +urgent entreaties: I was asked for a circumstantial chapter on the +strange fly. The stern necessities of life postponed to an ever +retreating future my beloved investigations, so miserably stifled. +Thirty years have passed; at last, a little leisure is at hand; and +here, in the harmas of my village, with an ardor that has in no wise +grown old, I have resumed my plans of yore, still alive like the coal +smoldering under the ashes. The Anthrax has told me her secrets, which I +in my turn am going to divulge. Would that I could address all those who +cheered me on this path, including first and foremost the revered Master +of the Landes [Leon Dufour]. But the ranks have thinned, many have been +promoted to another world and their disciple lagging behind them can but +record, in memory of those who are no more, the story of the insect clad +in deepest mourning. + +In the course of July, let us give a few sideward knocks to the bracing +pebbles and detach the nests of the Chalicodoma of the Walls [a mason +bee] from their supports. Loosened by the shock, the dome comes off +cleanly, all in one piece. Moreover--and this is a great advantage--the +cells come into view wide open on the base of the exposed nest, for at +this point they have no other wall than the surface of the pebble. In +this way, without any scraping, which would be wearisome work for the +operator and dangerous to the inhabitants of the dome, we have all the +cells before our eyes, together with their contents, consisting of a +silky, amber-yellow cocoon, as delicate and translucent as an onion +peeling. Let us split the dainty wrapper with the scissors, chamber by +chamber, nest by nest. If fortune be at all propitious, as it always is +to the persevering, we shall end by finding that the cocoons harbor two +larvae together, one more or less faded in appearance, the other fresh +and plump. We shall also find some, no less plentiful, in which the +withered larva is accompanied by a family of little grubs wriggling +uneasily around it. + +Examination at once reveals the tragedy that is happening under the +cover of the cocoon. The flacid and faded larva is the mason bee's. +A month ago, in June, having finished its mess of honey, it wove its +silken sheath for a bedchamber wherein to take the long sleep which is +the prelude to the metamorphosis. Bulging with fat, it is a rich and +defenseless morsel for whoever is able to reach it. Then, in spite +of apparently insurmountable obstacles, the mortar wall and the tent +without an opening, the flesh-eating larvae appeared in the secret +retreat and are now glutting themselves on the sleeper. Three different +species take part in the carnage, often in the same nest, in adjoining +cells. The diversity of shapes informs us of the presence of more than +one enemy; the final stage of the creatures will tell us the names and +qualities of the three invaders. + +Forestalling the secrets of the future for the sake of greater +clearness, I will anticipate the actual facts and come at once to the +results produced. When it is by itself on the body of the mason bee's +larva, the murderous grub belongs either to Anthrax trifasciata, MEIGEN, +or to Leucospis gigas, FAB. But, if numerous little worms, often a score +and more, swarm around the victim, then it is a Chalcidid's family which +we have before us. Each of these ravagers shall have its biography. Let +us begin with the Anthrax. + +And first the grub, as it is after consuming its victim, when it remains +the sole occupant of the mason bee's cocoon. It is a naked worm, smooth, +legless and blind, of a creamy dead white, each segment a perfect ring, +very much curved when at rest, but with the tendency to become +almost straight when disturbed. Through the diaphanous skin, the lens +distinguishes patches of fat, which are the cause of its characteristic +coloring. When younger, as a tiny grub a few millimeters long, it is +streaked with two different kinds of stains, some white, opaque and of a +creamy tint, others translucent and of the palest amber. The former +come from adipose masses in course of formation; the second from the +nourishing fluid or from the blood which laves those masses. + +Including the head, I count thirteen segments. In the middle of the body +these segments are well marked, being separated by a slight groove; but +in the forepart they are difficult to count. The head is small and is +soft, like the rest of the body, with no sign of any mouth parts even +under the close scrutiny of the lens. It is a white globule, the size +of a tiny pin's head and continued at the back by a pad a little larger, +from which it is separated by a scarcely appreciable crease. The whole +is a sort of nipple swelling slightly on the upper surface; and its +double structure is so difficult to perceive that at first we take it +for the animal's head alone, though it includes both the head and the +prothorax, or first segment of the thorax. + +The mesothorax, or middle segment of the thorax, which is two or three +times larger in diameter, is flattened in front and separated from the +nipple formed by the prothorax and the head by a deep, narrow, curved +fissure. On its front surface are two pale red stigmata, or respiratory +orifices, placed pretty close together. The metathorax, or last segment +of the thorax, is a little larger still in diameter and protrudes. +These abrupt increases in circumference result in a marked hump, sloping +sharply towards the front. The nipple of which the head forms part is +set at the bottom of this hump. + +After the metathorax, the shape becomes regular and cylindrical, while +decreasing slightly in girth in the last two or three segments. Close to +the line of separation of the last two rings, I am able to distinguish, +not without difficulty, two very small stigmata, just a little darker +in color. They belong to the last segment. In all, four respiratory +orifices, two in front and two behind, as is the rule among Flies. The +length of the full sized larva is 15 to 20 millimeters and its breadth 5 +to 6. + +Remarkable in the first place by the protuberance of its thorax and +the smallness of its head, the grub of the Anthrax acquires exceptional +interest by its manner of feeding. Let us begin by observing that, +deprived of all, even the most rudimentary walking apparatus, the animal +is absolutely incapable of shifting its position. If I disturb its rest, +it curves and straightens itself in turns by a series of contractions, +it tosses about violently where it lies, but does not manage to +progress. It fidgets and gets no farther. We shall see later the +magnificent problem raised by this inertness. + +For the moment, a most unexpected fact claims all our attention. I refer +to the extreme readiness with which the Anthrax' larva quits and returns +to the Chalicodoma grub on which it is feeding. After witnessing flesh +eating larvae at hundreds and hundreds of meals, I suddenly find myself +confronted with a manner of eating that bears no relation to anything +which I have seen before. I feel myself in a world that baffles my old +experience. Let us recall the table manners of a larva living on prey, +the Ammophila's for instance, when devouring its caterpillar. A hole is +made in the victim's side; and the head and neck of the nursling dive +deep into the wound, to root luxuriously among the entrails. There is +never a withdrawal from the gnawed belly, never a recoil to interrupt +the feast and to take breath awhile. The vivacious animal always goes +forward, chewing, swallowing, digesting, until the caterpillar's skin is +emptied of its contents. Once seated at table, it does not budge as long +as the victuals last. To tease it with a straw is not always enough +to induce it to withdraw its head outside the wound; I have to use +violence. When removed by force and then left to its own devices, the +creature hesitates for a long time, stretches itself and mouths around, +without trying to open a passage through a new wound. It needs the +attacking point that has just been abandoned. If it finds the spot, +it makes its way in and resumes the work of eating; but its future is +jeopardized from this time forward, for the game, now perhaps tackled at +inopportune points, is liable to go bad. + +With the Anthrax' grub, there is none of this mangling, none of this +persistent clinging to the entrance wound. I have but to tease it with +the tip of a hair pencil and forthwith it retires; and the lens reveals +no wound at the abandoned spot, no such effusion of blood as there would +be if the skin were perforated. When its sense of security is restored, +the grub once more applies its pimple head to the fostering larva, +at any point, no matter where; and, so long as my curiosity does not +prevent it, keeps itself fixed there, without the least effort, or the +least perceptible movement that could account for the adhesion. If I +repeat the touch with the pencil, I see the same sudden retreat and, +soon after, the same contact just as readily renewed. + +This facility for gripping, quitting and regripping, now here, now +there and always without a wound, the part of the victim whence the +nourishment is drawn tells us of itself that the mouth of the Anthrax +is not armed with mandibular fangs capable of digging into the skin and +tearing it. If the flesh were gashed by any such pincers, one or two +attempts would be necessary before they could be released or reapplied; +besides, each point bitten would display a lesion. Well, there is +nothing of the kind: a conscientious examination through the magnifying +glass shows conclusively that the skin is intact; the grub glues +its mouth to its prey or withdraws it with an ease that can only be +explained by a process of simple contact. This being so, the Anthrax +does not chew its food as do the other carnivorous grubs; it does not +eat, it inhales. + +This method of taking nourishment implies an exceptional apparatus of +the mouth, into which it behooves us to inquire before continuing. My +most powerful magnifying glass at last discovers, at the center of the +pimple head, a small spot of an amber-russet color; and that is all. For +a more exhaustive examination we will employ the microscope. I cut off +the strange pimple with the scissors, wash it in a drop of water and +place it on the object slide. The mouth now stands revealed as a round +spot which, for hue and for the smallness of its size, may be compared +with the front stigmata. It is a small conical crater, with sides of a +pale yellowish-red and with faint, more or less concentric lines. At the +bottom of this funnel is the opening of the gullet, itself tinted red in +front and promptly spreading into a cone at the back. There is not the +slightest trace of mandibular fangs, of jaws, of mouth parts for seizing +and grinding. Everything is reduced to the bowl shaped opening, with a +delicate lining of horny texture, as is shown by the amber hue and +the concentric streaks. When I look for some term to designate this +digestive entrance, of which so far I know no other example, I can find +only that of a sucker or cupping glass. Its attack is a mere kiss, but +what a perfidious kiss! + +We know the machine; now let us see the working. To facilitate +observation, I shifted the newborn Anthrax grub, together with the +Chalicodoma grub, its wet nurse, from the natal cell into a glass tube. +I was thus able, by employing as many tubes as I wanted, to follow from +start to finish, in all its most intimate details, the strange repast +which I am going to describe. + +The worm is fixed by its sucker to any convenient part of the nurse, +plump and fat as butter. It is ready to break off its kiss suddenly, +should anything disquiet it, and to resume it as easily when +tranquillity is restored. No Lamb enjoys greater liberty with its +mother's teat. After three or four days of this contact of the nurse and +nursling, the former, at first replete and endowed with the glossy skin +that is a sign of health, begins to assume a withered aspect. Her sides +fall in, her fresh color fades, her skin becomes covered with little +folds and gives evidence of an appreciable shrinking in this breast +which, instead of milk, yields fat and blood. A week is hardly past +before the progress of the exhaustion becomes startlingly rapid. The +nurse is flabby and wrinkled, as though borne down by her own weight, +like a very slack object. If I move her from her place, she flops and +sprawls like a half-filled water bottle over the new supporting plane. +But the Anthrax' kiss goes on emptying her: soon she is but a sort of +shriveled lard bag, decreasing from hour to hour, from which the sucker +draws a few last oily drains. At length, between the twelfth and the +fifteenth day, all that remains of the larva of the mason bee is a white +granule, hardly as large as a pin's head. + +This granule is the water bottle drained to the last drop, is the +nurse's breast emptied of all its contents. I soften the meager remnant +in water; then, keeping it still immersed, I blow into it through +an extremely attenuated glass tube. The skin fills out, distends and +resumes the shape of the larva, without there being an outlet anywhere +for the compressed air. It is intact, therefore; it is free of any +perforation, which would be forthwith revealed under the water by an +escape of gas. And so, under the Anthrax' cupping glass, the oily bottle +has been drained by a simple transpiration through the membrane; the +substance of the nurse grub has been transfused into the body of the +nursling by a process akin to that known in physics as endosmosis. What +should we say to a method of being suckled by the mere application of +the mouth to a teatless breast? What we see here may be compared with +that: without any outlet, the milk of the Chalicodoma grub passes into +the stomach of the Anthrax' larva. + +Is it really an instance of endosmosis? Might it not rather be +atmospheric pressure that stimulates the flow of nourishing fluids and +distils them into the Anthrax' cup-shaped mouth, working, in order to +create a vacuum, almost like the suckers of the Cuttlefish? All this +is possible, but I shall refrain from deciding, preferring to assign a +large share to the unknown in this extraordinary method of nutrition. +It ought, I think, to provide physiologists with a field of research +in which new views on the hydrodynamics of live fluids might well be +gleaned; and this field trenches upon others that would also yield +rich harvests. The brief span of my days compels me to set the problem +without seeking to solve it. + +And the second problem is this: the Chalicodoma grub destined to feed +the Anthrax is without a wound of any kind. The mother of the tiny larva +is a feeble Fly deprived of whatsoever weapon capable of injuring her +offspring's prey. Moreover, she is absolutely powerless to penetrate the +mason bee's fortress, powerless as a fluff of down against a rock. On +this point there is no doubt: the future wet nurse of the Anthrax has +not been paralyzed as are the live provisions collected by the Hunting +Wasps; she has received no bite nor scratch nor contusion of any sort; +she has experienced nothing out of the common: in short, she is in her +normal state. The billeted nursling arrives, we shall presently see how; +he arrives, scarcely visible, almost defying the scrutiny of the lens; +and, having made his preparations, he installs himself, he, the atom, +upon the monstrous nurse, whom he is to drain to the very husk. And she, +not paralyzed by a preliminary vivisection, endowed with all her normal +vitality, lets him have his way, lets herself be sucked dry, with the +utmost apathy. Not a tremor in her outraged flesh, not a quiver of +resistance. No corpse could show greater indifference to the bite which +it receives. + +Ah, but the maggot has chosen the hour of attack with traitorous +cunning! Had it appeared upon the scene earlier, when the larva was +consuming its store of honey, things of a surety would have gone badly +with it. The assaulted one, feeling herself bled to death by that +ravenous kiss, would have protested with much wriggling of body and +grinding of mandibles. The position would have ceased to be tenable +and the intruder would have perished. But at this hour all danger has +disappeared. Enclosed in its silken tent, the larva is seized with the +lethargy that precedes the metamorphosis. Its condition is not death, +but neither is it life. It is an intermediary condition; it is almost +the latent vitality of grain or egg. Therefore there is no sign of +irritation on the larva's part under the needle with which I stir it and +still less under the sucker of the Anthrax grub, which is able to drain +the affluent breast in perfect safety. + +This lack of resistance, induced by the torpor of the transformation, +appears to me necessary, in view of the weakness of the nursling as it +leaves the egg, whenever the mother is herself incapable of depriving +the victim of the power of self defense. And so the nonparalyzed larvae +are attacked during the period of the nymphosis. We shall soon see other +instances of this. + +Motionless though it be, the Chalicodoma grub is none the less alive. +The primrose tint and the glossy skin are unequivocal signs of health: +Were it really dead, it would, in less than twenty-four hours, turn a +dirty brown and, soon after, decompose into a fluid putrescence. Now +here is the marvelous thing: during the fortnight, roughly, that the +Anthrax' meal lasts, the butter color of the larva, an unfailing symptom +of the presence of life, continues unaltered and does not change into +brown, the sign of putrefaction, until hardly anything remains; and even +then the brown hue is often absent. As a rule, the look of live flesh is +preserved until the final pellet, formed of the skin, the sole residue, +makes its appearance. This pellet is white, with not a speck of tainted +matter, proving that life persists until the body is reduced to nothing. + +We here witness the transfusion of one animal into another, the change +of Chalicodoma substance into Anthrax substance; and, as long as the +transfusion is not complete, as long as the eaten has not disappeared +altogether and become the eater, the ruined organism fights against +destruction. What manner of life is this, which may be compared with +the life of a night light whose extinction is not accomplished until +the last drop of oil has burnt away? How is any creature able to fight +against the final tragedy of corruption up to the last moment in which a +nucleus of matter remains as the seat of vital energy? The forces of the +living creature are here dissipated not through any disturbance of +the equilibrium of those forces, but for the want of any point of +application for them: the larva dies because materially there is no more +of it. + +Can we be in the presence of the diffusive life of the plant, a life +which persists in a fragment? By no means: the grub is a more delicate +organic structure. There is unity between the several parts; and none of +them can be jeopardized without involving the ruin of the others. If I +myself give the larva a wound, if I bruise it, the whole body very soon +turns brown and begins to rot. It dies and decomposes by the mere prick +of a needle; it keeps alive, or at least preserves the freshness of +the live tissues, so long as it is not entirely emptied by the Anthrax' +sucker. A nothing kills it; an atrocious wasting does not. No, I fail to +understand the problem; and I bequeath it to others. + +All that I can see by way of a glimpse--and even then I put forward my +suspicions with extreme reserve--all that I am permitted to surmise is +reduced to this: the substance of the sleeping larva as yet has no very +definite static existence; it is like the raw materials collected for a +building; it is waiting for the elaboration that is to make a bee of it. +To mould those shapeless lumps of the future insect, the air, that prime +adjuster of living things, circulates among them, passing through a +network of ducts. To organize them, to direct the placing of them, the +nervous system, the embryo of the animal, distributes its ramifications +over them. Nerve and air duct, therefore, are the essentials; the rest +is so much material in reserve for the process of the metamorphosis. As +long as that material is not employed, as long as it has not acquired +its final equilibrium, it can grow less and less; and life, though +languishing, will continue all the same on the express condition that +the respiratory organs and the nervous filaments be respected. It is as +it were the flame of the lamp, which, whether full or empty, continues +to give light so long as the wick is soaked in oil. Nothing but fluids, +the plastic materials held in reserve, can be distilled by the +Anthrax' sucker through the unpierced skin of the grub; no part of the +respiratory and nervous systems passes. As the two essential functions +remain unscathed, life goes on until exhaustion is completed. On the +other hand, if I myself injure the larva, I disturb the nervous or air +conducting filaments; and the bruised part spreads a taint, followed by +putrefaction, all over the body. + +I have elsewhere, speaking of the Scolia [a digger wasp] devouring the +Cetonia grub, enlarged upon this refined art of eating which consists +in consuming the prey while killing it only at the last mouthfuls. The +Anthrax has the same requirements as his competitors who dine off fresh +viands. He needs meat of that day, taken from a single joint that has to +last a fortnight without going bad. His method of consuming reaches the +highest level of art: he does not cut into his prey, he sips it little +by little through his sucker. In this way, any dangerous risk is +averted. Whether he imbibe at this spot or at that, even if he abandon +the sucking process and resume it later, by no accident can he ever +attack that which it is incumbent upon him to respect lest corruption +supervene. The others have a fixed position on the victim, a place at +which their mandibles have to bite and enter. If they move away from +it, if they miss the appointed path, they imperil their existence. The +Anthrax, more highly favored, puts his mouth where it suits him; he +leaves off when he pleases and when he pleases starts again. + +Unless I labor under a delusion, I think that I see the necessity for +this privilege. The egg of the carnivorous burrower is firmly fixed on +the victim at a point which varies considerably, it is true, according +to the nature of the prey, but which is uniform for the same species +of prey; moreover--and this is an important condition--the point of +adhesion of that egg is always the head, whereas the egg of a bee, of +the Osmia, for instance, is fixed to the mess of honey by the hinder +end. When hatched, the new born Wasp grub has not to choose for itself, +at its risk and peril, the suitable point at which to take the first cut +in the quarry without fear of killing it too quickly: all that it need +do is to bite at the spot where it has just been born. The mother, with +her unfailing instinct, has already made the dangerous choice; she has +stuck her egg on the propitious spot and, by the very act of doing so, +marked out the course for the inexperienced grub to follow. The tact of +ripe age here guides the young larva's behavior at table. + +The conditions are very different in the Anthrax' case. The egg is not +placed upon the victuals, it is not even laid in the mason bee's cell. +This is the natural consequence of the mother's feeble frame and of her +lack of any instrument, such as a probe or auger, capable of piercing +the mortar wall. It is for the newly hatched grub to make its own way +into the dwelling. It enters, finds itself in the presence of ample +provisions, the larva of the mason bee. Free of its actions, it is at +liberty to attack the prey where it chooses; or rather the attacking +point will be decided at haphazard by the first contact of the mouth +in quest of food. Grant this mouth a set of carving tools, jaws and +mandibles; in short, suppose the grub of the Fly to possess a manner of +eating similar to that of the other carnivorous larvae; and the nursling +is at once threatened with a speedy death. He will split open his +nurse's belly, he will dig without any rule to guide him, he will bite +at random, essentials as well as accessories; and, from one day to the +next, he will set up gangrene in the violated mass, even as I myself do +when I give it a wound. For the lack of an attacking point prescribed +for him at birth, he will perish on the damaged provisions. His freedom +of action will have killed him. + +Certainly, liberty is a noble attribute, even in an insignificant grub; +but it also has its dangers everywhere. The Anthrax escapes the peril +only on the condition of being, so to speak, muzzled. His mouth is not a +fierce forceps that tears asunder; it is a sucker that exhausts but does +not wound. Thus restrained by this safety appliance, which changes the +bite into a kiss, the grub has fresh victuals until it has finished +growing, although it knows nothing of the rules of methodical +consumption at a fixed point and in a predetermined direction. + +The considerations which I have set forth seem to me strictly logical: +the Anthrax, owing to the very fact that he is free to take his +nourishment where he pleases on the body of the fostering larva, must, +for his own protection, be made incapable of opening his victim's body. +I am so utterly convinced of this harmonious relation between the eater +and the eaten that I do not hesitate to set it up as a principle. I +will therefore say this: whenever the egg of any kind of insect is not +fastened to the larva destined for its food, the young grub, free to +select the attacking point and to change it at will, is as it were +muzzled and consumes its provisions by a sort of suction, without +inflicting any appreciable wound. This restriction is essential to the +maintenance of the victuals in good condition. My principle is already +supported by examples many and various, whose depositions are all to the +same effect. The witnesses include, after the Anthrax, the Leucospis +[a parasitic insect] and his rivals, whose evidence we shall hear +presently; the Ephialtes mediator [an Ichneumon fly], who feeds, in +the dry brambles, on the larva of the Black Psen [a digger wasp]; the +Myodites, that strange, fly-shaped beetle whose grub consumes the larva +of the cockchafer. All--flies, ichneumon flies and beetles--scrupulously +spare their foster mother; they are careful not to tear her skin, so +that the vessel may keep its liquid good to the last. + +The wholesomeness of the victuals is not the only condition imposed: +I find a second, which is no less essential. The substance of the +fostering larva must be sufficiently fluid to ooze through the unbroken +skin under the action of the sucker. Well, the necessary fluidity is +realized as the time of the metamorphosis draws near. When they wished +Medea to restore Pelias to the vigor of youth, his daughters cut the old +king's body to pieces and boiled it in a cauldron, for there can be no +new existence without a prior dissolution. We must pull down before +we can rebuild; the analysis of death is the first step towards the +synthesis of life. The substance of the grub that is to be transformed +into a bee begins, therefore, by disintegrating and dissolving into +a fluid broth. The materials of the future insect are obtained by a +general recasting. Even as the founder puts his old bronzes into the +melting pot in order afterwards to cast them in a mould whence the metal +will issue in a different shape, so life liquefies the grub, a mere +digesting machine, now thrown aside, and out of its running matter +produces the perfect insect, bee, butterfly or beetle, the final +manifestation of the living creature. + +Let us open a Chalicodoma grub under the microscope, during the period +of torpor. Its contents consists almost entirely of a liquid broth, in +which swim numberless oily globules and a fine dust of uric acid, a sort +of off-throw of the oxidized tissues. A flowing thing, shapeless and +nameless, is all that the animal is, if we add abundant ramified air +ducts, some nervous filaments and, under the skin, a thin layer +of muscular fibers. A condition of this kind accounts for a fatty +transpiration through the skin when the Anthrax' sucker is at work. At +any other time, when the larva is in the active period or else when the +insect has reached the perfect stage, the firmness of the tissues would +resist the transfusion and the suckling of the Anthrax would become a +difficult matter, or even impossible. In point of fact, I find the grub +of the fly established, in the vast majority of cases, on the sleeping +larva and sometimes, but rarely, on the pupa. Never do I see it on the +vigorous larva eating its honey; and hardly ever on the insect brought +to perfection, as we find it enclosed in its cell all through the autumn +and winter. And we can say the same of the other grub eaters that drain +their victims without wounding them: all are engaged in their death +dealing work during the period of torpor, when the tissues are +fluidified. They empty their patient, who has become a bag of running +grease with a diffused life; but not one, among those I know, reaches +the Anthrax' perfection in the art of extraction. + +Nor can any be compared with the Anthrax as regards the means brought +into play in order to leave the cell. These others, when they become +perfect insects, have implements for sapping and demolishing, stout +mandibles, capable of digging the ground, of pulling down clay partition +walls and even of reducing the mason bee's tough cement to powder. The +Anthrax, in her final form, has nothing like this. Her mouth is a short, +soft proboscis, good at most for soberly licking the sugary exudations +of the flowers; her slim legs are so feeble that to move a grain of +sand were an excessive task for them, enough to strain every joint; her +great, stiff wings, which must remain full spread, do not allow her to +slip through a narrow passage; her delicate suit of downy velvet, from +which you take the bloom by merely breathing on it, could not withstand +the rough contact of the gallery of a mine. Unable herself to enter the +Mason bee's cell to lay her egg, she cannot leave it either, when the +time comes to free herself and appear in broad daylight in her wedding +dress. The larva, on its side, is powerless to prepare the way for +the coming flight. That buttery little cylinder, owning no tools but a +sucker so flimsy that it barely arrives at substance and so small that +it is almost a geometrical point, is even weaker than the adult insect, +which at least flies and walks. The Mason bee's cell represents to it +a granite cave. How to get out? The problem would be insoluble to those +two incapables, if nothing else played its part. + +Among insects, the nymph, or pupa, the transition stage between the +larval and the adult form, is generally a striking picture of every +weakness of a budding organism. A sort of mummy tight bound in swaddling +clothes, motionless and impassive, it awaits the resurrection. Its +tender tissues flow in every direction; its limbs, transparent as +crystal, are held fixed in their place, along the side, lest a +movement should disturb the exquisite delicacy of the work in course +of accomplishment. Even so, to secure his recovery, is a broken boned +patient held captive in the surgeon's bandages. Absolute stillness is +necessary in both cases, lest they be crippled or even die. + +Well, here, by a strange inversion that confuses all our views on life, +a Cyclopean task is laid upon the nymph of the Anthrax. It is the nymph +that has to toil, to strive, to exhaust itself in efforts to burst the +wall and open the way out. To the embryo falls the desperate duty, which +shows no mercy to the nascent flesh; to the adult insect the joy of +resting in the sun. This transposition of functions has as its result +a well sinker's equipment in the nymph, an eccentric, complicated +equipment which nothing suggested in the larva and which nothing recalls +in the perfect insect. The set of tools includes an assortment of +plowshares, gimlets, hooks and spears and of other implements that are +not found in our trades nor named in our dictionaries. Let us do our +best to describe the strange piercing gear. + +In a fortnight at most, the Anthrax has consumed the Chalicodoma grub, +whereof naught remains but the skin, gathered into a white granule. By +the time that July is nearly over, it becomes rare to find any nurslings +left upon their nurses. From this period until the following May, +nothing fresh happens. The Anthrax retains its larval shape without any +appreciable change and lies motionless in the mason bee's cocoon, beside +the pellet remains. When the fine days of May arrive, the grub shrivels +and casts its skin and the nymph appears, fully clad in a stout, +reddish, horny hide. + +The head is round and large, separated from the thorax by a strangulated +furrow, crowned on top and in front with a sort of diadem of six hard, +sharp, black spikes, arranged in a semicircle whose concave side faces +downward. These spikes decrease slightly in length from the summit to +the ends of the arch. Taken together, they suggest the radial crowns +which we see the Roman emperors of the Decadence wear on the medals. +This six-fold plowshare is the chief excavating tool. Lower down, on the +median line, the instrument is finished off with a separate group of two +small black spikes, placed close together. + +The thorax is smooth, the wing cases large, folded under the body like +a scarf and coming almost to the middle of the abdomen. This has nine +segments, of which four, starting with the second, are armed, on the +back, down the middle, with a belt of little horny arches, pale brown in +color, drawn up parallel to one another, set in the skin by their +convex surfaces and finishing at both ends with a hard, black point. +Altogether, the belt thus forms a double row of little thorns, with a +hollow in between. I count about twenty-five twin-toothed arches to one +segment, which gives a total of two hundred spikes for the four rings +thus armed. + +The use of this rasp, or grater, is obvious: it gives the nymph a +purchase on the wall of its gallery as the work proceeds. Thus anchored +on a host of points, the stern pioneer is able to hit the obstacle +harder with its diadem of awls. Moreover, to make it more difficult for +the instrument to recoil, long, stiff bristles, pointing backwards, +are scattered here and there among the climbing belts. There are some +besides on the other segments, both on the ventral and the dorsal +surface. On the flanks, they are thicker and arranged as it were in +clusters. + +The sixth segment carries a similar belt, but a much less powerful one, +consisting of a single row of unassuming thorns. The belt is weaker +still on the seventh segment; lastly, on the eighth, it is reduced to a +mere rough brown shading. Commencing with the sixth, the rings decrease +in width and the abdomen ends in a cone, the extremity of which, formed +of the ninth segment, constitutes a weapon of a new kind. It is a sheaf +of eight brown spikes. The last two exceed the others in length and +stand out from the group in a double terminal plowshare. + +There is a round air hole in front, on either side of the thorax, and +similar stigmata on the flanks of each of the first seven abdominal +segments. When at rest, the nymph is curved into a bow. When about to +act, it suddenly unbends and straightens itself. It measures 15 to 20 +millimeters long and 4 to 5 millimeters across. + +Such is the strange perforating machine that is to prepare an outlet +for the feeble Anthrax through the Mason bee's cement. The structural +details, so difficult to explain in words, may be summed up as follows: +in front, on the forehead, a diadem of spikes, the ramming and digging +tool; behind, a many bladed plowshare which fits into a socket and +allows the pupa to slacken suddenly in readiness for an attack on the +barrier which has to be demolished; on the back, four climbing belts, or +graters, which keep the animal in position by biting on the walls of the +tunnel with their hundreds of teeth; and, all over the body, long, stiff +bristles, pointing backwards, to prevent falls or recoils. + +A similar structure exists in the other species of Anthrax with slight +variations of detail. I will confine myself to one instance, that of +Anthrax sinuata, who thrives at the cost of Osmia tricornis. Her nymph +differs from that of Anthrax trifasciata, the Anthrax of the mason bee, +in possessing less powerful armor. Its four climbing belts consist of +only fifteen to seventeen double spiked arches, instead of twenty-five; +also, the abdominal segments, from the sixth onwards, are supplied +merely with stiff bristles, without a trace of horny spikes. If the +evolution of the various Anthrax flies were better known to us, +the number of these arches would, I believe, be of great service +to entomology in the differentiation of species. I see it remaining +constant for any given species, with marked variations between one +species and another. But this is not my business: I merely call the +attention of the classifiers to this field of study and pass on. + +About the end of May, the coloring of the nymph, hitherto a light red, +alters greatly and forecasts the coming transformation. The head, the +thorax and the scarf formed by the wings become a handsome, shiny black. +A dark band shows on the back of the four segments with their two rows +of spikes; three spots appear on the two next rings; the anal armor +becomes darker. In this manner we foresee the black livery of the coming +insect. The time has arrived for the pupa to work at the exit gallery. + +I was anxious to see it in action, not under natural conditions, which +would be impracticable, but in a glass tube in which I confine it +between two thick stoppers of sorghum pith. The space thus marked off +is about the same size as the natal cell. The partitions front and back, +although not so stout as the Chalicodoma's masonry, are nevertheless +firm enough not to yield except to prolonged efforts; on the other hand, +the side walls are smooth and the toothed belts will not be able to grip +them: a most unfavorable condition for the worker. No matter: in the +space of a single day, the pupa pierces the front partition, three +quarters of an inch thick. I see it fixing its double plowshare against +the back partition, arching into a bow and then suddenly releasing +itself and striking the plug in front of it with its barbed forehead. +Under the impact of the spikes, the sorghum slowly crumbles to pieces. +It is slow in coming away; but it comes away all the same, atom by atom. +At long intervals, the method changes. With its crown of awls driven +into the pith, the animal frets and fidgets, sways on the pivot of its +anal armor. The work of the auger follows that of the pickaxe. Then the +blows recommence, interspersed with periods of rest to recover from the +fatigue. At last, the hole is made. The pupa slips into it, but does not +pass through entirely: the head and thorax appear outside; the abdomen +remains held in the gallery. + +The glass cell, with its lack of supports at the side, has certainly +perplexed my subject, which does not seem to have made use of all its +methods. The hole through the sorghum is wide and irregular; it is +a clumsy breach and not a gallery. When made through the mason bee's +walls, it is cylindrical, fairly neat and exactly of the animal's +diameter. So I hope that, under natural conditions, the pupa does not +give quite so many blows with the pickaxe and prefers to work with the +drill. + +Narrowness and evenness in the exit tunnel are necessary to it. It +always remains half caught in it and even pretty securely fixed by the +graters on its back. Only the head and thorax emerge into the outer air. +This is a last precaution for the final deliverance. A fixed support is, +in fact, indispensable to the Anthrax for issuing from her horny sheath, +unfurling her great wings and extricating her slender legs from their +scabbards. All this very delicate work would be endangered by any lack +of steadiness. + +The pupa, therefore, remains fixed by the graters of its back in the +narrow exit gallery and thus supplies the stable equilibrium essential +to the new birth. All is ready. It is time now for the great act. A +transversal cleft makes its appearance on the forehead, at the bottom +of the perforating diadem; a second, but longitudinal slit divides the +skull in two and extends down the thorax. Through this cross-shaped +opening, the Anthrax suddenly appears, all moist with the humors of +life's laboratory. She steadies herself upon her trembling legs, dries +her wings and takes to flight, leaving at the window of the cell +her nymphal slough, which keeps intact for a very long period. The +sand-colored fly has five or six weeks before her, wherein to explore +the clay nests amid the thyme and to take her small share of the joys +of life. In July, we shall see her once more, busy this time with the +entrance into the cell, which is even stranger than the exit. + + + + +CHAPTER III. ANOTHER PROBER (PERFORATOR) + +What can he be called, this creature whose style and title I dare not +inscribe at the head of the chapter? His name is Monodontomerus cupreus, +SM. Just try it, for fun: Mo-no-don-to-me-rus. What a gorgeous mouthful! +What an idea it gives one of some beast of the Apocalypse! We think, +when we pronounce the word, of the prehistoric monsters: the mastodon, +the mammoth, the ponderous megatherium. Well, we are misled by the +scientific label: we have to do with a very paltry insect, smaller than +the common gnat. + +There are good people like that, only too happy to serve science with +resounding appellations that might come from Timbuktu; they cannot name +you a midge without striking terror into you. O ye wise and revered +ones, ye christeners of animals, I am willing, in my study, to +make use--but not undue use--of your harsh terminology, with its +conglomeration of syllables; but there is a danger of their leaving the +sanctum and appearing before the public, which is always ready to show +its lack of deference for terms that do not respect its ears. I, wishing +to speak like everybody else, so that I may be understood by all, and +persuaded that science has no need of this Brobdignagian jargon, make a +point of avoiding technical nomenclature when it becomes too barbarous, +when it threatens to lumber the page the moment my pen attempts it. And +so I abandon Monodontomerus. + +It is a puny little insect, almost as tiny as the midges whom we see +eddying in a ray of sunshine at the end of autumn. Its dress is golden +bronze; its eyes are coral red. It carries a naked sword, that is to +say, the sheath of its drill stands out slantwise at the tip of its +belly, instead of lying in a hollow groove along the back, as it +does with the Leucospis. This scabbard holds the latter half of the +inoculating filament, which extends below the animal to the base of +the abdomen. In short, its utensil is that of the Leucospis, with this +difference, that its lower half sticks out like a rapier. + +This mite that bears a sword upon her rump is yet another persecutor of +the mason bees and not one of the least formidable. She exploits their +nests at the same time as the Leucospis. I see her, like the Leucospis, +slowly explore the ground with her antennae; I see her, like the +Leucospis, bravely drive her dagger into the stone wall. More taken up +with her work, less conscious perhaps of danger, she pays no heed to the +man who is observing her so closely. Where the Leucospis flies, she does +not budge. So great is her assurance that she comes right into my study, +to my work table, and disputes my ownership of the nests whose occupants +I am examining. She operates under my lens, she operates just beside +my forceps. What risk does she run? What can one do to a thing so very +small? She is so certain of her safety that I can take the Mason's +nest in my hand, move it, put it down and take it up again without +the insect's raising any objection: it continues its work even when my +magnifying glass is placed over it. + +One of these heroines has come to inspect a nest of the Chalicodoma of +the Walls, most of whose cells are occupied by the numerous cocoons of +a parasite, the Stelis. The contents of these cells, which have been +partially ripped up to satisfy my curiosity, are very much exposed to +view. The windfall appears to be appreciated, for I see the dwarf ferret +about from cell to cell for four days on end, see her choose her cocoon +and insert her awl in the most approved fashion. I thus learn that +sight, although an indispensable guide in searching, does not decide +upon the proper spot for the operation. Here is an insect exploring not +the stony exterior of the mason's dwelling, but the surface of cocoons +woven of silk. The explorer has never found herself placed in such +circumstances, nor has any of her race before her, every cocoon, under +normal conditions, being protected by a surrounding wall. No matter: +despite the profound difference in the surfaces, the insect does not +waver. Warned by a special sense, an undecipherable riddle to ourselves, +it knows that the object of its search lies hidden under this unfamiliar +casing. The sense of smell has already been shown to be out of the +question; that of sight is now eliminated in its turn. + +That she should bore through the cocoons of the Stelis, a parasite of +the mason bee, does not surprise me at all: I know how indifferent my +bold visitor is to the nature of the victuals destined for her family. I +have noticed her presence in the homes of bees differing greatly in +size and habits: Anthophorae, Osmiae, Chalicodomae, Anthidia. The Stelis +exploited on my table is one victim more; and that is all. The interest +does not lie there. The interest lies in the maneuvers of the insect, +which I am able to follow under the most favorable conditions. + +Bent sharply at right angles, like a couple of broken matches, the +antennae feel the cocoon with their tips alone. The terminal joint is +the home of this strange sense which discerns from afar what no eye +sees, no scent distinguishes and no ear hears. If the point explored be +found suitable, the insect hoists itself on tiptoe so as to give full +scope to the play of its mechanism; it brings the tip of the belly +a little forward; and the entire ovipositor--inoculating-needle and +scabbard--stands perpendicular to the cocoon, in the center of the +quadrilateral described by the four hind legs, an eminently favorable +position for obtaining the maximum effect. For some time, the whole of +the awl bears on the cocoon, feeling all round with its point, groping +about; then, suddenly, the boring needle is released from its sheath, +which falls back along the body, while the needle strives to make its +entrance. The operation is a difficult one. I see the insect make a +score of attempts, one after the other, without succeeding in piercing +the tough wrapper of the Stelis. Should the instrument not penetrate, +it retreats into its sheath and the insect resumes its scrutiny of the +cocoon, sounding it point by point with the tips of its antennae. Then +further thrusts are tried until one succeeds. + +The eggs are little spindles, white and gleaming like ivory, about +two-thirds of a millimeter in length. They have not the long, curved +peduncle of the Leucospis' eggs; they are not suspended from the +ceiling of the cocoon like these, but are laid without order around +the fostering larva. Lastly, in a single cell and with a single mother, +there is always more than one laying; and the number of eggs varies +considerably in each. The Leucospis, because of her great size, which +rivals that of her victim, the Bee, finds in each cell provisions enough +for one and one alone. When, therefore, there is more than one set of +eggs in any one cell, this is due to a mistake on her part and not a +premeditated result. Where the whole ration is required for the meals +of a single grub, she would take good care not to install several if +she could help it. Her competitor is not called upon to observe the +same discretion. A Chalicodoma grub gives the dwarf the wherewithal to +portion a score of her little ones, who will live in common and in all +comfort on what a single son of the giantess would eat up by himself. +The tiny boring engineer, therefore, always settles a numerous family +at the same banquet. The bowl, ample for a dozen or two, is emptied in +perfect harmony. + +Curiosity made me count the brood, to see if the mother was able to +estimate the victuals and to proportion the number of guests to the +sumptuousness of the fare provided. My notes mention fifty-four larvae +in the cell of a masked Anthophora (Anthophora personata). No other +census attained this figure. Possibly, two different mothers had laid +their eggs in this crowded habitation. With the Mason bee of the Walls, +I see the number of larvae vary, in different cells, between four +and twenty-six; with the mason bee of the Sheds, between five and +thirty-six; with the three-horned Osmia, who supplied me with the +largest number of records, between seven and twenty-five; with the +blue Osmia (Osmia cyanea, KIRB.), between five and six; with the Stelis +(Stelis nasuta), between four and twelve. + +The first return and the last two seem to point to some relation between +the abundance of provisions and the number of consumers. When the mother +comes upon the bountiful larva of the masked Anthophora, she gives it +half-a-hundred to feed; with the Stelis and the blue Osmia, niggardly +rations both, she contents herself with half-a-dozen. To introduce into +the dining room only the number of boarders that the bill of fare will +allow would certainly be a most deserving performance, especially as the +insect is placed under very difficult conditions to judge the contents +of the cell. These contents, which lie hidden under the ceiling, are +invisible; and the insect can derive its information only from the +outside of the nest, which varies in the different species. We +should therefore have to admit the existence of a particular power +of discrimination, a sort of discernment of the species, which is +recognized as large or small from the outward aspect of its house. I +refuse to go to this length in my conjectures, not that instinct seems +to me incapable of such feats, but because of the particulars obtained +from the three-horned Osmia and the two mason bees. + +In the cells of these three species, I see the number of larvae put out +to nurse vary in so elastic a fashion that I must abandon all idea of +proportionate adjustment. The mother, without troubling unduly whether +there be an excess or a dearth of provisions for her family, has filled +the cells as her fancy prompted, or rather according to the number of +ripe ovules contained in her ovaries at the time of the laying. If food +be over-plentiful, the brood will be all the better for it and will grow +bigger and stronger; if food be scarce, the famished youngsters will not +die, but will remain smaller. Indeed, with both the larva and the full +grown insect, I have often observed a difference in size which varies +according to the density of the population, the members of a small +colony being double the size of their overcrowded neighbors. + +The grubs are white, tapering at both ends, sharply segmented and +covered all over their bodies with a coat of fine, soft hairs which is +invisible except under the lens. The head consists of a little knob much +smaller in diameter than the body. In this head, the microscope reveals +mandibles consisting of fine spikes of a tawny red, which spread into a +wide, colorless base. Deprived of any indentation, incapable of chewing +anything between their awl-shaped ends, these two tools serve at best to +fix the grub slightly at some point of the fostering larva. Useless for +carving, therefore, the mouth is a pure osculatory sucker, which drains +the provisions by a process of exudation through the skin. We see here +repeated what the Anthrax and the Leucospis have already shown us: +the gradual exhaustion of a victim which the parasite consumes without +killing it. + +It is a curious spectacle even after that of the Anthrax. We have here +twenty or thirty starvelings, all with their mouths pressed, as for a +kiss, to the body of the plump larva, which, from day to day, fades and +shrinks without the least appreciable wound, thus keeping fresh until +reduced to a shriveled slough. If I disturb the gluttonous swarm, all, +with a sudden recoil, let go, drop off and flounder around the foster +mother. They are no less prompt in resuming their savage kisses. I need +not add that neither at the point where they leave off nor at the point +where they recommence is there the faintest trace of liquid. The oily +exudation occurs only when the pump is at work. To linger over this +strange method of feeding is superfluous after what I have said about +the Anthrax. + +The appearance of the full grown insect takes place at the beginning of +summer, after nearly a whole year's stay in the invaded dwelling. The +large number of inhabitants of one and the same cell led me to think +that the work of deliverance ought to present a certain interest. They +are all equally anxious to clear the walls of the prison at the earliest +possible moment and to come forth into the great festival of the sun: do +they all at the same time, in a confused horde, attack the ceiling which +has to be pierced? Is the work of deliverance arranged in the general +interest? Or is individual selfishness the only rule? These are the +questions which observation will answer. + +A little in advance of the proper season, I transfer each family into +a short glass tube, which will represent the natal cell. A good, thick +cork, quite a centimeter deep, is the obstacle to be pierced for +an outlet. Well, instead of the mad haste and the ruinous lack of +organization which I expected to find, my broods show me in their glass +prison an exceedingly well regulated workshop. One insect, one only, +works at perforating the cork. Patiently, with its mandibles, grain by +grain, it digs a tunnel the width of its body. The gallery is so narrow +that, in order to return to the tube, the worker has to move backwards. +It is a slow process; and it takes hours and hours to dig the hole, a +hard job for the frail miner. + +Should her fatigue become too great, the excavator leaves the forefront +and mingles with the crowd, to polish and dust herself. Another, the +first neighbor at hand, at once takes her place and is herself relieved +by a third when her task is done. Others again take their turn, always +one at a time, so much so that the works are never at a standstill +and never overcrowded. Meanwhile, the multitude keeps out of the way, +quietly and patiently. There is no anxiety as to the deliverance. +Success will come: of that they are all convinced. While waiting, one +washes her antennae by passing them through her mouth, another polishes +her wings with her hind legs, another frisks about to while away the +period of inaction. Some are making love, a sovran means of killing +time, whether one be born that day or twenty years ago. + +Some, I said, make love. These favored ones are rare; they hardly count. +Is it through indifference? No, but the gallants are lacking. The sexes +are very unequally represented in the population of a cell: the males +are in a wretched minority and sometimes even completely absent. This +poverty did not escape the older observers. Brulle [Gaspard August +Brulle (1809-1873)], the author of many works on natural history and one +of the founders of the Societe entomologique de France, the only author +whom I am able to consult in my hermitage, says, literally: 'The males +do not appear to be known.' + +I, for my part, know them; but, considering their feeble number, I keep +asking myself what part they play in a harem so disproportionate to +their forces. A few figures will show us what my hesitations are based +upon. + +In twenty-two Osmia cocoons (Osmia tricornis), the total census of the +inmates yields three hundred and fifty-four, of whom forty-seven +are males and three hundred and seven females. The average number of +inmates, therefore, is sixteen individuals; and there are six females at +least to one male. This disparity is maintained, in more or less marked +proportions, whatever the species of the bee invaded. In the cocoons of +the Mason bee of the Sheds, I discover the average proportion to be six +females to one male; in those of the Mason bee of the Walls, I find one +male to fifteen females. + +These facts, which I am unable to state with any greater precision, are +enough to give rise to the suspicion that the males, who are even tinier +dwarfs than the females and who, moreover, like all insects, are injured +by a single act of pairing, must, in most cases, remain strangers to +the females. Can the mothers, in fact, dispense with their assistance, +without being deprived of offspring on that account? I do not say yes, +but I do not say no. The duality of the sexes is a hard problem. Why +two sexes? Why not just one? It would have been much simpler and saved +a great deal of foolery. Why such a thing as sex, when the tuber of the +Jerusalem artichoke can do without it? These are the pregnant questions +suggested to me, in the end, by Monodontomerus cupreus, the insect so +infinitesimal in body and so overpowering in name that I had really +vowed never to speak of it again by its official designation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. LARVAL DIMORPHISM + +If the reader has paid any attention to the story of the Anthrax, he +must have perceived that my narrative is incomplete. The fox in the +fable saw how the lion's visitors entered his den, but did not see how +they went out. With us, it is the converse: we know the way out of the +mason bee's fortress, but we do not know the way in. To leave the cell +of which he has eaten the owner, the Anthrax becomes a perforating +machine, a living tool from which our own industry might take a hint if +it required new drills for boring rocks. When the exit tunnel is opened, +this tool splits like a pod bursting in the sun; and from the stout +framework there escapes a dainty fly, a velvety flake, a soft fluff that +astounds us by its contrast with the roughness of the depths whence it +ascends. On this point, we know pretty well what there is to know. There +remains the entrance into the cell, a puzzle that has kept me on the +alert for a quarter of a century. + +To begin with, it is evident that the mother cannot lodge her egg in the +cell of the mason bee, which has been long closed and barricaded with +a cement wall by the time that the Anthrax makes her appearance. To +penetrate it, she would have to become an excavating tool once more and +resume the cast-off rags which she left behind in the exit window; she +would have to retrace her steps, to be reborn a pupa; and life knows +none of these retrogressions. The full grown insect, if endowed with +claws, mandibles and plenty of perseverance, might at a pinch force the +mortar casket; but the fly is not so endowed. Her slender legs would be +strained and deformed by merely sweeping away a little dust; her mouth +is a sucker for gathering the sugary exudations of the flowers and not +the solid pincers needed for the crumbling of cement. There is no auger +either, no bore copied from that of the Leucospis, no implement of any +kind that can work its way into the thickness of the wall and dispatch +the egg to its destination. In short, the mother is absolutely incapable +of settling her eggs in the chamber of the Mason bee. + +Can it be the grub that makes its own way into the storeroom, that same +grub which we have seen draining the Chalicodoma with its leech-like +kisses? Let us call the creature to mind: a little oily sausage, which +stretches and curls up just where it lies, without being able to shift +its position. Its body is a smooth cylinder; its mouth simply a +circular lip. Not one ambulatory organ does it possess; not even hairs, +protuberances or wrinkles to enable it to crawl. The animal is made +for digestion and immobility. Its organization is incompatible with +movement; everything tells us so in the clearest fashion. No, this +grub is even less able than the mother to make its way unaided into the +mason's dwelling. And yet the provisions are there; those provisions +must be reached: it is a matter of life or death; to be or not to be. +Then how does the fly set about it? It would be vain for me to question +probabilities, too often illusory; to obtain a reply of any value, I +have but one resource; I must attempt the nearly impossible and watch +the Anthrax from the egg onwards. + +Although Anthrax flies are fairly common, in the sense of there being +several different species, they are not plentiful when it is a case of +wanting a colony populous enough to admit of continuous observation. +I see them, now here, now there, in the fiercely sun-scorched places, +flitting hither and thither on the old walls, the slopes and the sand, +sometimes in small platoons, most often singly. I can expect nothing +of those vagabonds, who are here today and gone tomorrow, for I know +nothing of their settlements. To keep a watch on them, one by one, +in the blazing heat, is very painful and very unfruitful, as the +swift-winged insect has a habit of disappearing one knows not whither +just when a prospect of capturing its secret begins to offer. I have +wasted many a patient hour at this pursuit, without the least result. + +There might be some chance of success with Anthrax flies whose home was +known to us beforehand, especially if insects of the same species +formed a pretty numerous colony. The inquiries begun with one would +be continued with a second and with more, until a complete verdict was +forthcoming. Now, in the course of my long entomological career, I have +met with but two species of Anthrax that fulfilled this condition and +were to be found regularly: one at Carpentras; the other at Serignan. +The first, Anthrax sinuata, FALLEN, lives in the cocoons of Osmia +tricornis, who herself builds her nest in the old galleries of the +hairy-footed Anthophora; the second, Anthrax trifasciata, MEIGEN, +exploits the Chalicodoma of the Sheds. I will consult both. + +Once more, here am I, somewhat late in life, at Carpentras, whose rude +Gallic name sets the fool smiling and the scholar thinking. Dear little +town where I spent my twentieth year and left the first bits of my +fleece upon life's bushes, my visit of today is a pilgrimage; I have +come to lay my eyes once more upon the place which saw the birth of the +liveliest impressions of my early days. I bow, in passing, to the old +college where I tried my prentice hand as a teacher. Its appearance is +unchanged; it still looks like a penitentiary. Those were the views of +our mediaeval educational system. To the gaiety and activity of boyhood, +which were considered unwholesome, it applied the remedy of narrowness, +melancholy and gloom. Its houses of instruction were, above all, houses +of correction. The freshness of Virgil was interpreted in the stifling +atmosphere of a prison. I catch a glimpse of a yard between four high +walls, a sort of bear pit, where the scholars fought for room for their +games under the spreading branches of a plane tree. All around were +cells that looked like horse boxes, without light or air; those were the +classrooms. I speak in the past tense, for doubtless the present day has +seen the last of this academic destitution. + +Here is the tobacco shop where, on Wednesday evening, coming out of the +college, I would buy on credit the wherewithal to fill my pipe and thus +to celebrate on the eve the joys of the morrow, that blessed Thursday +[the weekly half-holiday in French schools] which I considered so well +employed in solving hard equations, experimenting with new chemical +reagents, collecting and identifying my plants. I would make my timid +request, pretending to have come out without my money, for it is hard +for a self-respecting man to admit that he is penniless. My candor +appears to have inspired some little confidence; and I obtained credit, +an unprecedented thing, with the representative of the revenue. [The +government in France has the sole control of the tobacco trade, which +forms an important branch of the inland revenue.] Ah, why did not I open +a shop and expose for sale some packets of candles, a dozen dried cod, +a barrel of sardines and a few cakes of soap! I am no more of a fool nor +any less industrious than another; and I should have made my way. But, +as it was, what could I expect? As an accoucheur of brains, a molder of +intellects, I had no claim even to bread and cheese. + +Here is my former habitation, occupied since by droning monks. In the +embrasure of that window, sheltered from profane hands, between the +closed outer shutters and the panes, I used to keep my chemicals, bought +for a few sous cheated out of the weekly budget in the early days of our +housekeeping. The bowl of a pipe was my crucible, a sweet jar my retort, +mustard pots my receptacles for oxides and sulfides. My experiments, +harmless or dangerous, were made on a corner of the fire beside the +simmering broth. + +How I should love to see that room again where I pored over +differentials and integrals, where I calmed my poor burning head +by gazing at Mont Ventoux, whose summit held in store for my coming +expedition' those denizens of arctic climes, the saxifrage and the +poppy! And to see my familiar friend, the blackboard which I hired at +five francs a year from a crusty joiner, that board whose value I paid +many times over, though I. could never buy it outright, for want of the +necessary cash! The conic sections which I described on that blackboard, +the learned hieroglyphics! + +Though all my efforts, which were the more deserving because I had to +work alone, led to almost nothing in that congenial calling, I would +begin it all over again if I could. I should love to be conversing for +the first time with Leibnitz and Newton, with Laplace and Lagrange, with +Cuvier and Jussieu, even if I had afterwards to solve that other arduous +problem: how to procure one's daily bread. Ah, young men, my successors, +what an easy time you have of it today! If you don't know it, then let +me tell you so by means of these few pages from the life of one of your +elders. + +But let us not forget our insects, while listening to the echoes of +illusions and difficulties roused in my memories by the cupboard window +and the hired blackboard. Let us go back to the sunken roads of the +Legue, which have become classic, so they say, since the appearance of +my notes on the Oil beetles. Ye illustrious ravines, with your sun-baked +slopes, if I have contributed a little to your fame, you, in your turn, +have given me many fair hours of forgetfulness in the happiness of +learning. You, at least, did not lure me with vain hopes; all that you +promised you gave me and often a hundredfold. You are my promised land, +where I would have sought at the last to pitch my observer's tent. My +wish was not to be realized. Let me, at least, in passing, greet my +beloved animals of the old days. + +I raise my hat to Cerceris tuberculata, whom I see engaged on that +slant, storing her Cleonus [a large species of weevil]. As I saw her +then, so I see her now: the same staggering attempts to hoist the prey +to the mouth of the burrow; the same brawls between males watching in +the brushwood of the kermes oak. The sight of them sends a younger blood +coursing through my veins; I receive as it were the breath of a new +springtime of life. Time presses; let us pass on. + +Another bow on this side. I hear buzzing up above, on that ledge, a +colony of Sphex wasps, stabbing their crickets. We will give them a +friendly glance, but no more. My acquaintances here are too numerous; +I have not the leisure to renew my former relations with all of them. +Without stopping, a wave of the hat to the Philanthi [bee-hunting wasps] +who send the long avalanches of rubbish streaming down from their +nests; and to Stizus ruficornis, [a hunting wasp] who stacks her praying +mantises between two flakes of sandstone; and to the silky Ammophila +[a digger wasp] with the red legs, who collects an underground store of +loopers [also known as measuring worms, the larvae or caterpillars of +the geometrid moth] and to the Tachtyti [hunting wasps], devourers of +locusts; and to the Eumenes, builders of clay cupolas on a bough. + +Here we are at last. This high, perpendicular rock, facing the south +to a length of some hundreds of yards and riddled with holes like a +monstrous sponge, is the time-honored dwelling place of the hairy-footed +Anthophora and of her rent free tenant, the three-horned Osmia. Here +also swarm their exterminators: the Sitaris beetle, the parasite of the +Anthophora; the Anthrax fly, the murderer of the Osmia. Ill informed as +to the proper period, I have come rather late, on the 10th of September. +I should have been here a month ago, or even by the end of July, to +watch the fly's operations. My journey threatens to be fruitless: I see +but a few rare Anthrax flies, hovering round the face of the cliff. We +will not despair, however, and we will begin by consulting the locality. + +The Anthophora's cells contain this bee in the larval stage. Some of +them provide me with the oil beetle and the Sitaris, rare finds at one +time, today of no use to me. Others contain the Melecta [a parasitic +bee] in the form of a highly colored pupa, or even in that of the full +grown insect. The Osmia, still more precocious, though dating from the +same period, shows herself exclusively in the adult form, a bad omen for +my investigations, for what the Anthrax demands is the larva and not the +perfect insect. The fly's grub doubles my apprehensions. Its development +is complete, the larva on which it feeds is consumed, perhaps several +weeks ago. I no longer doubt but that I have come too late to see what +happens in the Osmia's cocoons. + +Is the game lost? Not yet. My notes contain evidence of Anthrax flies +hatching in the latter half of September. Besides, those whom I now see +exploring the rock are not there to take exercise: their preoccupation +is the settling of the family. These belated ones cannot tackle the +Osmia, who, with her firm, adult flesh, would not suit the nursling's +delicate needs and who, moreover, powerful as she is, would offer +resistance. But in autumn a less numerous colony of honey gatherers +takes the place, upon the slope, of the spring colony, from which +it differs in species. In particular, I see the Diadem Anthidium [a +clothier bee who lines her nest with wool and cotton] at work, entering +her galleries at one time with her harvest of pollen dust and at +another with her little bale of cotton. Might not these autumnal Bees be +themselves exploited by the Anthrax, the same that selected the Osmia as +her victim a couple of months earlier? This would explain the presence +of the Anthrax flies whom I now see fussing about. + +A little reassured by this conjecture, I take my stand at the foot +of the rock, under a broiling sun; and, for half a day, I follow the +evolutions of my flies. They flit quietly in front of the slope, at a +few inches from the earthy covering. They go from one orifice to the +next, but without even penetrating. For that matter, their big wings, +extended crosswise even when at rest, would resist their entrance into a +gallery, which is too narrow to admit those spreading sails. And so they +explore the cliff, going to and fro and up and down, with a flight that +is now sudden, now smooth and slow. From time to time, I see the Anthrax +quickly approach the wall and lower her abdomen as though to touch the +earth with the end of her ovipositor. This proceeding takes no longer +than the twinkling of an eye. When it is done, the insect alights +elsewhere and rests. Then it resumes its sober flight, its long +investigations and its sudden blows with the tip of its belly against +the layer of earth. The Bombylii [bee flies] observe similar tactics +when soaring at a short height above the ground. + +I at once rushed to the spot touched, lens in hand, in the hope of +finding the egg which everything told me was laid during that tap of the +abdomen. I could distinguish nothing, in spite of the closest attention. +It is true that my exhaustion, together with the blinding light and +scorching heat, made examination very difficult. Afterwards, when I made +the acquaintance of the tiny thing that issues from that egg, my failure +no longer surprised me. In the leisure of my study, with my eyes rested +and with my most powerful glasses held in a hand no longer shaking with +excitement and fatigue, I have the very greatest difficulty in finding +the infinitesimal creature, though I know exactly where it lies. Then +how could I see the egg, worn out as I was under the sun-baked cliff, +how discover the precise spot of a laying performed in a moment by an +insect seen only at a distance? In the painful conditions wherein I +found myself, failure was inevitable. + +Despite my negative attempts, therefore, I remain convinced that the +Anthrax flies strew their eggs one by one, on the spots frequented by +those bees who suit their grubs. Each of their sudden strokes with the +tip of the abdomen represents a laying. They take no precaution to place +the germ under cover; for that matter, any such precaution would be +rendered impossible by the mother's structure. The egg, that delicate +object, is laid roughly in the blazing sun, between grains of sand, +in some wrinkle of the calcined chalk. That summary installation is +sufficient, provided the coveted larva be near at hand. It is for the +young grub now to manage as best it can at its own risk and peril. + +Though the sunken roads of the Legue did not tell me all that I wished +to know, they at least made it very probable that the coming grub must +reach the victualled cell by its own efforts. But the grub which we +know, the one that drains the bag of fat which may be a Chalicodoma +larva or an Osmia larva, cannot move from its place, still less indulge +in journeys of discovery through the thickness of a wall and the web +of a cocoon. So an imperative necessity presents itself: there must +perforce be an initial larva form, capable of moving and organized for +searching, a form under which the grub would attain its end. The +Anthrax would thus possess two larval states: one to penetrate to the +provisions; the other to consume them. I allow myself to be convinced +by the logic of it all; I already see in my mind's eye the wee animal +coming out of the egg, endowed with sufficient power of motion not to +dread a walk and with sufficient slenderness to glide into the smallest +crevices. Once in the presence of the larva on which it is to feed, it +doffs its travelling dress and becomes the obese animal whose one duty +it is to grow big and fat in immobility. This is all very coherent; +it is all deduced like a geometrical proposition. But to the wings of +imagination, however smooth their flight, we must prefer the sandals +of observed facts, the slow sandals with the leaden soles. Thus shod, I +proceed. + +Next year, I resume my investigations, this time on the Anthrax of the +Chalicodoma, who is my neighbor in the surrounding wastelands and will +allow me to repeat my visits daily, morning and evening if need be. +Taught by my earlier studies, I now know the exact period of the Bee's +hatching and therefore of the Anthrax' laying, which must take place +soon after. Anthrax trifasciata settles her family in July, or in August +at latest. Every morning, at nine o'clock, when the heat begins to +be unendurable and when, to use [the author's gardener and factotum] +Favier's expression, an extra log is flung on the bonfire of the sun, +I take the field, prepared to come back with my head aching from the +glare, provided that I bring home the solution of my puzzle. A man must +have the devil in him to leave the shade at this time of the year. And +what for, pray? To write the story of a fly! The greater the heat, the +better my chance of success. What causes me to suffer torture fills the +insect with delight; what prostrates me braces the fly. Come along! + +The road shimmers like a sheet of molten steel. From the dusty and +melancholy olive trees rises a mighty, throbbing hum, a great andante +whose executants have the whole sweep of woods for their orchestra. 'Tis +the concert of the Cicada, whose bellies sway and rustle with increasing +frenzy as the temperature rises. The strident scrapings of the Cicada of +the Ash, the Carcan of the district, lend their rhythm to the one note +symphony of the common cicada. This is the moment: come along! And, for +five or six weeks, oftenest in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, +I set myself to explore the flinty plateau. + +The Chalicodoma's nests abound, but I cannot see a single Anthrax make +a black speck upon their surface. Not one, busy with her laying, settles +in front of me. At most, from time to time, I can just see one passing +far away, with an impetuous rush. I lose her in the distance; and that +is all. It is impossible to be present at the laying of the egg. I know +the little that I learnt from the cliffs in the Legue and nothing more. + +As soon as I recognize the difficulty, I hasten to enlist assistants. +Shepherds--mere small boys--keep the sheep in these stony meadows, +where the flocks graze, to the greater glory of our local mutton, on the +camphor saturated badafo, that is to say, spike lavender. I explain as +well as I can the object of my search; I talk to them of a big black Fly +and the nests on which she ought to settle, the clay nests so well +known to those who have learnt how to extract the honey with a straw in +springtime and spread it on a crust of bread. They are to watch that fly +and take good note of the nests on which they may see her alight; and, +on the same evening, when they bring their flocks back to the village, +they are to tell me the result of their day's work. On receiving +their favorable report, I will go with them, next day, to continue the +observations. They shall be paid for their trouble, of course. These +latter day Corydons have not the manners of antiquity: they reck little +of the seven holed flute cemented with wax, or of the beechen bowl, +preferring the coppers that will take them to the village inn on Sunday. +A reward in ready money is promised for each nest that fulfils the +desired conditions; and the bargain is enthusiastically accepted. + +There are three of them; and I make a fourth. Shall we manage it, among +us all? I thought so. By the end of August, however, my last illusions +were dispelled. Not one of us had succeeded in seeing the big black Fly +perching on the dome of the mason bee. + +Our failure, it seems to me, can be explained thus: outside the spacious +front of the Anthophora's settlement, the Anthrax is in permanent +residence. She visits, on the wing, every nook and corner, without +moving away from the native cliff, because it would be useless to go +farther. There is board and lodging here, indefinitely, for all her +family. When some spot is deemed favorable, she hovers round inspecting +it, then comes up suddenly and strikes it with the tip of her abdomen. +The thing is done, the egg is laid. So I picture it, at least. Within a +radius of a few yards and in a flight broken by short intervals of rest +in the sun, she carries on her search of likely places for the laying +and dissemination of her eggs. The insect's assiduous attendance upon +the same slope is caused by the inexhaustible wealth of the locality +exploited. + +The Anthrax of the Chalicodoma labors under very different conditions. +Stay-at-home habits would be detrimental to her. With her rushing +flight, made easy by the long and powerful spread of her wings, she must +travel far and wide if she would found a colony. The bee's nests are not +discovered in groups, but occur singly on their pebbles, scattered more +or less everywhere over acres of ground. To find a single one is not +enough for the fly: on account of the many parasites, not all the cells, +by a long way, contain the desired larva; others, too well protected, +would not allow of access to the provisions. Very many nests are +necessary, perhaps, for the eggs of one alone; and the finding of them +calls for long journeys. + +I therefore picture the Anthrax coming and going in every direction +across the stony plain. Her practiced eye requires no slackened flight +to distinguish the earthen dome which she is seeking. Having found it, +she inspects it from above, still on the wing; she taps it once and +yet once again with the tip of her ovipositor and forthwith makes off, +without having set foot on the ground. Should she take a rest, it will +be elsewhere, no matter where, on the soil, on a stone, on a tuft +of lavender or thyme. Given these habits--and my observations in the +Carpentras roads make them seem exceedingly probable--it is small wonder +that the perspicacity of my young shepherds and myself should have come +to naught. I was expecting the impossible: the Anthrax does not halt on +the mason bee's nest to proceed with her laying in a methodical fashion; +she merely pays a flying visit. + +And so I develop my theory of a primary larval form, differing in every +way from the one which I know. The organization of the Anthrax must be +such, at the beginning, as to permit of its moving on the surface of the +dome where the egg has been dropped so carelessly; the nascent grub must +be supplied with tools to pierce the concrete wall and enter the Bee's +cell through some cranny. The fly grub, perhaps dragging the remnants of +the egg behind it, must set out in quest of board and lodging almost as +soon as it is born. It will succeed under the guidance of instinct, that +faculty which waits not to number the days and which is as far seeing at +the moment of hatching as after the trials of a busy life. This primary +grub does not seem to me outside the limits of possibility; I see it, if +not in the body, at least in its actions, as plainly as though it were +really under the lens. It exists, if reason be not a vain and empty +guide; I must find it; I shall find it. Never in the history of my +investigations has the logic of things been more insistent; never has +it directed me with greater certainty towards a magnificent biological +theory. + +While vainly trying to witness the laying of the eggs, I inquire, at the +same time, into the contents of the Mason bee's nests, in quest of +the grub just issued from the egg. My own harvest and that of my young +shepherds, whose zeal I employ in a task less difficult than the first, +procure me heaps of nests, enough to fill baskets and baskets. These are +all inspected at leisure, on my work table, with the excitement which +the certainty of an approaching fine discovery never fails to give. The +Mason's cocoons are taken from the cells, inspected without, opened and +inspected within. My lens explores their innermost recesses; speck by +speck, it explores the Chalicodoma's slumbering larva; it explores the +inner walls of the cells. Nothing, nothing, nothing! For a fortnight +and more, nests were rejected and heaped up in a corner; my study was +crammed with them. What hecatombs of unfortunate sleepers removed from +their silken bags and doomed, for the most part, to a wretched end, +despite the care which I took to put them in a place of safety, where +the work of the transformation might be pursued! Curiosity makes us +cruel. I continue to rip up cocoons. And nothing, nothing! It needed the +sturdiest faith to make me persevere. That faith I possessed; and well +for me that I did. + +On the 25th of July--the date deserves to be recorded--I saw, or rather +seemed to see, something move on the Chalicodoma's larva. Was it an +illusion born of my hopes? Was it a bit of diaphanous down stirred by my +breath? It was not an illusion, it was not a bit of down, it was really +and truly a grub. What a moment, followed by what perplexities! The +thing has nothing in common with the larva of the Anthrax, it suggests +rather some microscopic Thread worm that, by accident, has made its way +through the skin of its host and come to enjoy itself outside. I do not +reckon my discovery as of much value, because I am so greatly puzzled +by the creature's appearance. No matter: we will take a small glass +tube and place inside it the Chalicodoma grub and the mysterious thing +wriggling on the surface. Suppose it should be what I am looking for? +Who knows? + +Once warned of the probable difficulty of seeing the animalcule for +which I am hunting, I redouble my attention, so much so that, in a +couple of days, I am the owner of half a score of tiny worms similar +to the one which caused me such excitement. Each of them is lodged in +a glass tube with its Chalicodoma grub. The infinitesimal thing is so +small, so diaphanous, blends to such good purpose with its host that the +least fold of skin conceals it from my view. After watching it one day +through the lens, I sometimes fail to find it again on the morrow. I +think that I have lost it, that it has perished under the weight of the +overturned larva and returned to that nothing to which it was so closely +akin. Then it moves and I see it again. For a whole fortnight, there +was no limit to my perplexity. Was it really the original larva of the +Anthrax? Yes, for I at last saw my bantlings transform themselves into +the larva previously described and make their first start at draining +their victims with kisses. A few moments of satisfaction like those +which I then enjoyed make up for many a weary hour. + +Let us resume the story of the wee animal, now recognized as the genuine +origin of the Anthrax. It is a tiny worm about a millimeter long and +almost as slender as a hair. It is very difficult to see because of its +transparency. When tucked away in a fold of the skin of its fostering +larva, an excessively fine skin, it remains undiscoverable to the lens. +But the feeble creature is very active: it tramps over the sides of the +rich morsel, walks all round it. It covers the ground pretty quickly, +buckling and unbuckling by turns, very much after the manner of the +looper caterpillar. Its two extremities are its chief points of support. +When at a standstill, it moves its front half in every direction, as +though to explore the space around it; when walking, it swells out, +magnifies its segments and then looks like a bit of knotted string. + +The microscope shows us thirteen rings, including the head. This head is +small, slightly horny, as is proved by its amber color, and bristles in +front with a small number of short, stiff hairs. On each of the three +segments of the thorax there are two long hairs, fixed to the lower +surface; and there are two similar and still longer hairs at the end of +the terminal ring. These four pairs of bristles, three in front and one +behind, are the locomotory organs, to which we must add the hairy edge +of the head and also the anal button, a sustaining base which might +very well work with the aid of a certain stickiness, as happens with +the primary larva of the Sitaris [a Parasitic Beetle noted for the +multiplicity of transformations undergone by the grub]. We see, through +the transparent skin, two long air tubes running parallel to each other +from the first thoracic segment to the last abdominal segment but one. +They ought to end in two pairs of breathing holes which I have not +succeeded in distinguishing quite plainly. Those two big respiratory +vessels are characteristic of the grubs of flies. Their mouths +correspond exactly with the points at which the two sets of stigmata +open in the Anthrax larva in its second form. + +For a fortnight, the feeble grub remains in the condition which I have +described, without growing and very probably also without nourishment. +Assiduous though my visits be, I never perceive it taking any +refreshment. Besides, what would it eat? In the cocoon invaded there is +nothing but the larva of the mason bee; and the worm cannot make use +of this before acquiring the sucker that comes with the second form. +Nevertheless, this life of abstinence is not a life of idleness. The +animalcule explores its dish, now here, now elsewhere; it runs all over +it with looper strides; it pries into the neighborhood by lifting and +shaking its head. + +I see a need for this long wait under a transitory form that requires +no feeding. The egg is laid by the mother on the surface of the nest, +somewhere near a suitable cell, I dare say, but still at a distance from +the fostering larva, which is protected by a thick rampart. It is for +the new born grub to make its own way to the provisions, not by violence +and house breaking, of which it is incapable, but by patiently slipping +through a maze of cracks, first tried, then abandoned, then tried again. +It is a very difficult task, even for this most slender worm, for the +bee's masonry is exceedingly compact. There are no chinks due to bad +building; no fissures due to the weather; nothing but an apparently +impenetrable homogeneity. I see but one weak part and that only in a few +nests: it is the line where the dome joins the surface of the stone. An +imperfect soldering between two materials of different nature, cement +and flint, may leave a breach wide enough to admit besiegers as thin as +a hair. Nevertheless, the lens is far from always finding an inlet of +this kind on the nests occupied by Anthrax flies. + +And so I am ready to allow that the animalcule wandering in search of +its cell has the whole area of the dome at its disposal when selecting +an entrance. Where the line auger of the Leucospis can enter, is there +not room enough for the even slimmer Anthrax grub? True, the Leucospis +possesses muscular force and a hard boring tool. The Anthrax is +extremely weak and has nothing but invincible patience. It does at +great length of time what the other, furnished with superior implements, +accomplishes in three hours. This explains the fortnight spent by the +Anthrax under the initial form, the object of which is to overcome +the obstacle of the mason's wall, to pierce through the texture of the +cocoon and to reach the victuals. + +I even believe that it takes longer. The work is so laborious and +the worker so feeble! I cannot tell how long it is since my bantlings +attained their object. Perhaps, aided by easy roads, they had reached +their fostering larvae long before the completion of their first +babyhood, the end of which they were spending before my eyes, with no +apparent purpose, in exploring their provisions. The time had not yet +come for them to change their skins and take their seats at the table. +Their fellows must still, for the most part, be wandering through the +pores of the masonry; and this was what made my search so vain at the +start. + +A few facts seem to suggest that the entrance into the cell may be +delayed for several months by the difficulty of the passages. There are +a few Anthrax grubs beside the remains of pupae not far removed from the +final metamorphosis; there are others, but very rarely, on Mason bees +already in the perfect state. These grubs are sickly and appear to be +ailing; the provisions are too solid and do not lend themselves to +the delicate suckling of the worms. Who can these laggards be but +animalcules that have roamed too long in the walls of the nest? Failing +to make their entrance at the proper time, they no longer find viands to +suit them. The primary larva of the Sitaris continues from the autumn to +the following spring. Even so the initial form of the Anthrax might well +continue, not in inactivity, but in stubborn attempts to overcome the +thick bulwark. + +My young worms, when transferred with their provisions into tubes, +remained stationary, on the average, for a couple of weeks. At last, I +saw them shrink and then rid themselves of their epidermis and become +the grub which I was so anxiously expecting as the final reply to all +my doubts. It was indeed, from the first, the grub of the Anthrax, the +cream-colored cylinder with the little button of a head, followed by +a hump. Applying its cupping glass to the mason bee, the worm, without +delay, began its meal, which lasts another fortnight. The reader knows +the rest. + +Before taking leave of the animalcule, let us devote a few lines to its +instinct. It has just awakened to life under the fierce kisses of the +sun. The bare stone is its cradle, the rough clay its welcomer, as it +makes its entrance into the world, a poor thread of scarce cohering +albumen. But safety lies within; and behold the atom of animated glair +embarking on its struggle with the flint. Obstinately, it sounds each +pore; it slips in, crawls on, retreats, begins again. The radical of the +germinating seed is no more persevering in its efforts to descend into +the cool earth than is the Anthrax grub in creeping into the lump of +mortar. What inspiration urges it towards its food at the bottom of the +clod, what compass guides it? What does it know of those depths, of what +lies therein or where? Nothing. What does the root know of the earth's +fruitfulness? Again nothing. Yet both make for the nourishing spot. +Theories are put forward, most learned theories, introducing capillary +action, osmosis and cellular imbibition, to explain why the caulicle +ascends and the radical descends. Shall physical or chemical forces +explain why the animalcule digs into the hard clay? I bow profoundly, +without understanding or even trying to understand. The question is far +above, our inane means. + +The biography of the Anthrax is now complete, save for the details +relating to the egg, as yet unknown. In the vast majority of insects +subject to metamorphoses, the hatching yields the larval form which +will remain unchanged until the nymphosis. By virtue of a remarkable +variation, revealing a new vein of observation to the entomologist, +the Anthrax flies, in the larval state, assume two successive shapes, +differing greatly one from the other, both in structure and in the part +which they are called upon to play. I will describe this double stage of +the organism by the phrase 'larval dimorphism.' The initial form, that +issuing from the egg, I will call 'the primary larva;' the second form +shall be 'the secondary larva.' Among the Anthrax flies, the function +of the primary larva is to reach the provisions, on which the mother +is unable to lay her egg. It is capable of moving and endowed with +ambulatory bristles, which allow the slim creature to glide through the +smallest interstices in the wall of a Bee's nest, to slip through the +woof of the cocoon and to make its way to the larva intended for its +successor's food. When this object is attained, its part is played. +Then appears the secondary larva, deprived of any means of progression. +Relegated to the inside of the invaded cell, as incapable of leaving +it by its own efforts as it was of entering, this one has no mission in +life but that of eating. It is a stomach that loads itself, digests and +goes on adding to its reserves. Next comes the pupa, armed for the +exit even as the primary larva was equipped for entering. When the +deliverance is accomplished, the perfect insect appears, busy with its +laying. The Anthrax cycle is thus divided into four periods, each of +which corresponds with special forms and functions. The primary larva +enters the casket containing provisions; the secondary larva consumes +these provisions; the pupa brings the insect to light by boring through +the enclosing wall; the perfect insect strews its eggs; and the cycle +starts afresh. + + + + +CHAPTER V. HEREDITY + +Facts which I have set forth elsewhere prove that certain dung beetles' +make an exception to the rule of paternal indifference--a general rule +in the insect world--and know something of domestic cooperation. The +father works with almost the same zeal as the mother in providing for +the settlement of the family. Whence do these favored ones derive a gift +that borders on morality? + +One might suggest the cost of installing the youngsters. Once they have +to be furnished with a lodging and to be left the wherewithal to live, +is it not an advantage, in the interests of the race, that the father +should come to the mother's assistance? Work divided between the two +will ensure the comfort which solitary work, its strength overtaxed, +would deny. This seems excellent reasoning; but it is much more often +contradicted than confirmed by the facts. Why is the Sisyphus a hard +working paterfamilias and the sacred beetle an idle vagabond? And yet +the two pill rollers practice the same industry and the same method +of rearing their young. Why does the Lunary Copris know what his near +kinsman, the Spanish Copris, does not? The first assists his mate, never +forsakes her. The second seeks a divorce at an early stage and leaves +the nuptial roof before the children's rations are massed and kneaded +into shape. Nevertheless, on both sides, there is the same big outlay +on a cellarful of egg-shaped pills, whose neat rows call for long and +watchful supervision. The similarity of the produce leads one to believe +in similarity of manners; and this is a mistake. + +Let us turn elsewhere, to the wasps and bees, who unquestionably come +first in the laying up of a heritage for their offspring. Whether the +treasure hoarded for the benefit of the sons be a pot of honey or a bag +of game, the father never takes the smallest part in the work. He does +not so much as give a sweep of the broom when it comes to tidying the +outside of the dwelling. To do nothing is his invariable rule. The +bringing up of the family, therefore, however expensive it may be in +certain cases, has not given rise to the instinct of paternity. Then +where are we to look for a reply? + +Let us make the question a wider one. Let us leave the animal, for a +moment, and occupy ourselves with man. We have our own instincts, some +of which take the name of genius when they attain a degree of might +that towers over the plain of mediocrity. We are amazed by the unusual, +springing out of flat commonplaces; we are spellbound by the luminous +speck shining in the wonted darkness. We admire; and, failing to +understand whence came those glorious harvests in this one or in that, +we say of them: "They have the gift." + +A goatherd amuses himself by making combinations with heaps of little +pebbles. He becomes an astoundingly quick and accurate reckoner without +other aid than a moment's reflection. He terrifies us with the conflict +of enormous numbers which blend in an orderly fashion in his mind, but +whose mere statement overwhelms us by its inextricable confusion. This +marvelous arithmetical juggler has an instinct, a genius, a gift for +figures. + +A second, at the age when most of us delight in tops and marbles, leaves +the company of his boisterous playmates and listens to the echo of +celestial harps singing within him. His head is a cathedral filled with +the strains of an imaginary organ. Rich cadences, a secret concert heard +by him and him alone, steep him in ecstasy. All hail to that predestined +one who, some day, will rouse our noblest emotions with his musical +chords. He has an instinct, a genius, a gift for sounds. + +A third, a brat who cannot yet eat his bread and jam without smearing +his face all over, takes a delight in fashioning clay into little +figures that are astonishingly lifelike for all their artless +awkwardness. He takes a knife and makes the briar root grin into all +sorts of entertaining masks; he carves boxwood in the semblance of a +horse or sheep; he engraves the effigy of his dog on sandstone. Leave +him alone; and, if Heaven second his efforts, he may become a famous +sculptor. He has an instinct, a gift, a genius for form. + +And so with others in every branch of human activity: art and science, +industry and commerce, literature and philosophy. We have within us, +from the start, that which will distinguish us from the vulgar herd. +Now to what do we owe this distinctive character? To some throwback of +atavism, men tell us. Heredity, direct in one case, remote in another, +hands it down to us, increased or modified by time. Search the records +of the family and you will discover the source of the genius, a mere +trickle at first, then a stream, then a mighty river. + +The darkness that lies behind that word heredity! Metaphysical science +has tried to throw a little light upon it and has succeeded only in +making unto itself a barbarous jargon, leaving obscurity more obscure +than before. As for us, who hunger after lucidity, let us relinquish +abstruse theories to whoever delights in them and confine our ambition +to observable facts, without pretending to explain the quackery of +the plasma. Our method certainly will not reveal to us the origin of +instinct; but it will at least show us where it would be waste of time +to look for it. + +In this sort of research, a subject known through and through, down to +its most intimate peculiarities, is indispensable. Where shall we find +that subject? There would be a host of them and magnificent ones, if it +were possible to read the sealed pages of others' lives; but no one can +sound an existence outside his own and even then he can think himself +lucky if a retentive memory and the habit of reflection give his +soundings the proper accuracy. As none of us is able to project himself +into another's skin, we must needs, in considering this problem, remain +inside our own. + +To talk about one's self is hateful, I know. The reader must have the +kindness to excuse me for the sake of the study in hand. I shall take +the silent beetle's place in the witness box, cross-examining myself +in all simplicity of soul, as I do the animal, and asking myself whence +that one of my instincts which stands out above the others is derived. + + +Since Darwin bestowed upon me the title of 'incomparable observer,' the +epithet has often come back to me, from this side and from that, without +my yet understanding what particular merit I have shown. It seems to me +so natural, so much within everybody's scope, so absorbing to interest +one's self in everything that swarms around us! However, let us pass on +and admit that the compliment is not unfounded. + +My hesitation ceases if it is a question of admitting my curiosity in +matters that concern the insect. Yes, I possess the gift, the instinct +that impels me to frequent that singular world; yes, I know that I am +capable of spending on those studies an amount of precious time which +would be better employed in making provision, if possible, for the +poverty of old age; yes, I confess that I am an enthusiastic observer of +the animal. How was this characteristic propensity, at once the torment +and delight of my life, developed? And, to begin with, how much does it +owe to heredity? + +The common people have no history: persecuted by the present, they +cannot think of preserving the memory of the past. And yet what +surpassingly instructive records, comforting too and pious, would be the +family papers that should tell us who our forebears were and speak to +us of their patient struggles with harsh fate, their stubborn efforts to +build up, atom by atom, what we are today. No story would come up with +that for individual interest. But by the very force of things the home +is abandoned; and, when the brood has flown, the nest is no longer +recognized. + +I, a humble journeyman in the toilers' hive, am therefore very poor in +family recollections. In the second degree of ancestry, my facts become +suddenly obscured. I will linger over them a moment for two reasons: +first, to inquire into the influence of heredity; and, secondly, to +leave my children yet one more page concerning them. + +I did not know my maternal grandfather. This venerable ancestor was, I +have been told, a process server in one of the poorest parishes of the +Rouergue. He used to engross on stamped paper in a primitive spelling. +With his well-filled pen case and ink horn, he went drawing out deeds up +hill and down dale, from one insolvent wretch to another more insolvent +still. Amid his atmosphere of pettifoggery, this rudimentary scholar, +waging battle on life's acerbities, certainly paid no attention to the +insect; at most, if he met it, he would crush it under foot. The +unknown animal, suspected of evil doing, deserved no further enquiry. +Grandmother, on her side, apart from her housekeeping and her beads, +knew still less about anything. She looked on the alphabet as a set of +hieroglyphics only fit to spoil your sight for nothing, unless you were +scribbling on paper bearing the government stamp. Who in the world, in +her day, among the small folk, dreamt of knowing how to read and write? +That luxury was reserved for the attorney, who himself made but a +sparing use of it. The insect, I need hardly say, was the least of her +cares. If sometimes, when rinsing her salad at the tap, she found a +caterpillar on the lettuce leaves, with a start of fright she would +fling the loathsome thing away, thus cutting short relations reputed +dangerous. In short, to both my maternal grandparents, the insect was a +creature of no interest whatever and almost always a repulsive object, +which one dared not touch with the tip of one's finger. Beyond a doubt, +my taste for animals was not derived from them. + +I have more precise information regarding my grandparents on the +father's side, for their green old age allowed me to know them both. +They were people of the soil, whose quarrel with the alphabet was so +great that they had never opened a book in their lives; and they kept +a lean farm on the cold granite ridge of the Rouergue tableland. The +house, standing alone among the heath and broom, with no neighbor for +many a mile around and visited at intervals by the wolves, was to them +the hub of the universe. But for a few surrounding villages, whither the +calves were driven on fair days, the rest was only very vaguely known +by hearsay. In this wild solitude, the mossy fens, with their quagmires +oozing with iridescent pools, supplied the cows, the principal source +of wealth, with rich, wet grass. In summer, on the short swards of the +slopes, the sheep were penned day and night, protected from beasts of +prey by a fence of hurdles propped up with pitchforks. When the grass +was cropped close at one spot, the fold was shifted elsewhere. In the +center was the shepherd's rolling hut, a straw cabin. Two watchdogs, +equipped with spiked collars, were answerable for tranquillity if the +thieving wolf appeared in the night from out the neighboring woods. + +Padded with a perpetual layer of cow dung, in which I sank to my knees, +broken up with shimmering puddles of dark brown liquid manure, the +farmyard also boasted a numerous population. Here the lambs skipped, the +geese trumpeted, the fowls scratched the ground and the sow grunted with +her swarm of little pigs hanging to her dugs. + +The harshness of the climate did not give husbandry the same chances. +In a propitious season, they would set fire to a stretch of moorland +bristling with gorse and send the swing plow across the ground enriched +with the cinders of the blaze. This yielded a few acres of rye, oats +and potatoes. The best corners were kept for hemp, which furnished the +distaffs and spindles of the house with the material for linen and was +looked upon as grandmother's private crop. + +Grandfather, therefore, was, before all, a herdsman versed in matters of +cows and sheep, but completely ignorant of aught else. How dumbfounded +he would have been to learn that, in the remote future, one of his +family would become enamoured of those insignificant animals to which +he had never vouchsafed a glance in his life! Had he guessed that that +lunatic was myself, the scapegrace seated at the table by his side, what +a smack I should have caught in the neck, what a wrathful look! + +"The idea of wasting one's time with that nonsense!" he would have +thundered. + +For the patriarch was not given to joking. I can still see his serious +face, his unclipped head of hair, often brought back behind his ears +with a flick of the thumb and spreading its ancient Gallic mane over +his shoulders. I see his little three-cornered hat, his small clothes +buckled at the knees, his wooden shoes, stuffed with straw, that echoed +as he walked. Ah, no! Once childhood's games were past, it would never +have done to rear the Grasshopper and unearth the Dung beetle from his +natural surroundings. + +Grandmother, pious soul, used to wear the eccentric headdress of the +Rouergue highlanders: a large disk of black felt, stiff as a plank, +adorned in the middle with a crown a finger's breadth high and hardly +wider across than a six franc piece. A black ribbon fastened under the +chin maintained the equilibrium of this elegant, but unsteady circle. +Pickles, hemp, chickens, curds and whey, butter; washing the clothes, +minding the children, seeing to the meals of the household: say that +and you have summed up the strenuous woman's round of ideas. On her left +side, the distaff, with its load of flax; in her right hand, the spindle +turning under a quick twist of her thumb, moistened at intervals with +her tongue: so she went through life, unwearied, attending to the order +and the welfare of the house. I see her in my mind's eye particularly on +winter evenings, which were more favorable to family talk. When the hour +came for meals, all of us, big and little, would take our seats round +a long table, on a couple of benches, deal planks supported by four +rickety legs. Each found his wooden bowl and his tin spoon in front of +him. At one end of the table always stood an enormous rye loaf, the +size of a cartwheel, wrapped in a linen cloth with a pleasant smell +of washing, and remained until nothing was left of it. With a vigorous +stroke, grandfather would cut off enough for the needs of the moment; +then he would divide the piece among us with the one knife which he +alone was entitled to wield. It was now each one's business to break up +his bit with his fingers and to fill his bowl as he pleased. + +Next came grandmother's turn. A capacious pot bubbled lustily and sang +upon the flames in the hearth, exhaling an appetizing savor of bacon and +turnips. Armed with a long metal ladle, grandmother would take from it, +for each of us in turn, first the broth, wherein to soak the bread, +and next the ration of turnips and bacon, partly fat and partly lean, +filling the bowl to the top. At the other end of the table was the +pitcher, from which the thirsty were free to drink at will. What +appetites we had and what festive meals those were, especially when a +cream cheese, homemade, was there to complete the banquet! + +Near us blazed the huge fireplace, in which whole tree trunks were +consumed in the extreme cold weather. From a corner of that monumental, +soot-glazed chimney, projected, at a convenient height, a bracket with +a slate shelf, which served to light the kitchen when we sat up late. On +this we burnt chips of pine wood, selected among the most translucent, +those containing the most resin. They shed over the room a lurid red +light, which saved the walnut oil in the lamp. + +When the bowls were emptied and the last crumb of cheese scraped up, +grandam went back to her distaff, on a stool by the chimney corner. We +children, boys and girls, squatting on our heels and putting out our +hands to the cheerful fire of furze, formed a circle round her and +listened to her with eager ears. She told us stories, not greatly +varied, it is true, but still wonderful, for the wolf often played a +part in them. I should have very much liked to see this wolf, the hero +of so many tales that made our flesh creep; but the shepherd always +refused to take me into his straw hut, in the middle of the fold, at +night. When we had done talking about the horrid wolf, the dragon and +the serpent and when the resinous splinters had given out their last +gleams, we went to sleep the sweet sleep that toil gives. As the +youngest of the household, I had a right to the mattress, a sack stuffed +with oat chaff. The others had to be content with straw. + +I owe a great deal to you, dear grandmother: it was in your lap that +I found consolation for my first sorrows. You have handed down to me, +perhaps, a little of your physical vigor, a little of your love of +work; but certainly you were no more accountable than grandfather for my +passion for insects. + +Nor was either of my own parents. My mother, who was quite illiterate, +having known no teacher than the bitter experience of a harassed life, +was the exact opposite of what my tastes required for their development. +My peculiarity must seek its origin elsewhere: that I will swear. But +I do not find it in my father, either. The excellent man, who was hard +working and sturdily built like granddad, had been to school as a +child. He knew how to write, though he took the greatest liberties with +spelling; he knew how to read and understood what he read, provided the +reading presented no more serious literary difficulties than occurred +in the stories in the almanac. He was the first of his line to allow +himself to be tempted by the town and he lived to regret it. Badly off, +having but little outlet for his industry, making God knows what shifts +to pick up a livelihood, he went through all the disappointments of the +countryman turned townsman. Persecuted by bad luck, borne down by +the burden, for all his energy and good will, he was far indeed from +starting me in entomology. He had other cares, cares more direct and +more serious. A good cuff or two when he saw me pinning an insect to a +cork was all the encouragement that I received from him. Perhaps he was +right. + +The conclusion is positive: there is nothing in heredity to explain my +taste for observation. You may say that I do not go far enough back. +Well, what should I find beyond the grandparents where my facts come to +a stop? I know, partly. I should find even more uncultured ancestors: +sons of the soil, plowmen, sowers of rye, neat herds; one and all, by +the very force of things, of not the least account in the nice matters +of observation. + +And yet, in me, the observer, the inquirer into things began to take +shape almost in infancy. Why should I not describe my first discoveries? +They are ingenuous in the extreme, but will serve notwithstanding to +tell us something of the way in which tendencies first show themselves. +I was five or six years old. That the poor household might have one +mouth less to feed, I had been placed in grandmother's care, as I have +just been saying. Here, in solitude, my first gleams of intelligence +were awakened amidst the geese, the calves and the sheep. Everything +before that is impenetrable darkness. My real birth is at that +moment when the dawn of personality rises, dispersing the mists of +unconsciousness and leaving a lasting memory. I can see myself plainly, +clad in a soiled frieze frock flapping against my bare heels; I +remember the handkerchief hanging from my waist by a bit of string, a +handkerchief often lost and replaced by the back of my sleeve. + +There I stand one day, a pensive urchin, with my hands behind my back +and my face turned to the sun. The dazzling splendor fascinates me. I am +the Moth attracted by the light of the lamp. With what am I enjoying the +glorious radiance: with my mouth or my eyes? That is the question put +by my budding scientific curiosity. Reader, do not smile: the future +observer is already practicing and experimenting. I open my mouth wide +and close my eyes: the glory disappears. I open my eyes and shut my +mouth: the glory reappears. I repeat the performance, with the same +result. The question's solved: I have learnt by deduction that I see the +sun with my eyes. Oh, what a discovery! That evening, I told the whole +house all about it. Grandmother smiled fondly at my simplicity: the +others laughed at it. 'Tis the way of the world. + +Another find. At nightfall, amidst the neighboring bushes, a sort of +jingle attracted my attention, sounding very faintly and softly through +the evening silence. Who is making that noise? Is it a little bird +chirping in his nest? We must look into the matter and that quickly. +True, there is the wolf, who comes out of the woods at this time, so +they tell me. Let's go all the same, but not too far: just there, behind +that clump of groom. I stand on the look out for long, but all in vain. +At the faintest sound of movement in the brushwood, the jingle ceases. +I try again next day and the day after. This time, my stubborn watch +succeeds. Whoosh! A grab of my hand and I hold the singer. It is not a +bird; it is a kind of Grasshopper whose hind legs my playfellows have +taught me to like: a poor recompense for my prolonged ambush. The best +part of the business is not the two haunches with the shrimpy flavor, +but what I have just learnt. I now know, from personal observation, that +the Grasshopper sings. I did not publish my discovery, for fear of the +same laughter that greeted my story about the sun. + +Oh, what pretty flowers, in a field close to the house! They seem to +smile to me with their great violet eyes. Later on, I see, in their +place, bunches of big red cherries. I taste them. They are not nice +and they have no stones. What can those cherries be? At the end of the +summer, grandfather comes with a spade and turns my field of observation +topsy-turvy. From under ground there comes, by the basketful and +sackful, a sort of round root. I know that root; it abounds in the +house; time after time I have cooked it in the peat stove. It is the +potato. Its violet flower and its red fruit are pigeonholed for good and +all in my memory. + +With an ever watchful eye for animals and plants, the future observer, +the little six-year-old monkey, practiced by himself, all unawares. +He went to the flower, he went to the insect, even as the large white +butterfly goes to the cabbage and the red admiral to the thistle. He +looked and inquired, drawn by a curiosity whereof heredity did not know +the secret. He bore within him the germ of a faculty unknown to his +family; he kept alive a glimmer that was foreign to the ancestral +hearth. What will become of that infinitesimal spark of childish fancy? +It will die out, beyond a doubt, unless education intervene, giving it +the fuel of example, fanning it with the breath of experience. In that +case, schooling will explain what heredity leaves unexplained. This is +what we will examine in the next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. MY SCHOOLING + +I am back in the village, in my father's house. I am now seven years +old; and it is high time that I went to school. Nothing could have +turned out better: the master is my godfather. What shall I call the +room in which I was to become acquainted with the alphabet? It would +be difficult to find the exact word, because the room served for every +purpose. It was at once a school, a kitchen, a bedroom, a dining room +and, at times, a chicken house and a piggery. Palatial schools were not +dreamt of in those days; any wretched hovel was thought good enough. + +A broad fixed ladder led to the floor above. Under the ladder stood +a big bed in a boarded recess. What was there upstairs? I never quite +knew. I would see the master sometimes bring down an armful of hay for +the ass, sometimes a basket of potatoes which the housewife emptied into +the pot in which the little porkers' food was cooked. It must have been +a loft of sorts, a storehouse of provisions for man and beast. Those two +apartments composed the whole building. + +To return to the lower one, the schoolroom: a window faces south, the +only window in the house, a low, narrow window whose frame you can touch +at the same time with your head and both your shoulders. This sunny +aperture is the only lively spot in the dwelling, it overlooks the +greater part of the village, which straggles along the slopes of a +slanting valley. In the window recess is the master's little table. + +The opposite wall contains a niche in which stands a gleaming copper +pail full of water. Here the parched children can relieve their thirst +when they please, with a cup left within their reach. At the top of the +niche are a few shelves bright with pewter plates, dishes and drinking +vessels, which are taken down from their sanctuary on great occasions +only. + +More or less everywhere, at any spot which the light touches, are +crudely colored pictures, pasted on the walls. Here is Our Lady of the +Seven Dolours, the disconsolate Mother of God opening her blue cloak +to show her heart pierced with seven daggers. Between the sun and moon, +which stare at you with their great, round eyes, is the Eternal Father, +whose robe swells as though puffed out with the storm. To the right +of the window, in the embrasure, is the Wandering Jew. He wears a +three-cornered hat, a large, white leather apron, hobnailed shoes and a +stout stick. 'Never was such a bearded man seen before or after,' says +the legend that surrounds the picture. The draftsman has not forgotten +this detail: the old man's beard spreads in a snowy avalanche over the +apron and comes down to his knees. On the left is Genevieve of Brabant, +accompanied by the roe, with fierce Golo hiding in the bushes, sword in +hand. Above hangs The Death of Mr. Credit, slain by defaulters at the +door of his inn; and so on and so on, in every variety of subject, at +all the unoccupied spots of the four walls. + +I was filled with admiration of this picture gallery, which held one's +eyes with its great patches of red, blue, green and yellow. The master, +however, had not set up his collection with a view to training our minds +and hearts. That was the last and least of the worthy man's ambitions. +An artist in his fashion, he had adorned his house according to his +taste; and we benefited by the scheme of decoration. + +While the gallery of halfpenny pictures made me happy all the year +round, there was another entertainment which I found particularly +attractive in winter, in frosty weather, when the snow lay long on the +ground. Against the far wall stands the fireplace, as monumental in size +as at my grandmother's. Its arched cornice occupies the whole width of +the room, for the enormous redoubt fulfils more than one purpose. In the +middle is the hearth, but, on the right and left, are two breast-high +recesses, half wood and half stone. Each of them is a bed, with a +mattress stuffed with chaff of winnowed corn. Two sliding planks serve +as shutters and close the chest if the sleeper would be alone. This +dormitory, sheltered under the chimney mantel, supplies couches for the +favored ones of the house, the two boarders. They must lie snug in there +at night, with their shutters closed, when the north wind howls at the +mouth of the dark valley and sends the snow awhirl. The rest is occupied +by the hearth and its accessories: the three-legged stools; the salt +box, hanging against the wall to keep its contents dry; the heavy shovel +which it takes two hands to wield; lastly, the bellows similar to those +with which I used to blow out my cheeks in grandfather's house. They +consist of a mighty branch of pine, hollowed throughout its length with +a red-hot iron. By means of this channel, one's breath is applied, from +a convenient distance, to the spot which is to be revived. With a couple +of stones for supports, the master's bundle of sticks and our own logs +blaze and flicker, each of us having to bring a log of wood in the +morning, if he would share in the treat. + +For that matter, the fire was not exactly lit for us, but, above all, to +warm a row of three pots in which simmered the pigs' food, a mixture +of potatoes and bran. That, despite the tribute of a log, was the real +object of the brushwood fire. The two boarders, on their stools, in +the best places, and we others sitting on our heels formed a semicircle +around those big cauldrons, full to the brim and giving off little jets +of steam, with puff-puff-puffing sounds. The bolder among us, when the +master's eyes were engaged elsewhere, would dig a knife into a well +cooked potato and add it to their bit of bread; for I must say that, if +we did little work in my school, at least we did a deal of eating. It +was the regular custom to crack a few nuts and nibble at a crust while +writing our page or setting out our rows of figures. + +We, the smaller ones, in addition to the comfort of studying with our +mouths full, had every now and then two other delights, which were quite +as good as cracking nuts. The back door communicated with the yard where +the hen, surrounded by her brood of chicks, scratched at the dung hill, +while the little porkers, of whom there were a dozen, wallowed in their +stone trough. This door would open sometimes to let one of us out, a +privilege which we abused, for the sly ones among us were careful not to +close it on returning. Forthwith, the porkers would come running in, +one after the other, attracted by the smell of the boiled potatoes. My +bench, the one where the youngsters sat, stood against the wall, under +the copper pail to which we used to go for water when the nuts had made +us thirsty, and was right in the way of the pigs. Up they came trotting +and grunting, curling their little tails; they rubbed against our legs; +they poked their cold pink snouts into our hands in search of a scrap +of crust; they questioned us with their sharp little eyes to learn if we +happened to have a dry chestnut for them in our pockets. When they +had gone the round, some this way and some that, they went back to the +farmyard, driven away by a friendly flick of the master's handkerchief. +Next came the visit of the hen, bringing her velvet-coated chicks to see +us. All of us eagerly crumbled a little bread for our pretty visitors. +We vied with one another in calling them to us and tickling with our +fingers their soft and downy backs. No, there was certainly no lack of +distractions. + +What could we learn in such a school as that! Let us first speak of the +young ones, of whom I was one. Each of us had, or rather was supposed +to have, in his hands a little penny book, the alphabet, printed on gray +paper. It began, on the cover, with a pigeon, or something like it. Next +came a cross, followed by the letters in their order. When we turned +over, our eyes encountered the terrible ba, be, bi, bo, bu, the +stumbling block of most of us. When we had mastered that formidable +page, we were considered to know how to read and were admitted among the +big ones. But, if the little book was to be of any use, the least that +was required was that the master should interest himself in us to some +extent and show us how to set about things. For this, the worthy man, +too much taken up with the big ones, had not the time. The famous +alphabet with the pigeon was thrust upon us only to give us the air of +scholars. We were to contemplate it on our bench, to decipher it with +the help of our next neighbor, in case he might know one or two of the +letters. Our contemplation came to nothing, being every moment disturbed +by a visit to the potatoes in the stew pots, a quarrel among playmates +about a marble, the grunting invasion of the porkers or the arrival of +the chicks. With the aid of these distractions, we would wait patiently +until it was time for us to go home. That was our most serious work. + +The big ones used to write. They had the benefit of the small amount +of light in the room, by the narrow window where the Wandering Jew and +ruthless Golo faced each other, and of the large and only table with its +circle of seats. The school supplied nothing, not even a drop of ink; +every one had to come with a full set of utensils. The inkhorn of those +days, a relic of the ancient pen case of which Rabelais speaks, was a +long cardboard box divided into two stages. The upper compartment held +the pens, made of goose or turkey quills trimmed with a penknife; the +lower contained, in a tiny well, ink made of soot mixed with vinegar. + +The master's great business was to mend the pens--a delicate work, not +without danger for inexperienced fingers--and then to trace at the head +of the white page a line of strokes, single letters or words, according +to the scholar's capabilities. When that is over, keep an eye on the +work of art which is coming to adorn the copy! With what undulating +movements of the wrist does the hand, resting on the little finger, +prepare and plan its flight! All at once, the hand starts off, flies, +whirls; and, lo and behold, under the line of writing is unfurled +a garland of circles, spirals and flourishes, framing a bird with +outspread wings, the whole, if you please, in red ink, the only kind +worthy of such a pen. Large and small, we stood awestruck in the +presence of these marvels. The family, in the evening, after supper, +would pass from hand to hand the masterpiece brought back from school: +'What a man!' was the comment. 'What a man, to draw you a Holy Ghost +with a stroke of the pen!' + +What was read at my school? At most, in French, a few selections from +sacred history. Latin recurred oftener, to teach us to sing vespers +properly. The more advanced pupils tried to decipher manuscript, a deed +of sale, the hieroglyphics of some scrivener. + +And history, geography? No one ever heard of them. What difference did +it make to us whether the earth was round or square! In either case, it +was just as hard to make it bring forth anything. + +And grammar? The master troubled his head very little about that; and we +still less. We should have been greatly surprised by the novelty and the +forbidding look of such words in the grammatical jargon as substantive, +indicative and subjunctive. Accuracy of language, whether of speech +or writing, must be learnt by practice. And none of us was troubled +by scruples in this respect. What was the use of all these subtleties, +when, on coming out of school, a lad simply went back to his flock of +sheep! + +And arithmetic? Yes, we did a little of this but not under that learned +name. We called it sums. To put down rows of figures, not too long, +add them and subtract them one from the other was more or less familiar +work. On Saturday evenings, to finish up the week, there was a general +orgy of sums. The top boy stood up and, in a loud voice, recited the +multiplication table up to twelve times. I say twelve times, for in +those days, because of our old duodecimal measures, it was the custom to +count as far as the twelve times table, instead of the ten times of the +metric system. When this recital was over, the whole class, the little +ones included, took it up in chorus, creating such an uproar that chicks +and porkers took to flight if they happened to be there. And this went +on to twelve times twelve, the first in the row starting the next table +and the whole class repeating it as loud as it could yell. Of all that +we were taught in school, the multiplication table was what we knew +best, for this noisy method ended by dinning the different numbers +into our ears. This does not mean that we became skilful reckoners. The +cleverest of us easily got muddled with the figures to be carried in a +multiplication sum. As for division, rare indeed were they who reached +such heights. In short, the moment a problem, however insignificant, had +to be solved, we had recourse to mental gymnastics much rather than to +the learned aid of arithmetic. + +When all is said, our master was an excellent man who could have kept +school very well but for his lack of one thing; and that was time. He +devoted to us all the little leisure which his numerous functions +left him. And, first of all, he managed the property of an absentee +landowner, who only occasionally set foot in the village. He had under +his care an old castle with four towers, which had become so many pigeon +houses; he directed the getting in of the hay, the walnuts, the apples +and the oats. We used to help him during the summer, when the school, +which was well attended in winter, was almost deserted. All that +remained, because they were not yet big enough to work in the fields, +were a few children, including him who was one day to set down these +memorable facts. Lessons at that time were less dull. They were often +given on the hay or on the straw; oftener still, lesson time was spent +in cleaning out the dovecote or stamping on the snails that had sallied +in rainy weather from their fortresses, the tall box borders of the +garden belonging to the castle. + +Our master was a barber. With his light hand, which was so clever at +beautifying our copies with curlicue birds, he shaved the notabilities +of the place: the mayor, the parish priest, the notary. Our master was a +bell ringer. A wedding or a christening interrupted the lessons: he had +to ring a peal. A gathering storm gave us a holiday: the great bell must +be tolled to ward off the lightning and the hail. Our master was a choir +singer. With his mighty voice, he filled the church when he led the +Magnificat at vespers. Our master wound up and regulated the village +clock. This was his proudest function. Giving a glance at the sun, to +ascertain the time more or less nearly, he would climb to the top of +the steeple, open a huge cage of rafters and find himself in a maze of +wheels and springs whereof the secret was known to him alone. + +With such a school and such a master and such examples, what will become +of my embryo tastes, as yet so imperceptible? In that environment, they +seem bound to perish, stifled for ever. Yet no, the germ has life; +it works in my veins, never to leave them again. It finds nourishment +everywhere, down to the cover of my penny alphabet, embellished with +a crude picture of a pigeon which I study and contemplate much more +zealously than the A B C. Its round eye, with its circlet of dots, seems +to smile upon me. Its wing, of which I count the feathers one by one, +tells me of flights on high, among the beautiful clouds; it carries me +to the beeches raising their smooth trunks above a mossy carpet studded +with white mushrooms that look like eggs dropped by some vagrant hen; it +takes me to the snow-clad peaks where the birds leave the starry print +of their red feet. He is a fine fellow, my pigeon friend: he consoles +me for the woes hidden behind the cover of my book. Thanks to him, I sit +quietly on my bench and wait more or less till school is over. + +School out of doors has other charms. When the master takes us to kill +the snails in the box borders, I do not always scrupulously fulfil my +office as an exterminator. My heel sometimes hesitates before coming +down upon the handful which I have gathered. They are so pretty! Just +think, there are yellow ones and pink, white ones and brown, all with +dark spiral streaks. I fill my pockets with the handsomest, so as to +feast my eyes on them at my leisure. + +On hay making days in the master's field, I strike up an acquaintance +with the frog. Flayed and stuck at the end of a split stick, he serves +as bait to tempt the crayfish to come out of his retreat by the brook +side. On the alder trees I catch the Hoplia, the splendid scarab who +pales the azure of the heavens. I pick the narcissus and learn to +gather, with the tip of my tongue, the tiny drop of honey that lies +right at the bottom of the cleft corolla. I also learn that too long +indulgence in this feast brings a headache; but this discomfort in no +way impairs my admiration for the glorious white flower, which wears a +narrow red collar at the throat of its funnel. + +When we go to beat the walnut trees, the barren grass plots provide me +with locusts spreading their wings, some into a blue fan, others into a +red. And thus the rustic school, even in the heart of winter, furnished +continuous food for my interest in things. There was no need for precept +and example: my passion for animals and plants made progress of itself. + +What did not make progress was my acquaintance with my letters, greatly +neglected in favor of the pigeon. I was still at the same stage, +hopelessly behindhand with the intractable alphabet, when my father, by +a chance inspiration, brought me home from the town what was destined to +give me a start along the road of reading. Despite the not insignificant +part which it played in my intellectual awakening, the purchase was +by no means a ruinous one. It was a large print, price six farthings, +colored and divided into compartments in which animals of all sorts +taught the A B C by means of the first letters of their names. + +Where should I keep the precious picture? As it happened, in the room +set apart for the children at home, there was a little window like the +one in the school, opening in the same way out of a sort of recess and +in the same way overlooking most of the village. One was on the right, +the other on the left of the castle with the pigeon house towers; both +afforded an equally good view of the heights of the slanting valley. +I was able to enjoy the school window only at rare intervals, when the +master left his little table; the other was at my disposal as often as I +liked. I spent long hours there, sitting on a little fixed window seat. + +The view was magnificent. I could see the ends of the earth, that is +to say, the hills that blocked the horizon, all but a misty gap through +which the brook with the crayfish flowed under the alders and willows. +High up on the skyline, a few wind-battered oaks bristled on the ridges; +and beyond there lay nothing but the unknown, laden with mystery. + +At the back of the hollow stood the church, with its three steeples and +its clock; and, a little higher, the village square, where a spring, +fashioned into a fountain, gurgled from one basin into another, under a +wide arched roof. I could hear from my window the chatter of the women +washing their clothes, the strokes of their beaters, the rasping of the +pots scoured with sand and vinegar. Sprinkled over the slopes are little +houses with their garden patches in terraces banked up by tottering +walls, which bulge under the thrust of the earth. Here and there are +very steep lanes, with the dents of the rock forming a natural pavement. +The mule, sure-footed though he be, would hesitate to enter these +dangerous passes with his load of branches. + +Further on, beyond the village, half-way up the hills, stood the great +ever-so-old lime tree, the Tel, as we used to call it, whose sides, +hollowed out by the ages, were the favorite hiding places of us children +at play. On fair days, its immense, spreading foliage cast a wide shadow +over the herds of oxen and sheep. Those solemn days, which only came +once a year, brought me a few ideas from without: I learnt that the +world did not end with my amphitheater of hills. I saw the inn keeper's +wine arrive on mule back and in goat skin bottles. I hung about the +market place and watched the opening of jars full of stewed pears, the +setting out of baskets of grapes, an almost unknown fruit, the object +of eager covetousness. I stood and gazed in admiration at the roulette +board on which, for a sou, according to the spot at which its needle +stopped on a circular row of nails, you won a pink poodle made of barley +sugar, or a round jar of aniseed sweets, or, much oftener, nothing at +all. On a piece of canvas on the ground, rolls of printed calico with +red flowers, were displayed to tempt the girls. Close by rose a pile of +beechwood clogs, tops and boxwood flutes. Here the shepherds chose their +instruments, trying them by blowing a note or two. How new it all was +to me! What a lot of things there were to see in this world! Alas, +that wonderful time was of but short duration! At night, after a little +brawling at the inn, it was all over; and the village returned to +silence for a year. + +But I must not linger over these memories of the dawn of life. We were +speaking of the memorable picture brought from town. Where shall I keep +it, to make the best use of it? Why, of course, it must be pasted on +the embrasure of my window. The recess, with its seat, shall be my study +cell; here I can feast my eyes by turns on the big lime tree and the +animals of my alphabet. And this was what I did. + +And now, my precious picture, it is our turn, yours and mine. You began +with the sacred beast, the ass, whose name, with a big initial, taught +me the letter A. The boeuf, the ox, stood for B; the canard, the duck, +told me about C; the dindon, the turkey, gave me the letter D. And so +on with the rest. A few compartments, it is true, were lacking in +clearness. I had no friendly feeling for the hippopotamus, the kamichi, +or horned screamer, and the zebu, who aimed at making me say H, K and +Z. Those outlandish beasts, which failed to give the abstract letter the +support of a recognized reality, caused me to hesitate for a time over +their recalcitrant consonants. No matter: father came to my aid in +difficult cases; and I made such rapid progress that, in a few days, +I was able to turn in good earnest the pages of my little pigeon book, +hitherto so undecipherable. I was initiated; I knew how to spell. My +parents marveled. I can explain this unexpected progress today. Those +speaking pictures, which brought me amongst my friends the beasts, were +in harmony with my instincts. If the animal has not fulfilled all that +it promised in so far as I am concerned, I have at least to thank it for +teaching me to read. I should have succeeded by other means, I do not +doubt, but not so quickly nor so pleasantly. Animals forever! + +Luck favored me a second time. As a reward for my prowess, I was +given La Fontaine's Fables, in a popular, cheap edition, crammed with +pictures, small, I admit, and very inaccurate, but still delightful. +Here were the crow, the fox, the wolf, the magpie, the frog, the rabbit, +the ass, the dog, the cat: all persons of my acquaintance. The glorious +book was immensely to my taste, with its skimpy illustrations on which +the animal walked and talked. As to understanding what it said, that +was another story! Never mind, my lad! Put together syllables that say +nothing to you as yet; they will speak to you later and La Fontaine will +always remain your friend. + +I come to the time when I was ten years old and at Rodez College. My +functions as a serving boy in the chapel entitled me to free instruction +as a day boarder. There were four of us in white surplices and red +skull-caps and cassocks. I was the youngest of the party and did little +more than walk on. I counted as a unit; and that was about all, for I +was never certain when to ring the bell or move the missal. I was all +of a tremble when we gathered two on this side and two on that, with +genuflection's, in the middle of the sanctuary, to intone the Domine, +salvum fac regern at the end of mass. Let me make a confession: +tongue-tied with shyness, I used to leave it to the others. + +Nevertheless, I was well thought of, for, in the school, I cut a good +figure in composition and translation. In that classical atmosphere, +there was talk of Procas, King of Alba, and of his two sons, Numitor and +Amulius. We heard of Cynoegirus, the strong jawed man, who, having +lost his two hands in battle, seized and held a Persian galley with +his teeth, and of Cadmus the Phoenician, who sowed a dragon's teeth as +though they were beans and gathered his harvest in the shape of a host +of armed men, who killed one another as they rose up from the ground. +The only one who survived the slaughter was one as tough as leather, +presumably the son of the big back grinder. + +Had they talked to me about the man in the moon, I could not have been +more startled. I made up for it with my animals, which I was far from +forgetting amid this phantasmagoria of heroes and demigods. While +honoring the exploits of Cadmus and Cynoegirus, I hardly ever failed, on +Sundays and Thursdays [the weekly half-holiday in French schools], to go +and see if the cowslip or the yellow daffodil was making its appearance +in the meadows, if the Linnet was hatching on the juniper bushes, if the +Cockchafers were plopping down from the wind shaken poplars. Thus was +the sacred spark kept aglow, ever brighter than before. + +By easy stages, I came to Virgil and was very much smitten with +Meliboeus, Corydon, Menalcas, Damoetas and the rest of them. The +scandals of the ancient shepherds fortunately passed unnoticed; and +within the frame in which the characters moved were exquisite details +concerning the bee, the cicada, the turtle dove, the crow, the nanny +goat and the golden broom. A veritable delight were these stories of +the fields, sung in sonorous verse; and the Latin poet left a lasting +impression on my classical recollections. + +Then, suddenly, goodbye to my studies, goodbye to Tityrus and Menalcas. +Ill luck is swooping down on us, relentlessly. Hunger threatens us +at home. And now, boy, put your trust in God; run about and earn your +penn'orth of potatoes as best you can. Life is about to become a hideous +inferno. Let us pass quickly over this phase. Amid this lamentable +chaos, my love for the insect ought to have gone under. Not at all. It +would have survived the raft of the Medusa. I still remember a certain +pine cockchafer met for the first time. The plumes on her antennae, her +pretty pattern of white spots on a dark brown ground were as a ray of +sunshine in the gloomy wretchedness of the day. + +To cut a long story short: good fortune, which never abandons the brave, +brought me to the primary normal school at Vaucluse where I was assured +food: dried chestnuts and chickpeas. The principal, a man of broad +views, soon came to trust his new assistant. He left me practically a +free hand, so long as I satisfied the school curriculum, which was very +modest in those days. Possessing a smattering of Latin and grammar, I +was a little ahead of my fellow pupils. I took advantage of this to +get some order into my vague knowledge of plants and animals. While a +dictation lesson was being corrected around me, with generous assistance +from the dictionary, I would examine, in the recesses of my desk, the +oleander's fruit, the snapdragon's seed vessel, the wasp's sting and the +ground beetle's wing-case. + +With this foretaste of natural science, picked up haphazard and by +stealth, I left school more deeply in love than ever with insects and +flowers. And yet I had to give it all up. That wider education, which +would have to be my source of livelihood in the future, demanded this +imperiously. What was I to take in hand to raise me above the primary +school, whose staff could barely earn their bread in those days? Natural +history could not bring me anywhere. The educational system of the time +kept it at a distance, as unworthy of association with Latin and Greek. +Mathematics remained, with its very simple equipment: a blackboard, a +bit of chalk and a few books. + +So I flung myself with might and main into conic sections and the +calculus: a hard battle, if ever there was one, without guides or +counselors, face to face for days on end with the abstruse problem which +my stubborn thinking at last stripped of its mysteries. Next came +the physical sciences, studied in the same manner, with an impossible +laboratory, the work of my own hands. + +The reader can imagine the fate of my favorite branch of science in +this fierce struggle. At the faintest sign of revolt, I lectured myself +severely, lest I should let myself be seduced by some new grass, some +unknown Beetle. I did violence to my feelings. My natural history books +were sentenced to oblivion, relegated to the bottom of a trunk. + +And so, in the end, I am sent to teach physics and chemistry at Ajaccio +College. This time, the temptation is too much for me. The sea, with its +wonders, the beach, whereon the tide casts such beautiful shells, +the maquis of myrtles, arbutus and mastic trees: all this paradise of +gorgeous nature has too much on its side in the struggle with the sine +and the cosine. I succumb. My leisure time is divided into two parts. +One, the larger, is allotted to mathematics, the foundation of my +academical future, as planned by myself; the other is spent, with much +misgiving, in botanizing and looking for the treasures of the sea. What +a country and what magnificent studies to be made, if, unobsessed by x +and y, I had devoted myself wholeheartedly to my inclinations! + +We are the wisp of straw, the plaything of the winds. We think that we +are making for a goal deliberately chosen; destiny drives us towards +another. Mathematics, the exaggerated preoccupation of my youth, did +me hardly any service; and animals, which I avoided as much as ever I +could, are the consolation of my old age. Nevertheless, I bear no +grudge against the sine and the cosine, which I continue to hold in high +esteem. They cost me many a pallid hour at one time, but they always +afforded me some first rate entertainment: they still do so, when my +head lies tossing sleeplessly on its pillow. + +Meanwhile, Ajaccio received the visit of a famous Avignon botanist, +Requien by name, who, with a box crammed with paper under his arm, had +long been botanizing all over Corsica, pressing and drying specimens +and distributing them to his friends. We soon became acquainted. I +accompanied him in my free time on his explorations and never did the +master have a more attentive disciple. To tell the truth, Requien was +not a man of learning so much as an enthusiastic collector. Very few +would have felt capable of competing with him when it came to giving the +name or the geographical distribution of a plant. A blade of grass, a +pad of moss, a scab of lichen, a thread of seaweed: he knew them all. +The scientific name flashed across his mind at once. What an unerring +memory, what a genius for classification amid the enormous mass of +things observed! I stood aghast at it. I owe much to Requien in the +domain of botany. Had death spared him longer, I should doubtless +have owed more to him, for his was a generous heart, ever open to the +troubles of novices. + +In the following year, I met Moquin-Tandon, with whom, thanks +to Requien, I had already exchanged a few letters on botany. The +illustrious Toulouse professor came to study on the spot the flora which +he proposed to describe systematically. When he arrived, all the hotel +bedrooms were reserved for the members of the general council which had +been summoned; and I offered him board and lodging: a shakedown in a +room overlooking the sea; fare consisting of lampreys, turbot and sea +urchins: common enough dishes in that land of Cockayne, but possessing +no small attraction for the naturalist, because of their novelty. My +cordial proposal tempted him; he yielded to my blandishments; and there +we were for a fortnight chatting at table de omni re scibili after the +botanical excursion was over. + +With Moquin-Tandon, new vistas opened before me. Here it was no longer +the case of a nomenclator with an infallible memory: he was a naturalist +with far-reaching ideas, a philosopher who soared above petty details to +comprehensive views of life, a writer, a poet who knew how to clothe the +naked truth in the magic mantle of the glowing word. Never again shall +I sit at an intellectual feast like that: 'Leave your mathematics,' he +said. 'No one will take the least interest in your formula. Get to the +beast, the plant; and, if, as I believe, the fever burns in your veins, +you will find men to listen to you.' + +We made an expedition to the center of the island, to Monte Renoso, +with which I was already familiar. I made the scientist pick the hoary +everlasting (Helichrysum frigidum), which makes a wonderful patch of +silver; the many-headed thrift, or mouflon grass (Armeria multiceps), +which the Corsicans call erba muorone; the downy marguerite +(Leucanthemum tomosum), which, clad in wadding, shivers amid the +snows; and many other rarities dear to the botanist. Moquin-Tandon was +jubilant. I, on my side, was much more attracted and overcome by his +words and his enthusiasm than by the hoary everlasting. When we came +down from the cold mountaintop, my mind was made up: mathematics would +be abandoned. + +On the day before his departure, he said to me: 'You interest yourself +in shells. That is something, but it is not enough. You must look into +the animal itself. I will show you how it's done.' + +And, taking a sharp pair of scissors from the family work-basket and +a couple of needles stuck into a bit of vine shoot which served as a +makeshift handle, he showed me the anatomy of a snail in a soup plate +filled with water. Gradually he explained and sketched the organs which +he spread before my eyes. This was the only, never-to-be-forgotten +lesson in natural history that I ever received in my life. + +It is time to conclude. I was cross-examining myself, being unable to +cross-examine the silent Beetle. As far as it is possible to read within +myself, I answer as follows: 'From early childhood, from the moment +of my first mental awakening, I have felt drawn towards the things of +nature, or, to return to our catchword, I have the gift, the bump of +observation.' + +After the details which I have already given about my ancestors, it +would be ridiculous to look to heredity for an explanation of the fact. +Nor would any one venture to suggest the words or example of my masters. +Of scientific education, the fruit of college training, I had none +whatever. I never set foot in a lecture hall except to undergo the +ordeal of examinations. Without masters, without guides, often without +books, in spite of poverty, that terrible extinguisher, I went ahead, +persisted, facing my difficulties, until the indomitable bump ended by +shedding its scanty contents. Yes, they were very scanty, yet possibly +of some value, if circumstances had come to their assistance. I was a +born animalist. Why and how? No reply. + +We thus have, all of us, in different directions and in a greater +or lesser degree, characteristics that brand us with a special mark, +characteristics of an unfathomable origin. They exist because they +exist; and that is all that any one can say. The gift is not handed +down: the man of talent has a fool for a son. Nor is it acquired; but it +is improved by practice. He who has not the germ of it in his veins will +never possess it, in spite of all the pains of a hothouse education. + +That to which we give the name of instinct when speaking of animals is +something similar to genius. It is, in both cases, a peak that rises +above the ordinary level. But instinct is handed down, unchanged and +undiminished, throughout the sequence of a species; it is permanent +and general and in this it differs greatly from genius, which is not +transmissible and changes in different cases. Instinct is the inviolable +heritage of the family and falls to one and all, without distinction. +Here the difference ends. Independent of similarity of structure, it +breaks out like genius, here or elsewhere, for no perceptible reason. +Nothing causes it to be foreseen, nothing in the organization explains +it. If cross-examined on this point, the Dung beetles and the rest, each +with his own peculiar talent, would answer, were we able to understand +them: 'Instinct is the animal's genius.' + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE POND + +The pond, the delight of my early childhood, is still a sight whereof my +old eyes never tire. What animation in that verdant world! On the warm +mud of the edges, the frog's little tadpole basks and frisks in its +black legions; down in the water, the orange-bellied newt steers his +way slowly with the broad rudder of his flat tail; among the reeds are +stationed the flotillas of the caddis worms, half protruding from their +tubes, which are now a tiny bit of stick and again a turret of little +shells. + +In the deep places, the water beetle dives, carrying with him his +reserves of breath: an air bubble at the tip of the wing cases and, +under the chest, a film of gas that gleams like a silver breastplate; +on the surface, the ballet of those shimmering pearls, the whirligigs, +turns and twists about; hard by there skims the unsubmersible troop of +the pond skaters, who glide along with side strokes similar to those +which the cobbler makes when sewing. + +Here are the water boatmen, who swim on their backs with two oars spread +cross-wise, and the flat water scorpions; here, squalidly clad in mud, +is the grub of the largest of our dragonflies, so curious because of its +manner of progression: it fills its hinder parts, a yawning funnel, with +water, spurts it out again and advances just so far as the recoil of its +hydraulic cannon. + +The mollusks abound, a peaceful tribe. At the bottom, the plump river +snails discreetly raise their lid, opening ever so little the shutters +of their dwelling; on the level of the water, in the glades of the +aquatic garden, the pond snails--Physa, Limnaea and Planorbis--take +the air. Dark leeches writhe upon their prey, a chunk of earthworm; +thousands of tiny, reddish grubs, future mosquitoes, go spinning around +and twist and curve like so many graceful dolphins. + +Yes, a stagnant pool, though but a few feet wide, hatched by the sun, is +an immense world, an inexhaustible mine of observation to the studious +man and a marvel to the child who, tired of his paper boat, diverts his +eyes and thoughts a little with what is happening in the water. Let me +tell what I remember of my first pond, at a time when ideas began to +dawn in my seven-year-old brain. + +How shall a man earn his living in my poor native village, with its +inclement weather and its niggardly soil? The owner of a few acres of +grazing land rears sheep. In the best parts, he scrapes the soil with +the swing plow; he flattens it into terraces banked by walls of broken +stones. Pannierfuls of dung are carried up on donkey-back from the +cowshed. Then, in due season, comes the excellent potato, which, boiled +and served hot in a basket of plaited straw, is the chief stand-by in +winter. + +Should the crop exceed the needs of the household, the surplus goes to +feed a pig, that precious beast, a treasure of bacon and ham. The ewes +supply butter and curds; the garden boasts cabbages, turnips and even a +few hives in a sheltered corner. With wealth like that one can look fate +in the face. + +But we, we have nothing, nothing but the little house inherited by my +mother and its adjoining patch of garden. The meager resources of the +family are coming to an end. It is time to see to it and that quickly. +What is to be done? That is the stern question which father and mother +sat debating one evening. + +Hop-o'-my-Thumb, hiding under the woodcutter's stool, listened to his +parents overcome by want. I also, pretending to sleep, with my elbows on +the table, listen not to blood curdling designs, but to grand plans that +set my heart rejoicing. This is how the matter stands: at the bottom of +the village, near the church, at the spot where the water of the large +roofed spring escapes from its underground weir and joins the brook in +the valley, an enterprising man, back from the war, has set up a small +tallow factory. He sells the scrapings of his pans, the burnt fat, +reeking of candle grease, at a low price. He proclaims these wares to be +excellent for fattening ducks. + +"Suppose we bred some ducks," says mother. "They sell very well in town. +Henri would mind them and take them down to the brook." + +"Very well," says father, "let's breed some ducks. There may be +difficulties in the way; but we'll have a try." + +That night, I had dreams of paradise: I was with my ducklings, clad in +their yellow suits; I took them to the pond, I watched them have their +bath, I brought them back again, carrying the more tired ones in a +basket. + +A month or two after, the little birds of my dreams were a reality. +There were twenty-four of them. They had been hatched by two hens, of +whom one, the big, black one, was an inmate of the house, while the +other was borrowed from a neighbor. + +To bring them up, the former is sufficient, so careful is she of her +adopted family. At first, everything goes perfectly: a tub with two +fingers' depth of water serves as a pond. On sunny days, the ducklings +bathe in it under the anxious eye of the hen. + +A fortnight later, the tub is no longer enough. It contains neither +cresses crammed with tiny shellfish nor worms and tadpoles, dainty +morsels both. The time has come for dives and hunts amid the tangle of +the water weeds; and for us the day of trouble has also come. True, the +miller, down by the brook, has fine ducks, easy and cheap to bring up; +the tallow smelter, who has extolled his burnt fat so loudly, has some +as well, for he has the advantage of the waste water from the spring at +the bottom of the village; but how are we, right up there, at the top, +to procure aquatic sports for our broods? In summer, we have hardly +water to drink! + +Near the house, in a freestone recess, a scanty source trickles into a +basin made in the rock.. Four or five families have, like ourselves, +to draw their water there with copper pails. By the time that the +schoolmaster's donkey has slaked her thirst and the neighbors have +taken their provision for the day, the basin is dry. We have to wait for +four-and-twenty hours for it to fill. No, this is not the hole in which +the ducks would delight nor indeed in which they would be tolerated. + +There remains the brook. To go down to it with the troop of ducklings is +fraught with danger. On the way through the village, we might meet cats, +bold ravishers of small poultry; some surly mongrel might frighten and +scatter the little band; and it would be a hard puzzle to collect it in +its entirety. We must avoid the traffic and take refuge in peaceful and +sequestered spots. + +On the hills, the path that climbs behind the chateau soon takes a +sudden turn and widens into a small plain beside the meadows. It skirts +a rocky slope whence trickles, level with the ground, a streamlet, +forming a pond of some size. Here profound solitude reigns all day long. +The ducklings will be well off; and the journey can be made in peace by +a deserted footpath. + +You, little man, shall take them to that delectable spot. What a day +it was that marked my first appearance as a herdsman of ducks! Why +must there be a jar to the even tenor of such joys? The too frequent +encounter of my tender skin with the hard ground had given me a large +and painful blister on the heel. Had I wanted to put on the shoes stowed +away in the cupboard for Sundays and holidays, I could not. There was +nothing for it but to go barefoot over the broken stones, dragging my +leg and carrying high the injured heel. + +Let us make a start, hobbling along, switch in hand, behind the ducks. +They too, poor little things, have sensitive soles to their feet; they +limp, they quack with fatigue. They would refuse to go any farther if I +did not, from time to time, call a halt under the shelter of an ash. + +We are there at last. The place could not be better for my birdlets; +shallow, tepid water, interspersed with muddy knolls and green eyots. +The diversions of the bath begin forthwith. The ducklings clap their +beaks and rummage here, there and everywhere; they sift each mouthful, +rejecting the clear water and retaining the good bits. In the deeper +parts, they point their sterns into the air and stick their heads under +water. They are happy; and it is a blessed thing to see them at work. We +will let them be. It is my turn to enjoy the pond. + +What is this? On the mud lie some loose, knotted, soot-colored cords. +One could take them for threads of wool like those which you pull out of +an old ravelly stocking. Can some shepherdess, knitting a black sock and +finding her work turn out badly, have begun all over again and, in her +impatience, have thrown down the wool with all the dropped stitches? It +really looks like it. + +I take up one of those cords in my hand. It is sticky and extremely +slack; the thing slips through the fingers before they can catch hold of +it. A few of the knots burst and shed their contents. What comes out is +a black globule, the size of a pin's head, followed by a flat tail. I +recognize, on a very small scale, a familiar object: the tadpole, the +frog's baby. I have seen enough. Let us leave the knotted cords alone. + +The next creatures please me better. They spin round on the surface of +the water and their black backs gleam in the sun. If I lift a hand to +seize them, that moment they disappear, I know not where. It's a pity: I +should have much liked to see them closer and to make them wriggle in a +little bowl which I should have put ready for them. + +Let us look at the bottom of the water, pulling aside those bunches of +green string whence beads of air are rising and gathering into foam. +There is something of everything underneath. I see pretty shells with +compact whorls, flat as beans; I notice little worms carrying tufts and +feathers; I make out some with flabby fins constantly flapping on their +backs. What are they all doing there? What are their names? I do not +know. And I stare at them for ever so long, held by the incomprehensible +mystery of the waters. + +At the place where the pond dribbles into the adjoining field are some +alder trees; and here I make a glorious find. It is a scarab--not a +very large one, oh no! He is smaller than a cherry-stone, but of an +unutterable blue. The angels in paradise must wear dresses of that +color. I put the glorious one inside an empty snail-shell, which I plug +up with a leaf. I shall admire that living jewel at my leisure, when I +get back. Other distractions summon me away. + +The spring that feeds the pond trickles from the rock, cold and clear. +The water first collects into a cup, the size of the hollow of one's two +hands, and then runs over in a stream. These falls call for a mill: that +goes without saying. Two bits of straw, artistically crossed upon +an axis, provide the machinery; some flat stones set on edge afford +supports. It is a great success: the mill turns admirably. My triumph +would be complete, could I but share it. For want of other playmates, I +invite the ducks. + +Everything palls in this poor world of ours, even a mill made of two +straws. Let us think of something else: let us contrive a dam to hold +back the waters and form a pool. There is no lack of stones for the +brickwork. I pick the most suitable; I break the larger ones. And, while +collecting these blocks, suddenly I forget all about the dam which I +meant to build. + +On one of the broken stones, in a cavity large enough for me to put my +fist in, something gleams like glass. The hollow is lined with facets +gathered in sixes which flash and glitter in the sun. I have seen +something like this in church, on the great saints' days, when the light +of the candles in the big chandelier kindles the stars in its hanging +crystal. + +We children, lying, in summer, on the straw of the threshing floor, +have told one another stories of the treasures which a dragon guards +underground. Those treasures now return to my mind: the names of +precious stones ring out uncertainly but gloriously in my memory. I +think of the king's crown, of the princesses' necklaces. In breaking +stones, can I have found, but on a much richer scale, the thing that +shines quite small in my mother's ring? I want more such. + +The dragon of the subterranean treasures treats me generously. He gives +me his diamonds in such quantities that soon I possess a heap of broken +stones sparkling with magnificent clusters. He does more: he gives me +his gold. The trickle of water from the rock falls on a bed of fine sand +which it swirls into bubbles. If I bent over towards the light, I see +something like gold filings whirling where the fall touches the bottom. +Is it really the famous metal of which twenty-franc pieces, so rare with +us at home, are made? One would think so, from the glitter. + +I take a pinch of sand and place it in my palm. The brilliant particles +are numerous, but so small that I have to pick them up with a straw +moistened in my mouth. Let us drop this: they are too tiny and too +bothersome to collect. The big, valuable lumps must be farther on, +in the thickness of the rock. We'll come back later; we'll blast the +mountain. + +I break more stones. Oh, what a queer thing has just come loose, all in +one piece! It is turned spiral-wise, like certain flat snails that come +out of the cracks of old walls in rainy weather. With its gnarled sides, +it looks like a little ram's horn. Shell or horn, it is very curious. +How do things like that find their way into the stone? + +Treasures and curiosities make my pockets bulge with pebbles. It is +late and the little ducklings have had all they want to eat. Come +along, youngsters, let's go home. My blistered heel is forgotten in +my excitement. The walk back is a delight. A voice sings in my ear, +an untranslatable voice, softer than any language and bewildering as a +dream. It speaks to me for the first time of the mysteries of the pond; +it glorifies the heavenly insect which I hear moving in the empty snail +shell, its temporary cage; it whispers the secrets of the rock, the gold +filings, the faceted jewels, the ram's horn turned to stone. + +Poor simpleton, smother your joy! I arrive. My parents catch sight of +my bulging pockets, with their disgraceful load of stones. The cloth has +given way under the rough and heavy burden. + +"You rascal!" says father, at sight of the damage. "I send you to mind +the ducks and you amuse yourself picking up stones, as though there +weren't enough of them all round the house! Make haste and throw them +away!" + +Broken hearted, I obey. Diamonds, gold dust, petrified ram's horn, +heavenly beetle are all flung on a rubbish heap outside the door. + +Mother bewails her lot: "A nice thing, bringing up children to see them +turn out so badly! You'll bring me to my grave. Green stuff I don't +mind: it does for the rabbits. But stones, which ruin your pockets; +poisonous animals, which'll sting your hand: what good are they to you, +silly? There's no doubt about it: some one has thrown a spell over you!" + +Yes, my poor mother, you were right, in your simplicity: a spell had +been cast upon me; I admit it today. When it is hard enough to earn +one's bit of bread, does not improving one's mind but render one more +meet for suffering? Of what avail is the torment of learning to the +derelicts of life? + +A deal better off am I, at this late hour, dogged by poverty and knowing +that the diamonds of the duck pool were rock crystal, the gold dust +mica, the stone horn an Ammonite and the sky-blue beetle a Hoplia! We +poor men would do better to mistrust the joys of knowledge: let us dig +our furrow in the fields of the commonplace, flee the temptations of the +pond, mind our ducks and leave to others, more favored by fortune, the +job of explaining the world's mechanism, if the spirit moves them. + +And yet no! Alone among living creatures, man has the thirst for +knowledge; he alone pries into the mysteries of things. The least among +us will utter his whys and his wherefores, a fine pain unknown to +the brute beast. If these questionings come from us with greater +persistence, with a more imperious authority, if they divert us from +the quest of lucre, life's only object in the eyes of most men, does it +become us to complain? Let us be careful not to do so, for that would be +denying the best of all our gifts. + +Let us strive, on the contrary, within the measure of our capacity, +to force a gleam of light from the vast unknown; let us examine and +question and, here and there, wrest a few shreds of truth. We shall sink +under the task; in the present ill ordered state of society, we shall +end, perhaps, in the workhouse. Let us go ahead for all that: our +consolation shall be that we have increased by one atom the general mass +of knowledge, the incomparable treasure of mankind. + +As this modest lot has fallen to me, I will return to the pond, +notwithstanding the wise admonitions and the bitter tears which I once +owed to it. I will return to the pond, but not to that of the small +ducks, the pond aflower with illusions: those ponds do not occur twice +in a lifetime. For luck like that, you must be in all the new glory of +your first breeches and your first ideas. + +Many another have I come upon since that distant time, ponds very much +richer and, moreover, explored with the ripened eye of experience. +Enthusiastically I searched them with the net, stirred up their mud, +ransacked their trailing weeds. None in my memories comes up to the +first, magnified in its delights and mortifications by the marvelous +perspective of the years. + +Nor would any of them suit my plans of today. Their world is too vast. I +should lose myself in their immensities, where life swarms freely in the +sun. Like the ocean, they are infinite in their fruitfulness. And then +any assiduous watching, undisturbed by passers by, is an impossibility +on the public way. What I want is a pond on an extremely reduced +scale, sparingly stocked in my own fashion an artificial pond standing +permanently on my study table. + +A louis has been overlooked in a corner of the drawer. I can spend it +without seriously jeopardizing the domestic balance. Let me make this +gift to science, who, I fear, will be none too much obliged to me. A +gorgeous equipment may be all very well for laboratories wherein the +cells and fibers of the dead are consulted at great expense; but such +magnificence is of doubtful utility when we have to study the actions +of the living. It is the humble makeshift, of no value, that stumbles on +the secrets of life. + +What did the best results of my studies of instinct cost me? Nothing +but time and, above all, patience. My extravagant expenditure of +twenty francs, therefore, will be a risky speculation if devoted to the +purchase of an apparatus of study. It will bring me in nothing in the +way of fresh views, of that I am convinced. However, let us try. + +The blacksmith makes me the framework of a cage out of a few iron rods. +The joiner, who is also a glazier on occasion--for, in my village, you +have to be a Jack-of-all-trades if you would make both ends meet--sets +the framework on a wooden base and supplies it with a movable board as +a lid; he fixes thick panes of glass in the four sides. Behold the +apparatus, complete, with a bottom of tarred sheet iron and a trap to +let the water out. + +The makers express themselves satisfied with their work, a singular +novelty in their respective shops, where many an inquisitive caller has +wondered what use I intend to make of my little glass trough. The thing +creates a certain stir. Some insist that it is meant to hold my supplies +of oil and to take the place of the receptacle in general use in +our parts, the urn dug out of a block of stone. What would those +utilitarians have thought of my crazy mind, had they known that my +costly gear would merely serve to let me watch some wretched animals +kicking about in the water! + +Smith and glazier are content with their work. I myself am pleased. For +all its rustic air, the apparatus does not lack elegance. It looks very +well, standing on a little table in front of a window visited by the +sun for the greater part of the day. Its holding capacity is some ten +or eleven gallons. What shall we call it? An aquarium? No, that would be +too pretentious and would, very unjustly, suggest the aquatic toy filled +with rock work, waterfalls and goldfish beloved of the dwellers in +suburbia. Let us preserve the gravity of serious things and not treat my +learned trough as though it were a drawing room futility. We will call +it the glass pond. + +I furnish it with a heap of those limy incrustations wherewith certain +springs in the neighborhood cover the dead clump of rushes. It is light, +full of holes and gives a faint suggestion of a coral reef. Moreover, +it is covered with a short, green, velvety moss, a downy sward of +infinitesimal pond weed. I count on this modest vegetation to keep the +water in a reasonably wholesome state, without driving me to frequent +renewals which would disturb the work of my colonies. Sanitation and +quiet are the first conditions of success. Now the stocked pond will +not be long in filling itself with gases unfit to breathe, with putrid +effluvia and other animal refuse; it will become a sink in which life +will have killed life. Those dregs must disappear as soon as they are +formed, must be burnt and purified; and from their oxidized ruins there +must even rise a perfect life-giving gas, so that the water may retain +an unchangeable store of the breathable element. The plant effects this +purification in its sewage farm of green cells. + +When the sun beats upon the glass pond, the work of the water weeds is +a sight to behold. The green-carpeted reef is lit up with an infinity +of scintillating points and assumes the appearance of a fairy lawn +of velvet, studded with thousands of diamond pin's heads. From this +exquisite jewelry pearls break loose continuously and are at once +replaced by others in the generating casket; slowly they rise, like tiny +globes of light. They spread on every side. It is a constant display of +fireworks in the depths of the water. + +Chemistry tells us that, thanks to its green matter and the stimulus of +the sun's rays, the weeds decompose the carbonic acid gas wherewith +the water is impregnated by the breathing of its inhabitants and the +corruption of the organic refuse; it retains the carbon, which is +wrought into fresh tissues; it exhales the oxygen in tiny bubbles. These +partly dissolve in the water and partly reach the surface, where their +froth supplies the atmosphere with an excess of breathable gas. The +dissolved portion keeps the colonists of the pond alive and causes the +unhealthy products to be oxidized and disappear. + +Old hand though I be, I take an interest in this trite marvel of a +bundle of weeds perpetuating hygienic principles in a stagnant pool; +I look with a delighted eye upon the inexhaustible spray of spreading +bubbles; I see in imagination the prehistoric times when seaweed, the +first-born of plants, produced the first atmosphere for living things +to breathe at the time when the silt of the continents was beginning to +emerge. What I see before my eyes, between the glass panes of my trough, +tells me the story of the planet surrounding itself with pure air. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE CADDIS WORM + +Whom shall I lodge in my glass trough, kept permanently wholesome by +the action of the water weeds? I shall keep caddis worms, those expert +dressers. Few of the self-clothing insects surpass them in ingenious +attire. The ponds in my neighborhood supply me with five or six species, +each possessing an art of its own. Today, but one of these shall receive +historical honors. + +I obtain it from the muddy bottomed, stagnant pools crammed with small +reeds. As far as one can judge from the habitation merely, it should be, +according to the specialists, Limnophilus flavicornis, whose work has +earned for the whole corporation the pretty name of Phryganea, a Greek +term meaning a bit of wood, a stick. In a no less expressive fashion, +the Provencal peasant calls it lou portofais, lou porto-caneu. This is +the little grub that carries through the still waters a faggot of tiny +fragments fallen from the reeds. + +Its sheath, a travelling house, is a composite and barbaric piece of +work, a megalithic pile wherein art, retires in favor of amorphous +strength. The materials are many and sundry, so much so that we might +imagine that we had the work of dissimilar builders before our eyes, if +frequent transitions did not tell us the contrary. + +With the young ones, the novices, it starts with a sort of deep basket +in rustic wicker-work. The twigs employed present nearly always the same +characteristics and are none other than bits of small, stiff roots, long +steeped and peeled under water. The grub that has made a find of these +fibers saws them with its mandibles and cuts them into little straight +sticks, which it fixes one by one to the edge of its basket, always +crosswise, perpendicular to the axis of the work. + +Picture a circle surrounded by a bristling mass of tangents, or rather a +polygon with its sides extended in all directions. On this assemblage +of straight lines we place repeated layers of others, without troubling +about similarity of position, thus obtaining a sort of ragged fascine, +whose sticks project on every side. Such is the bastion of the child +grub, an excellent system of defense, with its continuous pile of +spikes, but difficult to steer through the tangle of aquatic plants. + +Sooner or later, the worm forsakes this kind of caltrop which catches on +to everything. It was a basket maker, it now turns carpenter; it builds +with little beams and joists--that is to say, with round bits of +wood, browned by the water, often as wide as a thick straw and a +finger's-breadth long, more or less--taking them as chance supplies +them. + +For the rest, there is something of everything in this rag bag: bits of +stubble, fag ends of rushes, scraps of plants, fragments of some tiny +twig or other, chips of wood, shreds of bark, largish grains, especially +the seeds of the yellow iris, which were red when they fell from their +capsules and are now black as jet. + +The heterogeneous collection is piled up anyhow. Some pieces are fixed +lengthwise, others across, others aslant. There are angles in this +direction and angles in the other, resulting in sharp little turns and +twists; the big is mixed with the little, the correct rubs +shoulders with the shapeless. It is not an edifice, it is a frenzied +conglomeration. Sometimes, a fine disorder is an effect of art. This +is not so here: the work of the Caddis worm is not a masterpiece worth +signing. + +And this mad heaping up follows straight upon the regular basket work +of the start. The young grub's fascine did not lack a certain elegance, +with its dainty laths, all stacked crosswise, methodically; and, lo +and behold, the builder, grown larger, more experienced and, one would +think, more skilful, abandons the orderly plan to adopt another which +is wild and incoherent! There is no transition stage between the two +systems. The extravagant pile rises abruptly from the original basket. +But that we often find the two kinds of work placed one above the other, +we would not dare ascribe to them a common origin. The fact of their +being joined together is the only thing that makes them one, in spite of +the incongruity. + +But the two storeys do not last indefinitely. When the worm has grown +slightly and is housed to its satisfaction in a heap of joists, it +abandons the basket of its childhood, which has become too narrow and is +now a troublesome burden. It cuts through its sheath, lops off and lets +go the stern, the original work. When moving to a higher and roomier +flat, it understands how to lighten its portable house by breaking off +a part of it. All that remains is the upper floor, which is enlarged +at the aperture, as and when required, by the same architecture of +disordered beams. + +Side by side with these cases, which are mere ugly faggots, we find +others just as often of exquisite beauty and composed entirely of tiny +shells. Do they come from the same workshop? It takes very convincing +proofs to make us believe this. Here is order with its charm, there +disorder with its hideousness; on the one hand a dainty mosaic of +shells, on the other a clumsy heap of sticks. And yet it is all produced +by the same laborer. + +Proofs abound. On some case which offends the eye with the want of +arrangement in its bits of wood, patches are apt to appear which are +quite regular and made of shells; in the same way, it is not unusual to +see a horrid tangle of joists braced to a masterpiece of shell work. +One feels a certain annoyance at seeing the pretty sheath so barbarously +spoilt. + +This mixed construction tells us that the rustic stacker of wooden beams +excels, when occasion offers, in making elegant shell pavements and that +it practices rough carpentry and delicate mosaic work indifferently. +In the latter instance, the scabbard is made, above all, of Planorbes, +selected among the smaller of these pond snails and laid flat. Without +being scrupulously regular, the work, at its best, does not lack merit. +The pretty, close-whorled spirals, placed one against the other on the +same level, have a very pleasing general effect. No pilgrim returning +from Santiago de Compostella ever slung handsomer tippet from his +shoulders. + +But only too often the caddis worm dashes ahead, regardless of +proportion. The big is joined to the small, the exaggerated suddenly +stands out, to the great detriment of order. Side by side with tiny +Planorbes, each at most the size of a lentil, others are fixed as large +as one's fingernail; and these cannot possibly be fitted in correctly. +They overlap the regular parts and spoil their finish. + +To crown the disorder, the caddis worm adds to the flat spirals any dead +shell that comes handy, without distinction of species, provided it be +not excessively large. I notice, in its collection of bric-a-brac, the +Physa, the Paludina, the Limnaea, the Amber snail [all pond snails] and +even the Pisidium [a bivalve], that little twin-valved casket. + +Land shells, swept into the ditches by the rains after the inmate's +death, are accepted quite as readily. In the work made of the Mollusk's +cast-off clothing, I find encrusted the spindle shell of the Clausilium, +the key shell of the pupa, the spiral of the smaller Helix, the yawning +volute of the Vitrina, or glass snail, the turret shell of the Bulimus +[all land snails], denizens all of the fields. In short, the caddis worm +builds with more or less everything that comes from the plant or +the dead mollusk. Among the diversified refuse of the pond, the only +materials rejected are those of a gravelly nature. Stone and pebble are +excluded from the building with a care that is very rarely absent. This +is a question of hydrostatics to which we will return presently. For the +moment, let us try to follow the construction of the scabbard. + +In a tumbler small enough to allow of easy and precise observation, I +install three or four caddis worms, extracted this moment from their +sheaths with every possible precaution. After a number of attempts which +have at last shown me the right road, I place at their disposal two +kinds of materials, possessing opposite qualities; the supple and the +firm, the soft and the hard. On the one hand, we have a live aquatic +plant, such as watercress, for instance, or ombrelle d'eau, having +at its base a tufty bunch of fine white roots about as thick as a +horsehair. In these soft tresses, the caddis worm, which observes a +vegetarian diet, will find at one and the same time the wherewithal to +build and eat. On the other hand, we have a little faggot of bits of +wood, very dry, equal in length and each possessing the thickness of +a good sized pin. The two sorts of building material lie side by side, +mingling their threads and sticks. The animal can make its choice from +the lump. + +A few hours later, having recovered from the shock of losing its sheath, +the caddis worm sets to work to manufacture a new one. It settles across +a bunch of tangled rootlets, which are brought together by the builder's +legs and more or less arranged by the undulating movement of the hinder +part. This gives a kind of incoherent and ill defined suspended belt, a +narrow hammock with a number of loose catches; for the various bits of +which it is made up are respected by the teeth and extended from place +to place beyond the main cords of the roots. Here, without much trouble, +is the support, suitably fixed by natural moorings. A few threads of +silk, casually distributed, make the frail combination a trifle more +secure. + +And now to the work of building. Supported by the suspended belt, the +caddis worm stretches itself and thrusts out its middle legs, which, +being longer than the others, are the grapnels intended to seize things +at a distance. It meets a bit of root, fastens on to it, climbs above +the point gripped, as though it were measuring the piece to a requisite +length, and then, with the fine scissors of its mandibles, cuts the +string. + +There is at once a brief recoil, which brings the animal back to the +level of the hammock. The bit detached lies across the worm's chest, +held in its forelegs, which turn it, twist it, wave it about, lay it +down, lift it up, as though trying for the best position. Those forelegs +make admirably dexterous arms. Being less long than the other two +pairs, they are brought into immediate contact with those primordial +implements, the mandibles and the spinneret. Their delicate terminal +jointing, with a movable and crooked finger, is the caddis worm's +equivalent of our hand. They are the working legs. The second pair, +which are exceptionally long, serve to spear distant materials and to +give the worker a firm footing when measuring a piece and cutting it +with the pliers. Lastly, the hind legs, of medium length, afford a +support when the others are busy. + +The caddis worm, I was saying, with the piece which it has removed +held crosswise to its chest, retreats a little way along its suspended +hammock until the spinneret is level with the support furnished by the +close tangle of rootlets. With a quick movement, it shifts its burden, +gets it as nearly by the middle as it can, so that the two ends stick +out equally on either side, and chooses the spot to place it, whereupon +the spinneret sets to work at once, while the little fore legs hold the +scrap of root motionless in its transversal position. The soldering +is effected with a touch of silk in the middle of the bit and along a +certain distance to the right and left, as far as the bending of the +head permits. + +Without delay, other sticks are speared in like manner at a distance, +cut off and placed in position. As the immediate neighborhood is +stripped, the material is gathered at a yet greater distance and the +caddis worm bends even farther from its support, which now holds only +its last few segments. It is a curious gymnastic display, that of this +soft, hanging spine turning and swaying, while the grapnels feel in +every direction for a thread. + +All this labor results in a sort of casing of little white cords. +The work lacks firmness and regularity. Nevertheless, judging by the +builder's methods, I can see that the building would not be devoid +of merit if the materials gave it a better chance. The caddis worm +estimates the size of its pieces very fairly; it cuts them all to nearly +the same length; it always arranges them crosswise on the margin of the +case; it fixes them by the middle. + +Nor is this all: the manner of working helps the general arrangement +considerably. When the bricklayer is building the narrow shaft of a +factory chimney, he stands in the center of his turret and turns round +and round while gradually laying new rows. The caddis worm acts in the +same way. It twists round in its sheath; it adopts without inconvenience +whatever position it pleases, so as to bring its spinneret full face +with the point to be gummed. There is no straining of the neck to left +or right, no throwing back of the head to reach points behind. +The animal has constantly before it, within the exact range of its +implements, the place at which the bit is to be fixed. When the piece +is soldered, the worm turns a little aside, to a length equal to that of +the last soldering, and here, along an extent which hardly ever varies, +an extent determined by the swing which its head is able to give, it +fixes the next piece. + +These several conditions ought to result in a geometrically ordered +dwelling, having a regular polygon as an opening. Then how comes it that +the cylinder of bits of root is so confused, so clumsily fashioned? The +reason is this: the worker possesses talent, but the materials do not +lend themselves to accurate work. The rootlets supply stumps of very +uneven shape and thickness. They include big and small ones, straight +and bent, simple and ramified. To combine all these dissimilar pieces +into an orderly whole is hardly possible, all the more so as the caddis +worm does not appear to attach very much importance to its cylinder, +which is a temporary work, hurriedly constructed to afford a speedy +shelter. Matters are urgent; and very soft fibers, clipped with a bite +of the mandibles, are more quickly gathered and more easily put together +than joists, which require the patient work of the saw. The inaccurate +cylinder, in short, held in position by numerous guy ropes, is a base +upon which a solid and definite structure will rise before long. Soon, +the original work will crumble to ruins and disappear, whereas the new +one, a permanent structure, will even outlast the owner. + +The insects reared in a tumbler show yet another method of building the +first dwelling. This time, the caddis worm is given a few very leafy +stalks of pond weed (Potamogeton densum) and a bundle of small dry +twigs. It perches on a leaf, which the nippers of the mandibles cut half +across. The portion left untouched will act as a lanyard and give the +necessary steadiness to the early operations. + +From an adjoining leaf a section is cut out entirely, an angular and +good sized piece. There is plenty of material and no need for economy. +The piece is soldered with silk to the strip which was not wholly cut +off. The result of three or four similar operations is to surround +the Caddis worm with a conical bag, whose wide mouth is scalloped with +pointed and very irregular notches. The work of the nippers continues; +fresh pieces are fixed, from one to another, inside the funnel, not far +from the edge, so that the bag lengthens, tapers and ends by wrapping +the animal in a light and floating drapery. + +Thus clad for the time being, either in the fine silk of the pond weed +or in the linsey-woolsey supplied by the roots of the watercress, the +caddis worm begins to think of building a more solid sheath. The present +casing will serve as a foundation for the stronger building. But the +necessary materials are seldom near at hand: you have to go and fetch +them, you have to move your position, an effort which has been avoided +until now. With this object, the caddis worm cuts its moorings, that +is to say, the rootlets which keep the cylinder fixed, or else the +half-severed leaf of pond weed on which the cone-shaped bag has come +into being. + +The worm is now free. The smallness of the artificial pond, the tumbler, +soon brings it into touch with what it is seeking. This is a little +faggot of dry twigs, which I have selected of equal length and of slight +thickness. Displaying greater care than it did when treating the slender +roots, the carpenter measures out the requisite length on the joist. The +distance to which it has to extend its body in order to reach the point +where the break will be made tells it pretty accurately what length of +stick it wants. + +The piece is patiently sawn off with the mandibles; it is next taken in +the fore legs and held crosswise below the neck. The backward movement +which brings the caddis worm home also brings the bit of twig to the +edge of the tube. Thereupon, the methods employed in working with the +scraps of root are renewed in precisely the same manner. The sticks are +scaffolded to the regulation height, all alike in length, amply soldered +in the middle and free at either end. + +With the picked materials provided, the carpenter has turned out a work +of some elegance. The joists are all arranged crosswise, because +this way is the handiest for carrying the sticks and putting them in +position; they are fixed by the middle, because the two arms that hold +the stick while the spinneret does its work require an equal grasp +on either side; each soldering covers a length which is seen to be +practically invariable, because it is equal to the width described by +the head in bending first to this side and then to that when the silk +is emitted; the whole assumes a polygonal shape, not far removed from +a rectilinear pentagon, because, between laying one piece and the next, +the caddis worm turns by the width of an arc corresponding with the +length of a soldering. The regularity of the method produces the +regularity of the work; but it is essential, of course, that the +materials should lend themselves to precise coordination. + +In its natural pond, the caddis worm does not often have at its disposal +the picked joists which I give it in the tumbler. It comes across +something of everything; and that something of everything it employs as +it finds it. Bits of wood, large seeds, empty shells, stubble stalks, +shapeless fragments are used in the building for better or for worse, +just as they occur, without being trimmed by the saw; and this jumble, +the result of chance, results in a shockingly faulty structure. + +The caddis worm does not forget its talents; but it lacks choice +pieces. Give it a proper timber yard and it at once reverts to correct +architecture, of which it carries the plans within itself. With small, +dead pond snails, all of the same size, it fashions a splendid patchwork +scabbard; with a cluster of slender roots, reduced by rotting to their +stiff, straight, woody axis, it manufactures pretty specimens of wicker +work which could serve as models to our basket makers. + +Let us watch it at work when it is unable to use its favorite joist. +There is no point in giving it clumsy building stones; that would only +bring us back to the uncouth sheaths. Its propensity to make use of +soaked seeds, those of the iris, for instance, suggests that I might +try grains. I select rice, which, because of its hardness, will be +tantamount to wood and, because of its clean whiteness and its oval +shape, will lend itself to artistic masonry. + +Obviously, my denuded caddis worms cannot start their work with bricks +of this kind. Where would they fix their first layer? They must have +a foundation, quick and easy to build. This is once more supplied by +a temporary cylinder of watercress roots. On this support follow the +grains of rice, which, grouped one atop the other, straight or slanting, +end by giving a magnificent turret of ivory. Next to the sheaths made +of tiny snail shells, this is the prettiest thing with which the caddis +worm's industry has furnished me. A fine sense of order has returned, +because the materials, regular and of identical character, have +cooperated with the correct method of the worker. + +The two demonstrations are enough. Sticks and grains of rice make it +plain that the caddis worm is not the bungler that one would expect from +the monstrous buildings in the pond. Those Cyclopean piles, those mad +conglomerations, are the inevitable results of chance finds, which are +used for the best because there is no choice. The water carpenter has +an art of its own, has method and rules of symmetry. When well served +by fortune, it is quite able to turn out good work; when ill-served, it +acts like others: the work which it turns out is bad. Poverty makes for +ugliness. + +There is another matter wherein the caddis worm deserves our attention. +With a perseverance which repeated trials do not tire, it makes itself +a new tube when I strip it. This is opposed to the habits of the +generality of insects, which do not recommence the thing once done, but +simply continue it according to the usual rules, taking no account +of the ruined or vanished portions. The caddis worm is a striking +exception: it starts again. Whence does it derive this capacity? + +I begin by learning that, given a sudden alarm, it readily leaves its +scabbard. When I go fishing for caddis worms, I put them in tin boxes, +containing no other moisture than that wherewith my catches are soaked. +I heap them up loosely, to avoid any grievous tumult and to fill the +space at my disposal as best I may. I take no further precaution. This +is enough to keep the caddis worms in good condition during the two or +three hours which I devote to fishing and to walking home. + +On my return, I find that a number of them have left their houses. They +are swarming naked among the empty scabbards and those still occupied +by their inhabitants. It is a pitiful sight to see these evicted ones +dragging their bare abdomens and their frail respiratory threads over +the bristling sticks. There is no great harm done, however; and I empty +the whole lot into the glass pond. + +Not one resumes possession of an unoccupied sheath. Perhaps it would +take them too long to find one of the exact size. They think it better +to abandon the old clouts and to manufacture cases new from top to +bottom. The process is a rapid one. By the next day, with the materials +wherein the glass trough abounds--bundles of twigs and tufts of +watercress--all the denuded worms have made themselves at least a +temporary home in the form of a tube of rootlets. + +The lack of water, combined with the excitement of the crowding in the +boxes, has upset my captives greatly; and, scenting a grave peril, +they have made off hurriedly, doffing the cumbersome jacket, which is +difficult to carry. They have stripped themselves so as to flee with +greater ease. The alarm cannot have been due to me: there are not many +simpletons like myself who are interested in the affairs of the pond; +and the caddis worm has not been cautioned against their tricks. The +sudden desertion of the crib has certainly some other reason than man's +molestations. + +I catch a glimpse of this reason, the real one. The glass pond was +originally occupied by a dozen Dytisci, or water beetles, whose diving +performances are so curious to watch. One day, meaning no harm and for +want of a better receptacle, I fling among them a couple of handfuls +of caddis worms. Blunderer that I am, what have I done! The corsairs, +hiding in the rugged corners of the rock work, at once perceive the +windfall. They rise to the surface with great strokes of their oars; +they hasten and fling themselves upon the crowd of carpenters. Each +pirate grabs a sheath by the middle and strives to rip it open by +tearing off shells and sticks. While this ferocious enucleation +continues with the object of reaching the dainty morsel contained +within, the caddis worm, close pressed, appears at the mouth of the +sheath, slips out and quickly decamps under the eyes of the Dytiscus, +who appears to notice nothing. + +I have said before that the trade of killing can dispense with +intelligence. The brutal ripper of sheaths does not see the little white +sausage that slips between his legs, passes under his fangs and madly +flees. He continues to tear away the outer case and to tug at the silken +lining. When the breach is made, he is quite crestfallen at not finding +what he expected. + +Poor fool! Your victim went out under your nose and you never saw it. +The worm has sunk to the bottom and taken refuge in the mysteries of the +rock work. If things were happening in the large expanse of a pond, it +is clear that, with their system of expeditious removals, most of the +lodgers would escape scot-free. Fleeing to a distance and recovering +from the sharp alarm, they would build themselves a new scabbard and all +would be over until the next attack, which would be baffled afresh by +the selfsame trick. + +In my narrow trough, things take a more tragic turn. When the sheaths +are done for, when the caddis worms that are too slow in making off have +been eaten up, the Water beetles return to the rockery at the bottom. +Here, sooner or later, there are lamentable happenings. The naked +fugitives are discovered and, succulent morsels that they are, are +forthwith torn to pieces and devoured. Within twenty-four hours, not +one of my band of caddis worms is left alive. In order to continue my +studies, I had to lodge the water beetles elsewhere. + +Under natural conditions, the caddis worm has its persecutors, the most +formidable of whom appears to be the Water beetle. When we consider +that, to thwart the brigand's attacks, it has invented the idea of +quitting its scabbard with all speed, its tactics are certainly most +appropriate; but, in that case, an exceptional condition becomes +obligatory, namely, the capacity for recommencing the work. This most +unusual gift of recommencing it possesses in a high measure. I am ready +to see its origin in the persecutions of the Dytiscus and other pirates. +Necessity is the mother of industry. + +Certain caddis worms, of the Sericostoma and Leptocerus species, clothe +themselves in grains of sand and do not leave the bed of the stream. On +a clear bottom, swept by the current, they walk about from one bank of +verdure to the other and do not think of coming to the surface to float +and sail in the sunlight. The collectors of sticks and shells are +more highly privileged. They can remain on the level of the water +indefinitely, with no other support than their skiff, can rest in +unsubmersible flotillas and can even shift their place by working the +rudder. + +To what do they owe this privilege? Are we to look upon the bundle of +sticks as a sort of raft whose density is less than that of the water? +Can the shells, which are always empty and able to contain a few bubbles +of air in their spiral, he floats? Can the big joists, which break in so +ugly a fashion the none too great regularity of the work, serve to buoy +up the over-heavy raft? In short, is the caddis worm versed in the +laws of equilibrium and does it choose its pieces, now lighter and now +heavier as the case may be, so as to constitute a whole that is +capable of floating? The following facts are a refutation of any such +hydrostatic calculations in the animal. + +I remove a number of caddis worms from their sheaths and submit these, +as they are, to the test of water. Whether formed wholly of fibrous +remnants or of mixed materials, not one of them floats. The scabbards +made of shells go to the bottom with the swiftness of a bit of gravel; +the others sink gently. I experiment with the separate materials one +by one. No shell remains on the surface, not even among the Planorbes, +which a many-whorled spiral ought, one would think, to keep afloat. +The fibrous remnants must be divided into two categories. The first, +darkened by time and soaked with moisture, sink to the bottom. These are +the most plentiful. The second, considerably fewer in number, of more +recent date and less saturated with water, float very well. The general +result is immersion, as in the case of the intact scabbards. I may add +that the animal, when removed from its tube, is also unable to float. + +Then how does the caddis worm manage to remain on the surface without +the support of the grasses, considering that itself and its sheath are +both heavier than water? Its secret is soon revealed. I place a few high +and dry on a sheet of blotting paper, which will absorb the excess +of liquid unfavorable to successful observation. Outside its natural +environment, the animal moves about violently and restlessly. With its +body half out of the scabbard, this time composed entirely of fibrous +matter, it clutches with its feet at the supporting plane. Then, +contracting itself, it draws the scabbard towards it, half-raising it +and sometimes even making it assume a vertical position. Even so do the +Bulimi move along, lifting their shell as they complete each crawling +step. + +After a couple of minutes in the free air, I replace the caddis worm +in the water. This time, it floats, but like a cylinder with too much +weight below. The sheath remains vertical, with its hinder orifice level +with the water. Soon, an air bubble escapes from the orifice. Deprived +of this buoy, the skiff at once goes down. + +The result is the same with the caddis worms in shell casings. At first, +they float, straight up on end, and then dip under and sink, faster +than the others, after sending out an air bubble or two through the back +window. + +That is enough: the secret is out. When cased in wood or in shells, the +caddis worms, which are always heavier than water, are able to keep +on the surface by means of a temporary air balloon which decreases the +density of the whole structure. + +This apparatus works in the simplest manner. Consider the rear of +the sheath. It is truncated, wide open and supplied with a membranous +partition, the work of the spinneret. A round hole occupies the center +of this screen. Beyond it lies the interior of the scabbard, which is +smoothly lined and wadded with satin, however rough the exterior may be. +Armed at the stern with two hooks which bite into the silky lining, +the animal is able to move backwards and forwards at will inside the +cylinder, to fix its grapnels at whatever point it pleases and thus to +keep a hold on the cylinder while the six legs and the fore part are +outside. + +When at rest, the body remains indoors entirely and the grub occupies +the whole of the tube. But let it contract ever so little towards the +front, or, better still, let it stick out a part of its body: a vacuum +is formed behind this sort of piston, which may be compared with that of +a pump. Thanks to the rear window, a valve without a plug, this vacuum +at once fills, thus renewing the aerated water around the gills, a soft +fleece of hairs distributed over the back and belly. + +The piston stroke affects only the work of breathing; it does not alter +the density, makes hardly any change in that which is heavier than +water. To lighten the weight, the caddis worm must first rise to the +surface. With this object, it scales the grasses of one support after +the other; it clambers up, sticking to its purpose in spite of the +drawback of its faggot dragging through the tangle. When it has reached +the goal, it lifts the rear end a little above the water and gives a +stroke of the piston. The vacuum thus obtained fills with air. That is +enough: skiff and boatman are in a position to float. The now useless +support of the grasses is abandoned. The time has come for evolutions on +the surface, in the glad sunlight. + +The caddis worm possesses no great talent as a navigator. To turn round, +to tack about, to shift its place slightly by a backward movement is all +that it can do; and even that it does very clumsily. The front part +of the body, sticking out of the case, acts as a rudder. Three or four +times over, it rises abruptly, bends, comes down again and strikes the +water. These paddle strokes, repeated at intervals, carry the unskilled +oarsman to fresh latitudes. It becomes a voyage on the right seas when +the crossing measures a hand's breadth. + +However, tacking on the surface of the water affords the caddis worm +no pleasure. It prefers to twitter in one spot, to remain stationary in +flotillas. When the time comes to return to the quiet of the mud bed +at the bottom, the animal, having had enough of the sun, draws itself +wholly into its sheath again and, with a piston stroke, expels the air +from the back room. The normal density is restored and it sinks slowly +to the bottom. + +We see, therefore, that the caddis worm has not to trouble about +hydrostatics when building its scabbard. In spite of the incongruity of +its work, in which the bulky and less dense portions seem to balance +the more solid, concentrated part, it is not called upon to contrive +an equipoise between the light and the heavy. It has other artifices +whereby to rise to the surface, to float and to dive down again. The +ascent is made by the ladder of the water weeds. The average density of +the sheath is of no importance, so long as the burden to be dragged is +not beyond the animal's strength. Besides, the weight of the load is +greatly reduced when moved in the water. + +The admission of a bubble of air into the back chamber, which the animal +ceases to occupy, allow it, without further to-do, to remain for an +indefinite period on the surface. To dive down again, the caddis worm +has only to retreat entirely into its sheath. The air is driven out; and +the canoe, resuming its mean density, a greater specific density than +that of water, goes under at once and descends of its own accord. + +There is, therefore, no choice of materials on the builder's part, no +nice calculation of equilibrium, save for one condition, that no stony +matter be admitted. That apart, everything serves, large and small, +joist and shell, seed and billet. Built up at haphazard, all these +things make an impregnable wall. One point alone is essential: the +weight of the whole must slightly exceed that of the water displaced; if +not, there could be no steadiness at the bottom of the pond, without +a perpetual anchorage struggling against the pull of the water. In the +same manner, quick submersion would be impossible at times when the +surface became dangerous and the frightened creature wanted to leave it. + +Nor does this important heavier-than-water question call for lucid +discernment, seeing that almost the whole of the sheath is constructed +at the bottom of the pond, whither all the materials picked up at +random, having descended once before, are likely to descend again. In +the sheaths, the parts capable of floating are very rare. Without taking +their specific levity into account, simply so as not to remain idle, the +caddis worm fixed them to its bundle when sporting on the surface of the +water. + +We have our submarines, in which hydraulic ingenuity displays its +highest resources. The caddis worms have theirs, which emerge, float on +the surface, dip down and even stop at mid-depth by releasing gradually +their surplus air. And this apparatus, so perfectly balanced, so +skilful, requires no knowledge on the part of its constructor. It comes +into being of itself, in accordance with the plans of the universal +harmony of things. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE GREENBOTTLES + +I have wished for a few things in my life, none of them capable of +interfering with the common weal. I have longed to possess a pond, +screened from the indiscretion of the passers by, close to my house, +with clumps of rushes and patches of duckweed. Here, in my leisure +hours, in the shade of a willow, I should have meditated upon aquatic +life, a primitive life, easier than our own, simpler in its affections +and its brutalities. I should have watched the unalloyed happiness of +the mollusk, the frolics of the Whirligig, the figure-skating of the +Hydrometra [a water bug known as the Pond skater], the dives of the +Dytiscus beetle, the veering and tacking of the Notonecta [the water +boatman], who, lying on her back, rows with two long oars, while her +short forelegs, folded against her chest, wait to grab the coming prey. +I should have studied the eggs of the Planorbis, a glairy nebula wherein +focuses of life are condensed even as suns are condensed in the nebulae +of the heavens. I should have admired the nascent creature that turns, +slowly turns in the orb of its egg and describes a volute, the draft, +perhaps, of the future shell. No planet circles round its center of +attraction with greater geometrical accuracy. + +I should have brought back a few ideas from my frequent visits to the +pond. Fate decided otherwise: I was not to have my sheet of water. I +have tried the artificial pond, between four panes of glass. A poor +shift! Our laboratory aquariums are not even equal to the print left in +the mud by a mule's hoof, when once a shower has filled the humble basin +and life has stocked it with its marvels. + +In spring, with the hawthorn in flower and the crickets at their +concerts, a second wish often came to me. Along the road, I light upon a +dead mole, a snake killed with a stone, victims both of human folly. +The mole was draining the soil and purging it of its vermin. Finding him +under his spade, the laborer broke his back for him and flung him over +the hedge. The snake, roused from her slumber by the soft warmth of +April, was coming into the sun to shed her skin and take on a new one. +Man catches sight of her: 'Ah, would you?' says he. 'See me do something +for which the world will thank me!' + +And the harmless beast, our auxiliary in the terrible battle which +husbandry wages against the insect, has its head smashed in and dies. + +The two corpses, already decomposing, have begun to smell. Whoever +approaches with eyes that do not see turns away his head and passes +on. The observer stops and lifts the remains with his foot; he looks. A +world is swarming underneath; life is eagerly consuming the dead. Let us +replace matters as they were and leave death's artisans to their task. +They are engaged in a most deserving work. + +To know the habits of those creatures charged with the disappearance of +corpses, to see them busy at their work of disintegration, to follow +in detail the process of transmutation that makes the ruins of what has +lived return apace into life's treasure house: these are things that +long haunted my mind. I regretfully left the mole lying in the dust of +the road. I had to go, after a glance at the corpse and its harvesters. +It was not the place for philosophizing over a stench. What would people +say who passed and saw me! + +And what will the reader himself say, if I invite him to that sight? +Surely, to busy one's self with those squalid sextons means soiling +one's eyes and mind? Not so, if you please! Within the domain of our +restless curiosity, two questions stand out above all others: the +question of the beginning and the question of the end. How does matter +unite in order to assume life? How does it separate when returning to +inertia? The pond, with its Planorbis eggs turning round and round, +would have given us a few data for the first problem; the Mole, going +bad under conditions not too repulsive, will tell us something about the +second: he will show us the working of the crucible wherein all things +are melted to begin anew. A truce to nice delicacy! Odi profanum vulgus +et arceo; hence, ye profane: you would not understand the mighty lesson +of the rag tank. + +I am now in a position to realize my second wish. I have space, air and +quiet in the solitude of the harmas. None will come here to trouble me, +to smile or to be shocked at my investigations. So far, so good; but +observe the irony of things: now that I am rid of passers by, I have to +fear my cats, those assiduous prowlers, who, finding my preparations, +will not fail to spoil and scatter them. In anticipation of their +misdeeds, I establish workshops in midair, whither none but genuine +corruption agents can come, flying on their wings. At different points +in the enclosure, I plant reeds, three by three, which, tied at their +free ends, form a stable tripod. From each of these supports, I hang, at +a man's height, an earthenware pan filled with fine sand and pierced at +the bottom with a hole to allow the water to escape, if it should rain. +I garnish my apparatus with dead bodies. The snake, the lizard, the toad +receive the preference, because of their bare skins, which enable me +better to follow the first attack and the work of the invaders. I ring +the changes with furred and feathered beasts. A few children of the +neighborhood, allured by pennies, are my regular purveyors. Throughout +the good season, they come running triumphantly to my door, with a snake +at the end of a stick, or a lizard in a cabbage leaf. They bring me the +rat caught in a trap, the chicken dead of the pip, the mole slain by +the gardener, the kitten killed by accident, the rabbit poisoned by some +weed. The business proceeds to the mutual satisfaction of sellers and +buyer. No such trade had ever been known before in the village nor ever +will be again. + +April ends; and the pans rapidly fill. An ant, ever so small, is the +first arrival. I thought I should keep this intruder off by hanging my +apparatus high above the ground: she laughs at my precautions. A few +hours after the deposit of the morsel, fresh still and possessing no +appreciable smell, up comes the eager picker-up of trifles, scales the +stems of the tripod in processions and starts the work of dissection. +If the joint suits her, she even goes to live in the sand of the pan and +digs herself temporary platforms in order to work the rich find more at +her ease. + +All through the season, from start to finish, she will always be the +promptest, always the first to discover the dead animal, always the last +to beat a retreat when nothing more remains than a heap of little bones +bleached by the sun. How does the vagabond, passing at a distance, know +that, up there, invisible, high on the gibbet, there is something worth +going for? The others, the real knackers, wait for the meat to go bad; +they are informed by the strength of the effluvia. The ant, gifted with +greater powers of scent, hurries up before there is any stench at all. +But, when the meat, now two days old and ripened by the sun, exhales its +flavor, soon the master ghouls appear upon the scene: Dermestes [bacon +beetles, small flesh-eating beetles] and Saprini [exceedingly small +flesh-eating beetles], Silphae [carrion beetles] and Necrophori [burying +beetles], flies and Staphylini [rove beetles], who attack the corpse, +consume it and reduce it almost to nothing. With the ant alone, who +each time carries off a mere atom, the sanitary operation would take too +long; with them, it is a quick business, especially as certain of them +understand the process of chemical solvents. + +These last, who are high class scavengers, are entitled to first +mention. They are flies, of many various species. If time permitted, +each of those strenuous ones would deserve a special examination; but +that would weary the patience of both the reader and the observer. The +habits of one will give us a summary notion of the habits of the rest. +We will therefore confine ourselves to the two principal subjects, +namely, the Luciliae, or greenbottles, and the Sarcophagae, or grey +flesh flies. + +The Luciliae--flies that glitter--are magnificent flies known to all of +us. Their metallic luster, generally a golden green, rivals that of our +finest beetles, the Rosechafers, Buprestes and leaf beetles. It gives +one a shock of surprise to see so rich a garb adorn those workers in +putrefaction. Three species frequent my pans: Lucilia Caesar, LIN., L. +cadaverina, LIN., and L. cuprea, ROB. The first two, both of whom are +gold-green, are plentiful; the third, who sports a coppery luster, is +rare. All three have red eyes, set in a silver border. + +Lucilia Caesar is larger than L. cadaverina and also more forward in her +business. I catch her in labor on the 23rd of April. She has settled +in the spinal canal of a neck of mutton and is laying her eggs on the +marrow. For more than an hour, motionless in the gloomy cavity, she goes +on packing her eggs. I can just see her red eyes and her silvery face. +At last, she comes out. I gather the fruit of her labor, an easy matter, +for it all lies on the marrow, which I extract without touching the +eggs. + +A census would seem important. To take it at once is impracticable: the +germs form a compact mass, which would be difficult to count. The best +thing is to rear the family in a jar and to reckon by the pupae buried +in the sand. I find a hundred and fifty-seven. This is evidently but +a minimum; for Lucilia Caesar and the others, as the observations that +follow will tell me, lay in packets at repeated intervals. It is a +magnificent family, promising a fabulous legion to come. + +The greenbottles, I was saying, break up their laying into sections. The +following scene affords a proof of this. A Mole, shrunk by a few days' +evaporation, lies spread upon the sand of the pan. At one point, the +edge of the belly is raised and forms a deep arch. Remark that the +Greenbottles, like the rest of the flesh eating flies, do not trust +their eggs to uncovered surfaces, where the heat of the sun's rays might +endanger the existence of the delicate germs. They want dark hiding +places. The favorite spot is the lower side of the dead animal, when +this is accessible. + +In the present case, the only place of access is the fold formed by the +edge of the belly. It is here and here alone that this day's mothers +are laying. There are eight of them. After exploring the piece and +recognizing its good quality, they disappear under the arch, first this +one, then that, or else several at a time. They remain under the Mole +for a considerable while. Those outside wait, but go repeatedly to the +threshold of the cavern to take a look at what is happening within and +see whether the earlier ones have finished. These come out at last, +perch on the animal and wait in their turn. Others at once take their +place in the recesses of the cave. They remain there for some time and +then, having done their business, make room for more mothers and come +forth into the sunlight. This going in and out continues throughout the +morning. + +We thus learn that the laying is effected by periodical emissions, +broken with intervals of rest. As long as she does not feel ripe eggs +coming to her oviduct, the greenbottle remains in the sun, hovering to +and fro and sipping modest mouthfuls from the carcass. But, as soon as a +fresh stream descends from her ovaries, quick as lightning she makes for +a propitious site whereon to deposit her burden. It appears to be the +work of several days thus to divide the total laying and to distribute +it at different points. + +I carefully raise the animal under which these things are happening. +The egg laying mothers do not disturb themselves; they are far too busy. +Their ovipositor extended telescope fashion, they heap egg upon egg. +With the point of their hesitating, groping instrument, they try to +lodge each germ, as it comes, farther into the mass. Around the serious, +red-eyed matrons, the Ants circle, intent on pillage. Many of them make +off with a greenbottle egg between their teeth. I see some who, greatly +daring, effect their theft under the ovipositor itself. The layers do +not put themselves out, let the ants have their way, remain impassive. +They know their womb to be rich enough to make good any such larceny. + +Indeed, what escapes the depredations of the ants promises a plenteous +brood. Let us come back a few days later and lift the mole again. +Underneath, in a pool of sanies, is a surging mass of swarming sterns +and pointed heads, which emerge, wriggle and dive in again. It suggests +a seething billow. It turns one's stomach. It is horrible, most +horrible. Let us steel ourselves against the sight: it will be worse +elsewhere. + +Here is a fat snake. Rolled into a compact whorl, she fills the whole +pan. The greenbottles are plentiful. New ones arrive at every moment +and, without quarrel or strife, take their place among the others, +busily laying. The spiral furrow left by the reptile's curves is the +favorite spot. Here alone, in the narrow space between the folds, are +shelters against the heat of the sun. The glistening Flies take their +places, side by side, in rows; they strive to push their abdomen and +their ovipositor as far forward as possible, at the risk of rumpling +their wings and cocking them towards their heads. The care of the person +is neglected amid this serious business. Placidly, with their red eyes +turned outwards, they form a continuous cordon. Here and there, at +intervals, the rank is broken; layers leave their posts, come and +walk about upon the snake, what time their ovaries ripen for another +emission, and then hurry back, slip into the rank and resume the flow of +germs. Despite these interruptions, the work of breeding goes fast. In +the course of one morning, the depths of the spiral furrow are hung +with a continuous white bark, the heaped up eggs. They come off in great +slabs, free of any stain; they can be shoveled up, as it were, with +a paper scoop. It is a propitious moment if we wish to follow the +evolution at close quarters. I therefore gather a profusion of this +white manna and lodge it in glass tubes, test tubes and jars, with the +necessary provisions. + +The eggs, about a millimeter long, are smooth cylinders, rounded at +both ends. They hatch within twenty-four hours. The first question that +presents itself is this: how do the greenbottle grubs feed? I know quite +well what to give them, but I do not in the least see how they manage to +consume it. Do they eat, in the strict sense of the word? I have reasons +to doubt it. + +Let us consider the grub grown to a sufficient size. It is the usual +fly larva, the common maggot, shaped like an elongated cone, pointed in +front, truncated behind, where two little red spots show, level with the +skin: these are the breathing holes. The front, which is called the +head by stretching a word--for it is little more than the entrance to an +intestine--the front is armed with two little black hooks, which slide +in a translucent sheath, project a little way outside and go in turn by +turn. Are we to look upon these as mandibles? Not at all, for, instead +of having their points facing each other, as would be required in a +real mandibular apparatus, the two hooks work in parallel directions +and never meet. What they are is ambulatory organs, grapnels assisting +locomotion, which give a purchase on the plane and enable the animal to +advance by means of repeated contractions. The maggot walks with the aid +of what a superficial examination would pronounce to be a machine +for eating. It carries in its gullet the equivalent of the climber's +alpenstock. + +Let us hold it, on a piece of flesh, under the lens. We shall see it +walking about, raising and lowering its head and, each time, stabbing +the meat with its pair of hooks. When stationary, with its crupper at +rest, it explores space with a continual bending of its fore part; its +pointed head pokes about, jabs forward, goes back again, producing and +withdrawing its black mechanism. There is a perpetual piston play. Well, +look as carefully and conscientiously as I please, I do not once see the +weapons of the mouth tackle a particle of flesh that is torn away and +swallowed. The hooks come down upon the meat at every moment, but never +take a visible mouthful from it. Nevertheless, the grub waxes big and +fat. How does this singular consumer, who feeds without eating, set +about it? If he does not eat, he must drink; his diet is soup. As meat +is a compact substance, which does not liquefy of its own accord, there +must, in that case, be a certain recipe to dissolve it into a fluid +broth. Let us try to surprise the maggot's secret. + +In a glass tube, sealed at one end, I insert a piece of lean flesh, the +size of a walnut, which I have drained of its juices by squeezing it in +blotting paper. On the top of this, I place a few slabs of greenbottle +eggs collected a moment ago from the snake in my earthen pan. The number +of germs is, roughly, two hundred. I close the tube with a cotton plug, +stand it upright, in a shady corner of my study, and leave things to +take their course. A control tube, prepared like the first, but not +stocked with maggots, is placed beside it. + +As early as two or three days after the hatching, I obtain a striking +result. The meat, which was thoroughly drained by the blotting paper, +has become so moist that the young vermin leave a wet mark behind them +as they crawl over the glass. The swarming brood creates a sort of mist +with the crossing and criss-crossing of its trails. The control tube, +on the contrary, keeps dry, proving that the moisture in which the worms +move is not due to a mere exudation from the meat. + +Besides, the work of the maggot becomes more and more evident. +Gradually, the flesh flows in every direction like an icicle placed +before the fire. Soon, the liquefaction is complete. What we see is no +longer meat, but fluid Liebig's extract. If I overturned the tube, not a +drop of it would remain. + +Let us clear our minds of any idea of solution by putrefaction, for in +the second tube a piece of meat of the same kind and size has remained, +save for color and smell, what it was at the start. It was a lump and +it is a lump, whereas the piece treated by the worms runs like melted +butter. Here we have maggot chemistry able to rouse the envy of +physiologists when studying the action of the gastric juice. + +I obtain better results still with hard-boiled white of egg. When cut +into pieces the size of a hazel nut and handed over to the greenbottle's +grubs, the coagulated albumen dissolves into a colorless liquid which +the eye might mistake for water. The fluidity becomes so great that, for +lack of a support, the worms perish by drowning in the broth; they are +suffocated by the immersion of their hind part, with its open breathing +holes. On a denser liquid, they would have kept at the surface; on this, +they cannot. + +A control tube, filled in the same way, but not colonized, stands beside +that in which the strange liquefaction takes place. The hardboiled white +of egg retains its original appearance and consistency. In course of +time, it dries up, if it does not turn moldy; and that is all. + +The other quaternary compounds performing the same functions as +albumen--the gluten of cereals, the fibrin of blood, the casein of +cheese and the legumin of chickpeas--undergo a similar modification, in +varying degrees. Fed, from the moment of leaving the egg, on any one of +these substances, the worms thrive very well, provided that they escape +drowning when the gruel becomes too clear; they would not fare better +on a corpse. And, as a general rule, there is not much danger of going +under: the matter only half liquefies; it becomes a running pea soup, +rather than an actual fluid. + +Even in this imperfect case, it is obvious that the greenbottle grubs +begin by liquefying their food. Incapable of taking solid nourishment, +they first transform the spoil into running matter; then, dipping their +heads into the product, they drink, they slake their thirst, with long +sups. Their dissolvent, comparable in its effects with the gastric juice +of the higher animals, is, beyond a doubt, emitted through the mouth. +The piston of the hooks, continually in movement, never ceases spitting +it out in infinitesimal doses. Each spot touched receives a grain of +some subtle pepsin, which soon suffices to make that spot run in every +direction. As digesting, when all is said, merely means liquefying, +it is no paradox to assert that the maggot digests its food before +swallowing it. + +These experiments with my filthy, evil smelling tubes have given me some +delightful moments. The worthy Abbe Spallanzani must have known some +such when he saw pieces of raw meat begin to run under the action of the +gastric juice which he took, with pellets of sponge, from the stomachs +of crows. He discovered the secrets of digestion; he realized in a glass +tube the hitherto unknown labors of gastric chemistry. I, his distant +disciple, behold once more, under a most unexpected aspect, what struck +the Italian scientist so forcibly. Worms take the place of the crows. +They slaver upon meat, gluten, albumen; and those substances turn to +fluid. What our stomach does within its mysterious recesses the maggot +achieves outside, in the open air. It first digests and then imbibes. + +When we see it plunging into the carrion broth, we even wonder if it +cannot feed itself, at least to some extent, in a more direct fashion. +Why should not its skin, which is one of the most delicate, be capable +of absorbing? I have seen the egg of the sacred beetle and other dung +beetles growing considerably larger--I should like to say, feeding--in +the thick atmosphere of the hatching chamber. Nothing tells us that the +grub of the greenbottle does not adopt this method of growing. I picture +it capable of feeding all over the surface of its body. To the gruel +absorbed by the mouth it adds the balance of what is gathered and +strained through the skin. This would explain the need for provisions +liquefied beforehand. + +Let us give one last proof of this preliminary liquefaction. If the +carcass--mole, snake or another--left in the open air have a wire gauze +cover placed over it, to keep out the flies, the game dries under a hot +sun and shrivels up without appreciably wetting the sand on which it +lies. Fluids come from it, certainly, for every organized body is a +sponge swollen with water; but the liquid discharge is so slow and +restricted in quantity that the heat and the dryness of the air disperse +it as it appears, while the underlying sand remains dry, or very nearly +so. The carcass becomes a sapless mummy, a mere bit of leather. On the +other hand, do not use the wire gauze cover, let the flies do their work +unimpeded; and things forthwith assume another aspect. In three or four +days, an oozing sanies appears under the animal and soaks the sand to +some distance. + +I shall never forget the striking spectacle with which I conclude this +chapter. This time, the dish is a magnificent Aesculapius' snake, a yard +and a half long and as thick as a wide bottleneck. Because of its size, +which exceeds the dimensions of my pan, I roll the reptile in a double +spiral, or in two storeys. When the copious joint is in full process +of dissolution, the pan becomes a puddle wherein wallow, in countless +numbers, the grubs of the greenbottle and those of Sarcophaga carnaria, +the Grey or checkered flesh fly, which are even mightier liquefiers. All +the sand in the apparatus is saturated, has turned into mud, as though +there had been a shower of rain. Through the hole at the bottom, which +is protected by a flat pebble, the gruel trickles drop by drop. It is a +still at work, a mortuary still, in which the Snake is being drawn off. +Wait a week or two; and the whole will have disappeared, drunk up by the +sun: naught but the scales and bones will remain on a sheet of mud. + +To conclude: the maggot is a power in this world. To give back to life, +with all speed, the remains of that which has lived, it macerates and +condenses corpses, distilling them into an essence wherewith the earth, +the plant's foster mother, may be nourished and enriched. + + + + +CHAPTER X. THE GREY FLESH FLIES + +Here the costume changes, not the manner of life. We find the +same frequenting of dead bodies, the same capacity for the speedy +liquefaction of the fleshy matter. I am speaking of an ash-gray fly, +the greenbottle's superior in size, with brown streaks on her back and +silver gleams on her abdomen. Note also the blood-red eyes, with the +hard look of the knacker in them. The language of science knows her as +Sarcophaga, the flesh eater; in the vulgar tongue she is the grey flesh +fly, or simply the flesh fly. + +Let not these expressions, however accurate, mislead us into believing +for a moment that the Sarcophagae are the bold company of master +tainters who haunt our dwellings, more particularly in autumn, and plant +their vermin in our ill-guarded viands. The author of those offences +is Calliphora vomitoria, the bluebottle, who is of a stouter build and +arrayed in darkest blue. It is she who buzzes against our windowpanes, +who craftily besieges the meat safe and who lies in wait in the darkness +for an opportunity to outwit our vigilance. The other, the grey fly, +works jointly with the greenbottles, who do not venture inside our +houses and who work in the sunlight. Less timid, however, than they, +should the outdoor yield be small, she will sometimes come indoors to +perpetrate her villainies. When her business is done, she makes off as +fast as she can, for she does not feel at home with us. + +At this moment, my study, a very modest extension of my open air +establishments, has become something of a charnel house. The grey fly +pays me a visit. If I lay a piece of butcher's meat on the windowsill, +she hastens up, works her will on it and retires. No hiding place +escapes her notice among the jars, cups, glasses and receptacles of +every kind with which my shelves are crowded. + +With a view to certain experiments, I collected a heap of wasp grubs, +asphyxiated in their underground nests. Stealthily she arrives, +discovers the fat pile and, hailing as treasure trove this provender +whereof her race perhaps has never made use before, entrusts to it an +installment of her family. I have left at the bottom of a glass the best +part of a hard-boiled egg from which I have taken a few bits of white +intended for the greenbottle maggots. The grey fly takes possession of +the remains, recks not of their novelty and colonizes them. Everything +suits her that falls within the category of albuminous matters: +everything, down to dead silkworms; everything, down to a mess of +kidney-beans and chick-peas. + +Nevertheless, her preference is for the corpse: furred beast and +feathered beast, reptile and fish, indifferently. Together with the +greenbottles, she is sedulous in her attendance on my pans. Daily she +visits my snakes, takes note of the condition of each of them, savors +them with her proboscis, goes away, comes back, takes her time and at +last proceeds to business. Still, it is not here, amid the tumult of +callers, that I propose to follow her operations. A lump of butcher's +meat laid on the window sill, in front of my writing table, will be less +offensive to the eye and will facilitate my observations. + +Two flies of the genus Sarcophaga frequent my slaughter yard: Sarcophaga +carnaria and Sarcophaga haemorrhoidalis, whose abdomen ends in a red +speck. The first species, which is a little larger than the second, +is more numerous and does the best part of the work in the open air +shambles of the pans. It is this fly also who, at intervals and nearly +always alone, hastens to the bait exposed on the windowsill. + +She comes up suddenly, timidly. Soon she calms herself and no longer +thinks of fleeing when I draw near, for the dish suits her. She is +surprisingly quick about her work. Twice over--buzz! Buzz!--the tip of +her abdomen touches the meat; and the thing is done: a group of vermin +wriggles out, releases itself and disperses so nimbly that I have no +time to take my lens and count then accurately. As seen by the naked +eye, there were a dozen of them. What has become of them? One would +think that they had gone into the flesh, at the very spot where they +were laid, so quickly have they disappeared. But that dive into a +substance of some consistency is impossible to these newborn weaklings. +Where are they? I find them more or less everywhere in the creases of +the meat; singly and already groping with their mouths. To collect them +in order to number them is not practicable, for I do not want to damage +them. Let us be satisfied with the estimate made at a rapid glance: +there are a dozen or so, brought into the world in one discharge of +almost inappreciable length. + +Those live grubs, taking the place of the usual eggs, have long been +known. Everybody is aware that the flesh flies bring forth living +maggots, instead of laying eggs. They have so much to do and their work +is so urgent! To them, the instruments of the transformation of +dead matter, a day means a day, a long space of time which it is all +important to utilize. The greenbottle's eggs, though these are of very +rapid development, take twenty-four hours to yield their grubs. The +flesh flies save all this time. From their matrix, laborers flow +straightway and set to work the moment they are born. With these ardent +pioneers of sanitation, there is no rest attendant upon the hatching, +there is not a minute lost. + +The gang, it is true, is not a numerous one; but how often can it not +be renewed! Read Reaumur's description of the wonderful procreating +machinery boasted by the Flesh flies. It is a spiral ribbon, a velvety +scroll whose nap is a sort of fleece of maggots set closely together +and each cased in a sheath. The patient biographer counted the host: +it numbers, he tells us, nearly twenty thousand. You are seized with +stupefaction at this anatomical fact. + +How does the gray fly find the time to settle a family of such +dimensions, especially in small packets, as she has just done on my +window sill? What a number of dead dogs, moles and snakes must she not +visit before exhausting her womb! Will she find them? Corpses of much +size do not abound to that extent in the country. As everything suits +her, she will alight on other remains of minor importance. Should the +prize be a rich one, she will return to it tomorrow, the day after and +later still, over and over again. In the course of the season, by dint +of packets of grubs deposited here, there and everywhere, she will +perhaps end by housing her entire brood. But then, if all things +prosper, what a glut, for there are several families born during +the year! We feel it instinctively: there must be a check to these +generative enormities. Let us first consider the grub. It is a sturdy +maggot, easy to distinguish from the greenbottle's by its larger girth +and especially by the way in which its body terminates behind. There is +here a sudden breaking off, hollowed into a deep cup. At the bottom of +this crater are two breathing holes, two stigmata with amber-red tips. +The edge of the cavity is fringed with half a score of pointed, fleshy +festoons, which diverge like the spikes of a coronet. The creature +can close or open this diadem at will by bringing the denticulations +together or by spreading them out wide. This protects the air holes +which might otherwise be choked up when the maggot disappears in the sea +of broth. Asphyxia would supervene, if the two breathing holes at the +back became obstructed. During the immersion, the festooned coronet +shuts like a flower closing its petals and the liquid is not admitted to +the cavity. + +Next follows the emergence. The hind part reappears in the air, but +appears alone, just at the level of the fluid. Then the coronet spreads +out afresh, the cup gapes and assumes the aspect of a tiny flower, with +the white denticulations for petals and the two bright red dots, the +stigmata at the bottom, for stamens. When the grubs, pressed one +against the other, with their heads downwards in the fetid soup, make +an unbroken shoal, the sight of those breathing cups incessantly opening +and closing, with a little clack like a valve, almost makes one forget +the horrors of the charnel yard. It suggests a carpet of tiny Sea +anemones. The maggot has its beauties after all. + +It is obvious, if there be any logic in things, that a grub so +well-protected against asphyxiation by drowning must frequent liquid +surroundings. One does not encircle one's hindquarters with a coronet +for the sole satisfaction of displaying it. With its apparatus of +spokes, the Grey Fly's grub informs us of the dangerous nature of its +functions: when working upon a corpse, it runs the risk of drowning. How +is that? Remember the grubs of the greenbottle, fed on hard-boiled white +of egg. The dish suits them; only, by the action of their pepsin, +it becomes so fluid that they die submerged. Because of their hinder +stigmata, which are actually on the skin and devoid of any defensive +machinery, they perish when they find no support apart from the liquid. + +The flesh fly's maggots, though incomparable liquefiers, know nothing +of this peril, even in a puddle of carrion broth. Their bulky hind part +serves as a float and keeps the air holes above the surface. When, for +further investigation, they must needs go under completely, the anemone +at the back shuts and protects the stigmata. The grubs of the gray fly +are endowed with a life buoy because they are first class liquefiers, +ready to incur the danger of a ducking at any moment. + +When high and dry on the sheet of cardboard where I place them to +observe them at my ease, they move about actively, with their breathing +rose widespread and their stigmata rising and falling as a support. The +cardboard is on my table, at three steps from an open window, and lit at +this time of day only by the soft light of the sky. Well, the maggots, +one and all of them, turn in the opposite direction to the window; they +hastily, madly take to flight. + +I turn the cardboard round, without touching the runaways. This action +makes the creatures face the light again. Forthwith, the troop stops, +hesitates, takes a half turn and once more retreats towards the +darkness. Before the end of the racecourse is reached, I again turn the +cardboard. For the second time, the maggots veer round and retrace their +steps. Repeat the experiment as often as I will, each time the squad +wheels about in the opposite direction to the window and persists in +avoiding the trap of the revolving cardboard. + +The track is only a short one: the cardboard measures three hand's +breadths in length. Let us give more space. I settle the grubs on the +floor of the room; with a hair pencil, I turn them with their heads +pointing towards the lighted aperture. The moment they are free, they +turn and run from the light. With all the speed whereof their cripple's +shuffle allows, they cover the tiled floor of the study and go and knock +their heads against the wall, twelve feet off, skirting it afterwards, +some to the right and some to the left. They never feel far enough away +from that hateful illuminated opening. + +What they are escaping from is evidently the light, for, if I make it +dark with a screen, the troop does not change its direction when I turn +the cardboard. It then progresses quite readily towards the window; but, +when I remove the screen, it turns tail at once. + +That a grub destined to live in the darkness, under the shelter of a +corpse, should avoid the light is only natural; the strange part is its +very perception. The maggot is blind. Its pointed fore part, which +we hesitate to call a head, bears absolutely no trace of any optical +apparatus; and the same with every other part of the body. There is +nothing but one bare, smooth, white skin. And this sightless creature, +deprived of any special nervous points served by ocular power, is +extremely sensitive to the light. Its whole skin is a sort of retina, +incapable of seeing, of course, but able, at any rate, to distinguish +between light and darkness. Under the direct rays of a searching sun, +the grub's distress could be easily explained. We ourselves; with our +coarse skin, in comparison with that of the maggot, can distinguish +between sunshine and shadow without the help of the eyes. But, in the +present case, the problem becomes singularly complicated. The subjects +of my experiment receive only the diffused light of the sky, entering my +study through an open window; yet this tempered light frightens them out +of their senses. They flee the painful apparition; they are bent upon +escaping at all costs. + +Now what do the fugitives feel? Are they physically hurt by the chemical +radiations? Are they exasperated by other radiations, known or unknown? +Light still keeps many a secret hidden from us and perhaps our optical +science, by studying the maggot, might become the richer by some +valuable information. I would gladly have gone farther into the +question, had I possessed the necessary apparatus. But I have not, I +never have had and of course I never shall have the resources which are +so useful to the seeker. These are reserved for the clever people who +care more for lucrative posts than for fair truths. Let us continue, +however, within the measure which the poverty of my means permits. + +When duly fattened, the grubs of the flesh flies go underground to +transform themselves into pupae. The burial is intended, obviously, to +give the worm the tranquillity necessary for the metamorphosis. Let us +add that another object of the descent is to avoid the importunities +of the light. The maggot isolates itself to the best of its power and +withdraws from the garish day before contracting into a little keg. +In ordinary conditions, with a loose soil, it goes hardly lower than a +hand's breadth down, for provision has to be made for the difficulties +of the return to the surface when the insect, now full grown, is impeded +by its delicate fly wings. The grub, therefore, deems itself suitably +isolated at a moderate depth. Sideways, the layer that shields it from +the light is of indefinite thickness; upwards, it measures about four +inches. Behind this screen reigns utter darkness, the buried one's +delight. This is capital. + +What would happen if, by an artifice, the sideward layer were nowhere +thick enough to satisfy the grub? Now, this time, I have the wherewithal +to solve the problem, in the shape of a big glass tube, open at both +ends, about three feet long and less than an inch wide. I use it to blow +the flame of hydrogen in the little chemistry lessons which I give my +children. + +I close one end with a cork and fill the tube with fine, dry, sifted +sand. On the surface of this long column, suspended perpendicularly in a +corner of my study, I install some twenty Sarcophaga grubs, feeding +them with meat. A similar preparation is repeated in a wider jar, with +a mouth as broad as one's hand. When they are big enough, the grubs in +either apparatus will go down to the depth that suits them. There is no +more to be done but to leave them to their own devices. + +The worms at last bury themselves and harden into pupae. This is the +moment to consult the two apparatus. The jar gives me the answer which +I should have obtained in the open fields. Four inches down, or +thereabouts, the worms have found a quiet lodging, protected above +by the layer through which they have passed and on every side by the +thickness of the vessel's contents. Satisfied with the site, they have +stopped there. + +It is a very different matter in the tube. The least buried of the pupae +are half a yard down. Others are lower still; most of them even have +reached the bottom of the tube and are touching the cork stopper, an +insuperable barrier. These last, we can see, would have gone yet deeper +if the apparatus had allowed them. Not one of the score of grubs has +settled at the customary halting place; all have traveled farther down +the column, until their strength gave way. In their anxious flight, they +have dug deeper and ever deeper. + +What were they flying from? The light. Above them, the column traversed +forms a more than sufficient shelter; but, at the sides, the irksome +sensation is still felt through a coat of earth half an inch thick +if the descent is made perpendicularly. To escape the disturbing +impression, the grub therefore goes deeper and deeper, hoping to obtain +lower down the rest which is denied it above. It only ceases to move +when worn out with the effort or stopped by an obstacle. + +Now, in a soft diffused light, what can be the radiations capable of +acting upon this lover of darkness? They are certainly not the simple +luminous rays, for a screen of fine, heaped up earth, nearly half an +inch in thickness, is perfectly opaque. Then, to alarm the grub, to warn +it of the over proximity of the exterior and send it to mad depths +in search of isolation, other radiations, known or unknown, must be +required, radiations capable of penetrating a screen against which +ordinary radiations are powerless. Who knows what vistas the natural +philosophy of the maggot might open out to us? For lack of apparatus, I +confine myself to suspicions. + +To go underground to a yard's depth--and farther if my tube had allowed +it--is on the part of the Flesh fly's grub a vagary provoked by unkind +experiment: never would it bury itself so low down, if left to its own +wisdom. A hand's breadth thickness is quite enough, is even a great deal +when, after completing the transformation, it has to climb back to the +surface, a laborious operation absolutely resembling the task of an +entombed well sinker. It will have to fight against the sand that slips +and gradually fills up the small amount of empty space obtained; it +will perhaps, without crowbar or pickaxe, have to cut itself a gallery +through something tantamount to tufa, that is to say, through earth +which a shower has rendered compact. For the descent, the grub has its +fangs; for the assent, the fly has nothing. Only that moment come into +existence, she is a weakling, with tissues still devoid of any firmness. +How does she manage to get out? We shall know by watching a few pupae +placed at the bottom of a test-tube filled with earth. The method of the +Flesh flies will teach us that of the greenbottles and the other Flies, +all of whom make use of the same means. + +Enclosed in her pupa, the nascent fly begins by bursting the lid of her +casket with a hernia which comes between her two eyes and doubles or +trebles the size of her head. This cephalic blister throbs: it swells +and subsides by turns, owing to the alternate flux and reflux of the +blood. It is like the piston of an hydraulic press opening and forcing +back the front part of the keg. + +The head makes its appearance. The hydrocephalous monster continues the +play of her forehead, while herself remaining stationary. Inside the +pupa, a delicate work is being performed: the casting of the white +nymphal tunic. All through this operation, the hernia is still +projecting. The head is not the head of a fly, but a queer, enormous +mitre, spreading at the base into two red skull caps, which are the +eyes. To split her cranium in the middle, shunt the two halves to the +right and left and send surging through the gap a tumor which staves the +barrel with its pressure: this constitutes the Fly's eccentric method. + +For what reason does the hernia, once the keg is staved, continue +swollen and projecting? I take it to be a waste pocket into which +the insect momentarily forces back its reserves of blood in order to +diminish the bulk of the body to that extent and to extract it more +easily from the nymphal slough and afterwards from the narrow channel +of the shell. As long as the operation of the release lasts, it pushes +outside all that it is able to inject of its accumulated humors; it +makes itself small inside the pupa and swells into a bloated deformity +without. Two hours and more are spent in this laborious stripping. + +At last, the fly comes into view. The wings, mere scanty stumps, hardly +reach the middle of the abdomen. On the outer edge, they have a deep +notch similar to the waist of a violin. This diminishes by just so +much the surface and the length, an excellent device for decreasing +the friction along the earthy column which has next to be scaled. The +hydrocephalous one resumes her performance more vigorously than ever; +she inflates and deflates her frontal knob. The pounded sand rustles +down the insect's sides. The legs play but a secondary part. Stretched +behind, motionless, when the piston stroke is delivered, they furnish +a support. As the sand descends, they pile it and nimbly push it back, +after which they drag along lifelessly until the next avalanche. The +head advances each time by a length equal to that of the sand displaced. +Each stroke of the frontal swelling means a step forward. In a dry, +loose soil, things go pretty fast. A column six inches high is traversed +in less than a quarter of an hour. + +As soon as it reaches the surface, the insect, covered with dust, +proceeds to make its toilet. It thrusts out the blister of its forehead +for the last time and brushes it carefully with its front tarsi. It is +important that the little pounding engine should be carefully dusted +before it is taken inside to form a forehead that will open no more: +this lest any grit should lodge in the head. The wings are carefully +brushed and polished; they lose their curved notches; they lengthen and +spread. Then, motionless on the surface of the sand, the fly matures +fully. Let us set her at liberty. She will go and join the others on the +Snakes in my pans. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE BUMBLEBEE FLY + +Underneath the wasp's brown paper manor house, the ground is channeled +into a sort of drain for the refuse of the nest. Here are shot the dead +or weakly larvae which a continual inspection roots out from the cells +to make room for fresh occupants; here, at the time of the autumn +massacre, are flung the backward grubs; here, lastly, lies a good part +of the crowd killed by the first touch of winter. During the rack and +ruin of November and December, this sewer becomes crammed with animal +matter. + +Such riches will not remain unemployed. The world's great law which says +that nothing edible shall be wasted provides for the consumption of a +mere ball of hair disgorged by the owl. How shall it be with the vast +stores of a ruined wasps' nest! If they have not come yet, the consumers +whose task it is to salve this abundant wreckage for nature's markets, +they will not tarry in coming and waiting for the manna that will soon +descend from above. That public granary, lavishly stocked by death, will +become a busy factory of fresh life. Who are the guests summoned to the +banquet? + +If the wasps flew away, carrying the dead or sickly grubs with them, +and dropped them on the ground round about their home, those banqueters +would be, first and foremost, the insect-eating birds, the warblers, +all of whom are lovers of small game. In this connection, we will allow +ourselves a brief digression. We all know with what jealous intolerance +the nightingales occupy each his own cantonment. Neighborly intercourse +among them is tabooed. The males frequently exchange defiant couplets at +a distance; but, should the challenged party draw near, the challenger +makes him clear off. Now, not far from my house, in a scanty clump of +holly oaks which would barely give the woodcutter the wherewithal for +a dozen faggots, I used, all through the spring, to hear such +full-throated warbling of nightingales that the songs of those virtuosi, +all giving voice at once and with no attempt at order, degenerated into +a deafening hubbub. + +Why did those passionate devotees of solitude come and settle in such +large numbers at a spot where custom decrees that there is just room +enough for one household only? What reasons have made the recluse become +a congregation? I asked the owner of the spinney about the matter. + +'It's like that every year,' he said. 'The clump is overrun by +Nightingales.' + +'And the reason?' + +'The reason is that there is a hive close by, behind that wall.' + +I looked at the man in amazement, unable to understand what connection +there could be between a hive and the thronging nightingales. + +'Why, yes,' he added, 'there are a lot of nightingales because there are +a lot of bees. + +Another questioning look from my side. I did not yet understand. The +explanation came: 'The bees,' he said, 'throw out their dead grubs. +The front of the hive is strewn with them in the mornings; and the +nightingales come and collect them for themselves and their families. +They are very fond of them.' + +This time I had solved the puzzle. Delicious food, abundant and fresh +each day, had brought the songsters together. Contrary to their habit, +numbers of nightingales are living on friendly terms in a cluster of +bushes, in order to be near the hive and to have a larger share in the +morning distribution of plump dainties. + +In the same way, the nightingale and his gastronomical rivals would +haunt the neighborhood of the wasps' nests, if the dead grubs were cast +out on the surface of the soil; but these delicacies fall inside the +burrow and no little bird would dare to enter the murky cave, even if +the entrance were not too small to admit it. Other consumers are needed +here, small in size and great in daring; the fly is called for and her +maggot, the king of the departed. What the greenbottles, the bluebottles +and the flesh flies do in the open air, at the expense of every kind +of corpse, other flies, narrowing their province, do underground at the +Wasps' expense. + +Let us turn our attention, in September, to the wrapper of a wasps' +nest. On the outer surface and there alone, this wrapper is strewn with +a multitude of big, white, elliptical dots, firmly fixed to the brown +paper and measuring about two millimeters and a half long by one and a +half wide. Flat below, convex above and of a lustrous white, these dots +resemble very neat drops fallen from a tallow candle. Lastly, their +backs are streaked with faint transversal lines, an elegant detail +perceptible only with the lens. These curious objects are scattered +all over the surface of the wrapper, sometimes at a distance from one +another, sometimes gathered into more or less dense groups. They are the +eggs of the Volucella, or bumblebee fly (Volucella zonaria, LIN.) + +Also stuck to the brown paper of the outer wrapper and mixed up with the +Volucella's are a large number of other eggs, chalk white, spear-shaped +and ridged lengthwise with seven or eight thin ribs, after the manner of +the seeds of certain Umbelliferae. The finishing touch to their delicate +beauty is the fine stippling all over the surface. They are smaller by +half than the others. I have seen grubs come out of them which might +easily be the earliest stage of some pointed maggots which I have +already noticed in the burrows. My attempts to rear them failed; and I +am not able to say which fly these eggs belong to. Enough for us to note +the nameless one in passing. There are plenty of others, which we must +make up our minds to leave unlabelled, in view of the jumbled crowd of +feasters in the ruined wasps' nest. We will concern ourselves only with +the most remarkable, in the front rank of which stands the bumblebee +Fly. + +She is a gorgeous and powerful fly; and her costume, with its brown +and yellow bands, shows a vague resemblance to that of the wasps. Our +fashionable theorists have availed themselves of this brown and yellow +to cite the Volucella as a striking instance of protective mimicry. +Obliged, if not on her own behalf, at least on that of her family, to +introduce herself as a parasite into the wasp's home, she resorts, they +tell us, to trickery and craftily dons her victim's livery. Once inside +the wasps' nest, she is taken for one of the inhabitants and attends +quietly to her business. + +The simplicity of the wasp, duped by a very clumsy imitation of her +garb, and the depravity of the fly, concealing her identity under a +counterfeit presentment, exceed the limits of my credulity. The wasp +is not so silly nor the Volucella so clever as we are assured. If the +latter really meant to deceive the Wasp by her appearance, we must +admit that her disguise is none too successful. Yellow sashes round the +abdomen do not make a wasp. It would need more than that and, above all, +a slender figure and a nimble carriage; and the Volucella is thickset +and corpulent and sedate in her movements. Never will the wasp take that +unwieldy insect for one of her own kind. The difference is too great. + +Poor Volucella, mimesis has not taught you enough. You ought--this is +the essential point--to have adopted a wasp's shape; and that you forgot +to do: you remained a fat fly, easily recognizable. Nevertheless, you +penetrate into the terrible cavern; you are able to stay there for a +long time, without danger, as the eggs profusely strewn on the wrapper +of the wasps' nest show. How do you set about it? + +Let us, first of all, remember that the bumblebee fly does not enter the +enclosure in which the combs are heaped: she keeps to the outer surface +of the paper rampart and there lays her eggs. Let us, on the other hand, +recall the Polistes [a tree nesting wasp] placed in the company of the +wasps in my vivarium. Here of a surety is one who need not have recourse +to mimicry to find acceptance. She belongs to the guild, she is a wasp +herself. Any of us that had not the trained eye of the entomologist +would confuse the two species. Well, this stranger, as long as she does +not become too importunate, is quite readily tolerated by the caged +wasps. None seeks to pick a quarrel with her. She is even admitted to +the table, the strip of paper smeared with honey. But she is doomed if +she inadvertently sets foot upon the combs. Her costume, her shape, her +size, which tally almost exactly with the costume, shape and size of +the wasp, do not save her from her fate. She is at once recognized as a +stranger and attacked and slaughtered with the same vigor as the larvae +of the Hylotoma sawfly and the Saperda beetle, neither of which bears +any outward resemblance to the larva of the wasps. + +Seeing that identity of shape and costume does not save the Polistes, +how will the Volucella fare, with her clumsy imitation? The wasp's eye, +which is able to discern the dissimilar in the like, will refuse to +be caught. The moment she is recognized, the stranger is killed on the +spot. As to that there is not the shadow of a doubt. + +In the absence of bumblebee flies at the moment of experimenting, I +employ another fly, Milesia fulminans, who, thanks to her slim figure +and her handsome yellow bands, presents a much more striking likeness to +the wasp than does the fat Volucella zonaria. Despite this resemblance, +if she rashly venture on the combs, she is stabbed and slain. Her yellow +sashes, her slender abdomen deceive nobody. The stranger is recognized +behind the features of a double. + +My experiments under glass, which varied according to the captures which +I happened to make, all lead me to this conclusion: as long as there +is more propinquity, even around the honey, the other occupants are +tolerated fairly well; but, if they touch the cells, they are assaulted +and often killed, without distinction of shape or costume. The grubs' +dormitory is the sanctum sanctorum which no outsider must enter under +pain of death. + +With these caged captives I experiment by daylight, whereas the free +wasps work in the absolute darkness of their underground retreat. Where +light is absent, color goes for nothing. Once, therefore, that she has +entered the cavern, the bumblebee fly derives no benefit from her yellow +bands, which are supposed to be her safeguard. Whether garbed as she is +or otherwise, it is easy for her to effect her purpose in the dark, on +condition that she avoids the tumultuous interior of the wasps' nest. So +long as she has the prudence not to hustle the passers by, she can dab +her eggs, without danger, on the paper wall. No one will know of her +presence. The dangerous thing is to cross the threshold of the burrow +in broad daylight, before the eyes of those who go in and out. At that +moment alone, protective mimicry would be convenient. Now does the +entrance of the Volucella into the presence of a few wasps entail such +very great risks? The wasps' nest in my enclosure, the one which +was afterwards to perish in the sun under a bell glass, gave me the +opportunity for prolonged observations, but without any result upon the +subject of my immediate concern. The bumblebee fly did not appear. The +period for her visits had doubtless passed; for I found plenty of her +grubs when the nest was dug up. + +Other flies rewarded me for my assiduity. I saw some--at a respectful +distance, I need hardly say--entering the burrow. They were +insignificant in size and of a dark gray color, not unlike that of the +housefly. They had not a patch of yellow about them and certainly had no +claim to protective mimicry. Nevertheless, they went in and out as they +pleased, calmly, as though they were at home. As long as there was not +too great a number at the door, the wasps left them alone. When there +was anything of a crowd, the gray visitors waited near the threshold for +a less busy moment. No harm came to them. + +Inside the establishment, the same peaceful relations prevail. In +this respect I have the evidence of my excavations. In the underground +charnel house, so rich in Fly grubs, I find no corpses of adult flies. +If the strangers had been slaughtered in passing through the entrance +hall, or lower down, they would fall to the bottom of the burrow anyhow, +with the other rubbish. Now in this charnel house, as I said, there are +never any dead bumblebee flies, never a fly of any sort. The incomers +are respected. Having done their business, they go out unscathed. + +This tolerance on the part of the wasps is surprising. And a suspicion +comes to one's mind: can it be that the Volucella and the rest are +not what the accepted theories of natural history call them, namely, +enemies, grub killers sacking the wasps' nest? We will look into this +by examining them when they are hatched. Nothing is easier, in September +and October, than to collect the Volucella's eggs in such numbers as we +please. They abound on the outer surface of the wasps' nest. Moreover, +as with the larvae of the wasp, it is some time before they are +suffocated by the petroleum fumes; and so most of them are sure to +hatch. I take my scissors, cut the most densely populated bits from the +paper wall of the nest and fill a jar with them. This is the warehouse +from which I shall daily, for the best part of the next two months, draw +my supply of nascent grubs. + +The Volucella's egg remains where it is, with its white color always +strongly marked against the brown of the background. The shell wrinkles +and collapses; and the fore end tears open. From it there issues a +pretty little white grub, thin in front, swelling slightly in the +rear and bristling all over with fleshy protuberances. The creature's +papillae are set on its sides like the teeth of a comb; at the rear, +they lengthen and spread into a fan; on the back, they are shorter and +arranged in four longitudinal rows. The last section but one carries two +short, bright red breathing tubes, standing aslant and joined to each +other. The fore part, near the pointed mouth, is of a darker, brownish +color. This is the biting and motor apparatus, seen through the skin and +consisting of two fangs. Taken all round, the grub is a pretty little +thing, with its bristling whiteness, which gives it the appearance of +a tiny snowflake. But this elegance does not last long: grown big and +strong, the bumblebee fly's grub becomes soiled with sanies, turns a +russety brown and crawls about in the guise of a hulking porcupine. + +What becomes of it when it leaves the egg? This my warehousing jar tells +me, partly. Unable to keep its balance on sloping surfaces, it drops +to the bottom of the receptacle, where I find it, daily, as hatched, +wandering restlessly. Things must happen likewise at the wasps'. +Incapable of standing on the slant of the paper wall, the newborn +grubs slide to the bottom of the underground cavity, which contains, +especially at the end of the summer, a heaped up provender of deceased +wasps and dead larvae removed from the cells and flung outside the +house, all nice and gamy, as proper maggot's food should be. The +Volucella's offspring, themselves maggots, notwithstanding their +snowy apparel, find in this charnel house victuals to their liking, +incessantly renewed. Their fall from the high walls might well be +not accidental, but rather a means of reaching, quickly and without +searching, the good things down at the bottom of the cavern. Perhaps, +also, some of the white grubs, thanks to the holes that make the wrapper +resemble a spongy cover, manage to slip inside the Wasps' nest. Still, +most of the Volucella's grubs, at whatever stage of their development, +are in the basement of the burrow, among the carrion remains. The +others, those settled in the wasps' home itself, are comparatively few. + +These returns are enough to show us that the grubs of the bumblebee fly +do not deserve the bad reputation that has been given them. Satisfied +with the spoils of the dead, they do not touch the living; they do not +ravage the wasps' nest: they disinfect it. + +Experiment confirms what we have learnt in the actual nests. Over and +over again, I bring wasp grubs and Volucella grubs together in small +test tubes, which are easy to observe. The first are well and strong; I +have just taken them from their cells. The others are in various stages, +from that of the snowflake born the same day to that of the sturdy +porcupine. There is nothing tragic about the encounter. The grubs of the +bumblebee fly roam about the test-tube without touching the live tidbit. +The most that they do is to put their mouths for a moment to the morsel; +then they take it away again, not caring for the dish. + +They want something different: a wounded, a dying grub; a corpse +dissolving into sanies. Indeed, if I prick the wasp grub with a needle, +the scornful ones at once come and sup at the bleeding wound. If I give +them a dead grub, brown with putrefaction, the worms rip it open and +feast on its humors. Better still: I can feed them quite satisfactorily +with wasps that have turned putrid under their horny rings; I see them +greedily suck the juices of decomposing Rosechafer grubs; I can keep +them thriving with chopped up butcher's meat, which they know how to +liquefy by the method of the common maggot. And these unprejudiced ones, +who accept anything that comes their way, provided it be dead, refuse +it when it is alive. Like the true flies that they are, frank body +snatchers, they wait, before touching a morsel, for death to do its +work. + +Inside the wasps' nest, robust grubs are the rule and weaklings the +rare exception, because of the assiduous supervision which eliminates +anything that is diseased and like to die. Here, nevertheless, Volucella +grubs are found, on the combs, among the busy wasps. They are not, it +is true, so numerous as in the charnel house below, but still pretty +frequent. Now what do they do in this abode where there are no corpses? +Do they attack the healthy? Their continual visits from cell to cell +would at first make one think so; but we shall soon be undeceived if +we observe their movements closely; and this is possible with my glass +roofed colonies. + +I see them fussily crawling on the surface of the combs, curving their +necks from side to side and taking stock of the cells. This one does +not suit, nor that one either; the bristly creature passes on, still in +search, thrusting its pointed fore part now here, now there. This time, +the cell appears to fulfil the requisite conditions. A larva, +glowing with health, opens wide its mouth, believing its nurse to be +approaching. It fills the hexagonal chamber with its bulging sides. + +The gluttonous visitor bends and slides its slender fore part, a blade +of exquisite suppleness, between the wall and the inhabitant, whose +slack rotundity yields to the pressure of this animated wedge. It +plunges into the cell, leaving no part of itself outside but its wide +hind quarters, with the red dots of the two breathing tubes. + +It remains in this posture for some time, occupied with its work at +the bottom of the cell. Meanwhile, the wasps present do not interfere, +remain impassive, showing that the grub visited is in no peril. The +stranger, in fact, withdraws with a soft, gliding motion. The chubby +babe, a sort of India rubber bag, resumes its original volume without +having suffered any harm, as its appetite proves. A nurse offers it a +mouthful, which it accepts with every sign of unimpaired vigor. As for +the Volucella grub, it licks its lips after its own fashion, pushing +its two fangs in and out; then, without further loss of time, goes and +repeats its probing elsewhere. + +What it wants down there, at the bottom of the cells, behind the grubs, +cannot be decided by direct observation; it must be guessed at. Since +the visited larva remains intact, it is not prey that the Volucella grub +is after. Besides, if murder formed part of its plans, why descend to +the bottom of the cell, instead of attacking the defenseless recluse +straight way? It would be much easier to suck the patient's juices +through the actual orifice of the cell. Instead of that, we see a dip, +always a dip and never any other tactics. + +Then what is there behind the wasp grub? Let us try to put it as +decently as possible. In spite of its exceeding cleanliness, this grub +is not exempt from the physiological ills inseparable from the stomach. +Like all that eats, it has intestinal waste matter with regard to which +its confinement compels it to behave with extreme discretion. Like so +many other close-cabined larvae of Wasps and Bees, it waits until the +moment of the transformation to rid itself of its digestive refuse. +Then, once and for all, it casts out the unclean accumulation whereof +the pupa, that delicate, reborn organism, must not retain the least +trace. This is found later, in any empty cell, in the form of a dark +purple plug. But, without waiting for this final purge, this lump, there +are, from time to time, slight excretions of fluid, clear as water. We +have only to keep a Wasp grub in a little glass tube to recognize these +occasional discharges. Well, I see nothing else to explain the action of +the Volucella's grubs when they dip into the cells without wounding the +larvae. They are looking for this liquid, they provoke its emission. +It represents to them a dainty which they enjoy over and above the more +substantial fare provided by the corpses. + +The bumblebee fly, that sanitary inspector of the Vespine city, fulfils +a double office: she wipes the wasp's children and she rids the nest of +its dead. For this reason, she is peacefully received, as an auxiliary, +when she enters the burrow to lay her eggs; for this reason, her grub is +tolerated, nay more, respected, in the very heart of the dwelling, where +none might stray with impunity. I remember the brutal reception given +to the Saperda and Hylotoma grubs when I place them on a comb. Forthwith +grabbed, bruised and riddled with stings, the poor wretches perish. It +is quite a different matter with the offspring of the Volucella. +They come and go as they please, poke about in the cells, elbow the +inhabitants and remain unmolested. Let us give some instances of this +clemency, which is very strange in the irascible Wasp. + +For a couple of hours, I fix my attention on a Volucella grub +established in a cell, side by side with the Wasp grub, the mistress +of the house. The hind quarters emerge, displaying their papillae. +Sometimes also the fore part, the head, shows, bending from side to side +with sudden, snake-like motions. The wasps have just filled their crops +at the honey pot; they are dispensing the rations, are very busily at +work; and things are taking place in broad daylight, on the table by the +window. + +As they pass from cell to cell, the nurses repeatedly brush against and +stride across the Volucella grub. There is no doubt that they see +it. The intruder does not budge, or, if trodden on, curls up, only to +reappear the next moment. Some of the wasps stop, bend their heads +over the opening, seem to be making inquiries and then go off, without +troubling further about the state of things. One of them does something +even more remarkable: she tries to give a mouthful to the lawful +occupant of the cell; but the larva, which is being squeezed by its +visitor, has no appetite and refuses. Without the least sign of anxiety +on behalf of the nursling which she sees in awkward company, the wasp +retires and goes to distribute its ration elsewhere. In vain I prolong +my examination: there is no fluster of any kind. The Volucella grub +is treated as a friend, or at least as a visitor that does not matter. +There is no attempt to dislodge it, to worry it, to put it to flight. +Nor does the grub seem to trouble greatly about those who come and go. +Its tranquillity, tells us that it feels at home. + +Here is some further evidence: the grub has plunged, head downwards, +into an empty cell, which is too small to contain the whole of it. +Its hindquarters stick out, very visibly. For long hours, it remains +motionless in this position. At every moment, wasps pass and repass +close by. Three of them, at one time together, at another separately, +come and nibble at the edges of the cell; they break off particles which +they reduce to paste for a new piece of work. The passers by, intent +upon their business, may not perceive the intruder; but these three +certainly do. During their work of demolition, they touch the grub with +their legs, their antennae, their palpi; and yet none of them minds it. +The fat grub, so easily recognized by its queer figure, is left alone; +and this in broad daylight, where everybody can see it. What must it be +when the profound darkness of the burrows protects the visitor with its +mysteries! + +I have been experimenting all along with big Volucella grubs, colored +with the dirty red which comes with age. What effect will pure white +produce? I sprinkle on the surface of the combs some larvae that have +lately left the egg. The tiny, snow-white grubs make for the nearest +cells, go down into them, come out again and hunt elsewhere. The +wasps peaceably let them go their way, as heedless of the little white +invaders as of the big red ones. Sometimes, when it enters an occupied +cell, the little creature is seized by the owner, the wasp grub, which +nabs it and turns and returns it between its mandibles. Is this a +defensive bite? No, the wasp grub has merely blundered, taking its +visitor for a proffered mouthful. There is no great harm done. Thanks +to its suppleness, the little grub emerges from the grip intact and +continues its investigations. + +It might occur to us to attribute this tolerance to some lack of +penetration in the wasps' vision. What follows will undeceive us: I +place separately, in empty cells, a grub of Saperda scalaria and a +Volucella grub, both of them white and selected so as not to fill the +cell entirely. Their presence is revealed only by the paleness of +the hind part which serves as a plug to the opening. A superficial +examination would leave the nature of the recluse undecided. The wasps +make no mistake: they extirpate the Saperda grub, kill it, fling it on +the dust heap; they leave the Volucella grub in peace. + +The two strangers are quite well recognized in the secrecy of the cells: +one is the intruder that must be turned out; the other is the regular +visitor that must be respected. Sight helps, for things take place in +the daylight, under glass; but the wasps have other means of information +in the dimness of the burrow. When I produce darkness by covering the +apparatus with a screen, the murder of the trespassers is accomplished +just the same. For so say the police regulations of the wasps' nest: any +stranger discovered must be slain and thrown on the midden. + +To thwart this vigilance, the real enemies need to be masters of the art +of deceptive immobility and cunning disguise. But there is no deception +about the Volucella grub. It comes and goes, openly, wheresoever it +will; it looks round amongst the wasps for cells to suit it. What has it +to make itself thus respected? Strength? Certainly not. It is a harmless +creature, which the wasp could rip open with a blow of her shears, while +a touch of the sting would mean lightning death. It is a familiar guest, +to whom no denizen of a wasps' nest bears any ill will. Why? Because +it renders good service: so far from working mischief, it does the +scavenging for its hosts. Were it an enemy or merely an intruder, it +would be exterminated; as a deserving assistant, it is respected. + +Then what need is there for the Volucella to disguise herself as a +wasp? Any fly, whether clad in drab or motley, is admitted to the burrow +directly she makes herself useful to the community. The mimicry of the +bumblebee fly, which was said to be one of the most conclusive cases, +is, after all, a mere childish notion. Patient observation, continually +face to face with facts, will have none of it and leaves it to the +armchair naturalists, who are too prone to look at the animal world +through the illusive mists of theory. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. MATHEMATICAL MEMORIES: NEWTON'S BINOMIAL THEOREM + +The spider's web is a glorious mathematical problem. I should enjoy +working it out in all its details, were I not afraid of wearying the +reader's attention. Perhaps I have even gone too far in the little that +I have said, in which case I owe him some compensation: 'Would you +like me,' I will ask him, 'would you like me to tell you how I acquired +sufficient algebra to master the logarithmic systems and how I became +a surveyor of Spiders' webs? Would you? It will give us a rest from +natural history.' + +I seem to catch a sign of acquiescence. The story of my village school, +visited by the chicks and the porkers, has been received with some +indulgence; why should not my harsh school of solitude possess its +interest as well? Let us try to describe it. And who knows? Perhaps, +in doing so, I shall revive the courage of some other poor derelict +hungering after knowledge. + +I was denied the privilege of learning with a master. I should be wrong +to complain. Solitary study has its advantages: it does not cast you in +the official mould; it leaves you all your originality. Wild fruit, when +it ripens, has a different taste from hothouse produce: it leaves on +a discriminating palate a bittersweet flavor whose virtue is all the +greater for the contrast. Yes, if it were in my power, I would start +afresh, face to face with my only counselor, the book itself, not always +a very lucid one; I would gladly resume my lonely watches, my struggles +with the darkness whence, at last, a glimmer appears as I continue to +explore it; I should retraverse the irksome stages of yore, stimulated +by the one desire that has never failed me, the desire of learning and +of afterwards bestowing my mite of knowledge on others. + +When I left the normal school, my stock of mathematics was of the +scantiest. How to extract a square root, how to calculate and prove the +surface of a sphere: these represented to me the culminating points of +the subject. Those terrible logarithms, when I happened to open a +table of them, made my head swim, with their columns of figures; actual +fright, not unmixed with respect, overwhelmed me on the very threshold +of that arithmetical cave. Of algebra I had no knowledge whatever. I had +heard the name; and the syllables represented to my poor brain the whole +whirling legion of the abstruse. + +Besides, I felt no inclination to decipher the alarming hieroglyphics. +They made one of those indigestible dishes which we confidently extol +without touching them. I greatly preferred a fine line of Virgil, whom I +was now beginning to understand; and I should have been surprised +indeed had any one told me that, for long years to come, I should be an +enthusiastic student of the formidable science. Good fortune procured me +my first lesson in algebra, a lesson given and not received, of course. + +A young man of about my own age came to me and asked me to teach him +algebra. He was preparing for his examination as a civil engineer; and +he came to me because, ingenuous youth that he was, he took me for +a well of learning. The guileless applicant was very far out in his +reckoning. + +His request gave me a shock of surprise, which was forthwith repressed +on reflection: 'I give algebra lessons?' said I to myself. 'It would be +madness: I don't know anything about the subject!' + +And I left it at that for a moment or two, thinking hard, drawn now +this way, now that with indecision: 'Shall I accept? Shall I refuse?' +continued the inner voice. + +Pooh, let's accept! An heroic method of learning to swim is to +leap boldly into the sea. Let us hurl ourselves head first into the +algebraical gulf; and perhaps the imminent danger of drowning will call +forth efforts capable of bringing me to land. I know nothing of what +he wants. It makes no difference: let's go ahead and plunge into the +mystery. I shall learn by teaching. + +It was a fine courage that drove me full tilt into a province which I +had not yet thought of entering. My twenty-year-old confidence was an +incomparable lever. + +'Very well,' I replied. 'Come the day after tomorrow, at five, and we'll +begin.' + +This twenty-four hours' delay concealed a plan. It secured me the +respite of a day, the blessed Thursday, which would give me time to +collect my forces. + +Thursday comes. The sky is gray and cold. In this horrid weather, a +grate well filled with coke has its charms. Let's warm ourselves and +think. + +Well, my boy, you've landed yourself in a nice predicament! How will +you manage tomorrow? With a book, plodding all through the night, if +necessary, you might scrape up something resembling a lesson, just +enough to fill the dread hour more or less. Then you could see about the +next: sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. But you haven't the +book. And it's no use running out to the bookshop. Algebraical treatises +are not current wares. You'll have to send for one, which will take +a fortnight at least. And I've promised for tomorrow, for tomorrow +certain! Another argument and one that admits of no reply: funds are +low; my last pecuniary resources lie in the corner of a drawer. I count +the money: it amounts to twelve sous, which is not enough. + +Must I cry off? Rather not! One resource suggests itself: a highly +improper one, I admit, not far removed indeed from larceny. O quiet +paths of algebra, you are my excuse for this venial sin! Let me confess +the temporary embezzlement. + +Life at my college is more or less cloistered. In return for a modest +payment, most of us masters are lodged in the building; and we take our +meals at the principal's table. The science master, who is the big gun +of the staff and lives in the town, has nevertheless, like ourselves, +his own two cells, in addition to a balcony, or leads, where the +chemical preparations give forth their suffocating gases in the open +air. For this reason, he finds it more convenient to hold his class here +during the greater part of the year. The boys come to these rooms in +winter, in front of a grate stuffed full of coke, like mine, and there +find a blackboard, a pneumatic trough, a mantelpiece covered with glass +receivers, panoplies of bent tubes on the walls, and, lastly, a +certain cupboard in which I remember seeing a row of books, the oracles +consulted by the master in the course of his lessons. + +'Among those books,' said I to myself, 'there is sure to be one on +algebra. To ask the owner for the loan of it does not appeal to me. +My amiable colleague would receive me superciliously and laugh at my +ambitious aims. I am sure he would refuse my request.' + +The future was to show that my distrust was justified. Narrow mindedness +and petty jealousy prevail everywhere alike. + +I decide to help myself to this book, which I should never get by +asking. This is the half-holiday. The science master will not put in an +appearance today; and the key of my room is practically the same as his. +I go, with eyes and ears on the alert. My key does not quite fit; it +sticks a little, then goes in; and an extra effort makes it turn in +the lock. The door opens. I inspect the cupboard and find that it does +contain an algebra book, one of the big, fat books which men used to +write in those days, a book nearly half a foot thick. My legs give way +beneath me. You poor specimen of a housebreaker, suppose you were caught +at it! However, all goes well. Quick, let's lock the door again and go +back to our own quarters with the pilfered volume. + +And now we are together, O mysterious tome, whose Arab name breathes a +strange mustiness of occult lore and claims kindred with the sciences of +almagest and alchemy. What will you show me? Let us turn the leaves at +random. Before fixing one's eyes on a definite point in the landscape, +it is well to take a summary view of the whole. Page follows swiftly +upon page, telling me nothing. A chapter catches my attention in the +middle of the volume; it is headed, Newton's Binomial Theorem. + +The title allures me. What can a binomial theorem be, especially one +whose author is Newton, the great English mathematician who weighed the +worlds? What has the mechanism of the sky to do with this? Let us read +and seek for enlightenment. With my elbows on the table and my thumbs +behind my ears, I concentrate all my attention. + +I am seized with astonishment, for I understand! There are a certain +number of letters, general symbols which are grouped in all manner of +ways, taking their places here, there and elsewhere by turns; there are, +as the text tells me, arrangements, permutations and combinations. +Pen in hand, I arrange, permute and combine. It is a very diverting +exercise, upon my word, a game in which the test of the written result +confirms the anticipations of logic and supplements the shortcomings of +one's thinking apparatus. + +'It will be plain sailing,' said I to myself, 'if algebra is no more +difficult than this.' + +I was to recover from the illusion later, when the binomial theorem, +that light, crisp biscuit, was followed by heavier and less +digestible fare. But, for the moment, I had no foretaste of the +future difficulties, of the pitfall in which one becomes more and more +entangled, the longer one persists in struggling. What a delightful +afternoon that was, before my grate, amid my permutations and +combinations! By the evening, I had nearly mastered my subject. When the +bell rang, at seven, to summon us to the common meal at the principal's +table, I went downstairs puffed up with the joys of the newly initiated +neophyte. I was escorted on my way by a, b and c, intertwined in cunning +garlands. + +Next day, my pupil is there. Blackboard and chalk, everything is ready. +Not quite so ready is the master. I bravely broach my binomial theorem. +My hearer becomes interested in the combinations of letters. Not for a +moment does he suspect that I am putting the cart before the horse and +beginning where we ought to have finished. I relieve the dryness of my +explanations with a few little problems, so many halts at which the mind +takes breath awhile and gathers strength for fresh flights. + +We try together. Discreetly, so as to leave him the merit of the +discovery, I shed a little light on the path. The solution is found. My +pupil triumphs; so do I, but silently, in my inner consciousness, which +says: + +'You understand, because you succeed in making another understand.' + +The hour passed quickly and very pleasantly for both of us. My young man +was contented when he left me; and I no less so, for I perceived a new +and original way of learning things. + +The ingenious and easy arrangement of the binomial gave me time to +tackle my algebra book from the proper commencement. In three or four +days, I had rubbed up my weapons. There was nothing to be said about +addition and subtraction: they were so simple as to force themselves +upon one at first sight. Multiplication spoilt things. There was a +certain rule of signs which declared that minus multiplied by minus made +plus. How I toiled over that wretched paradox! It would seem that +the book did not explain this subject clearly, or rather employed too +abstract a method. I read, reread and meditated in vain: the obscure +text retained all its obscurity. That is the drawback of books in +general: they tell you what is printed in them and nothing more. If +you fail to understand, they never advise you, never suggest an attempt +along another road which might lead you to the light. The merest word +would sometimes be enough to put you on the right track; and that word +the books, hidebound in a regulation phraseology, never give you. + +How greatly preferable is the oral lesson! It goes forward, goes back, +starts afresh, walks around the obstacle and varies the methods of +attack until, at long last, light is shed upon the darkness. This +incomparable beacon of the master's word was what I lacked; and I went +under, without hope of succor, in that treacherous pool of the rule of +signs. + +My pupil was bound to suffer the effects. After an attempt at an +explanation in which I made the most of the few gleams that reached me I +asked him: + +'Do you understand?' + +It was a futile question, but useful for gaining time. Myself not +understanding, I was convinced beforehand that he did not understand +either. + +'No,' he replied, accusing himself, perhaps, in his simple mind, of +possessing a brain incapable of taking in those transcendental verities. + +'Let us try another method.' + +And I start again this way and that way and yet another way. My pupil's +eyes serve as my thermometer and tell me of the progress of my efforts. +A blink of satisfaction announces my success. I have struck home, I have +found the joint in the armor. The product of minus multiplied by minus +delivers its mysteries to us. + +And thus we continued our studies: he, the passive receiver, taking in +the ideas acquired without effort; I, the fierce pioneer, blasting my +rock, the book, with the aid of much sitting up at night, to extract the +diamond, truth. Another and no less arduous task fell to my share: I had +to cut and polish the recondite gem, to strip it of its ruggedness +and present it to my companion's intelligence under a less forbidding +aspect. This diamond cutter's work, which admitted a little light into +the precious stone, was the favorite occupation of my leisure; and I owe +a great deal to it. + +The ultimate result was that my pupil passed his examination. As for the +book borrowed by stealth, I restored it to the shelves and replaced it +by another, which, this time, belonged to me. + +At my normal school, I had learnt a little elementary geometry under +a master. From the first few lessons onwards, I rather enjoyed the +subject. I divined in it a guide for one's reasoning faculties through +the thickets of the imagination; I caught a glimpse of a search after +truth that did not involve too much stumbling on the way, because each +step forward rests solidly upon the step already taken; I suspected +geometry to be what it preeminently is: a school of intellectual +fencing. + +The truth demonstrated and its application matter little to me; what +rouses my enthusiasm is the process that sets the truth before us. +We start from a brilliantly lighted spot and gradually get deeper and +deeper in the darkness, which, in its turn, becomes self-illuminated by +kindling new lights for a higher ascent. This progressive march of +the known toward the unknown, this conscientious lantern lighting what +follows by the rays of what comes before: that was my real business. + +Geometry was to teach me the logical progression of thought; it was +to tell me how the difficulties are broken up into sections which, +elucidated consecutively, together form a lever capable of moving the +block that resists any direct efforts; lastly, it showed me how order is +engendered, order, the base of clarity. If it has ever fallen to my lot +to write a page or two which the reader has run over without excessive +fatigue, I owe it, in great part, to geometry, that wonderful teacher +of the art of directing one's thought. True, it does not bestow +imagination, a delicate flower blossoming none knows how and unable to +thrive on every soil; but it arranges what is confused, thins out the +dense, calms the tumultuous, filters the muddy and gives lucidity, a +superior product to all the tropes of rhetoric. + +Yes, as a toiler with the pen, I owe much to it. Wherefore my thoughts +readily turn back to those bright hours of my novitiate, when, retiring +to a corner of the garden in recreation time, with a bit of paper on my +knees and a stump of pencil in my fingers, I used to practice deducing +this or that property correctly from an assemblage of straight lines. +The others amused themselves all around me; I found my delight in the +frustum of a pyramid. Perhaps I should have done better to strengthen +the muscles of my thighs by jumping and leaping, to increase the +suppleness of my loins with gymnastic contortions. I have known some +contortionists who have prospered beyond the thinker. + +See me then entering the lists as an instructor of youth, fairly well +acquainted with the elements of geometry. In case of need, I could +handle the land surveyor's stake and chain. There my views ended. To +cube the trunk of a tree, to gauge a cask, to measure the distance of an +inaccessible point appeared to me the highest pitch to which geometrical +knowledge could hope to soar. Were there loftier flights? I did not even +suspect it, when an unexpected glimpse showed me the puny dimensions of +the little corner which I had cleared in the measureless domain. + +At that time, the college in which, two years before, I had made my +first appearance as a teacher, had just halved the size of its classes +and largely increased its staff. The newcomers all lived in the +building, like myself, and we had our meals in common at the principal's +table. We formed a hive where, in our leisure time, some of us, in our +respective cells, worked up the honey of algebra and geometry, history +and physics, Greek and Latin most of all, sometimes with a view to the +class above, sometimes and oftener with a view to acquiring a degree. +The university titles lacked variety. All my colleagues were bachelors +of letters, but nothing more. They must, if possible, arm themselves +a little better to make their way in the world. We all worked hard and +steadily. I was the youngest of the industrious community and no less +eager than the rest to increase my modest equipment. + +Visits between the different rooms were frequent. We would come to +consult one another about a difficulty, or simply to pass the time +of day. I had as a neighbor, in the next cell to mine, a retired +quartermaster who, weary of barrack life, had taken refuge in education. +When in charge of the books of his company he had become more or less +familiar with figures; and it became his ambition to take a mathematical +degree. His cerebrum appears to have hardened while he was with his +regiment. According to my dear colleagues, those amiable retailers +of the misfortunes of others, he had already twice been plucked. +Stubbornly, he returned to his books and exercises, refusing to be +daunted by two reverses. + +It was not that he was allured by the beauties of mathematics, far from +it; but the step to which he aspired favored his plans. He hoped to +have his own boarders and dispense butter and vegetables to lucrative +purpose. The lover of study for its own sake and the persistent trapper +hunting a diploma as he would something to put in his mouth were not +made to understand or to see much of each other. Chance, however, +brought us together. + +I had often surprised our friend sitting in the evening, by the light of +a candle, with his elbows on the table and his head between his hands, +meditating at great length in front of a big exercise book crammed with +cabalistic signs. From time to time, when an idea came to him, he would +take his pen and hastily put down a line of writing wherein letters, +large and small, were grouped without any grammatical sense. The letters +x and y often recurred, intermingled with figures. Every row ended +with the sign of equality and a nought. Next came more reflection, with +closed eyes, and a fresh row of letters arranged in a different order +and likewise followed by a nought. Page after page was filled in this +queer fashion, each line winding up with 0. + +'What are you doing with all those rows of figures amounting to zero?' I +asked him one day. + +The mathematician gave me a leery look, picked up in barracks. A +sarcastic droop in the corner of his eye showed how he pitied my +ignorance. My colleague of the many noughts did not, however, take an +unfair advantage of his superiority. He told me that he was working at +analytical geometry. + +The phrase had a strange effect upon me. I ruminated silently to this +purpose: there was a higher geometry, which you learnt more particularly +with combinations of letters in which x and y played a prominent part. +When my next-door neighbor reflected so long, clutching his forehead +between his hands, he was trying to discover the hidden meaning of his +own hieroglyphics; he saw the ghostly translation of his sums dancing in +space. What did he perceive? How would the alphabetical signs, arranged +first in one and then in another manner, give an image of the actual +things, an image visible to the eyes of the mind alone? It beat me. + +'I shall have to learn analytical geometry some day,' I said. 'Will you +help me?' + +'I'm quite willing,' he replied, with a smile in which I read his lack +of confidence in my determination. + +No matter; we struck a bargain that same evening. We would together +break up the stubble of algebra and analytical geometry, the foundation +of the mathematical degree; we would make common stock: he would bring +long hours of calculation, I my youthful ardor. We would begin as soon +as I had finished with my arts degree, which was my main preoccupation +for the moment. + +In those far off days it was the rule to make a little serious literary +study take precedence of science. You were expected to be familiar +with the great minds of antiquity, to converse with Horace and Virgil, +Theocritus and Plato, before touching the poisons of chemistry or the +levers of mechanics. The niceties of thought could only be the gainers +by these preparations. Life's exigencies, ever harsher as progress +afflicts us with its increasing needs, have changed all that. A fig for +correct language! Business before all! + +This modern hurry would have suited my impatience. I confess that I +fumed against the regulation which forced Latin and Greek upon me before +allowing me to open up relations with the sine and cosine. Today, wiser, +ripened by age and experience, I am of a different opinion. I very much +regret that my modest literary studies were not more carefully conducted +and further prolonged. To fill up this enormous blank a little, I +respectfully returned, somewhat late in life, to those good old books +which are usually sold second-hand with their leaves hardly cut. +Venerable pages, annotated in pencil during the long evenings of my +youth, I have found you again and you are more than ever my friends. You +have taught me that an obligation rests upon whoever wields the pen: he +must have something to say that is capable of interesting us. When +the subject comes within the scope of natural science, the interest is +nearly always assured; the difficulty, the great difficulty, is to prune +it of its thorns and to present it under a prepossessing aspect. Truth, +they say, rises naked from a well. Agreed; but admit that she is all +the better for being decently clothed. She craves, if not the gaudy +furbelows borrowed from rhetoric's wardrobe, at least a vine leaf. The +geometers alone have the right to refuse her that modest garment; in +theorems, plainness suffices. The others, especially the naturalist, are +in duty bound to drape a gauze tunic more or less elegantly around her +waist. + +Suppose I say: 'Baptiste, give me my slippers.' + +I am expressing myself in plain language, a little poor in variants. I +know exactly what I am saying and my speech is understood. + +Others--and they are numerous--contend that this rudimentary method is +the best in all things. They talk science to their readers as they might +talk slippers to Baptiste. Kaffir syntax does not shock them. Do not +speak to them of the value of a well selected term, set down in its +right place, still less of a lilting construction, sounding rather well. +Childish nonsense they call all that; the fiddling of a short sighted +mind! + +Perhaps they are right: the Baptiste idiom is a great economizer of time +and trouble. This advantage does not tempt me; it seems to me that +an idea stands out better if expressed in lucid language, with sober +imagery. A suitable phrase, placed in its correct position and saying +without fuss the things we want to say, necessitates a choice, an often +laborious choice. There are drab words, the commonplaces of colloquial +speech; and there are, so to speak, colored words, which may be compared +with the brushstrokes strewing patches of light over the gray background +of a painting. How are we to find those picturesque words, those +striking features which arrest the attention? How are we to group them +into a language heedful of syntax and not displeasing to the ear? + +I was taught nothing of this art. For that matter, is it ever taught +in the schools? I greatly doubt it. If the fire that runs through our +veins, if inspiration do not come to our aid, we shall flutter the pages +of the thesaurus in vain: the word for which we seek will refuse to +come. Then to what masters shall we have recourse to quicken and develop +the humble germ that is latent within us? To books. + +As a boy, I was always an ardent reader; but the niceties of a +well-balanced style hardly interested me: I did not understand them. A +good deal later, when close upon fifteen, I began vaguely to see that +words have a physiognomy of their own. Some pleased me better than +others by the distinctness of their meaning and the resonance of their +rhythm; they produced a clearer image in my mind; after their fashion, +they gave me a picture of the object described. Colored by its adjective +and vivified by its verb, the name became a living reality: what it said +I saw. And thus, gradually, was the magic of words revealed to me, when +the chances of, my undirected reading placed a few easy standard pages +in my way. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. MATHEMATICAL MEMORIES: MY LITTLE TABLE + +It is time to start our analytical geometry. He can come now, my +partner, the mathematician: I think I shall understand what he says. +I have already run through my book and noticed that our subject, whose +beautiful precision makes work a recreation, bristles with no very +serious difficulties. + +We begin in my room, in front of a blackboard. After a few evenings, +prolonged into the peaceful watches of the night, I become aware, to my +great surprise, that my teacher, the past master in those hieroglyphics, +is really, more often than not, my pupil. He does not see the +combinations of the abscissas and ordinates very clearly. I make bold +to take the chalk in hand myself, to seize the rudder of our algebraical +boat. I comment on the book, interpret it in my own fashion, expound the +text, sound the reefs until daylight comes and leads us to the haven of +the solution. Besides, the logic is so irresistible, it is all such easy +going and so lucid that often one seems to be remembering rather than +learning. + +And so we proceed, with our positions reversed. I dig into the hard +rock, crumble it, loosen it until I make room for thought to penetrate. +My comrade--I can now allow myself to speak of him on equal terms--my +comrade listens, suggests objections, raises difficulties which we try +to solve in unison. The two combined levers, inserted in the fissure, +end by shaking and overturning the rocky mass. + +I no longer see in the corner of the quartermaster's eye the leery +droop that greeted me at the start. Cordial frankness now reigns, the +infectious high spirits imparted by success. Little by little, dawn +breaks, very misty as yet, but laden with promises. We are both greatly +amazed; and my share in the satisfaction is a double one, for he sees +twice over who makes others see. Thus do we pass half the night, in +delightful hours. We cease when sleep begins to weigh too heavily on our +eyelids. + +When my comrade returns to his room, does he sleep, careless for the +moment of the shifting scene which we have conjured up? He confesses to +me that he sleeps soundly. This advantage I do not possess. It is not +in my power to pass the sponge over my poor brain even as I pass it +over the blackboard. The network of ideas remains and forms as it were a +moving cobweb in which repose wriggles and tosses, incapable of finding +a stable equilibrium. When sleep does come at last, it is often but a +state of somnolence which, far from suspending the activity of the mind, +actually maintains and quickens it more than waking would. During this +torpor, in which night has not yet closed upon the brain, I sometimes +solve mathematical difficulties with which I struggled unsuccessfully +the day before. A brilliant beacon, of which I am hardly conscious, +flares in my brain. Then I jump out of bed, light my lamp again and +hasten to jot down my solutions, the recollection of which I should +have lost on awakening. Like lightning flashes, those gleams vanish as +suddenly as they appear. + +Whence do they come? Probably from a habit which I acquired very early +in life: to have food always there for my mind, to pour the never +failing oil constantly into the lamp of thought. Would you succeed in +the things of the mind? The infallible method is to be always thinking +of them. This method I practiced more sedulously than my comrade; and +hence, no doubt, arose the interchange of positions, the disciple turned +into the master. It was not, however, an overwhelming infatuation, a +painful obsession; it was rather a recreation, almost a poetic feast. As +our great lyric writer put it in the preface to his volume, Les Rayons +et les ombres: 'Mathematics play their part in art as well as in +science. There is algebra in astronomy: astronomy is akin to poetry; +there is algebra in music: music is akin to poetry.' + +Is this poetic exaggeration? Surely not: Victor Hugo spoke truly. +Algebra, the poem of order, has magnificent flights. I look upon its +formulae, its strophes as superb, without feeling at all astonished when +others do not agree. My colleague's satirical look came back when I was +imprudent enough to confide my extrageometrical raptures to his ears: +'Nonsense,' said he, 'pure stuff and nonsense! Let's get on with our +tangents.' + +The quartermaster was right: the strict severity of our approaching +examination allowed of no such dreamer's outbursts. Was I, on my side, +very wrong? To warm chill calculation by the fire of the ideal, to +lift one's thought above mere formulae, to brighten the caverns of +the abstract with a spark of life: was this not to ease the effort +of penetrating the unknown? Where my comrade plodded on, scorning my +viaticum, I performed a journey of pleasure. If I had to lean on the +rude staff of algebra, I had for my guide that voice within me, urging +me to lofty flights. Study became a joy. + +It became still more interesting when, after the angularities of a +combination of straight lines, I learnt to portray the graces of a +curve. How many properties were there of which the compass knew nothing, +how many cunning laws lay contained in embryo within an equation, the +mysterious nut which must be artistically cracked to extract the rich +kernel, the theorem! Take this or that term, place the + sign before it +and forthwith you have the ellipse, the trajectory of the planets, +with its two friendly foci, transmitting pairs of vectors whose sum +is constant; substitute the--sign and you have the hyperbola with +the antagonistic foci, the desperate curve that dives into space with +infinite tentacles, approaching nearer and nearer to straight lines, the +asymptotes, but never succeeding in meeting them. Suppress that term and +you have the parabola, which vainly seeks in infinity its lost second +focus; you have the trajectory of the bombshell; you have the path of +certain comets which come one day to visit our sun and then flee to +depths whence they never return. Is it not wonderful thus to formulate +the orbit of the worlds? I thought so then and I think so still. + +After fifteen months of this exercise, we went up together for our +examination at Montpellier; and both of us received our degrees as +bachelors of mathematical science. My companion was a wreck: I, on the +other hand, had refreshed myself with analytical geometry. + +Utterly worn out by his course of conic sections, my chum declares that +he has had enough. In vain I hold out the glittering prospect of a new +degree, that of licentiate of mathematical science, which would lead +us to the splendors of the higher mathematics and initiate us into the +mechanics of the heavens: I cannot prevail upon him, cannot make him +share my audacity. He calls it a mad scheme, which will exhaust us and +come to nothing. Without the advice of an experienced pilot, with no +other compass than a book, which is not always very clear, because of +its laconic adherence to set terms, our poor bark is bound to be wrecked +on the first reef. One might as well put out to sea in a nutshell and +defy the billows of the vasty deep. He does not use these actual words, +but his gloomy estimate of the extreme difficulties to be encountered is +enough to explain his refusal. I am quite free to go and break my neck +in far countries; he is more prudent and will not follow me. + +I suspect another reason, which the deserter does not confess. He has +obtained the title needed for his plans. What does he care for the rest? +Is it worth while to sit up late at night and wear one's self out in +toil for the mere pleasure of learning? He must be a madman who, without +the lure of profit, lends an ear to the blandishments of knowledge. Let +us retreat into our shell, close our lid to the importunities of the +light and lead the life of a mussel. There lies the secret of happiness. +This philosophy is not mine. My curiosity sees in a stage accomplished +no more than the preparation for a new stage towards the retreating +unknown. My partner, therefore, leaves me. Henceforth, I am alone, alone +and wretched. There is no one left with whom I can sit up and thresh +the subject out in exhilarating discussion. There is no one near me to +understand me, no one who can even passively oppose his ideas to mine +and take part in the conflict whence the light will spring, even as a +spark is born of the concussion of two flints. When a difficulty arises, +steep as a cliff, there is no friendly shoulder to support me in my +attempt to climb it. Alone, I have to cling to the roughness of the +jagged rock, to fall, often, and pick myself up, covered with bruises, +and renew the assault; alone, I must give my shout of triumph, without +the least echo of encouragement, when, reaching the summit and broken in +the effort, I am at last allowed to see a little way beyond. + +My mathematical campaign will cost me much stubborn thought: I am aware +of this after the first few lines of my book. I am entering upon the +domain of the abstract, rough ground that can only be cleared by the +insistent plow of reflection. The blackboard, excellent for the curves +of analytical geometry studied in my friend's company, is now neglected. +I prefer the exercise book, a quire of paper bound in a cover. With this +confidant, which allows one to remain seated and rests the muscles of +the legs, I can commune nightly under my lampshade, until a late hour, +and keep going the forge of thought wherein the intractable problem is +softened and hammered into shape. + +My study table, the size of a pocket handkerchief, occupied on the right +by the ink stand--a penny bottle--and on the left by the open exercise +book, gives me just the room which I need to wield the pen. I love that +little piece of furniture, one of the first acquisitions of my early +married life. It is easily moved where you wish: in front of the window, +when the sky is cloudy; into the discreet light of a corner, when +the sun is troublesome. In winter, it allows you to come close to the +hearth, where a log is blazing. + +Poor little walnut board, I have been faithful to you for half a century +and more. Ink-stained, cut and scarred with the penknife, you lend +your support today to my prose as you once did to my equations. This +variation in employment leaves you indifferent; your patient back +extends the same welcome to the formulae of algebra and the formula of +thought. I cannot boast this placidity; I find that the change has not +increased my peace of mind; hunting for ideas troubles the brain even +more than hunting for the roots of an equation. + +You would never recognize me, little friend, if you could give a glance +at my gray mane. Where is the cheerful face of former days, bright with +enthusiasm and hope? I have aged, I have aged. And you, what a falling +off, since you came to me from the dealer's, gleaming and polished and +smelling so good with your beeswax! Like your master, you have wrinkles, +often my work, I admit; for how many times, in my impatience, have I not +dug my pen into you, when, after its dip in the muddy inkpot, the nib +refused to write decently! + +One of your corners is broken off; the boards are beginning to +come loose. Inside you, I hear, from time to time, the plane of +the death-watch, who despoils old furniture. From year to year, new +galleries are excavated, endangering your solidity. The old ones show on +the outside in the shape of tiny round holes. A stranger has seized +upon the latter, excellent quarters, obtained without trouble. I see the +impudent intruder run nimbly under my elbow and penetrate forthwith into +the tunnel abandoned by the death-watch. She is after game, this slender +huntress, clad in black, busy collecting wood lice for her grubs. A +whole nation is devouring you, you old table; I am writing on a swarm of +insects! No support could be more appropriate to my entomological notes. + +What will become of you when your master is gone? Will you be knocked +down for a franc, when the family come to apportion my poor spoils? Will +you be turned into a stand for the pitcher beside the kitchen sink? +Will you be the plank on which the cabbages are shredded? Or will my +children, on the contrary, agree and say: + +'Let us preserve the relic. It was where he toiled so hard to teach +himself and make himself capable of teaching others; it was where he so +long consumed his strength to find food for us when we were little. Let +us keep the sacred plank.' + +I dare not believe in such a future for you. You will pass into strange +hands, O my old friend; you will become a bedside table, laden with bowl +after bowl of linseed tea, until, decrepit, rickety and broken down, you +are chopped up to feed the flames for a brief moment under the simmering +saucepan. You will vanish in smoke to join my labors in that other +smoke, oblivion, the ultimate resting place of our vain agitations. + +But let us return, little table, to our young days; those of your +shining varnish and of my fond illusions. It is Sunday, the day of rest, +that is to say, of continuous work, uninterrupted by my duties in the +school. I greatly prefer Thursday, which is not a general holiday +and more propitious to studious calm. Such as it is, for all its +distractions, the Lord's day gives me a certain leisure. Let us make the +most of it. There are fifty-two Sundays in the year, making a total that +is almost equivalent to the long vacation. + +It so happens that I have a glorious question to wrestle with today; +that of Kepler's three laws, which, when explored by the calculus, are +to show me the fundamental mechanism of the heavenly bodies. One of them +says: 'The area swept out in a given time by the radius vector of the +path of a planet is proportional to the time taken.' + +From this I have to deduce that the force which confines the planet +to its orbit is directed towards the sun. Gently entreated by the +differential and integral calculus, already the formula is beginning to +voice itself. My concentration redoubles, my mind is set upon seizing +the radiant dawn of truth. + +Suddenly, in the distance, br-r-r-rum! Br-r-r-rum! Br-r-r-rum! The noise +comes nearer, grows louder. Woe upon me! And plague take the Pagoda! + +Let me explain. I live in a suburb, at the beginning of the Pernes Road, +far from the tumult of the town [of Carpentras where Fabre was a master +at the college]. Twenty yards in front of my house, some pleasure +gardens have been opened, bearing a signboard inscribed, 'The Pagoda.' +Here, on Sunday afternoons, the lads and lasses from the neighboring +farms come to disport themselves in country dances. To attract custom +and push the sale of refreshments, the proprietor of the ball ends +the Sunday hop with a tombola. Two hours beforehand, he has the prizes +carried along the public roads, preceded by fifes and drums. From a +beribboned pole, borne by a stalwart fellow in a red sash, dangle a +plated goblet, a handkerchief of Lyons silk, a pair of candlesticks and +some packets of cigars. Who would not enter the pleasure gardens, with +such a bait? + +'Br-r-r-rum! Br-r-r-rum! Br-r-r-rum!' goes the procession. + +It comes just under my window, wheels to the right and marches into the +establishment, a huge wooden booth, hung with evergreens. And now, if +you dislike noise, flee, flee as far as you can. Until nightfall, the +ophicleides will bellow, the fifes tootle and the cornets bray. How +would you deduce the steps of Kepler's laws to the accompaniment of that +noisy orchestra! It is enough to drive one mad. Let us be off with all +speed. + +A mile away, I know a flinty waste beloved of the wheatear and the +locust. Here reigns perfect calm; moreover, there are some clumps of +evergreen oak which will lend me their scanty shade. I take my book, +a few sheets of paper and a pencil and fly to this solitude. What +beauteous silence, what exquisite quiet! But the sun is overwhelming, +under the meager cover of the bushes. Cheerily, my lad! Have at your +Kepler's laws in the company of the blue-winged locusts. You will return +home with your problems solved, but with a blistered skin. An overdose +of sun in the neck shall be the outcome of grasping the law of the +areas. One thing makes up for another. + +During the rest of the week, I have my Thursdays and the evenings, which +I employ in study until I drop with sleep. All told I have no lack of +time, despite the drudgery of my college ties. The great thing is not +to be discouraged by the unavoidable difficulties encountered at +the outset. I lose my way easily in that dense forest overgrown with +creepers that have to be cut away with the axe to obtain a clearing. A +fortunate turn or two; and I once more know where I am. I lose my way +again. The stubborn axe makes its opening without always letting in +sufficient light. + +The book is just a book, that is to say, a set text, saying not a word +more than it is obliged to, exceedingly learned, I admit, but, +alas, often obscure! The author, it seems, wrote it for himself. He +understood; therefore others must. Poor beginners, left to yourselves, +you manage as best you can! For you, there shall be no retracing of +steps in order to tackle the difficulty in another way; no circuit +easing the arduous road and preparing the passage; no supplementary +aperture to admit a glimmer of daylight. Incomparably inferior to the +spoken word, which begins again with fresh methods of attack and is +ready to vary the paths that lead to the open, the book says what it +says and nothing more. Having finished its demonstration, whether you +understand or no, the oracle is inexorably dumb. You reread the text and +ponder it obstinately; you pass and repass your shuttle through the woof +of figures. Useless efforts all: the darkness continues. What would be +needed to supply the illuminating ray? Often enough, a trifle, a mere +word; and that word the book will not speak. + +Happy is he who is guided by a master's teaching! His progress does not +know the misery of those wearisome breakdowns. What was I to do before +the disheartening wall that every now and then rose up and barred +my road? I followed d'Alembert's precept in his advice to young +mathematical students: 'Have faith and go ahead,' said the great +geometrician. + +Faith I had; and I went on pluckily. And it was well for me that I did, +for I often found behind the wall the enlightenment which I was seeking +in front of it. Giving up the bad patch as hopeless, I would go on and, +after I had left it behind, discover the dynamite capable of blasting +it. 'Twas a tiny grain at first, an insignificant ball rolling and +increasing as it went. From one slope to the other of the theorems, it +grew to a heavy mass; and the mass became a mighty projectile which, +flung backwards and retracing its course, split the darkness and spread +it into one vast sheet of light. + +D'Alembert's precept is good and very good, provided you do not abuse +it. Too much precipitation in turning over the intractable page might +expose you to many a disappointment. You must have fought the difficulty +tooth and nail before abandoning it. This rough skirmishing leads to +intellectual vigor. + +Twelve months of meditation in the company of my little table at last +won me my degree as a licentiate of mathematical science; and I was +now qualified to perform, half a century later, the eminently lucrative +functions of an inspector of Spiders' webs! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE BLUEBOTTLE: THE LAYING + +To purge the earth of death's impurities and cause deceased animal +matter to be once more numbered among the treasures of life there +are hosts of sausage queens, including, in our part of the world, the +bluebottle (Calliphora vomitaria, LIN.) and the checkered flesh fly +(Sarcophaga carnaria, LIN.). Every one knows the first, the big, +dark-blue fly who, after effecting her designs in the ill-watched meat +safe, settles on our window panes and keeps up a solemn buzzing, anxious +to be off in the sun and ripen a fresh emission of germs. How does +she lay her eggs, the origin of the loathsome maggot that battens +poisonously on our provisions, whether of game or butcher's meat? What +are her stratagems and how can we foil them? This is what I propose to +investigate. + +The bluebottle frequents our homes during autumn and a part of winter, +until the cold becomes severe; but her appearance in the fields dates +back much earlier. On the first fine day in February, we shall see her +warming herself, chillily, against the sunny walls. In April, I notice +her in considerable numbers on the laurestinus. It is here that she +seems to pair, while sipping the sugary exudations of the small white +flowers. The whole of the summer season is spent out of doors, in brief +flights from one refreshment bar to the next. When autumn comes, with +its game, she makes her way into our houses and remains until the hard +frosts. + +This suits my stay-at-home habits and especially my legs, which are +bending under the weight of years. I need not run after the subjects of +my present study; they call on me. Besides, I have vigilant assistants. +The household knows of my plans. Every one brings me, in a little screw +of paper, the noisy visitor just captured against the panes. + +Thus do I fill my vivarium, which consists of a large, bell-shaped +cage of wire gauze, standing in an earthenware pan full of sand. A +mug containing honey is the dining room of the establishment. Here the +captives come to recruit themselves in their hours of leisure. To +occupy their maternal cares, I employ small birds--chaffinches, linnets, +sparrows--brought down, in the enclosure, by my son's gun. + +I have just served up a Linnet shot two days ago. I next place in the +cage a bluebottle, one only, to avoid confusion. Her fat belly proclaims +the advent of a laying time. An hour later, when the excitement of being +put in prison is allayed, my captive is in labor. With eager, jerky +steps, she explores the morsel of game, goes from the head to the tail, +returns from the tail to the head, repeats the action several times and +at last settles near an eye, a dimmed eye sunk into its socket. + +The ovipositor bends at a right angle and dives into the junction of the +beak, straight down to the root. Then the eggs are emitted for nearly +half an hour. The layer, utterly absorbed in her serious business, +remains stationary and impassive and is easily observed through my lens. +A movement on my part would doubtless scare her; but my restful presence +gives her no anxiety. I am nothing to her. + +The discharge does not go on continuously until the ovaries are +exhausted; it is intermittent and performed in so many packets. Several +times over, the fly leaves the bird's beak and comes to take a rest upon +the wire gauze, where she brushes her hind legs one against the other. +In particular, before using it again, she cleans, smoothes and polishes +her laying tool, the probe that places the eggs. Then, feeling her womb +still teeming, she returns to the same spot at the joint of the beak. +The delivery is resumed, to cease presently and then begin anew. A +couple of hours are thus spent in alternate standing near the eye and +resting on the wire gauze. + +At last, it is over. The fly does not go back to the bird, a proof +that her ovaries are exhausted. The next day, she is dead. The eggs are +dabbed in a continuous layer, at the entrance to the throat, at the +root of the tongue, on the membrane of the palate. Their number appears +considerable; the whole inside of the gullet is white with them. I fix +a little wooden prop between the two mandibles of the beak, to keep them +open and enable me to see what happens. + +I learn in this way that the hatching takes place in a couple of days. +As soon as they are born, the young vermin, a swarming mass, leave the +place where they are and disappear down the throat. To inquire further +into the work is useless for the moment. We shall learn more about it +later, under conditions that make examination easier. + +The beak of the bird invaded was closed at the start, as far as the +natural contact of the mandibles allowed. There remained a narrow slit +at the base, sufficient at most to admit the passage of a horsehair. +It was through this that the laying was performed. Lengthening her +ovipositor like a telescope, the mother inserted the point of her +implement, a point slightly hardened with a horny armor. The fineness +of the probe equals the fineness of the aperture. But, if the beak were +entirely closed, where would the eggs be laid then? + +With a tied thread, I keep the two mandibles in absolute contact; and +I place a second bluebottle in the presence of the linnet, which the +colonists have already entered by the beak. This time, the laying +takes place on one of the eyes, between the lid and the eyeball. At +the hatching, which again occurs a couple of days later, the grubs make +their way into the fleshy depths of the socket. The eyes and the beak, +therefore, form the two chief entrances into feathered game. + +There are others; and these are the wounds. I cover the linnet's head +with a paper hood which will prevent invasion through the beak and eyes. +I serve it, under the wire gauze bell, to a third egg layer. The bird +has been struck by a shot in the breast, but the sore is not bleeding: +no outer stain marks the injured spot. Moreover, I am careful to arrange +the feathers, to smooth them with a hair pencil, so that the bird looks +quite smart and has every appearance of being untouched. + +The fly is soon there. She inspects the linnet from end to end; with +her front tarsi she fumbles at the breast and belly. It is a sort of +auscultation by sense of touch. The insect becomes aware of what is +under the feathers by the manner in which these react. If scent comes +to her assistance, it can only be very slightly, for the game is not yet +high. The wound is soon found. No drop of blood is near it, for it is +closed by a plug of down rammed into it by the shot. The fly takes up +her position without separating the feathers or uncovering the wound. +She remains here for two hours without stirring, motionless, with her +abdomen concealed beneath the plumage. My eager curiosity does not +distract her from her business for a moment. + +When she has finished, I take her place. There is nothing either on the +skin or at the mouth of the wound. I have to withdraw the downy plug +and dig to some depth before discovering the eggs. The ovipositor has +therefore lengthened its extensible tube and pushed beyond the feather +stopper driven in by the lead. The eggs are in one packet; they number +about three hundred. + +When the beak and eyes are rendered inaccessible, when the body, +moreover, has no wounds, the laying still takes place, but, this time, +in a hesitating and niggardly fashion. I pluck the bird completely, the +better to watch what happens; also, I cover the head with a paper hood +to close the usual means of access. For a long time, with jerky steps, +the mother explores the body in every direction; she takes her stand by +preference on the head, which she sounds by tapping on it with her front +tarsi. She knows that the openings which she needs are there, under +the paper; but she also knows how frail are her grubs, how powerless to +pierce their way through the strange obstacle which stops her as well +and interferes with the work of her ovipositor. The cowl inspires her +with profound distrust. Despite the tempting bait of the veiled head, +not an egg is laid on the wrapper, slight though it may be. + +Weary of vain attempts to compass this obstacle, the Fly at last decides +in favor of other points, but not on the breast, belly or back, where +the hide would seem too tough and the light too intrusive. She needs +dark hiding places, corners where the skin is very delicate. The spots +chosen are the cavity of the axilla, corresponding with our armpit, +and the crease where the thigh joins the belly. Eggs are laid in both +places, but not many, showing that the groin and the axilla are adopted +only reluctantly and for lack of a better spot. + +With an unplucked bird, also hooded, the same experiment failed: the +feathers prevent the fly from slipping into those deep places. Let us +add, in conclusion, that, on a skinned bird, or simply on a piece of +butcher's meat, the laying is effected on any part whatever, provided +that it be dark. The gloomiest corners are the favorite ones. + +It follows from all this that, to lay the eggs, the Bluebottle picks out +either naked wounds or else the mucous membranes of the mouth or eyes, +which are not protected by a skin of any thickness. She also needs +darkness. We shall see the reasons for her preference later on. + +The perfect efficiency of the paper bag, which prevents the inroads +of the worms through the eye sockets or the beak, suggests a similar +experiment with the whole bird. It is a matter of wrapping the body in a +sort of artificial skin which will be as discouraging to the fly as the +natural skin. Linnets, some with deep wounds, others almost intact, +are placed one by one in paper envelopes similar to those in which the +nursery gardener keeps his seeds, envelopes just folded, without being +stuck. The paper is quite ordinary and of average thickness. Torn pieces +of newspaper serve the purpose. + +These sheaths with the corpses inside them are freely exposed to the +air, on the table in my study, where they are visited, according to the +time of day, in dense shade and in bright sunlight. Attracted by the +effluvia from the dead meat, the bluebottles haunt my laboratory, the +windows of which are always open. I see them daily alighting on the +envelopes and very busily exploring them, apprised of the contents by +the gamy smell. Their incessant coming and going is a sign of intense +cupidity; and yet none of them decides to lay on the bags. They do not +even attempt to slide their ovipositor through the slits of the folds. +The favorable season passes and not an egg is laid on the tempting +wrappers. All the mothers abstain, judging the slender obstacle of the +paper to be more than the vermin will be able to overcome. + +This caution on the fly's part does not at all surprise me: motherhood +everywhere has gleams of great perspicacity. What does astonish me is +the following result. The parcels containing the linnets are left for a +whole year uncovered on the table; they remain there for a second year +and a third. I inspect the contents from time to time. The little birds +are intact, with unrumpled feathers, free from smell, dry and light, +like mummies. They have become not decomposed, but mummified. + +I expected to see them putrefying, running into sanies, like corpses +left to rot in the open air. On the contrary, the birds have dried and +hardened, without undergoing any change. What did they want for their +putrefaction? Simply the intervention of the fly. The maggot, therefore, +is the primary cause of dissolution after death; it is, above all, the +putrefactive chemist. + +A conclusion not devoid of value may be drawn from my paper game bags. +In our markets, especially in those of the South, the game is hung +unprotected from the hooks on the stalls. Larks strung up by the dozen +with a wire through their nostrils, thrushes, plovers, teal, partridges, +snipe, in short, all the glories of the spit which the autumn migration +brings us, remain for days and weeks at the mercy of the flies. The +buyer allows himself to be tempted by a goodly exterior; he makes his +purchase and, back at home, just when the bird is being prepared for +roasting, he discovers that the promised dainty is alive with worms. O +horror! There is nothing for it but to throw the loathsome, verminous +thing away. + +The bluebottle is the culprit here. Everybody knows it; and nobody +thinks of seriously shaking off her tyranny: not the retailer, nor the +wholesale dealer, nor the killer of the game. What is wanted to keep the +maggots out? Hardly anything: to slip each bird into a paper sheath. If +this precaution were taken at the start, before the flies arrive, any +game would be safe and could be left indefinitely to attain the degree +of ripeness required by the epicure's palate. + +Stuffed with olives and myrtle berries, the Corsican blackbirds are +exquisite eating. We sometimes receive them at Orange, layers of them, +packed in baskets through which the air circulates freely and +each contained in a paper wrapper. They are in a state of perfect +preservation, complying with the most exacting demands of the kitchen. +I congratulate the nameless shipper who conceived the bright idea of +clothing his blackbirds in paper. Will his example find imitators? I +doubt it. + +There is, of course, a serious objection to this method of preservation. +In its paper shroud, the article is invisible; it is not enticing; it +does not inform the passer by of its nature and qualities. There is one +resource left which would leave the bird uncovered: simply to case the +head in a paper cap. The head being the part most threatened, because of +the mucus membrane of the throat and eyes, it would be sufficient, as a +rule, to protect the head, in order to keep off the Flies and to thwart +their attempts. + +Let us continue to study the bluebottle, while varying our means +of information. A tin, about four inches deep, contains a piece of +butcher's meat. The lid is not put in quite straight and leaves a +narrow slit at one point of its circumference, allowing, at most, of the +passage of a fine needle. When the bait begins to give off a gamy scent, +the mothers come. Singly or in numbers. They are attracted by the odor +which, transmitted through a thin crevice, hardly reaches my nostrils. + +They explore the metal receptacle for some time, seeking an entrance. +Finding naught that enables them to reach the coveted morsel, they +decide to lay their eggs on the tin, just beside the aperture. +Sometimes, when the width of the passage allows of it, they insert the +ovipositor into the tin and lay the eggs inside, on the very edges of +the slit. Whether outside or in, the eggs are dabbed down in a fairly +regular and absolutely white layer. I as it were shovel them up with a +little paper scoop. I thus obtain all the germs that I require for +my experiments, eggs bearing no trace of the stains which would be +inevitable if I had to collect them on tainted meat. + +We have seen the bluebottle refusing to lay her eggs on the paper bag, +notwithstanding the carrion fumes of the Linnet enclosed; yet now, +without hesitation, she lays them on a sheet of metal. Can the nature of +the floor make any difference to her? I replace the tin lid by a paper +cover stretched and pasted over the orifice. With the point of my knife, +I make a narrow slit in this new lid. That is quite enough: the parent +accepts the paper. + +What determined her, therefore, is not simply the smell, which can +easily be perceived even through the uncut paper, but, above all, the +crevice, which will provide an entrance for the vermin, hatched outside, +near the narrow passage. The maggots' mother has her own logic, her +prudent foresight. She knows how feeble her wee grubs will be, how +powerless to cut their way through an obstacle of any resistance; and +so, despite the temptation of the smell, she refrains from laying so +long as she finds no entrance through which the newborn worms can slip +unaided. + +I wanted to know whether the color, the shininess, the degree of +hardness and other qualities of the obstacle would influence the +decision of a mother obliged to lay her eggs under exceptional +conditions. With this object in view, I employed small jars, each baited +with a bit of butcher's meat. The respective lids were made of different +colored paper, of oilskin, or of some of that tinfoil, with its gold or +coppery sheen, which is used for sealing liqueur bottles. On not one +of these covers did the mothers stop, with any desire to deposit their +eggs; but, from the moment that the knife had made the narrow slit, +all the lids were, sooner or later, visited and all of them, sooner or +later, received the white shower somewhere near the gash. The look of +the obstacle, therefore, does not count; dull or brilliant, drab or +colored: these are details of no importance; the thing that matters is +that there should be a passage to allow the grubs to enter. + +Though hatched outside, at a distance from the coveted morsel, the +newborn worms are well able to find their refectory. As they release +themselves from the egg, without hesitation, so accurate is their scent, +they slip beneath the edge of the ill-joined lid, or through the passage +cut by the knife. Behold them entering upon their promised land, their +reeking paradise. + +Eager to arrive, do they drop from the top of the wall? Not they! Slowly +creeping, they make their way down the side of the jar; they use their +fore part, ever in quest of information, as a crutch and grapnel in one. +They reach the meat and at once install themselves upon it. + +Let us continue our investigation, varying the conditions. A large +test-tube, measuring nine inches high, is baited at the bottom with a +lump of butcher's meat. It is closed with wire gauze, whose meshes, two +millimeters wide, do not permit of the fly's passage. The bluebottle +comes to my apparatus, guided by scent rather than sight. She hastens to +the test tube whose contents are veiled under an opaque cover with the +same alacrity as to the open tube. The invisible attracts her quite as +much as the visible. + +She stays a while on the lattice of the mouth, inspects it attentively; +but, whether because circumstances have failed to serve me, or because +the wire network inspires her with distrust, I never saw her dab her +eggs upon it for certain. As her evidence was doubtful, I had recourse +to the flesh fly (Sarcophaga carnaria). + +This fly is less finicky in her preparations, she has more faith in the +strength of her worms, which are born ready-formed and vigorous, and +easily shows me what I wish to see. She explores the trellis-work, +chooses a mesh through which she inserts the tip of her abdomen and, +undisturbed by my presence, emits, one after the other, a certain number +of grubs, about ten or so. True, her visits will be repeated, increasing +the family at a rate of which I am ignorant. + +The newborn worms, thanks to a slight viscidity, cling for a moment to +the wire gauze; they swarm, wriggle, release themselves and leap into +the chasm. It is a nine inch drop at least. When this is done, the +mother makes off, knowing for a certainty that her offspring will shift +for themselves. If they fall on the meat, well and good; if they fall +elsewhere, they can reach the morsel by crawling. + +This confidence in the unknown factor of the precipice, with no +indication but that of smell, deserves fuller, investigation. From +what height will the flesh fly dare to let her children drop? I top the +test-tube with another tube, the width of the neck of a claret bottle. +The mouth is closed either with wire gauze, or with a paper cover with a +slight cut in it. Altogether, the apparatus measures twenty-five inches +in height. No matter: the fall is not serious for the lithe backs of the +young grubs; and, in a few days, the test-tube is filled with larvae, +in which it is easy to recognize the flesh fly's family by the fringed +coronet that opens and shuts at the maggot's stern like the petals of +a little flower. I did not see the mother operating: I was not there at +the time; but there is no doubt possible of her coming nor of the great +dive taken by the family: the contents of the test-tube furnish me with +a duly authenticated certificate. + +I admire the leap and, to obtain one better still, I replace the tube +by another, so that the apparatus now stands forty-six inches high. The +column is erected at a spot frequented by flies, in a dim light. Its +mouth, closed with a wire gauze cover, reaches the level of various +other appliances, test-tubes and jars, which are already stocked or +awaiting their colony of vermin. When the position is well known to the +flies, I remove the other tubes and leave the column, lest the visitors +should turn aside to easier ground. + +From time to time, the bluebottle and the flesh fly perch on the +trellis-work, make a short investigation and then decamp. Throughout the +summer season, for three whole months, the apparatus remains where it +is, without the least result: never a worm. What is the reason? Does +the stench of the meat not spread, coming from that depth? Certainly it +spreads: it is unmistakable to my dulled nostrils and still more so to +the nostrils of my children, whom I call to bear witness. Then why does +the flesh fly, who but now was dropping her grubs from a goodly height, +refuse to let them fall from the top of a column twice as high? Does +she fear lest her worms should be bruised by an excessive drop? There +is nothing about her to point to anxiety aroused by the length of the +shaft. I never see her explore the tube or take its size. She stands on +the trellised orifice; and there the matter ends. Can she be apprised +of the depth of the chasm by the comparative faintness of the offensive +odors that arise from it? Can the sense of smell measure the distance +and judge whether it be acceptable or not? Perhaps. + +The fact remains that, despite the attraction of the scent, the flesh +fly does not expose her worms to disproportionate falls. Can she know +beforehand that, when the chrysalides break, her winged family, knocking +with a sudden flight against the sides of a tall chimney, will be unable +to get out? This foresight would be in agreement with the rules which +order maternal instinct according to future needs. + +But when the fall does not exceed a certain depth, the budding worms of +the flesh fly are dropped without a qualm, as all our experiments show. +This principle has a practical application which is not without its +value in matters of domestic economy. It is as well that the wonders of +entomology should sometimes give us a hint of commonplace utility. + +The usual meat safe is a sort of large cage with a top and bottom +of wood and four wire gauze sides. Hooks fixed into the top are used +whereby to hang pieces which we wish to protect from the flies. Often, +so as to employ the space to the best advantage, these pieces are simply +laid on the floor on the cage. With these arrangements, are we sure of +warding off the fly and her vermin? + +Not at all. We may protect ourselves against the Bluebottle, who is not +much inclined to lay her eggs at a distance from the meat; but there is +still the flesh fly, who is more venturesome and goes more briskly to +work and who will slip the grubs through a hole in the meshes and drop +them inside the safe. Agile as they are and well able to crawl, the +worms will easily reach anything on the floor; the only things secure +from their attacks will be the pieces hanging from the ceiling. It is +not in the nature of maggots to explore the heights, especially if this +implies climbing down a string in addition. + +People also use wire gauze dish covers. The trellised dome protects the +contents even less than does the meat safe. The flesh fly takes no heed +of it. She can drop her worms through the meshes on the covered joint. + +Then what are we to do? Nothing could be simpler. We need only wrap +the birds which we wish to preserve--thrushes, partridges, snipe and so +on--in separate paper envelopes; and the same with our beef and mutton. +This defensive armor alone, while leaving ample room for the air to +circulate, makes any invasion by the worms impossible, even without a +cover or a meat safe: not that paper possesses any special preservative +virtues, but solely because it forms an impenetrable barrier. The +Bluebottle carefully refrains from laying her eggs upon it and the flesh +fly from bringing forth her offspring, both of them knowing that their +newborn young are incapable of piercing the obstacle. + +Paper is equally successful in our strife against the Moths, those +plagues of our furs and clothes. To keep away these wholesale ravages, +people generally use camphor, naphthalene, tobacco, bunches of lavender +and other strong-scented remedies. Without wishing to malign those +preservatives, we are bound to admit that the means employed are none +too effective. The smell does very little to prevent the havoc of the +moths. + +I would therefore counsel our housewives, instead of all this chemist's +stuff, to use newspapers of a suitable shape and size. Take whatever you +wish to protect--your furs, your flannel or your clothes--and pack each +article carefully in a newspaper, joining the edges with a double fold, +well pinned. If this joining is properly done, the Moth will never get +inside. Since my advice has been taken and this method employed in my +household, the old damage has never been repeated. + +To return to the fly. A piece of meat is hidden in a jar under a layer +of fine, dry sand, a finger's-breadth thick. The jar has a wide mouth +and is left quite open. Let whoever come that will, attracted by the +smell. The Bluebottles are not long in inspecting what I have prepared +for them: they enter the jar, go out and come back again, inquiring into +the invisible thing revealed by its fragrance. A diligent watch enables +me to see them fussing about, exploring the sandy expanse, tapping it +with their feet, sounding it with their proboscis. I leave the visitors +undisturbed for a fortnight or three weeks. None of them lays any eggs. + +This is a repetition of what the paper bag, with its dead bird, showed +me. The flies refuse to lay on the sand, apparently for the same +reasons. The paper was considered an obstacle which the frail vermin +would not be able to overcome. With sand, the case is worse. Its +grittiness would hurt the newborn weaklings, its dryness would absorb +the moisture indispensable to their movements. Later, when preparing for +the metamorphosis, when their strength has come to them, the grubs will +dig the earth quite well and be able to descend; but, at the start, +that would be very dangerous for them. Knowing these difficulties, the +mothers, however greatly tempted by the smell, abstain from breeding. As +a matter of fact, after long waiting, fearing lest some packets of eggs +may have escaped my attention, I inspect the contents of the jar from +top to bottom. Meat and sand contain neither larvae nor pupae: the whole +is absolutely deserted. + +The layer of sand being only a finger's-breadth thick, this experiment +requires certain precautions. The meat may expand a little, in going +bad, and protrude in one or two places. However small the fleshy eyots +that show above the surface, the flies come to them and breed. Sometimes +also the juices oozing from the putrid meat soak a small extent of the +sandy floor. That is enough for the maggot's first establishment. These +causes of failure are avoided with a layer of sand about an inch thick. +Then the bluebottle, the flesh fly and other flies whose grubs batten on +dead bodies are kept at a proper distance. + +In the hope of awakening us to a proper sense of our insignificance, +pulpit orators sometimes make an unfair use of the grave and its worms. +Let us put no faith in their doleful rhetoric. The chemistry of man's +final dissolution is eloquent enough of our emptiness: there is no need +to add imaginary horrors. The worm of the sepulchre is an invention of +cantankerous minds, incapable of seeing things as they are. Covered by +but a few inches of earth, the dead can sleep their quiet sleep: no fly +will ever come to take advantage of them. + +At the surface of the soil, exposed to the air, the hideous invasion +is possible; ay, it is the invariable rule. For the melting down and +remolding of matter, man is no better, corpse for corpse, than the +lowest of the brutes. Then the fly exercises her rights and deals with +us as she does with any ordinary animal refuse. Nature treats us with +magnificent indifference in her great regenerating factory: placed in +her crucibles, animals and men, beggars and kings are one and all alike. +There you have true equality, the only equality in this world of ours: +equality in the presence of the maggot. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE BLUEBOTTLE: THE GRUB + +The larvae of the bluebottle hatch within two days in the warm weather. +Whether inside my apparatus, in direct contact with the piece of meat, +or outside, on the edge of a slit that enables them to enter, they set +to work at once. They do not eat, in the strict sense of the word, +that is to say, they do not tear their food, do not chew it by means of +implements of mastication. Their mouth parts do not lend themselves to +this sort of work. These mouth parts are two horny spikes, sliding one +upon the other, with curved ends that do not face, thus excluding the +possibility of any function such as seizing and grinding. + +The two guttural grapnels serve for walking much rather than for +feeding. The worm plants them alternately in the road traversed and, by +contracting its crupper, advances just that distance. It carries in +its tubular throat the equivalent of our iron tipped sticks which give +support and assist progress. + +Thanks to this machinery of the mouth, the maggot not only moves over +the surface, but also easily penetrates the meat: I see it disappear +as though it were dipping into butter. It cuts its way, levying, as it +goes, a preliminary toll, but only of liquid mouthfuls. Not the smallest +solid particle is detached and swallowed. That is not the maggot's +diet. It wants a broth, a soup, a sort of fluid extract of beef which it +prepares itself. As digestion, after all, merely means liquefaction, +we may say, without being guilty of paradox, that the grub of the +bluebottle digests its food before swallowing it. + +With the object of relieving gastric troubles, our manufacturing +chemists scrape the stomachs of the pig and sheep and thus obtain +pepsin, a digestive agent which possesses the property of liquefying +albuminous matters and lean meat in particular. Why cannot they rasp +the stomach of the maggot! They would obtain a product of the highest +quality, for the carnivorous worm also owns its pepsin, pepsin of a +singularly active kind, as the following experiments will show us. + +I divide the white of a hard-boiled egg into tiny cubes and place them +in a little test-tube. On the top of the contents, I sprinkle the eggs +of the bluebottle, eggs free from the least stain, taken from those +laid on the outside of tins baited with meat and not absolutely shut. +A similar test-tube is filled with white of egg, but receives no germs. +Both are closed with a plug of cotton-wool and left in a dark corner. + +In a few days, the tube swarming with newborn vermin contains a liquid +as fluid and transparent as water. Not a drop would remain in the +tube if I turned it upside down. All the white of egg has disappeared, +liquefied. As for the worms, which are already a fair size, they seem +very ill at ease. Deprived of a support whence to attain the outer air, +most of them dive into the broth of their own making, where they perish +by drowning. Others, endowed with greater vigor, crawl up the glass to +the plug and manage to make their way through the wadding. Their pointed +front, armed with grappling irons, is the nail that penetrates the +fibrous mass. + +In the other test-tube, standing beside the first and subjected to +the same atmospheric influences, nothing striking has occurred. The +hard-boiled white of egg has retained its dead white color and its +firmness. I find it as I left it. The utmost that I observe is a few +traces of must. The result of this first experiment is patent: the +Bluebottle's grub is the medium that converts coagulated albumen into a +liquid. + +The value of chemist's pepsin is estimated by the quantity of +hard-boiled white of egg which a gram of that agent can liquefy. The +mixture has to be exposed in an oven to a temperature of 1400 F. and +also to be frequently shaken. My preparation, in which the bluebottle's +eggs are hatched, is neither shaken nor subjected to the heat of +an oven; everything happens in quietness and under the thermometric +conditions of the surrounding air; nevertheless, in a few days, the +coagulated albumen, treated by the vermin, runs like water. + +The reagent that causes this liquefaction escapes my endeavors to detect +it. The worms must disgorge it in infinitesimal doses, while the spikes +in their throats, which are in continual movement, emerge a little +way from the mouth, reenter and reappear. Those piston thrusts, those +quasi-kisses, are accompanied by the emission of the solvent: at least, +that is how I picture it. The maggot spits on its food, places on it +the wherewithal to make it into broth. To appraise the quantity of the +matter expectorated is beyond my powers: I observe the result, but do +not perceive the leavening agent. + +Well, this result is really astounding, when we consider the scantiness +of the means. No pig's or sheep's pepsin can rival that of the worm. +I have a bottle of pepsin that comes from the School of Chemistry at +Montpellier. I lavishly powder some pieces of hard-boiled white of egg +with the potent drug, just as I did with the eggs of the Bluebottle. +The oven is not brought into play, neither is distilled water added, nor +hydrochloric acid: two auxiliaries which are recommended. The experiment +is conducted in exactly the same way as that of the tubes with the +vermin. The result is entirely different from what I expected. The white +of egg does not liquefy. It simply becomes moist on the surface; and +even this moisture may come from the pepsin, which is highly absorbent. +Yes, I was right: if the thing were feasible, it would be an advantage +for the chemists to collect their digestive drug from the stomach of the +maggot. The worm, in this case, beats the pig and the sheep. + +The same method is followed for the remaining experiments. I put the +bluebottle's eggs to hatch on a piece of meat and leave the worms to do +their work as they please. The lean tissues, whether of mutton, beef +or pork, no matter which, are not turned into liquid; they become a pea +soup of a clarety brown. The liver, the lung, the spleen are attacked +to better purpose, without, however, getting beyond the state of a +semi-fluid jam, which easily mixes with water and even appears to +dissolve in it. The brains do not liquefy either: they simply melt into +a thin gruel. + +On the other hand, fatty substances, such as beef suet, lard and butter, +do not undergo any appreciable change. Moreover, the worms soon dwindle +away, incapable of growing. This sort of food does not suit them. Why? +Apparently because it cannot be liquefied by the reagent disgorged +by the worms. In the same way, ordinary pepsin does not attack fatty +substances; it takes pancreatin to reduce them to an emulsion. This +curious analogy of properties, positive for albuminous, negative for +fatty matter, proclaims the similarity and perhaps the identity of the +dissolvent discharged by the grubs and the pepsin of the higher animals. + +Here is another proof: the usual pepsin does not dissolve the epidermis, +which is a material of a horny nature. That of the maggots does not +dissolve it either. I can easily rear bluebottle grubs on dead crickets +whose bellies I have first opened; but I do not succeed if the morsel +be left intact: the worms are unable to perforate the succulent paunch; +they are stopped by the cuticle, on which their reagent refuses to act. +Or else I give them frogs' hind legs, stripped of their skin. The flesh +turns to broth and disappears to the bone. If I do not peel the legs, +they remain intact in the midst of the vermin. Their thin skin is +sufficient to protect them. + +This failure to act upon the epidermis explains why the bluebottle at +work on the animal declines to lay her eggs on the first part that comes +handy. She needs the delicate membrane of the nostrils, eyes or throat, +or else some wound in which the flesh is laid bare. No other place suits +her, however excellent for flavor and darkness. At most, finding nothing +better when my stratagems interfere, she persuades herself to dab a few +eggs under the axilla of a plucked bird or in the groin, two points at +which the skin is thinner than elsewhere. + +With her maternal foresight, the bluebottle knows to perfection the +choice surfaces, the only ones liable to soften and run under the +influence of the reagent dribbled by the newborn grubs. The chemistry +of the future is familiar to her, though she does not use it for her own +feeding; motherhood, that great inspirer of instinct, teaches her all +about it. + +Scrupulous though she be in choosing exactly where to lay her eggs, the +bluebottle does not trouble about the quality of the provisions intended +for her family's consumption. Any dead body suits her purpose. Redi, the +Italian scientist who first exploded the old, foolish notion of worms +begotten of corruption, fed the vermin in his laboratory with meat of +very different kinds. In order to make his tests the more conclusive, +he exaggerated the largess of the dining hall. The diet was varied with +tiger and lion flesh, bear and leopard, fox and wolf, mutton and beef, +horseflesh, donkey flesh and many others, supplied by the rich menagerie +of Florence. This wastefulness was unnecessary: wolf and mutton are all +the same to an unprejudiced stomach. + +A distant disciple of the maggot's biographer, I look at the problem +in a light which Redi never dreamt of. Any flesh of one of the higher +animals suits the fly's family. Will it be the same if the food supplied +be of a lower organism and consist of fish, for instance, of frog, +mollusk, insect, centipede? Will the worms accept these viands and, +above all, can they manage to liquefy them, which is the first and +foremost condition? + +I serve a piece of raw whiting. The flesh is white, delicate, partly +translucent, easy for our stomachs to digest and no less suited to the +grub's dissolvent. It turns into an opalescent fluid, which runs like +water. In fact, it liquefies in much the same way as hard-boiled white +of egg. The worms at first wax fat, as long as the conditions allow of +some solid eyots remaining; then, when foothold fails, threatened with +drowning in the too fluid broth, they creep up the side of the glass, +anxious and restless to be off. They climb to the cotton-wool stopper of +the test-tube and try to bolt through the wadding. Endowed with stubborn +perseverance, nearly all of them decamp in spite of the obstacle. The +test-tube with the white of egg showed me a similar exodus. Although the +fare suits them, as their growth witnesses, the worms cease feeding and +make a point of escaping when death by drowning is imminent. + +With other fish, such as skate and sardines, with the flesh of frogs and +tree frogs, the meat simply dissolves into a porridge. Hashes of slug, +Scolopendra or praying mantis furnish the same result. + +In all these preparations, the dissolving agent of the worms is as much +in evidence as when butcher's meat is employed. Moreover, the grubs seem +satisfied with the queer dish which my curiosity prescribes for them; +they thrive amidst the victuals and undergo their transformation into +pupae. + +The conclusion, therefore, is much more general than Redi imagined. Any +meat, no matter whether of a higher or lower order, suits the bluebottle +for the settlement of her family. The carcasses of furred and feathered +animals are the favorite victuals, probably because of their richness, +which allows of plentiful layings; but, should the occasion demand it, +the others are also accepted, without inconvenience. Any carrion +that has lived the life of an animal comes within the domain of these +scavengers. + +What is their number to one mother? I have already spoken of a deposit +of three hundred, counted egg by egg. A quite fortuitous circumstance +enabled me to go much farther. In the first week of January 1905, we +experienced a sudden short cold snap of a severity very exceptional in +my part of the country. The thermometer fell to twelve degrees below +zero. While a fierce north wind was raging and beginning to redden the +leaves of the olive trees, came one and brought me a barn or screech +owl, which he had found on the ground, exposed to the air, not far from +my house. My reputation as a lover of animals made the donor believe +that I should be pleased with his gift. + +I was, as a matter of fact, but for reasons whereof the finder certainly +never dreamt. The owl was untouched, with trim feathers and not the +least wound that showed. Perhaps he had died of cold. What made me +gratefully accept the present was exactly that which would have inclined +anyone but myself to refuse it. The owl's eyes, glazed in death, were +hidden under a thick mass of eggs, which I recognized as a bluebottle's. +Similar masses occupied the vicinity of the nostrils. If I wanted +maggots, here, of a certainty, was a richer crop than I had ever beheld. + +I place the corpse on the sand of a pan, with a wire gauze cover, and +leave events to take their course. The laboratory in which I install my +bird is none other than my study. It is as cold in there, or nearly, as +outside, so much so that the water in the aquarium in which I used to +rear caddis worms has frozen into a solid block of ice. Under these +conditions of temperature, the owl's eyes keep their white veil of germs +unchanged. Nothing stirs, nothing swarms. Weary of waiting, I pay no +more attention to the carcass; I leave the future to decide whether the +cold has exterminated the fly's family or not. + +Before the end of March, the packets of eggs have disappeared, I know +not how long. The bird, for that matter, seems to be intact. On the +ventral surface, which is turned to the air, the feathers keep their +smooth arrangement and their fresh coloring. I lift the thing. It is +light, very dry and gives a hard sound, like an old shoe tanned by the +summer sun in the fields. There is no smell. The dryness has vanquished +the stench, which, in any case, was never offensive during that time +of frost. On the other hand, the back, which touched the sand, is a +loathsome wreck, partly deprived of its feathers. The quills of the tail +are bare barreled; a few whitened bones show, deprived of their muscles. +The skin has turned into a dark leather, pierced with round holes like +those of a sieve. It is all hideously ugly, but most instructive. + +The wretched owl, with his shattered backbone, teaches us, first of +all, that a temperature twelve degrees of frost does not endanger +the existence of the bluebottle's germs. The worms were born without +accident, despite the rude blast; they feasted copiously on extract +of meat; then, growing big and fat, they descended into the earth by +piercing round holes in the bird's skin. Their pupae must now be in the +sand of the pan. + +They are, in point of fact, and in such numbers that I have to resort to +sifting in order to collect them. If I used the forceps, I should never +have done sorting so great a quantity. The sand passes through the +meshes of the sieve, the pupae remain above. To count them would wear +out my patience. I measure them by the bushel, that is to say, with a +thimble of which I know the holding capacity in pupae. The result of my +calculation is not far short of nine hundred. + +Does this family proceed from one mother? I am quite ready to admit it, +so unlikely is it that the bluebottle, who is so rare inside our houses +during the severe cold of winter, should be frequent enough outside +to form into groups and to do business in common while an icy blast is +raging. A belated specimen, the plaything of the north wind, and one +alone must have deposited the burden of her ovaries on the owl's eyes. +This laying of nine hundred eggs, an incomplete laying perhaps, bears +witness to the mighty part played by the fly as a liquidator of corpses. + +Before throwing away the screech owl treated by the worms, let us +overcome our repugnance and give a glance inside the bird. We see a +tortuous cavity, fenced in by nameless ruins. Muscles and bowels have +disappeared, converted into broth and gradually consumed by the teeming +throng. In every part, what was wet has become dry, what was solid +muddy. In vain my forceps ransacks every nook and corner: it does not +hit upon a single pupa. All the worms have emigrated, all, without +exception. From first to last, they have forsaken the refuge of the +corpse, so soft to their delicate skins; they have left the velvet for +the hard ground. Is dryness necessary to them at this stage? They had +it in the carcass, which was thoroughly drained. Would they protect +themselves against the cold and rain? No shelter could suit them +better than the thick quilt of the feathers, which has remained wholly +undamaged on the belly, the breast and every part that was not in touch +with the ground. It looks as though they had fled from comfort to seek +a less kindly dwelling place. When the hour of transformation came, all +left the owl, that most excellent lodging; all dived into the sand. + +The exodus from the mortuary tabernacle was made through the round holes +wherewith the skin is pierced. Those holes are the worms' work: of that +there is no doubt; and yet we have lately seen the mothers refuse as a +bed for their eggs any part whereat the flesh is protected by a skin +of some thickness. The reason is the failure of the pepsin to act on +epidermic substances. In the absence of liquefaction at such points, the +nourishing gruel is unprocurable. On the other hand, the tiny worms are +not able--or at least do not know how--to dig through the integument +with their pair of guttural harpoons, to rend it and reach the +liquefiable flesh. The newborn lack strength and, above all, purpose. +But, as the time comes for descending into the earth, the worms, now +powerful and suddenly versed in the necessary art, well know how to eat +away patiently and clear themselves a passage. With the hooks of their +spikes they dig, scratch and tear. Instinct has flashes of inspiration. +What the animal did not know how to do at the start it learns without +apprenticeship when the time comes to practice this or that industry. +The maggot ripe for burial perforates a membranous obstacle which the +grub intent upon its broth would not even have attempted to attack with +either its pepsin or its grapnels. + +Why does the worm quit the carcass, that capital shelter? Why does it go +and take up its abode in the ground? As the leading disinfector of dead +things, it works at the most important matter, the suppression of the +infection; but it leaves a plentiful residuum, which does not yield +to the reagents of its analytical chemistry. These remains have to +disappear in their turn. After the fly, anatomists come hastening, who +take up the dry relic, nibble skin, tendons and ligaments and scrape the +bones clean. + +The greatest expert in this work is the Dermestes beetle, an +enthusiastic gnawer of animal remains. Sooner or later, he will come +to the joint already exploited by the fly. Now what would happen if the +pupae were there? The answer is obvious. The Dermestes, who loves hard +food, would dig his teeth into the horny little kegs and demolish them +at a bite. Even though he did not touch the contents, a live thing which +he probably dislikes, he would at least test the flavor of that lifeless +substance, the container. The future Fly would be lost, because her +casing would be pierced. Even so, in the storerooms of our silk mills, +a certain Dermestes (Dermestes vulpinus, FABR.) digs into the cocoons to +attack the horny covering of the chrysalis. + +The maggot foresees the danger and makes itself scarce before the other +arrives. In what sort of memory does it house so much wisdom, indigent, +headless creature that it is, for it is only by extension that we can +give the name of head to the animal's pointed fore part? How did it +learn that, to safeguard the pupa, it must desert the carcass and that, +to safeguard the fly, it must not bury itself too far down? + +To emerge from underground after the perfect insect is hatched, the +bluebottle's device consists in disjointing her head into two movable +halves, which, each distended with its great red eye, by turns separate +and reunite. In the intervening space, a large, glassy hernia rises and +disappears, disappears and rises. When the two move asunder, with one +eye forced back to the right, the other to the left, it is as though the +insect were splitting its brain pan in order to expel the contents. Then +the hernia rises, blunt at the end and swollen into a great knob. Next, +the forehead closes and the hernia retreats, leaving visible only a kind +of shapeless muzzle. In short, a frontal pouch, with deep pulsations +momentarily renewed, becomes the instrument of deliverance, the pestle +wherewith the newly hatched bluebottle bruises the sand and causes it +to crumble. Gradually the legs push the rubbish back and the insect +advances so much toward the surface. + +A hard task, this exhumation by dint of the blows of a cleft and +palpitating head. Moreover, the exhausting effort has to be made at +the moment of greatest weakness, when the insect leaves that protecting +casket, its pupa. It emerges from it pale, flabby and unsightly, sorrily +clad in the wings which, folded lengthwise and made shorter by their +scalloped edge, only just cover the top of the back. Wildly bristling +with hairs and colored ashen-gray, it is a piteous sight. The large set +of wings, suitable for flight, will spread later. For the moment, it +would only be in the way amid the obstacles to be passed through. Later +also will come the faultless dress wherein the iridescent indigo-blue +stands out against the severity of the black. + +The frontal hernia that crumbles the sand with its impact has a tendency +to make play for some time after the emergence from the ground. Take +hold with the forceps of one of the hind legs of a newly released +fly. Forthwith, the implement of the head begins to work, swelling and +subsiding as energetically as a moment ago, when it had to make a +hole in the sand. The insect, hampered in its movements as when it was +underground, struggles as best it can against the only obstacle that +it knows. With its heaving knob, it pounds the air even as but now it +pounded the earthy barrier. In all unpleasant circumstances, its one +resource is to cleave its head and produce its cranial hernia, which +moves out and in, in and out. For nearly two hours, interspersed with +halts due to fatigue, the little machine keeps throbbing in my forceps. + +In the meantime, however, the desperate one is hardening her skin; she +spreads wide the sail of her wings and dons her deep mourning of black +and darkest blue. Then her eyes, warped sideways, come together and +resume their normal position. The cleft forehead closes; the delivering +blister goes in, never to show itself again. But there is one precaution +to be taken first. With its front tarsi, the insect carefully brushes +the bump about to disappear from view, lest grit should lodge in the +cranium when the two halves of the head are joined for good. + +The maggot is aware of the trials that await it when, as a fly, it will +have to come up from under ground; it knows beforehand how difficult the +ascent will be with the feeble instrument at its disposal, so difficult, +in fact, as to become fatal should the journey be at all prolonged. +It foresees the dangers ahead of it and averts them as well as it can. +Gifted with two iron shod sticks in its throat, it can easily descend to +such depths as it pleases. The need for greater quiet and a less trying +temperature calls for the deepest possible home: the lower down it is, +the better for the welfare of the worm and the pupa, on condition that +descent be practicable. It is, perfectly; and yet, though free to obey +its inspiration, the grub refrains. I rear it in a deep pan, full of +fine, dry sand, easy to excavate. The interment never goes very far. +About a hand's breadth is all that the most progressive digger ventures +upon. Most of the interred remain nearer still to the surface. Here, +under a thin layer of sand, the grub's skin hardens and becomes a +coffin, a casket, wherein the transformation sleep is slept. A few +weeks later, the buried one awakes, transfigured but weak, having +naught wherewith to unearth herself but the throbbing hernia of her open +forehead. + +What the maggot denies itself it is open to me to realize, should I +care to know the depth whence the fly is able to mount. I place fifteen +bluebottle pupae, obtained in winter, at the bottom of a wide tube +closed at one end. Above the pupae is a perpendicular column of fine, +dry sand, the height of which varies in different tubes. April comes and +the hatching begins. + +A tube with six centimeters of sand, the shallowest of the columns under +experiment, yields the best result. Of the fifteen subjects interred +in the pupa stage, fourteen easily reach the surface when they become +flies. Only one of them perishes, one who has not even attempted the +ascent. With twelve centimeters of sand, four emerge. With twenty +centimeters, two, no more. The other flies, jaded with their exertions, +have died at a higher or lower stage of the road. Lastly, with yet +another tube wherein the column of sand measured sixty centimeters, I +obtained the liberation of only a single fly. The plucky creature must +have had a hard struggle to mount from so great a depth, for the other +fourteen did not even manage to burst the lid of their caskets. + +I presume that the looseness of the sand and the consequent pressure +in every direction, similar to that exercised by fluids, have a certain +bearing on the difficulties of the exhumation. Two more tubes are +prepared, but this time supplied with fresh mould, lightly heaped up, +which has not the incoherence of sand, with the attendant drawback of +pressure. Six centimeters of mould give me eight flies for fifteen pupae +buried; twenty centimeters give me only one. There is less success than +with the sandy column. My device has diminished the pressure, but, +at the same time, increased the passive resistance. The sand falls of +itself under the impact of the frontal rammer; the unyielding mould +demands the cutting of a gallery. In fact, I perceive, on the road +followed, a shaft which continues indefinitely such as it is. The fly +has bored it with the temporary blister that throbs between her eyes. + +In every medium, therefore, whether sand, mould or any earthy +combination, great are the sufferings that attend the exhumation of the +fly. And so the maggot shuns the depths which a desire for additional +security might seem to recommend. The worm has its own prudence: +foreseeing the dangers ahead, it refrains from making great descents +that might promote the welfare of the moment. It neglects the present +for the sake of the future. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. A PARASITE OF THE MAGGOT + +The dangers of the exhumation are not the only ones; the Bluebottle must +be acquainted with others. Life, when all is said, is a knacker's yard +wherein the devourer of today becomes the devoured of tomorrow; and the +robber of the dead cannot fail to be robbed of her own life when the +time comes. I know that she has one exterminator in the person of the +tiny Saprinus beetle, a fisher of fat sausages on the edge of the pools +formed by liquescent corpses. Here swarm in common the grubs of the +greenbottle, the flesh fly and the bluebottle. The Saprinus draws them +to him from the bank and gobbles them indiscriminately. They represent +to him morsels of equal value. + +This banquet can be observed only in the open country, under the rays +of a hot sun. Saprini and greenbottles never enter our houses; the flesh +fly visits us but discreetly, does not feel at home with us; the only +one who comes fussing along is the bluebottle, who thus escapes the +tribute due to the consumer of plump sausages. But, in the fields, where +she readily lays her eggs upon any carcass that she finds, she, as well +as the others, sees her vermin swept away by the gluttonous Saprinus. + +In addition, graver disasters decimate her family, if, as I do not +doubt, we can apply to the bluebottle what I have seen happen in the +case of her rival, the flesh fly. So far, I have had no opportunity of +actually perceiving with the first what I have to tell of the second; +still, I do not hesitate to repeat about the one what observation has +taught me about the other, for the larval analogies between the two +flies are very close. + +Here are the facts. I have gathered a number of pupae of the flesh fly +in one of my vermin jars. Wishing to examine the pupa's hinder end, +which is hollowed into a cup and scalloped into a coronet, I stave in +one of the little barrels and force open the last segments with the +point of my pocketknife. The horny keg does not contain what I expected +to find: it is full of tiny grubs packed one atop the other with the +same economy of space as anchovies in a bottle. Save for the skin, +which has hardened into a brown shell, the substance of the maggot has +disappeared, changed into a restless swarm. + +There are thirty-five occupants. I replace them in their casket. +The rest of my harvest, wherein, no doubt, are other pupae similarly +stocked, is arranged in tubes that will easily show me what happens. The +thing to discover is what genus of parasites the grubs enclosed belong +to. But it is not difficult, without waiting for the hatching of the +adults, to recognize their nature merely by their mode of life. They +form part of the family of Chalcididae, who are microscopic ravagers of +living entrails. + +Not long ago, in winter, I took from the chrysalis of a great peacock +moth four hundred and forty-nine parasites belonging to the same group. +The whole substance of the future moth had disappeared, all but the +nymphal wrapper, which was intact and formed a handsome Russia-leather +wallet. The worm grubs were here heaped up and squeezed together to +the point of sticking to one another. The hair pencil extracts them in +bundles and cannot separate them without some difficulty. The holding +capacity is strained to the utmost; the substance of the vanished Moth +would not fill it better. That which died has been replaced by a living +mass of equal dimensions, but subdivided. The price of this colony's +existence is the conversion of the chrysalis into a sort of milk food of +doubtful constitution. The enormous udder has been drained outright. + +You shudder when you think of that budding flesh nibbled bit by bit by +four or five hundred gormandizers; the horrified imagination refuses to +picture the anguish suffered by the tortured wretch. But is there really +any pain? We have leave to doubt it. Pain is a patent of nobility; it is +more pronounced in proportion as the sufferer belongs to a higher order. +In the lower ranks of animal life, it must be greatly reduced, perhaps +even nil, especially when life, in the throes of evolution, has not yet +acquired a stable equilibrium. The white of an egg is living matter, but +endures the prick of a needle without a quiver. Would it not be the +same with the chrysalis of the great peacock, dissected cell by cell by +hundreds of infinitesimal anatomists? Would it not be the same with the +pupa of the flesh fly? These are organisms put back into the crucible, +reverting to the egg state for a second birth. There is reason to +believe, therefore, that their destruction crumb by crumb is merciful. + +Towards the end of August, the parasite of the flesh fly's grubs makes +her appearance out of doors in the adult form. She is a Chalcidid, as +I expected. She issues from the barrel through one or two little round +holes which the prisoners have pierced with a patient tooth. I count +some thirty to each pupa. There would not be enough room in the abode if +the family were larger. + +The imp is a slim and elegant creature, but oh, how small! She measures +hardly two millimeters. Her garb is bronzed black, with pale legs and a +heart shaped, pointed, slightly pedunculate abdomen, with never a trace +of a probe for inoculating the eggs. The head is transversal, the width +exceeding the length. + +The male is only half the size of the female; he is also very much less +numerous. Perhaps pairing is here, as we see elsewhere, a secondary +matter from which it is possible to abstain, in part, without injuring +the prospects of the race. Nevertheless, in the tube wherein I have +housed the swarm, the few males lost among the crowd ardently woo the +passing fair. There is much to be done outside, as long as the flesh +fly's season lasts; things are urgent; and each pigmy hurries as fast as +she can to take up her part as an exterminator. + +How is the parasite's inroad into the flesh fly's pupae effected? Truth +is always veiled in a certain mystery. The good fortune that secured +me the ravaged pupa taught me nothing concerning the tactics of the +ravager. I have never seen the Chalcidid explore the contents of +my appliances; my attention was engaged elsewhere and nothing is so +difficult to see as a thing not yet suspected. But, though direct +observation be lacking, logic will tell us approximately what we want to +know. + +It is evident, to begin with, that the invasion cannot have been made +through the sturdy amour of the pupae. This is too hard to be penetrated +by the means at the pigmy's disposal. Naught but the delicate skin of +the maggots lends itself to the introduction of the germs. An egg laying +mother, therefore, appears, inspects the surface of the pool of sanies +swarming with grubs, selects the one that suits her and perches on +it; then, with the tip of her pointed abdomen, whence emerges, for +an instant, a short probe kept hidden until then, she operates on the +patient, perforating his paunch with a dexterous wound into which the +germs are inserted. Probably, a number of pricks are administered, as +the presence of thirty parasites seems to demand. + +Anyway, the maggot's skin is pierced at either one point or many; and +this happens while the grub is swimming in the pools formed by the +putrid flesh. Having said this, we are faced with a question of serious +interest. To set it forth necessitates a digression which seems to have +nothing to do with the subject in hand and is nevertheless connected +with it in the closest fashion. Without certain preliminaries, the +remainder would be unintelligible. So now for the preliminaries. + +I was in those days busy with the poison of the Languedocian scorpion +and its action upon insects. To direct the sting toward this or the +other part of the victim and moreover to regulate its emission would be +absolutely impossible and also very dangerous, as long as the scorpions +were allowed to act as they pleased. I wished to be able myself to +choose the part to be wounded; I likewise wished to vary the dose +of poison at will. How to set about it? The scorpion has no jarlike +receptacle in which the venom is accumulated and stored, like that +possessed, for instance, by the wasp and the bee. The last segment of +the tail, gourd shaped and surmounted by the sting, contains only a +powerful mass of muscles along which lie the delicate vessels that +secrete the poison. + +In default of a poison jar which I would have placed on one side and +drawn upon at my convenience, I detach the last segment, forming +the base of the sting. I obtain it from a dead and already withered +scorpion. A watch glass serves as a basin. Here, I tear and crush the +piece in a few drops of water and leave it to steep for four-and-twenty +hours. The result is the liquid which I propose to use for the +inoculation. If any poison remained in my animal's caudal gourd, there +must be at least some traces of it in the infusion in the watch glass. + +My hypodermic syringe is of the simplest. It consists of a little glass +tube, tapering sharply at one end. By drawing in my breath, I fill it +with the liquid to be tested; I expel the contents by blowing. Its point +is almost as fine as a hair and enables me to regulate the dose to +the degree which I want. A cubic millimeter is the usual charge. The +injection has to be made at parts that are generally covered with horn. +So as not to break the point of my fragile instrument, I prepare the +way with a needle, with which I prick the victim at the spot required. I +insert the tip of the loaded injector in the hole thus made and I blow. +The thing is done in a moment, very neatly and in an orthodox fashion, +favorable to delicate experiments. I am delighted with my modest +apparatus. + +I am equally delighted with the results. The scorpion himself, when +wounding with his sting, in which the poison is not diluted as mine is +in the watch glass, would not produce effects like those of my pricks. +Here is something more brutal, producing more convulsion in the +sufferer. The virus of my contriving excels the scorpion's. + +The test is several times repeated, always with the same mixture, which, +drying up by spontaneous evaporation, then made to serve again by +the addition of a few drops of water, once more drained and once more +moistened, does duty for an indefinite length of time. Instead of +abating, the virulence increases. Moreover, the corpses of the +insects operated upon undergo a curious change, unknown in my earlier +observations. Then the suspicion comes to me that the actual poison of +the scorpion does not enter into the matter at all. What I obtain with +the end joint of the tail, with the gland at the base of the sting, I +ought to obtain with any other part of the animal. + +I crush in a few drops of water a joint of the tail taken from the front +portion, far from the poison glands. After soaking it for twenty-four +hours, I obtain a liquid whose effects are absolutely the same as those +before, when I used the joint that bears the sting. I try again with the +scorpion's claws, the contents of which consist solely of muscle. The +results are just the same. The whole of the animal's body, therefore, no +matter which fragment be submitted to the steeping process, yields the +virus that so greatly pricks my curiosity. + +Every part of the Spanish fly [Cantharis or blistering beetle], inside +and out, is saturated with the blistering element; but there is nothing +like this in the scorpion, who localizes his venom in his caudal gland +and has none of it elsewhere. The cause of the effects which I observe +is therefore connected with general properties which I ought to find in +any insect, even the most harmless. + +I consult Oryctes nasicornis, the peaceable rhinoceros beetle, on +this subject. To get at the exact nature of the materials, instead of +pulverizing the whole insect in a mortar, I use merely the muscular +tissue obtained by scraping the inside of the dried Oryctes' corselet. +Or else I extract the dry contents of the hind legs. I do the same with +the desiccated corpses of the cockchafer, the Capricorn, or Cerambyx +beetle, and the Cetonia, or rosechafer. Each of my gleanings, with a +little water added, is left to soften for a couple of days in a watch +glass and yields to the liquid whatever can be extracted from it by +crushing and dissolving. + +This time, we take a great step forward. All my preparations, without +distinction, are horribly virulent. Let the reader judge. I select as +my first patient the sacred beetle, Scarabaeus sacer, who thanks to his +size and sturdiness, lends himself admirably to an experiment of this +kind. I operate upon a dozen, in the corselet, on the breast, on the +belly and, by preference, on one of the hind legs, far removed from the +impressionable nervous centers. No matter what part my injector attacks, +the effect produced is the same, or nearly. The insect falls as +though struck by lightning. It lies on its back and wriggles its legs, +especially the hind legs. If I set it on its feet again, I behold a sort +of St. Vitus' dance. Scarabaeus lowers his head, arches his back, draws +himself up on his twitching legs. He marks time with his feet on the +ground, moves forward a little, moves as much backward, leans to the +right, leans to the left, in wild disorder, incapable of keeping his +balance or making progress. And this happens with sudden jerks and +jolts, with a vigor no whit inferior to that of the animal in perfect +health. It is a displacement of all the works, a storm that uproots the +mutual relations of the muscles. + +Seldom have I witnessed such sufferings, in my career as a +cross-examiner of animals and, therefore, as a torturer. I should feel a +scruple, did I not foresee that the grain of sand shifted today may one +day help us by taking its place in the edifice of knowledge. Life is +everywhere the same, in the Dung beetle's body as in man's. To consult +it in the insect means consulting it in ourselves, means moving towards +vistas which we cannot afford to neglect. That hope justifies my cruel +studies, which, though apparently so puerile, are in reality worthy of +serious consideration. + +Of my dozen sufferers, some rapidly succumb, others linger for a few +hours. They are all dead by tomorrow. I leave the corpses on the +table, exposed to the air. Instead of drying and stiffening, like the +asphyxiated insects intended for our collections, my patients, on the +contrary, turn soft and slacken in the joints, notwithstanding the +dryness of the surrounding air; they become disjointed and separate into +loose pieces, which are easily removed. + +The results are the same with the Capricorn, the cockchafer, the +Procrustes [a large ground beetle], the Carabus [the true ground beetle, +including the gold beetle]. In all of them there is a sudden break-up, +followed by speedy death, a slackening of the joints and swift +putrefaction. In a non-horny victim, the quick chemical changes of +the tissues are even more striking. A Cetonia grub, which resists the +scorpion's sting, even though repeatedly administered, dies in a very +short time if I inject a tiny drop of my terrible fluid into any part +of its body. Moreover, it turns very brown and, in a couple of days, +becomes a mass of black putrescence. + +The great peacock, that large moth who recks little of the scorpion's +poison, is no more able to resist my inoculations than the sacred beetle +and the others. I prick two in the belly, a male and a female. At first, +they seem to bear the operation without distress. They grip the trellis +work of the cage and hang without moving, as though indifferent. But +soon the disease has them in its grip. What we see is not the tumultuous +ending of the sacred beetle; it is the calm advent of death. With wings +slackly quivering, softly they die and drop from the wires. Next day, +both corpses are remarkably lax; the segments of the abdomen separate +and gape at the least touch. Remove the hairs and you shall see that +the skin, which was white, has turned brown and is changing to black. +Corruption is quickly doing its work. + +This would be a good opportunity to speak of bacteria and cultures. I +shall do nothing of the sort. On the hazy borderland of the visible and +the invisible, the microscope inspires me with suspicion. It so easily +replaces the eye of reality by the eye of imagination; it is so ready to +oblige the theorists with just what they want to see. Besides, supposing +the microbe to be found, if that were possible, the question would be +changed, not solved. For the problem of the collapse of the structure +through the fact of a prick there would be substituted another no less +obscure: how does the said microbe bring about that collapse? In what +way does it go to work? Where lies its power? + +Then what explanation shall I give of the facts which I have just set +forth? Why, none, absolutely none, seeing that I do not know of any. As +I am unable to do better, I will confine myself to a pair of comparisons +or images, which may serve as a brief resting place for the mind on the +dark billows of the unknown. + +All of us, as children, have amused ourselves with the game of "card +friars." A number of cards, as many as possible, are bent lengthwise +into a semi-cylinder. They are placed on a table, one behind the +other, in a winding row, the spaces in which are suitably disposed. +The performance pleases the eye by its curved lines and its regular +arrangement. It possesses order, which is a condition of all animated +matter. You give a little tap to the first card. It falls and overturns +the second, which, in the same way, topsy-turvies the third; and so on, +right to the end of the row. In less than no time, the capsizing wave +spreads and the handsome edifice is shattered. Order is succeeded by +disorder, I might almost say, by death. What was needed thus to upset +the procession of friars? A very, very slight first push, out of all +proportion to the toppled mass. + +Again, take a glass balloon containing a solution of alum supersaturated +by heat. It is closed, during the process of boiling, with a cork and +is then allowed to cool. The contents remain fluid and limpid for an +indefinite period. Mobility is here represented by a faint semblance +of life. Remove the cork and drop in a solid particle of alum, however +infinitesimal. Suddenly, the liquid thickens into a solid lump and gives +off heat. What has happened? This: crystallization has set in at the +first contact of the particle of alum, the center of attraction; +next, it has spread bit by bit, each solidified particle producing the +solidification of those around. The impulse comes from an atom; the mass +impelled is boundless. The very small has revolutionized the immense. + +Of course, in the comparison between these two instances and the effects +of my injections, the reader must see no more than a figure of speech, +which, without explaining anything, tries to throw a glimmer of light +upon it. The long procession of card friars is knocked down by the mere +touch of the little finger to the first; the voluminous solution of alum +suddenly turns solid under the influence of an invisible particle. +In the same way, the victims of my operations succumb, thrown +into convulsions by a tiny drop of insignificant size and harmless +appearance. + +Then what is there in that terrible liquid? First of all, there is +water, inactive in itself and simply a vehicle of the active agent. If +a proof were needed of its innocuousness, here is one: I inject into the +thigh of any one of the sacred beetle's six legs a drop of pure water +larger than that of the fatal inoculations. As soon as he is released, +he makes off and trots about as nimbly as usual. He is quite firm on +his legs. When put back to his pellet, he rolls it with the same zeal as +before the experiment. My injection of water makes no difference to him. + +What else is there in the mixture in my watch glasses? There is the +disintegrated matter of the corpse, especially shreds of dried muscles. +Do these substances yield certain soluble elements to water? Or are they +simply reduced to a fine dust in the crushing? I will not decide this +question, nor is it really of importance. The fact remains that the +poison proceeds from those substances and from them alone. Animal +matter, therefore, which has ceased to live is an agent of destruction +within the organism. The dead cell kills the living cell; in the +delicate statics of life, it is the grain of sand which, refusing its +support, entails the collapse of the whole edifice. + +In this connection, we may recall those dreadful dissecting room +accidents. Through awkwardness, a student of anatomy pricks himself with +his scalpel in the course of his work; or else, by inadvertence, he +has an insignificant scratch on his hand. A cut which one would hardly +notice, produced by the point of a pocket knife, a scratch of no +account, from a thorn or otherwise, now becomes a mortal wound, if +powerful antiseptics do not speedily remedy the ill. The scalpel is +soiled by its contact with the flesh of the corpse; so are the hands. +That is quite enough. The virus of corruption is introduced; and, if not +treated in time, the wound proves fatal. The dead has killed the living. +This also reminds us of the so-called carbuncle flies, the lancet of +whose mouth parts, contaminated with the sanies of corpses, produces +such terrible accidents. + +My dealings as against insects are, when all is said, nothing but +dissecting room wounds and carbuncle flies' stings. In addition to +the gangrene that soon impairs and blackens the tissues, I obtain +convulsions similar to those produced by the scorpion's sting. In its +convulsive effects, the venomous fluid emitted by the sting bears +a close resemblance to the muscular infusions with which I fill my +injector. We are entitled, therefore, to ask ourselves if poisons, +generally speaking, are not themselves a produce of demolition, a +casting of the organism perpetually renewed, waste matter, in short, +which, instead of being gradually expelled, is stored for purposes of +attack and defense. The animal, in that case, would arm itself with its +own refuse in the same way as it sometimes builds itself a home with +its intestinal recrement. Nothing is wasted; life's detritus is used for +self defense. + +All things considered, my preparations are meat extracts. If I replace +the flesh of the insect by that of another animal, the ox, for instance, +shall I obtain the same results? Logic says yes; and logic is right. +I dilute with a few drops of water a little Liebig's extract, that +precious standby of the kitchen. I operate with this fluid on six +Cetoniae or rosechafers, four in the grub stage, two in the adult stage. +At first, the patients move about as usual. Next day, the two Cetoniae +are dead. The larvae resist longer and do not die until the second day. +All show the same relaxed muscles, the same blackened flesh, signs of +putrefaction. It is probable, therefore, that, if injected into our own +veins, the same fluid would likewise prove fatal. What is excellent in +the digestive tubes would be appalling in the arteries. What is food in +one case is poison in the other. + +A Liebig's extract of a different kind, the broth in which the liquefier +puddles, is of a virulence equal, if not superior, to that of my +products. All those operated upon, Capricorns, sacred beetles, ground +beetles, die in convulsions. This brings us back, after a long way +round, to our starting point, the maggot of the flesh fly. Can the worm, +constantly floundering in the sanies of a carcass, be itself in danger +of inoculation by that whereon it grows fat? I dare not rely upon +experiments conducted by myself: my clumsy implements and my shaky hand +make me fear that, with subjects so small and delicate, I might inflict +deep wounds which of themselves would bring about death. + +Fortunately, I have a collaborator of incomparable skill in the +parasitic Chalcidid. Let us apply to her. To introduce her germs, she +has perforated the maggot's paunch, has even done so several times over. +The holes are extremely small, but the poison all around is excessively +subtle and has thus been able, in certain cases, to penetrate. Now what +has happened? The pupae, all from the same apparatus, are numerous. They +can be divided into three not very unequal classes, according to the +results supplied. Some give me the adult flesh fly, others the parasite. +The rest, nearly a third, give me nothing, neither this year nor next. + +In the first two cases, things have taken their normal course: the grub +has developed into a fly, or else the parasite has devoured the grub. In +the third case, an accident has occurred. I open the barren pupae. They +are coated inside with a dark glaze, the remains of the dead maggot +converted into black rottenness. The grub, therefore, has undergone +inoculation by the virus through the fine openings effected by the +Chalcidid. The skin has had time to harden into a shell; but it was too +late, the tissues being already infected. + +There you see it: in its broth of putrefaction, the worm is exposed +to grave dangers. Now there is a need for maggots in this world, for +maggots many and voracious, to purge the soil as quickly as possible +of death's impurities. Linnaeus tells us that 'Tres muscae consumunt +cadaver equi aeque cito ac leo.' [Three flies consume the carcass of a +horse as quickly as a lion could do it.] There is no exaggeration about +the statement. Yes, of a certainty, the offspring of the flesh fly and +the bluebottle are expeditious workers. They swarm in a heap, always +seeking, always snuffling with their pointed mouths. In those tumultuous +crowds, mutual scratches would be inevitable if the worms, like the +other flesh eaters, possessed mandibles, jaws, clippers adapted for +cutting, tearing and chopping; and those scratches, poisoned by the +dreadful gruel lapping them, would all be fatal. + +How are the worms protected in their horrible work yard? They do not +eat: they drink their fill; by means of a pepsin which they disgorge, +they first turn their foodstuffs into soup; they practice a strange and +exceptional art of feeding, wherein those dangerous carving implements, +the scalpels with their dissecting room perils, are superfluous. Here +ends, for the present, the little that I know or suspect of the maggot, +the sanitary inspector in the service of the public health. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD + +Almost as much as insects and birds--the former so dear to the child, +who loves to rear his cockchafers and rose beetles on a bed of hawthorn +in a box pierced with holes; the latter an irresistible temptation, with +their nests and their eggs and their little ones opening tiny yellow +beaks--the mushroom early won my heart with its varied shapes and +colors. I can still see myself as an innocent small boy sporting my +first braces and beginning to know my way through the cabalistic mazes +of my reading book, I see myself in ecstasy before the first bird's nest +found and the first mushroom gathered. Let us relate these grave events. +Old age loves to meditate the past. + +O happy days when curiosity awakens and frees us from the limbo of +unconsciousness, your distant memory makes me live my best years over +again. Disturbed at its siesta by some wayfarer, the partridge's young +brood hastily disperses. Each pretty little ball of down scurries off +and disappears in the brushwood; but, when quiet is restored, at the +first summoning note they all return under the mother's wing. Even so, +recalled by memory, do my recollections of childhood return, those other +fledglings which have lost so many of their feathers on the brambles of +life. Some, which have hardly come out of the bushes, have aching heads +and tottering steps; some are missing, stifled in some dark corner of +the thicket; some remain in their full freshness. Now of those which +have escaped the clutches of time the liveliest are the first-born. For +them the soft wax of childish memory has been converted into enduring +bronze. + +On that day, wealthy and leisured, with an apple for my lunch and all +my time to myself, I decided to visit the brow of the neighboring hill, +hitherto looked upon as the boundary of the world. Right at the top is a +row of trees which, turning their backs to the wind, bend and toss about +as though to uproot themselves and take to flight. How often, from the +little window in my home, have I not seen them bowing their heads in +stormy weather; how often have I not watched them writhing like madmen +amid the snow dust which the north wind's broom raises and smoothes +along the hillside! 'What are they doing up there, those desolate trees? +I am interested in their supple backs, today still and upright against +the blue of the sky, tomorrow shaken when the clouds pass overhead. I +am gladdened by their calmness; I am distressed by their terrified +gestures. They are my friends. I have them before my eyes at every +hour of the day. In the morning, the sun rises behind their transparent +screen and ascends in its glory. Where does it come from? I am going to +climb up there and perhaps I shall find out. + +I mount the slope. It is a lean grass sward close-cropped by the sheep. +It has no bushes, fertile in rents and tears, for which I should have to +answer on returning home, nor any rocks, the scaling of which involves +like dangers; nothing but large, flat stones, scattered here and there. +I. have only to go straight on, over smooth ground. But the sward is as +steep as a sloping roof. It is long, ever so long; and my legs are +very short. From time to time, I look up. My friends, the trees on the +hilltop, seem to be no nearer. Cheerily, sonny! Scramble away! + +What is this at my feet? A lovely bird has flown from its hiding place +under the eaves of a big stone. Bless us, here's a nest made of hair +and fine straw! It's the first I have ever found, the first of the joys +which the birds are to bring me. And in this nest are six eggs, laid +prettily side by side; and those eggs are a magnificent blue, as though +steeped in a dye of celestial azure. Overpowered with happiness, I lie +down on the grass and stare. + +Meanwhile, the mother, with a little clap of her gullet--'Tack! +Tack!'--flies anxiously from stone to stone, not far from the intruder. +My age knows no pity, is still too barbarous to understand maternal +anguish. A plan is running in my head, a plan worthy of a little beast +of prey. I will come back in a fortnight and collect the nestlings +before they can fly away. In the meantime, I will just take one of those +pretty blue eggs, only one, as a trophy. Lest it should be crushed, I +place the fragile thing on a little moss in the scoop of my hand. Let +him cast a stone at me that has not, in his childhood, known the rapture +of finding his first nest. + +My delicate burden, which would be ruined by a false step, makes me give +up the remainder of the climb. Some other day I shall see the trees on +the hilltop over which the sun rises. I go down the slope again. At the +bottom, I meet the parish priest's curate reading his breviary as he +takes his walk. He sees me coming solemnly along, like a relic bearer; +he catches sight of my hand hiding something behind my back: 'What have +you there, my boy?' he asks. + +All abashed, I open my hand and show my blue egg on its bed of moss. + +'Ah!' says his reverence. 'A Saxicola's egg! Where did you get it?' + +'Up there, father, under a stone.' + +Question follows question; and my peccadillo stands confessed. By chance +I found a nest which I was not looking for. There were six eggs in it. I +took one of them--here it is--and I am waiting for the rest to hatch. +I shall go back for the others when the young birds have their quill +feathers. + +'You mustn't do that, my little friend,' replies the priest. 'You +mustn't rob the mother of her brood; you must respect the innocent +little ones; you must let God's birds grow up and fly from the nest. +They are the joy of the fields and they clear the earth of its vermin. +Be a good boy, now, and don't touch the nest.' + +I promise and the curate continues his walk. I come home with two good +seeds cast on the fallows of my childish brain. An authoritative word +has taught me that spoiling birds' nests is a bad action. I did not +quite understand how the bird comes to our aid by destroying vermin, the +scourge of the crops; but I felt, at the bottom of my heart, that it is +wrong to afflict the mothers. + +'Saxicola,' the priest had said, on seeing my find. + +'Hullo!' said I to myself. 'Animals have names, just like ourselves. +Who named them? What are all my different acquaintances in the woods and +meadows called? What does Saxicola mean?' + +Years passed and Latin taught me that Saxicola means an inhabitant of +the rocks. My bird, in fact, was flying from one rocky point to the +other while I lay in ecstasy before its eggs; its house, its nest, had +the rim of a large stone for a roof. Further knowledge gleaned from +books taught me that the lover of stony hillsides is also called the +Motteux, or clodhopper, because, in the plowing season, she flies +from clod to clod, inspecting the furrows rich in unearthed grubworms. +Lastly, I came upon the Provencal expression Cul-blanc, which is also a +picturesque term, suggesting the patch on the bird's rump which spreads +out like a white butterfly flitting over the fields. + +Thus did the vocabulary come into being that would one day allow me +to greet by their real names the thousand actors on the stage of the +fields, the thousand little flowers that smile at us from the wayside. +The word which the curate had spoken without attaching the least +importance to it revealed a world to me, the world of plants and animals +designated by their real names. To the future must belong the task of +deciphering some pages of the immense lexicon; for today I will content +myself with remembering the Saxicola, or stonechat. + +On the west, my village crumbles into an avalanche of garden patches, +in which plums and apples ripen. Low bulging walls, blackened with the +stains of lichens and mosses, support the terraces. The brook runs at +the foot of the slope. It can be cleared almost everywhere at a bound. +In the wider parts, flat stones standing out of the water serve as +a foot bridge. There is no such thing as a whirlpool, the terror of +mothers when the children are away; it is nowhere more than knee deep. +Dear little brook, so tranquil, cool and clear, I have seen majestic +rivers since, I have seen the boundless sea; but nothing in my memories +equals your modest falls. About you clings all the hallowed pleasure of +my first impressions. + +A miller has bethought him of putting the brook, which used to flow so +gaily through the fields, to work. Halfway up the slope, a watercourse, +economizing the gradient, diverts part of the water and conducts it into +a large reservoir, which supplies the mill wheels with motor power. This +basin stands beside a frequented path and is walled off at the end. + +One day, hoisting myself on a playfellow's shoulders, I looked over +the melancholy wall, all bearded with ferns. I saw bottomless stagnant +waters, covered with slimy green. In the gaps in the sticky carpet, a +sort of dumpy, black-and-yellow reptile was lazily swimming. Today, +I should call it a salamander; at that time, it appeared to me the +offspring of the serpent and the dragon, of whom we were told such +bloodcurdling tales when we sat up at night. Hoo! I've seen enough: +let's get down again, quick! + +The brook runs below. Alders and ash, bending forward on either bank, +mingle their branches and form a verdant arch. At their feet, behind +a porch of great twisted roots, are watery caverns prolonged by gloomy +corridors. On the threshold of these fastnesses shimmers a glint of +sunshine, cut into ovals by the leafy sieve above. + +This is the haunt of the red-necktied minnows. Come along very gently, +lie flat on the ground and look. What pretty little fish they are, with +their scarlet throats! Clustering side by side, with their heads turned +against the stream, they puff their cheeks out and in, rinsing their +mouths incessantly. To keep their stationary position in the running +water, they need naught but a slight quiver of their tail and of the fin +on their back. A leaf falls from the tree. Whoosh! The whole troop has +disappeared. + +On the other side of the brook is a spinney of beeches, with smooth, +straight trunks, like pillars. In their majestic, shady branches sit +chattering crows, drawing from their wings old feathers replaced by new. +The ground is padded with moss. At one's first step on the downy carpet, +the eye is caught by a mushroom, not yet full-spread and looking like +an egg dropped there by some vagrant hen. It is the first that I have +picked, the first that have I turned round and round in my fingers, +inquiring into its structure with that vague curiosity which is the +first awakening of observation. + +Soon, I find others, differing in size, shape and color. It is a +real treat for my prentice eyes. Some are fashioned like bells, like +extinguishers, like cups; some are drawn out into spindles, hollowed +into funnels, rounded into hemispheres. I come upon some that are broken +and are weeping milky tears; I step on some that, instantly, become +tinged with blue; I see some big ones that are crumbling into rot and +swarming with worms. Others, shaped like pears, are dry and open at the +top with a round hole, a sort of chimney whence a whiff of smoke escapes +when I prod their under side with my finger. These are the most curious. +I fill my pockets with them to make them smoke at my leisure, until I +exhaust the contents, which are at last reduced to a kind of tinder. + +What fun I had in that delightful spinney! I returned to it many a time +after my first find; and here, in the company of the crows, I received +my first lessons in mushroom lore. My harvests, I need hardly say, were +not admitted to the house. The mushroom, or the bouturel, as we called +it, had a bad reputation for poisoning people. That was enough to make +mother banish it from the family table. I could scarcely understand +how the bouturel, so attractive in appearance, came to be so wicked; +however, I accepted the experience of my elders; and no disaster ever +ensued from my rash friendship with the poisoner. + +As my visits to the beech clump were repeated, I managed to divide my +finds into three categories. In the first, which was the most numerous, +the mushroom was furnished underneath with little radiating leaves. In +the second, the lower surface was lined with a thick pad pricked with +hardly visible holes. In the third, it bristled with tiny spots similar +to the papillae on a cat's tongue. The need of some order to assist the +memory made me invent a classification for myself. + +Very much later there fell into my hands certain small books from which +I learnt that my three categories were well known; they even had Latin +names, which fact was far from displeasing to me. Ennobled by Latin +which provided me with my first exercises and translations, glorified +by the ancient language which the rector used in saying his mass, the +mushroom rose in my esteem. To deserve so learned an appellation, it +must possess a genuine importance. + +The same books told me the name of the one that had amused me so much +with its smoking chimney. It is called the puffball in English, but its +French name is the vesse-de-loup. I disliked the expression, which to my +mind smacked of bad company. Next to it was a more decent denomination: +Lycoperdon; but this was only so in appearance, for Greek roots sooner +or later taught me that Lycoperdon means vesse-de-loup and nothing else. +The history of plants abounds in terms which it is not always desirable +to translate. Bequeathed to us by earlier ages less reticent than +ours, botany has often retained the brutal frankness of words that set +propriety at defiance. + +How far off are those blessed times when my childish curiosity sought +solitary exercise in making itself acquainted with the mushroom! 'Eheu! +Fugaces labuntur anni!' said Horace. Ah, yes, the years glide fleeting +by, especially when they are nearing their end! They were the merry +brook that dallies among the willows on imperceptible slopes; today, +they are the torrent swirling a thousand straws along, as it rushes +towards the abyss. Fleeting though they be, let us make the most of +them. At nightfall, the woodcutter hastens to bind his last fagots. +Even so, in my declining days, I, a humble woodcutter in the forest +of science, make haste to put my bundle of sticks in order. 'What +will remain of my researches on the subject of instinct? Not much, +apparently; at most, one or two windows opened on a world that has not +yet been explored with all the attention which it deserves. + +A worse destiny awaits the mushrooms, which were my botanical joys from +my earliest youth. I have never ceased to keep up my acquaintance with +them. To this day, for the mere pleasure of renewing it, I go, with a +halting step, to visit them on fine autumn afternoons. I still love +to see the fat heads of the boletes, the tops of the agarics and the +coral-red tufts of the clavaria emerge above the carpet pink with +heather. + +At Serignan, my last stage, they have lavished their seductions upon me, +so plentiful are they on the neighboring hills, wooded with holm oak, +arbutus and rosemary. During these latter years, their wealth inspired +me with an insane plan: that of collecting in effigy what I was unable +to keep in its natural state in an herbarium. I began to paint life size +pictures of all the species in my neighborhood, from the largest to +the smallest. I know nothing of the art of painting in watercolors. No +matter: what I have never seen practiced I will invent, managing badly +at first, then a little better, at last well. The paintbrush will make a +change from the strain of my daily output of prose. + +I end by possessing some hundreds of sheets representing the mushrooms +of the neighborhood in their natural size and colors. My collection has +a certain value. If it lacks artistic finish, at least it boasts the +merit of accuracy. It brings me visitors on Sundays, country people, who +stare at it in all simplicity, astounded that such fine pictures should +be done by hand, without a copy and without compasses. They at once +recognize the mushroom represented; they tell me its popular name, thus +proving the fidelity of my brush. + +Well, what will become of this great pile of drawings, the object of +so much work? No doubt, my family will keep the relic for a time; but, +sooner or later, taking up too much space, shifted from cupboard to +cupboard, from attic to attic, gnawed by the rats, foxed, dirtied and +stained, it will fall into the hands of some little grandnephews who +will cut it into squares to make paper caps. It is the universal rule. +What our illusions have most fondly cherished comes to a pitiful end +under the claws of ruthless reality. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. INSECTS AND MUSHROOMS + +It were out of place to recall my long relations with the bolete and +the agaric if the insect did not here enter into a question of grave +interest. Several mushrooms are edible, some even enjoy a great +reputation; others are formidable poisons. Short of botanical studies +that are not within everybody's reach, how are we to distinguish the +harmless from the venomous? There is a widespread belief which says that +any mushroom which insects, or, more frequently, their larvae, their +grubs, accept can be accepted without fear; any mushroom which they +refuse must be refused. What is wholesome food for them cannot fail to +be the same for us; what is poisonous to them is bound to be equally +baneful to ourselves. This is how people argue, with apparent logic, but +without reflecting upon the very different capabilities of stomachs in +the matter of diet. After all, may there not be some justification for +the belief? That is what I purpose examining. + +The insect, especially in the larval stage, is the principal devourer of +the mushroom. We must distinguish between two groups of consumers. The +first really eat, that is to say, they break their food into little +bits, chew it and reduce it to a mouthful which is swallowed just as it +is; the second drink, after first turning their food into a broth, like +the bluebottles. The first are the less numerous. Confining myself to +the results of my observations in the neighborhood, I count, all told, +in the group of chewers, four beetles and a moth caterpillar. To +these may be added the mollusk, as represented by a slug, or, more +specifically, an arion, of medium size, brown and adorned with a red +edge to his mantle. A modest corporation, when all is said, but active +and enterprising, especially the moth. + +At the head of the mushroom loving beetles, I will place a Staphylinid +(Oxyporus rufus, LIN.), prettily garbed in red, blue and black. Together +with his larva, which walks with the aid of a crutch at its back, +he haunts the fungus of the poplar (Pholiota aegerita, FRIES). He +specializes in an exclusive diet. I often come across him, both in +spring and autumn, and never any elsewhere than on this mushroom. For +that matter, he had made a wise choice, the epicure! This popular fungus +is one of our best mushrooms, despite its color of a doubtful white, its +skin which is often wrinkled and its gills soiled with rusty brown +at the spores. We must not judge people by appearances, nor mushrooms +either. This one, magnificent in shape and color, is poisonous; that +other, so poor to look at, is excellent. + +Here are two more specialist beetles, both of small size. One is the +Triplax (Triplax russica, LIN.), who has an orange head and corselet +and black wing-cases. His grub tackles the hispid polyporus (Polyporus +hispidus, BULL.), a coarse and substantial dish, bristling at its top +with stiff hairs and clinging by its side to the old trunks of mulberry +trees, sometimes also of walnut and elm trees. The other is the +cinnamon-colored Anisotoma (Anisotoma cinnamomea, PANZ.). His larva +lives exclusively in truffles. + +The most interesting of the mushroom-eating beetles is the Bolboceras +(Bolboceras gallicus, MUL.). I have described elsewhere his manner of +living, his little song that sounds like the chirping of a bird, +his perpendicular wells sunk in search of an underground mushroom +(Hydnocystis orenaria, TUL.), which constitutes his regular nourishment. +He is also an ardent lover of truffles. I have taken from between his +legs, at the bottom of his manor house, a real truffle the size of a +hazelnut (Tuber Requienii, TUL.). I tried to rear him in order to make +the acquaintance of his grub; I housed him in a large earthen pan +filled with fresh sand and enclosed in a bell cover. Possessing neither +hydnocistes nor truffles, I served him up sundry mushrooms of a rather +firm consistency, like those of his choice. He refused them all, +helvellae and clavariae, chanterelles and pezizae alike. + +With a rhizopogon, a sort of little fungoid potato, which is frequent +in pine woods at a moderate depth and sometimes even on the surface, I +achieved complete success. I had strewn a handful of them on the sand of +my breeding pan. At nightfall, I often surprised the Bolboceras issuing +from his well, exploring the stretch of sand, choosing a piece not too +big for his strength and gently rolling it towards his abode. He would +go in again, leaving the rhizopogon, which was too large to take inside, +on the threshold, where it served the purpose of a door. Next day, I +found the piece gnawed, but only on the under side. + +The Bolboceras does not like eating in public, in the open air; he needs +the discreet retirement of his crypt. When he fails to find his food +by burrowing under ground, he comes up to look for it on the surface. +Meeting with a morsel to his taste, he takes it home when its size +permits; if not, he leaves it on the threshold of his burrow and gnaws +at it from below, without reappearing outside. Up to the present, +hydnocistes, truffles and rhizopoga are the only food that I have +known him to eat. These three instances tell us at any rate that the +Bolboceras is not a specialist like the Oxyporus and the Triplax; he is +able to vary his diet; perhaps he feeds on all the underground mushrooms +indiscriminately. + +The moth enlarges her domain yet further. Her caterpillar is a grub five +or six millimeters long, white, with a black shiny head. Colonies of it +abound in most mushrooms. It attacks by preference the top of the stem, +for epicurean reasons that escape me; thence it spreads throughout the +cap. It is the habitual boarder of the boletes, agarics, lactarii and +russulie. Apart from certain species and certain groups, everything +suits it. This puny grub, which will spin itself an infinitesimal +cocoon of white silk under the piece attacked and will later become an +insignificant moth, is the primordial ravager. + +Let us next mention the arion, that voracious mollusk who also tackles +most mushrooms of some size. He digs himself spacious niches inside +them and there sits blissfully eating. Few in numbers, compared with the +other devourers, he usually sets up house alone. He has, by way of a set +of jaws, a powerful plane which creates great breaches in the object of +his depredations. It is he whose havoc is most apparent. + +Now all these gnawers can be recognized by their leavings, such as +crumbs and worm holes. They dig clean passages, they slash and crumble +without a slimy trail, they are the pinkers. The others, the liquefiers, +are the chemists; they dissolve their food by means of reagents. All are +the grubs of flies and belong to the commonalty of the Muscidae. Many +are their species. To distinguish them from one another by rearing them +in order to obtain the perfect stage would involve a great expenditure +of time to little profit. We will describe them by the general name of +maggots. + +To see them at work, I select, as the field of exploitation, the satanic +bolete (Boletus Satanas, LENZ.), one of the largest mushrooms that I can +gather in my neighborhood. It has a dirty-white cap; the mouths of +the tubes are a bright orange-red; the stem swells into a bulb with a +delicate network of carmine veins. I divide a perfectly sound specimen +into equal parts and place these in two deep plates, put side by side. +One of the halves is left as it is: it will act as a control, a term of +comparison. The other half receives on the pores of its undersurface a +couple of dozen maggots taken from a second bolete in full process of +decomposition. + +The dissolving action of the grub asserts itself on the very day whereon +these preparations are made. The undersurface, originally a bright red, +turns brown and runs in every direction into a mass of dark stalactites. +Soon, the flesh of the cap is attacked and, in a few days, becomes a +gruel similar to liquid asphalt. It is almost as fluid as water. In this +broth the maggots wallow, wriggling their bodies and, from time to time, +sticking the breathing holes in their sterns above the water. It is an +exact repetition of what the liquefiers of meat, the grubs of the grey +flesh fly and the bluebottle, have lately shown us. As for the second +half of the bolete, the half which I did not colonize with vermin, +it remains compact, the same as it was at the start, except that its +appearance is a little withered by evaporation. The fluidity, therefore, +is really and truly the work of the grubs and of them alone. + +Does this liquefaction imply an easy change? One would think so at +first, on seeing how quickly it is performed by the action of the grubs. +Moreover, certain mushrooms, the coprini, liquefy spontaneously and turn +into a black fluid. One of them bears the expressive name of the inky +mushroom (Coprinus atramentarius, BULL.) and dissolves into ink of its +own accord. The conversion, in certain cases, is singularly rapid. One +day, I was drawing one of our prettiest coprini (Coprinus sterquilinus, +FRIES), which comes out of a little purse or volva. My work was barely +done, a couple of hours after gathering the fresh mushroom, when the +model had disappeared, leaving nothing but a pool of ink upon the table. +Had I procrastinated ever so little, I should not have had time to +finish and I should have lost a rare and interesting find. + +This does not mean that the other mushrooms, especially the boletes, +are of ephemeral duration and lacking in consistency. I made the attempt +with the edible bolete (Boletus edulis, BULL.), the famous cepe of our +kitchens, so highly esteemed for its flavor. I was wondering whether it +would not be possible to obtain from it a sort of Liebig's extract of +fungus, which would be useful in cooking. With this purpose, I had some +of these mushrooms cut into small pieces and boiled, on the one hand, in +plain water and, on the other, in water with bicarbonate of soda +added. The treatment lasted two whole days. The flesh of the bolete was +indomitable. To attack it, I should have had to employ violent drugs, +which were inadmissible in view of the result to be attained. + +What prolonged boiling and the aid of bicarbonate of soda leave almost +intact the fly's grubs quickly turn into fluid, even as the flesh worms +fluidify hard-boiled white of egg. This is done in each instance without +violence, probably by means of a special pepsin, which is not the same +in both cases. The liquefier of meat has its own brand; the liquefier +of the bolete has another sort. The plate, then, is filled with a dark, +running gruel, not unlike tar in appearance. If we allow evaporation +free course, the broth sets, into a hard, easily crumbled slab, +something like toffee. Caught in this matrix, grubs and pupa perish, +incapable of freeing themselves. Analytical chemistry has proved fatal +to them. The conditions are quite different when the attack is delivered +on the surface of the ground. Gradually absorbed by the soil, the excess +of liquid disappears, leaving the colonists free. In my dishes, it +collects indefinitely, killing the inhabitants when it dries up into a +solid layer. + +The purple bolete (Boletus purpureus, FRIES), when subjected to the +action of the maggots, gives the same result as the Satanic bolete, +namely, a black gruel. Note that both mushrooms turn blue if broken and +especially if crushed. With the edible bolete, whose flesh invariably +remains white when cut, the product of its liquefaction by the vermin is +a very pale brown. With the oronge, or imperial mushroom, the result is +a broth which the eye would take for a thin apricot jam. Tests made +with sundry other mushrooms confirm the rule: all, when attacked by the +maggot, turn into a more or less fluid mess, which varies in color. + +Why do the two boletes with the red tubes, the purple bolete and the +satanic bolete, change into a dark gruel? I have an inkling of the +reason. Both of them turn blue, with an admixture of green. A third +species, the bluish bolete (Boletus cyanescens, BULL., var. lacteus, +LEVEILLE), possess remarkable color sensitiveness. Bruise it ever +so lightly, no matter where, on the cap, the stem, the tubes of the +undersurface: forthwith, the wounded part, originally a pure white, is +tinted a beautiful blue. Place this bolete in an atmosphere of carbonic +acid gas. We can now knock it, crush it, reduce it to pulp; and the +blue no longer shows. But extract a fragment from the crushed mass: +immediately, at the first contact with the air, the matter turns a most +glorious blue. It reminds us of a process employed in dyeing. The indigo +of commerce, steeped in water containing lime and sulfate of iron, or +copperas, is deprived of a part of its oxygen; it loses its color and +becomes soluble in water, as it was in the original indigo plant, before +the treatment which the plant underwent. A colorless liquid results. +Expose a drop of this liquid to the air. Straightway, oxidization works +upon the product: the indigo is reformed, insoluble and blue. + +This is exactly what we see in the boletes that turn blue so readily. +Could they, in fact, contain soluble, colorless indigo? One would say +so, if certain properties did not give grounds for doubt. When subjected +to prolonged exposure to the air, the boletes that are apt to turn blue, +particularly the most remarkable, Boletus cyanescens, lose their color, +instead of retaining the deep blue which would be a sign of real indigo. +Be this as it may, these mushrooms contain a coloring principle which is +very liable to change under the influence of the air. Why should we not +regard it as the cause of the black tint when the maggots have liquefied +the boletes which turn blue? The others, those with the white flesh, the +edible bolete, for instance, do not assume this asphalty appearance once +they are liquefied by the grubs. + +All the boletes that change to blue when broken have a bad reputation; +the books treat them as dangerous, or at least open to suspicion. The +name of Satanic awarded to one of them is an ample proof of our fears. +The caterpillar and the maggot are of another opinion: they greedily +devour what we hold in dread. Now here is a strange thing: those +passionate devotees of Boletus Satanas absolutely refuse certain +mushrooms which we find delightful eating, including the most celebrated +of all, the oronge, the imperial mushroom, which the Romans of the +empire, past masters in gluttony, called the food of the gods, cibus +deorum, the agaric of the Caesars, Agaricus caesareus. It is the most +elegant of all our mushrooms. When it prepares to make its appearance by +lifting the fissured earth, it is a handsome ovoid formed by the outer +wrapper, the volva. Then this purse gently tears and the jagged opening +partly reveals a globular object of a magnificent orange. Take a hen's +egg, boil it, remove the shell: what remains will be the imperial +mushroom in its purse. Remove a part of the white at the top, uncovering +a little of the yolk. Then you have the nascent imperial. The likeness +is perfect. And so the people of my part, struck by the resemblance, +call this mushroom lou rousset d'iou, or, in other words, yolk of egg. +Soon, the cap emerges entirely and spreads into a disk softer than satin +to the touch and richer to the eye than all the fruit of the Hesperides. +Appearing amid the pink heather, it is an entrancing object. + +Well, this gorgeous agaric (Amanita caesarea, SCOP.), this food of the +gods the maggot absolutely refuses. My frequent examinations have +never shown me an imperial attacked by the grubs in the field. It needs +imprisonment in a jar and the absence of other victuals to provoke the +attempt; and even then the treacle hardly seems to suit them. After the +liquefaction, the grubs try to make off, showing that the fare is not +to their liking. The Mollusk also, the Arion, is anything but an ardent +consumer. Passing close to an imperial mushroom and finding nothing +better, he stops and takes a bite, without lingering. If, therefore, we +required the evidence of the insect, or even of the Slug, to know which +mushrooms are good to eat, we should refuse the best of them all. Though +respected by the vermin, the glorious imperial is nevertheless ruined +not by larvae, but by a parasitic fungus, the Mycogone rosea, which +spreads in a purply stain and turns it into a putrid mass. This is the +only despoiler that I know it to possess. + +A second amanita, the sheathed amanita (Amanita vaginata, BULL.), +prettily streaked on the edges of the cap, is of an exquisite flavor, +almost equal to the imperial. It is called lou pichot gris, the +grayling, in these parts, because of its coloring, which is usually an +ashen gray. Neither the maggot nor the even more enterprising Moth +ever touches it. They likewise refuse the mottled amanita (Amanita +pantherina, D. C.), the vernal amanita (Amanita verna, FRIES) and the +lemon-yellow amanita (Amanita citrina, SCHAEFF.), all three of which are +poisonous. In short, whether it be to us a delicious dish or a deadly +poison, no amanita is accepted by the grubs. The arion alone sometimes +bites at it. The cause of the refusal escapes us. It were vain, speaking +of the mottled amanita, for instance, to allege as a reason the presence +of an alkaloid fatal to the grubs, for we should have to ask ourselves +why the imperial, the amanita of the Caesars, which is wholly free from +poison, is rejected no less uncompromisingly than the venomous species. +Could it perhaps be lack of relish, a deficiency of seasoning for +stimulating the appetite? In point of fact, when eaten raw, the amanitas +have no particular flavor. + +What shall we learn from the sharper-flavored mushrooms? Here, in the +pinewoods, is the woolly milk mushroom (Lactarius torminosus, SCHAEFF.), +turned in at the edges and wrapped in a curly fleece. Its taste is +biting, worse than Cayenne pepper. Torminosus means colic producing. +The name is very suitable. Unless he possessed a stomach built for the +purpose, the man who touched such food as this would have a singularly +bad time before him. Well, that stomach the vermin possess: they +revel in the pungency of the woolly milk mushroom even as the spurge +caterpillar browses with delight on the loathsome leaves of the +euphorbiae. As for us, we might as well, in either case, eat live coals. + +Is a condiment of this kind necessary to the grubs? Not at all. Here, +in the same pinewoods, is the "delicious" milk mushroom (Lactarius +deliciosus, LIN.), a glorious orange-red crater, adorned with concentric +zones. If bruised, it assumes a verdigris hue, possibly a variant of the +indigo tint peculiar to the blue-turning boletes. From its flesh laid +bare by being broken or cut ooze blood-red drops, a well-defined +characteristic peculiar to this milk mushroom. Here the violent spices +of the woolly milk mushroom disappear; the flesh has a pleasant taste +when eaten raw. No matter: the vermin devour the mild milk mushroom with +the same zest with which they devour the horribly peppered one. To them +the delicate and the strong, the insipid and the peppery are all alike. + +The epithet 'delicious' applied to the mushroom whose wound weeps tears +of blood is highly exaggerated. It is edible, no doubt, but it is coarse +eating and difficult to digest. My household refuses it for cooking +purposes. We prefer to put it to soak in vinegar and afterwards to use +it as we might use pickled gherkins. The real value of this mushroom is +largely overrated thanks to a too laudatory epithet. + +Is a certain degree of consistency required, to suit the grubs: +something midway between the softness of the amanitas and the firmness +of the milk mushrooms? Let us begin by questioning the olive tree agaric +or luminous mushroom (Pleurotus phosphoreus, BATT.), a magnificent +mushroom colored jujube red. Its popular name is not particularly +appropriate. True, it frequently grows at the base of old olive trees, +but I also pick it at the foot of the box, the holm oak, the plum tree, +the cypress, the almond tree, the Guelder rose and other trees and +shrubs. It seems fairly indifferent to the nature of the support. A +more remarkable feature distinguishes it from all the other European +mushrooms: it is phosphorescent. On the lower surface and there only, it +sheds a soft, white gleam, similar to that of the glowworm. It lights +up to celebrate its nuptials and the emission of its spores. There is no +question of chemist's phosphorus here. This is a slow combustion, a +sort of more active respiration than usual. The luminous emission is +extinguished in the unbreathable gases, nitrogen and carbonic acid; it +continues in aerated water; it ceases in water deprived of its air by +boiling. It is exceedingly faint, however, so much so that it is not +perceptible except in the deepest darkness. At night and even by day, if +the eyes have been prepared for it by a preliminary wait in the darkness +of a cellar, this agaric is a wonderful sight, looking indeed like a +piece of the full moon. + +Now what do the vermin do? Are they drawn by this beacon? In no wise: +maggots, caterpillars and slugs never touch the resplendent mushroom. +Let us not be too quick to explain this refusal by the noxious +properties of the olive tree agaric, which is said to be extremely +poisonous. Here, in fact, on the pebbly ground of the wastelands, is the +eryngo agaric (Pleurotus eryngii, D. C.), which has the same consistency +as the other. It is the berigoulo of the Provencaux, one of the most +highly esteemed mushrooms. Well, the vermin will have none of it: what +is a treat to us is detestable to them. + +It is superfluous to continue this method of investigation: the reply +would be everywhere the same. The insect, which feeds on one sort of +mushroom and refuses others, cannot tell us anything about the kinds +that are good or bad for us. Its stomach is not ours. It pronounces +excellent what we find poisonous; it pronounces poisonous what we think +excellent. That being so, when we are lacking in the botanical knowledge +which most of us have neither time nor inclination to acquire, what +course are we to take? The course is extremely simple. + +During the thirty years and more that I have lived at Serignan, I have +never heard of one case of mushroom poisoning, even the mildest, in the +village; and yet there are plenty of mushrooms eaten here, especially +in autumn. Not a family but, when on a walk in the mountains, gathers +a precious addition to its modest alimentary resources. What do these +people gather? A little of everything. Often, when rambling in the +neighboring woods, I inspect the baskets of the mushroom pickers, who +are delighted for me to look. I see things fit to make mycological +experts stand aghast. I often find the purple bolete, which is classed +among the dangerous varieties. I made the remark one day. The man +carrying the basket stared at me in astonishment: 'That a poison! The +wolf's bread!' he said, patting the plump bolete with his hand. 'What +an idea! It's beef marrow, sir, regular beef marrow!' [Author's note: +People use them indiscriminately for cooking purposes, after removing +the tubes on the under side, which are easily separated from the rest of +the mushroom.] + +He smiled at my apprehensions and went away with a poor opinion of my +knowledge in the matter of mushrooms. + +In the baskets aforesaid, I find the ringed agaric (Armillaria mellea, +FRIES), which is stigmatized as valde venenatus by Persoon, an expert +on the subject. It is even the mushroom most frequently made use +of, because of its being so plentiful, especially at the foot of the +mulberry trees. I find the Satanic bolete, that dangerous tempter; the +belted milk mushroom (Lactarius zonarius, BULL.), whose burning flavor +rivals the pepper of its woolly kinsman; the smooth-headed amanita +(Amanita leiocophala, D. C.), a magnificent white dome rising out of +an ample volva and fringed at the edges with floury relics resembling +flakes of casein. Its poisonous smell and soapy aftertaste should lead +to suspicion of this ivory dome; but nobody seems to mind them. + +How, with such careless picking, are accidents avoided? In my village +and for a long way around, the rule is to blanch the mushrooms, that is +to say, to bring them to the boil in water with a little salt in it. +A few rinsings in cold water conclude the treatment. They are then +prepared in whatever manner one pleases. In this way, what might at +first be dangerous becomes harmless, because the preliminary boiling and +rinsing have removed the noxious elements. + +My personal experience confirms the efficacy of this rustic method. +At home, we very often make use of the ringed agaric, which is reputed +extremely dangerous. When rendered wholesome by the ordeal of boiling +water, it becomes a dish of which I have naught but good to say. Then +again the smooth-headed amanita frequently appears upon my table, after +being duly boiled: if it were not first treated in this fashion, it +would be hardly safe. I have tried the blue-turning boletes, especially +the purple bolete and the Satanic. They answered very well to the +eulogistic term of beef marrow applied to them by the mushroom picker +who scouted my prudent counsels. I have sometimes employed the mottled +amanita, so ill famed in the books, without disastrous result. One of +my friends, a doctor, to whom I communicated my ideas about the boiling +water treatment, thought that he would make the experiment on his +own account. He chose the lemon-yellow amanita, which has as bad a +reputation as the mottled variety, and ate it at supper. Everything went +off without the slightest inconvenience. Another, a blind friend, in +whose company I was one day to taste the Cossus of the Roman epicures, +treated himself to the olive tree agaric, said to be so formidable. The +dish was, if not excellent, at least harmless. + +It results from these facts that a good preliminary boiling is the +best safeguard against accidents arising from mushrooms. If the insect, +devouring one species and refusing another, cannot guide us in any way, +at least rustic wisdom, the fruit of long experience, prescribes a rule +of conduct which is both simple and efficacious. You are tempted by a +basketful of mushrooms, but you do not feel very sure as to their +good or evil properties. Then have them blanched, well and thoroughly +blanched. When it leaves the purgatory of the stewpan, the doubtful +mushroom can be eaten without fear. + +But this, you will tell me, is a system of cookery fit for savages: the +treatment with boiling water will reduce the mushrooms to a mash; it +will take away all their flavor and all their succulence. That is a +complete mistake. The mushroom stands the ordeal exceedingly well. +I have described my failure to subdue the cepes when I was trying +to obtain an extract from them. Prolonged boiling, with the aid of +bicarbonate of soda, so far from reducing them to a mess, left them very +nearly intact. The other mushrooms whose size entitles them to culinary +consideration offer the same degree of resistance. In the second place, +there is no loss of succulence and hardly any of flavor. Moreover, they +become much more digestible, which is a most important condition in +a dish generally so heavy for the stomach. For this reason, it is the +custom, in my family, to treat them one and all with boiling water, +including even the glorious imperial. + +I am a Philistine, it is true, a barbarian caring little for the +refinements of cookery. I am not thinking of the epicure, but of the +frugal man, the husbandman especially. I should consider myself amply +repaid for my persistent observations if I succeeded in popularizing, +however little, the wise Provencal recipe for mushrooms, an excellent +food that makes a pleasant change from the dish of beans or potatoes, +when we can overcome the difficulty of distinguishing between the +harmless and the dangerous. + +[Recorder's note: Modern mycologists warn against Fabre's claim that +boiling neutralizes all mushroom poisons.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. A MEMORABLE LESSON + +I take leave of the mushrooms with regret: there would be so many other +questions to solve concerning them! Why do the maggots eat the Satanic +bolete and scorn the imperial mushroom? How is it that they find +delicious what we find poisonous and why is it that what seems exquisite +to our taste is loathsome to theirs? Can there be special compounds in +mushrooms, alkaloids, apparently, which vary according to the botanical +genus? Would it be possible to isolate them and study their properties +fully? Who knows whether medical science could not employ them in +relieving our ailments, even as it employs quinine, morphia and other +alkaloids? One might inquire into the cause of the liquefaction of the +coprini, which is spontaneous, and that of the boletes, which is brought +about by the maggots. Do both cases come within the same category? +Does the coprinus digest itself by virtue of a pepsin similar to the +maggots'? One would like to discover the oxidizable substance that gives +the luminous mushroom its soft, white light, which is like the beams of +the full moon. It would be interesting to know whether certain boletes +turn blue owing to the presence of an indigo which is more liable +to change than dyers' indigo and whether the green of the so-called +delicious milk mushroom when bruised is due to a like cause. + +All these patient chemical investigations would tempt me, if the +rudimentary equipment of my laboratory and especially the irrevocable +flight of age-worn hopes permitted it. The day has passed for it now; +there is no time left to me. No matter: let us talk chemistry once more, +for a little while; and, for want of something better, let us revive old +memories. If the historian, now and again, takes a small place in the +story of his animals, the reader will kindly excuse him: old age is +prone to these reminiscences, the bloom of later days. + +I have received, in all, two lessons of a scientific character in the +course of my life: one in anatomy and one in chemistry. I owe the first +to the learned naturalist Moquin-Tandon, who, on our return from +a botanizing expedition to Monte Renoso, in Corsica, showed me the +structure of a Snail in a plate filled with water. It was short and +fruitful. From that moment, I was initiated. Henceforth, I was to wield +the scalpel and decently to explore an animal's interior without any +other guidance from a master. The second lesson, that of chemistry, was +less fortunate. I will tell you what happened. + +In my normal school, the scientific teaching was on an exceedingly +modest scale, consisting mainly of arithmetic and odds and ends +of geometry. Physics was hardly touched. We were taught a little +meteorology, in a summary fashion: a word or two about a red moon, a +white frost, dew, snow and wind; and, with this smattering of rustic +physics, we were considered to know enough of the subject to discuss the +weather with the farmer and the plowman. + +Of natural history, absolutely nothing. No one thought of telling us +anything about flowers and trees, which give such zest to one's aimless +rambles, nor about insects, with their curious habits, nor about stones, +so instructive with their fossil records. That entrancing glance through +the windows of the world was refused us. Grammar was allowed to strangle +life. + +Chemistry was never mentioned either: that goes without saying. I knew +the word, however. My casual reading, only half-understood for want of +practical demonstration, had taught me that chemistry is concerned with +the shuffle of matter, uniting or separating the various elements. But +what a strange idea I formed of this branch of study! To me it smacked +of sorcery, of alchemy and its search for the philosopher's stone. To my +mind, every chemist, when at work, should have had a magic wand in his +hand and the wizard's pointed, star studded cap on his head. + +An important personage who sometimes visited the school, in his capacity +as an honorary lecturer, was not the man to rid me of those foolish +notions. He taught physics and chemistry at the grammar school. Twice a +week, from eight to nine o'clock in the evening, he held a free public +class in an enormous building adjacent to our schoolhouse. This was +the former Church of Saint-Martial, which has today become a Protestant +meeting house. + +It was a wizard's cave certainly, just as I had pictured it. At the top +of the steeple, a rusty weathercock creaked mournfully; in the dusk, +great Bats flew all around the edifice or dived down the throats of the +gargoyles; at night, Owls hooted upon the copings of the leads. It was +inside, under the immensities of the vault, that my chemist used to +perform. What infernal mixtures did he compound? Should I ever know? + +It is the day for his visit. He comes to see us with no pointed cap: +in ordinary garb, in fact, with nothing very queer about him. He bursts +into our schoolroom like a hurricane. His red face is half-buried in the +enormous stiff collar that digs into his ears. A few wisps of red hair +adorn his temples; the top of his head shines like an old ivory ball. In +a dictatorial voice and with wooden gestures, he questions two or three +of the boys; after a moment's bullying, he turns on his heel and goes +off in a whirlwind as he came. No, this is not the man, a capital fellow +at heart, to inspire me with a pleasant idea of the things which he +teaches. + +Two windows of his laboratory look out upon the garden of the school. +One can just lean on them; and I often come and peep in, trying to make +out, in my poor brain, what chemistry can really be. Unfortunately, +the room into which my eyes penetrate is not the sanctuary but a mere +outhouse where the learned implements and crockery are washed. Leaden +pipes with taps run down the walls; wooden vats occupy the corners. +Sometimes, those vats bubble, heated by a spray of steam. A reddish +powder, which looks like brick dust, is boiling in them. I learn that +the simmering stuff is a dyer's root, known as madder, which will +be converted into a purer and more concentrated product. This is the +master's pet study. + +What I saw from the two windows was not enough for me. I wanted to see +farther, into the very classroom. My wish was satisfied. It was the end +of the scholastic year. A stage ahead in the regular work, I had just +obtained my certificate. I was free. A few weeks remain before the +holidays. Shall I go and spend them out of doors, in all the gaiety of +my eighteen summers? No, I will spend them at the school which, for two +years past, has provided me with an untroubled roof and my daily crust. +I will wait until a post is found for me. Employ my willing service as +you think fit, do with me what you will: as long as I can study, I am +indifferent to the rest. + +The principal of the school, the soul of kindness, has grasped my +passion for knowledge. He encourages me in my determination; he proposes +to make me renew my acquaintance with Horace and Virgil, so long since +forgotten. He knows Latin, he does; he will rekindle the dead spark +by making me translate a few passages. He does more: he lends me an +Imitation with parallel texts in Latin and Greek. With the first text, +which I am almost able to read, I will puzzle out the second and thus +increase the small vocabulary which I acquired in the days when I was +translating Aesop's Fables. It will be all the better for my future +studies. What luck! Board and lodging, ancient poetry, the classical +languages, all the good things at once! + +I did better still. Our science master--the real, not the honorary +one--who came twice a week to discourse of the rule of three and +the properties of the triangle, had the brilliant idea of letting +us celebrate the end of the school year with a feast of learning. He +promised to show us oxygen. As a colleague of the chemist in the grammar +school, he obtained leave to take us to the famous laboratory and there +to handle the object of his lesson under our very eyes. Oxygen, yes, +oxygen, the all-consuming gas; that was what we were to see on the +morrow. I could not sleep all night for thinking of it. + +Thursday afternoon came at last. As soon as the chemistry lesson is +over, we were to go for a walk to Les Angles, the pretty village over +yonder, perched on a steep rock. We were therefore in our Sunday best, +our out-of-doors clothes: black frock coats and tall hats. The whole +school was there, some thirty of us, in the charge of an usher, who knew +as little as we did of the things which we were about to see. We crossed +the threshold of the laboratory, not without excitement. I entered a +great nave with a Gothic roof, an old, bare church through which one's +voice echoed, into which the light penetrated discreetly through stained +glass windows set in ribs and rosettes of stone. At the back were huge +raised benches, with room for an audience of many hundreds; at the other +end, where the choir once was, stood an enormous chimney mantel; in the +middle was a large, massive table, corroded by the chemicals. At one end +of this table was a tarred tub, lined inside with lead and filled with +water. This, I at once learned, was the pneumatic trough, the vessel in +which the gases were collected. + +The professor begins the experiment. He takes a sort of large, long +glass bulb, bent abruptly in the region of the neck. This, he informs +us, is a retort. He pours into it, from a screw of paper, some black +stuff that looks like powdered charcoal. This is manganese dioxide, +the master tells us. It contains in abundance, in a condensed state +and retained by combination with the metal, the gas which we propose to +obtain. An oily looking liquid, sulfuric acid, an excessively powerful +agent, will set it at liberty. Thus filled, the retort is placed on a +lighted stove. A glass tube brings it into communication with a bell jar +full of water on the shelf of the pneumatic trough. Those are all the +preparations. What will be the result? We must wait for the action of +heat. + +My fellow pupils gather eagerly round the apparatus, cannot come close +enough to it. Some of them play the part of the fly on the wheel and +glory in contributing to the success of the experiment. They straighten +the retort, which is leaning to one side; they blow with their mouths on +the coals in the stove. I do not care for these familiarities with the +unknown. The good natured master raises no objection; but I have never +been able to endure the thronging of a crowd of gapers, who are very +busy with their elbows and force their way to the front row to see +whatever is happening, even though it be merely a couple of mongrels +fighting. Let us withdraw and leave these officious ones to themselves. +There is so much to see here, while the oxygen is being prepared. Let +us make the most of the occasion and take a look round the chemist's +arsenal. + +Under the spacious chimney mantel is a collection of queer stoves, bound +round with bands of sheet iron. There are long and short ones, high +and low ones, all pierced with little windows that are closed with +a terracotta shutter. This one, a sort of little tower, is formed of +several parts placed one above the other and each supplied with big +round handles to hold them by when you take the monument to pieces. +A dome, with an iron chimney, tops the whole edifice, which must +be capable of producing a very hell fire to roast a stone of no +significance. Another, a squat one, stretches out like a curved spine. +It has a round hole at either end; and a thick porcelain tube sticks +out from each. It is impossible to conceive the purpose which such +instruments as these can serve. The seekers of the philosopher's stone +must have had many like them. They are torturers' engines, tearing the +metals' secrets from them. + +The glass things are arranged on shelves. I see retorts of different +sizes, all with necks bent at a sudden angle. In addition to their long +beak, some of them have a narrow little tube coming out of their bulb. +Look, youngster, and do not try to guess the object of these curious +vessels. I see glasses with feet to them, funnel-shaped and deep; I +stand amazed at strange looking bottles with two or three mouths to +each, at phials swelling into a balloon with a long, narrow tube. What +an odd array of implements! And here are glass cupboards with a host +of bottles and jars, filled with all manner of chemicals. The labels +apprise me of their contents: molybdenite of ammonia, chloride of +antimony, permanganate of potash and ever so many other strange terms. +Never, in all my reading, have I met with such repellent language. + +Suddenly, bang! And there is running and stamping and shouting and cries +of pain! What has happened? I rush up from the back of the room. The +retort has burst, squirting its boiling vitriol in every direction. The +wall opposite is all stained with it. Most of my fellow pupils have been +more or less struck. One poor youth has had the splashes full in his +face, right into his eyes. He is yelling like a madman. With the help of +a friend who has come off better than the others, I drag him outside by +main force, take him to the sink, which fortunately is close at hand, +and hold his face under the tap. This swift ablution serves its purpose. +The horrible pain begins to be allayed, so much so that the sufferer +recovers his senses and is able to continue the washing process for +himself. + +My prompt aid certainly saved his sight. A week later, with the help of +the doctor's lotions, all danger was over. How lucky it was that I took +it into my head to keep some way off! My isolation, as I stood looking +into the glass case of chemicals, left me all my presence of mind, +all my readiness of resource. What are the others doing, those who got +splashed through standing too near the chemical bomb? I return to the +lecture hall. It is not a cheerful spectacle. The master has come off +badly: his shirtfront, waistcoat and trousers are covered with smears, +which are all smoldering and burning into holes. He hurriedly divests +himself of a portion of his dangerous raiment. Those of us who possess +the smartest clothes lend him something to put on so that he can go home +decently. + +One of the tall, funnel-shaped glasses which I was admiring just now is +standing, full of ammonia, on the table. All, coughing and sniveling, +dip their handkerchiefs into it and rub the moist rag over their hats +and coats. In this way, the red stains left by the horrible compound +are made to disappear. A drop of ink will presently restore the color +completely. + +And the oxygen? There was no more question, I need hardly say, of that. +The feast of learning was over. Never mind: the disastrous lesson was a +mighty event for me. I had been inside the chemist's laboratory; I +had had a glimpse of those wonderful jars and tubes. In teaching, what +matters most is not the thing taught, whether well or badly grasped: +it is the stimulus given to the pupil's latent aptitudes; it is the +fulminate awakening the slumbering explosives. One day, I shall obtain +on my own account that oxygen which ill luck has denied me; one day, +without a master, I shall yet learn chemistry. + +Yes, I shall learn this chemistry, which started so disastrously. And +how? By teaching it. I do not recommend that method to anybody. Happy +the man who is guided by a master's word and example! He has a smooth +and easy road before him, lying straight ahead. The other follows a +rugged path, in which his feet often stumble; he goes groping into the +unknown and loses his way. To recover the right road, if want of success +have not discouraged him, he can rely only on perseverance, the sole +compass of the poor. Such was my fate. I taught myself by teaching +others, by passing on to them the modicum of seed that had ripened on +the barren moor cleared, from day to day, by my patient plowshare. + +A few months after the incident of the vitriol bomb, I was sent to +Carpentras to take charge of junior classes at the college there. The +first year was a difficult one, swamped as I was by the excessive number +of pupils, a set of duffers kept out of the more advanced classes and +all at different stages in spelling and grammar. Next year, my school is +divided into two; I have an assistant. A weeding-out takes place in my +crowd of scatterbrains. I keep the older, the more intelligent ones; +the others are to have a term in the preparatory division. From that day +forward, things are different. Curriculum there is none. In those happy +times, the master's personality counted for something; there was no such +thing as the scholastic piston working with the regularity of a machine. +It was left for me to act as I thought fit. Well, what should I do to +make the school earn its title of 'upper primary'? + +Why, of course! Among other things, I shall do some chemistry! My +reading has taught me that it does no harm to know a little chemistry, +if you would make your furrows yield a good return. Many of my pupils +come from the country; they will go back to it to improve their land. +Let us show them what the soil is made of and what the plant feeds on. +Others will follow industrial careers; they will become tanners, +metal founders, distillers; they will sell cakes of soap and kegs of +anchovies. Let us show them pickling, soap making, stills, tannin and +metals. Of course, I know nothing about these things, but I shall learn, +all the more so as I shall have to teach them to the boys; and your +schoolboy is a little demon for jeering at the master's hesitation. + +As it happens, the college boasts a small laboratory, containing just +what is strictly indispensable: a receiver, a dozen glass balloons, a +few tubes and a niggardly assortment of chemicals. That will do, if I +can have the run of it. But the laboratory is a sanctum reserved for the +use of the sixth form. No one sets foot in it except the professor and +his pupils preparing for their degree. For me, the outsider, to enter +that tabernacle with my band of young imps would be most unseemly; the +rightful occupant would never think of allowing it. I feel it myself: +elementary teaching dare not aspire to such familiarity with the higher +culture. Very well, we will not go there, so long as they will lend me +the things. + +I confide my plan to the principal, the supreme dispenser of those +riches. He is a classics man, knows hardly anything of science, at +that time held in no great esteem, and he does not quite understand the +object of my request. I humbly insist and exert my powers of persuasion. +I discreetly emphasize the real point of the matter. My group of pupils +is a numerous one. It takes more meals at the schoolhouse--the real +concern of a principal--than any other section of the college. This +group must be encouraged, lured on, increased if possible. The prospect +of disposing of a few more platefuls of soup wins the battle for me; +my request is granted. Poor science! All that diplomacy to gain your +entrance among the despised ones, who have not been nourished on Cicero +and Demosthenes! + +I am authorized to move, once a week, the material required for my +ambitious plans. From the first floor, the sacred dwelling of the +scientific things, I shall take them down to a sort of cellar where I +give my lessons. The troublesome part is the pneumatic trough. It has +to be emptied before it is carried downstairs and to be filled again +afterwards. A day scholar, a zealous acolyte, hurries over his dinner +and comes to lend me a hand an hour or two before the class begins. We +effect the move between us. + +What I am after is oxygen, the gas which I once saw fail so lamentably. +I thought it all out at my leisure, with the help of a book. I will do +this, I will do that, I will go to work in this or the other fashion. +Above all, we will run no risks, perhaps of blinding ourselves; for it +is once more a question of heating manganese dioxide with sulfuric acid. +I am filled with misgivings at the recollection of my old school fellow +yelling like mad. Who cares? Let us try for all that: fortune favors the +brave! Besides, we will make one prudent condition, from which I +shall never depart: no one but myself shall come near the table. If an +accident happen, I shall be the only one to suffer; and, in my opinion, +it is worth a burn or two to make acquaintance with oxygen. + +Two o'clock strikes; and my pupils enter the classroom. I purposely +exaggerate the likelihood of danger. They are all to stay on their +benches and not stir. This is agreed. I have plenty of elbow room. There +is no one by me, except my acolyte, standing by my side, ready to help +me when the time comes. The others look on in profound silence, reverent +towards the unknown. + +Soon the gaseous bubbles come "gloo-glooing" through the water in the +bell jar. Can it be my gas? My heart beats with excitement. Can I have +succeeded without any trouble at the first attempt? We will see. A +candle blown out that moment and still retaining a red tip to its wick +is lowered by a wire into a small test jar filled with my product. +Capital! The candle lights with a little explosion and burns with +extraordinary brilliancy. It is oxygen right enough. + +The moment is a solemn one. My audience is astounded and so am I, but +more at my own success than at the relighted candle. A puff of vainglory +rises to my brow; I feel the fire of enthusiasm run through my veins. +But I say nothing of these inner sensations. Before the boys' eyes, the +master must appear an old hand at the things he teaches. What would the +young rascals think of me if I allowed them to suspect my surprise, +if they knew that I myself am beholding the marvelous subject of +my demonstration for the first time in my life? I should lose their +confidence, I should sink to the level of a mere pupil. + +Sursum corda! Let us go on as if chemistry were a familiar thing to me. +It is the turn of the steel ribbon, an old watch spring rolled corkscrew +fashion and furnished with a bit of tinder. With this simple lighted +bait, the steel should take fire in a jar filled with my gas. And it +does burn; it becomes a splendid firework, with cracklings and a blaze +of sparks and a cloud of rust that tarnishes the jar. From the end of +the fiery coil a red drop breaks off at intervals, shoots quivering +through the layer of water left at the bottom of the vessel and embeds +itself in the glass which has suddenly grown soft. This metallic tear, +with its indomitable heat, makes every one of us shudder. All stamp and +cheer and applaud. The timid ones place their hands before their faces +and dare not look except through their fingers. My audience exults; and +I myself triumph. Ha, my friends, isn't it grand, this chemistry! + +All of us have red letter days in our lives. Some, the practical men, +have been successful in business; they have made money and hold their +heads high in consequence. Others, the thinkers, have gained ideas; +they have opened a new account in the ledger of nature and they silently +taste the hallowed joys of truth. One of my great days was that of my +first acquaintance with oxygen. On that day, when my class was over and +all the materials put back in their place, I felt myself grow several +inches taller. An untrained workman, I had shown, with complete success, +that which was unknown to me a couple of hours before. No accident +whatever, not even the least stain of acid. + +It is, therefore, not so difficult nor so dangerous as the pitiful +finish of the Saint Martial lesson might have led me to believe. With +a vigilant eye and a little prudence, I shall be able to continue. The +prospect is enchanting. + +And so, in due season, comes hydrogen, carefully contemplated in my +reading, seen and reseen with the eye of the mind before being seen with +the eyes of the body. I delight my little rascals by making the hydrogen +flame sing in a glass tube, which trickles with the drops of water +resulting from the combustion; I make them jump with the explosions of +the thunderous mixture. Later, I show them, with the same invariable +success, the splendors of phosphorus, the violent powers of chlorine, +the loathsome smells of sulfur, the metamorphoses of carbon and so on. +In short, in a series of lessons, the principal nonmetallic elements and +their compounds are passed in review during the course of the year. + +The thing was bruited abroad. Fresh pupils came to me, attracted by the +marvels of the school. Additional places were laid in the dining hall; +and the principal, who was more interested in the profits on his beans +and bacon than in chemistry, congratulated me on this accession of +boarders. I was fairly started. Time and an indomitable will would do +the rest. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY + +Everything happens sooner or later. When, through the low windows +overlooking the garden of the school, my eye glanced at the laboratory, +where the madder vats were steaming; when, in the sanctuary itself, +I was present, by way of a first and last chemistry lesson, at the +explosion of the retort of sulfuric acid that nearly disfigured every +one of us, I was far indeed from suspecting the part which I was +destined to play under that same vaulted roof. Had a prophet foretold +that I should one day succeed the master, never would I have believed +him. Time works these surprises for us. + +Stones would have theirs too, if anything were able to astonish them. +The Saint Martial building was originally a church; it is a protestant +place of worship now. Men used to pray there in Latin; today they pray +in French. In the intervening period, it was for some years in the +service of science, the noble orison that dispels the darkness. What has +the future in store for it? Like many another in the ringing city, to +use Rabelais' epithet, will it become a home for the fuller's teasels, +a warehouse for scrap iron, a carrier's stable? Who knows? Stones have +their destinies no less unexpected than ours. + +When I took possession of it as a laboratory for the municipal course of +lectures, the nave remained as it was at the time of my former short and +disastrous visit. To the right, on the wall, a number of black stains +struck the eye. It was as though a madman's hand, armed with the inkpot, +had smashed its fragile projectile at that spot. I recognized the stains +at once. They were the marks of the corrosive which the retort had +splashed at our heads. Since those days of long ago, no one had thought +fit to hide them under a coat of whitewash. So much the better: they +will serve me as excellent counselors. Always before my eyes, at every +lesson, they will speak to me incessantly of prudence. + +For all its attractions, however, chemistry did not make me forget a +long cherished plan well suited to my tastes, that of teaching natural +history at a university. Now, one day, at the grammar school, I had a +visit from a chief inspector which was not of an encouraging nature. My +colleagues used to call him the Crocodile. Perhaps he had given them a +rough time in the course of his inspections. For all his boorish ways, +he was an excellent man at heart. I owe him for a piece of advice which +greatly influenced my future studies. + +That day, he suddenly appeared, alone, in the schoolroom, where I was +taking a class in geometrical drawing. I must explain that, at this +time, to eke out my ridiculous salary and, at all costs, to provide a +living for myself and my large family, I was a mighty pluralist, both +inside the college and out. At the college in particular, after two +hours of physics, chemistry or natural history, came, without respite, +another two hours' lesson, in which I taught the boys how to make a +projection in descriptive geometry, how to draw a geodetic plane, a +curve of any kind whose law of generation is known to us. This was +called graphics. + +The sudden irruption of the dread personage causes me no great flurry. +Twelve o'clock strikes, the pupils go out and we are left alone. I know +him to be a geometrician. The transcendental curve, perfectly drawn, may +work upon his gentler mood. I happen to have in my portfolio the +very thing to please him. Fortune serves me well in this special +circumstance. Among my boys, there is one who, though a regular dunce at +everything else, is a first rate hand with the square, the compass and +the drawing pen: a deft-fingered numskull, in short. + +With the aid of a system of tangents of which I first showed him the +rule and the method of construction, my artist has obtained the ordinary +cycloid, followed by the interior and the exterior epicycloid and, +lastly, the same curves both lengthened and shortened. His drawings are +admirable Spider's webs, encircling the cunning curve in their net. The +draftsmanship is so accurate that it is easy to deduce from it beautiful +theorems, which would be very laborious to work out by the calculus. + +I submit the geometrical masterpieces to my chief inspector, who is +himself said to be smitten with geometry. I modestly describe the method +of construction, I call his attention to the fine deductions which the +drawing enables one to make. It is labor lost: he gives but a heedless +glance at my sheets and flings each on the table as I hand it to him. + +'Alas!' said I to myself. 'There is a storm brewing; the cycloid won't +save you; it's your turn for a bite from the Crocodile!' + +Not a bit of it. Behold the bugbear growing genial. He sits down on a +bench, with one leg here, another there, invites me to take a seat by +his side and, in a moment, we are discussing graphics. Then, bluntly: +'Have you any money?' he asks. + +Astounded at this strange question, I answer with a smile. + +'Don't be afraid,' he says. 'Confide in me. I'm asking you in your own +interest. Have you any capital?' + +'I have no reason to be ashamed of my poverty, monsieur l'inspecteur +general. I frankly admit, I possess nothing; my means are limited to my +modest salary.' + +A frown greets my answer; and I hear, spoken in an undertone, as though +my confessor were talking to himself: 'That's sad, that's really very +sad.' + +Astonished to find my penury treated as sad, I ask for an explanation: I +was not accustomed to this solicitude on the part of my superiors. + +'Why, yes, it's a great pity,' continues the man reputed so terrible. 'I +have read your articles in the Annales des sciences naturelles. You have +an observant mind, a taste for research, a lively style and a ready pen. +You would have made a capital university professor.' + +'But that's just what I'm aiming at!' + +'Give up the idea.' + +'Haven't I the necessary attainment?' + +'Yes, you have; but you have no capital.' The great obstacle stands +revealed to me: woe to the poor in pocket! University teaching demands a +private income. Be as ordinary, as commonplace as you please, but, above +all, possess the coin that lets you cut a dash. That is the main thing; +the rest is a secondary condition. + +And the worthy man tells me what poverty in a frock coat means. Though +less of a pauper than I, he has known the mortification of it; he +describes it to me, excitedly, in all its bitterness. I listen to him +with an aching heart; I see the refuge which was to shelter my future +crumbling before my eyes: 'You have done me a great service, sir,' I +answered. 'You put an end to my hesitation. For the moment, I give up my +plan. I will first see if it is possible to earn the small fortune which +I shall need if I am to teach in a decent manner.' + +Thereupon we exchanged a friendly grip of the hand and parted. I never +saw him again. His fatherly arguments had soon convinced me: I was +prepared to hear the blunt truth. A few months earlier, I had received +my nomination as an assistant lecturer in zoology at the university of +Poitiers. They offered me a ridiculous salary. After paying the costs of +moving, I should have had hardly three francs a day left; and, on this +income, I had to keep my family, numbering seven in all. I hastened to +decline the very great honor. + +No, science ought not to practice these jests. If we humble persons are +of use to her, she should at least enable us to live. If she can't do +that, then let her leave us to break stones on the highway. Oh, yes, I +was prepared for the truth when that honest fellow talked to me of frock +coated poverty! I am telling the story of a not very distant past. Since +then, things have improved considerably; but, when the pear was properly +ripened, I was no longer of an age to pick it. + +And what was I to do now, to overcome the difficulty mentioned by my +inspector and confirmed by my personal experience? I would take up +industrial chemistry. The municipal lectures at Saint Martial placed +a spacious and fairly well-equipped laboratory at my disposal. Why not +make the most of it? + +The chief manufacture of Avignon was madder. The farmer supplied the +raw material to the factories, where it was turned into purer and more +concentrated products. My predecessor had gone in for it and done well +by it, so people said. I would follow in his footsteps and use the vats +and furnaces, the expensive plant which I had inherited. So to work. + +What should I set myself to produce? I proposed to extract the coloring +substance, alizarin, to separate it from the other matters found with it +in the root, to obtain it in the pure state and in a form that allowed +of the direct printing of the stuffs, a much quicker and more artistic +method than the old dyeing process. + +Nothing could be simpler than this problem, once the solution was known; +but how tremendously obscure while it had still to be solved! I dare +not call to mind all the imagination and patience spent upon endless +endeavors which nothing, not even the madness of them, discouraged. What +mighty meditations in the somber church! What glowing dreams, soon to be +followed by sore disappointment, when experiment spoke the last word and +upset the scaffolding of my plans. Stubborn as the slave of old amassing +a peculium for his enfranchisement, I used to reply to the check of +yesterday by the fresh attempt of tomorrow, often as faulty as +the others, sometimes the richer by an improvement, and I went on +indefatigably, for I too cherished the indomitable ambition to set +myself free. + +Should I succeed? Perhaps so. I at last had a satisfactory answer. I +obtained, in a cheap and practical fashion, the pure coloring matter, +concentrated in a small volume and excellent for both printing and +dyeing. One of my friends took up my process on a large scale in +his works; a few calico factories adopted the produce and expressed +themselves delighted with it. The future smiled at last; a pink rift +opened in my gray sky. I should possess the modest fortune without which +I must deny myself the pleasure of teaching in a university. Freed of +the torturing anxiety about my daily bread, I should be able to live at +ease among my insects. + +In the midst of the joys of seeing these problems solved by chemistry, +yet another ray of sunshine was reserved for me, adding its gladness +to that of my success. Let us go back a couple of years. The chief +inspectors visited our grammar school. These personages travel in pairs: +one attends to literature, the other to science. When the inspection was +over and the books checked, the staff was summoned to the principal's +drawing room, to receive the parting admonitions of the two luminaries. +The man of science began. I should be sadly put to it to remember what +he said. It was cold professional prose, made up of soulless words +which the hearer forgot once the speaker's back was turned, words merely +boring to both. I had heard enough of these chilly sermons in my time; +one more of them could not hope to make an impression on me. + +The inspector in literature spoke next. At the first words which he +uttered, I said to myself: 'Oho! This is a very different business!' + +The speech was alive and vigorous and full of images; indifferent to +scholastic commonplaces, the ideas soared, hovering gently in the serene +heights of a kindly philosophy. This time, I listened with pleasure; +I even felt stirred. Here was no official homily: it was full of +impassioned zeal, of words that carried you with them, uttered by an +honest man accomplished in the art of speaking, an orator in the true +sense of the word. In all my school experience, I had never had such a +treat. + +When the meeting broke up, my heart beat faster than usual: 'What a +pity,' I thought, 'that my side, the science side, cannot bring me into +contact, some day, with that inspector! It seems to me that we should +become great friends.' + +I inquired his name of my colleagues, who were always better informed +than I. They told me it was Victor Duruy. + +Well, one day, two years later, as I was looking after my Saint Martial +laboratory in the midst of the steam from my vats, with my hands the +color of boiled lobster claws from constant dipping in the indelible +red of my dyes, there walked in, unexpectedly, a person whose features +straightway seemed familiar. I was right, it was the very man, the chief +inspector whose speech had once stirred me. M. Duruy was now minister +of public instruction. He was styled, 'Your excellency;' and this style, +usually an empty formula, was well deserved in the present case, for our +new minister excelled in his exalted functions. We all held him in high +esteem. He was the workers' minister, the man for the humble toiler. + +'I want to spend my last half-hour at Avignon with you,' said my +visitor, with a smile. 'That will be a relief from the official bowing +and scraping.' + +Overcome by the honor paid me, I apologized for my costume--I was in my +shirt sleeves--and especially for my lobster claws, which I had tried, +for a moment, to hide behind my back. + +'You have nothing to apologize for. I came to see the worker. The +working man never looks better than in his overall, with the marks of +his trade on him. Let us have a talk. What are you doing just now?' + +I explained, in a few words, the object of my researches; I showed +my product; I executed under the minister's eyes a little attempt at +printing in madder red. The success of the experiment and the simplicity +of my apparatus, in which an evaporating dish, maintained at boiling +point under a glass funnel, took the place of a steam chamber, caused +him some surprise. + +'I will help you,' he said. 'What do you want for your laboratory?' + +'Why, nothing, monsieur le ministre, nothing! With a little application, +the plant I have is ample.' + +'What, nothing! You are unique there! The others overwhelm me with +requests; their laboratories are never well enough supplied. And you, +poor as you are, refuse my offers!' + +'No, there is one thing which I will accept.' + +'What is that?' + +'The signal honor of shaking you by the hand.' + +'There you are, my friend, with all my heart. But that's not enough. +What else do you want?' + +'The Paris Jardin des Plantes is under your control. Should a crocodile +die, let them keep the hide for me. I will stuff it with straw and hang +it from the ceiling. Thus adorned, my workshop will rival the wizard's +cave.' + +The minister cast his eyes round the nave and glanced up at the Gothic +vault: 'Yes, it would look very well.' And he gave a laugh at my sally. +'I now know you as a chemist,' he continued. 'I knew you already as a +naturalist and a writer. I have heard about your little animals. I am +sorry that I shall have to leave without seeing them. They must wait for +another occasion. My train will be starting presently. Walk with me to +the station, will you? We shall be alone and we can chat a bit more on +the way.' + +We strolled along, discussing entomology and madder. My shyness had +disappeared. The self sufficiency of a fool would have left me dumb; +the fine frankness of a lofty mind put me at my ease. I told him of my +experiments in natural history, of my plans for a professorship, of my +fight with harsh fate, my hopes and fears. He encouraged me, spoke to +me of a better future. We reached the station and walked up and down +outside, talking away delightfully. + +A poor old woman passed, all in rags, her back bent by age and years of +work in the fields. She furtively put out her hand for alms. Duruy +felt in his waistcoat, found a two franc piece and placed it in the +outstretched hand; I wanted to add a couple of sous as my contribution, +but my pockets were empty, as usual. I went to the beggar woman and +whispered in her ear: 'Do you know who gave you that? It's the emperor's +minister. + +The poor woman started; and her astounded eyes wandered from the +open-handed swell to the piece of silver and from the piece of silver to +the open-handed swell. What a surprise! What a windfall! + +'Que lou bon Dieu ie done longo vido e santa, pecaire!' she said, in her +cracked voice. + +And, curtseying and nodding, she withdrew, still staring at the coin in +the palm of her hand. + +'What did she say?' asked Duruy. + +'She wished you long life and health.' 'And pecaire?' + +'Pecaire is a poem in itself: it sums up all the gentler passions.' + +And I myself mentally repeated the artless vow. The man who stops so +kindly when a beggar puts out her hand has something better in his soul +than the mere qualities that go to make a minister. + +We entered the station, still alone, as promised, and I quite without +misgivings. Had I but foreseen what was going to happen, how I should +have hastened to take my leave! Little by little, a group formed in +front of us. It was too late to fly; I had to screw up my courage. +Came the general of division and his officers, came the prefect and his +secretary, the mayor and his deputy, the school inspector and the pick +of the staff. The minister faced the ceremonial semicircle. I stood +next to him. A crowd on one side, we two on the other. Followed the +regulation spinal contortions, the empty obeisances which my dear Duruy +had come to my laboratory to forget. When bowing to St. Roch, in his +corner niche, the worshipper at the same time salutes the saint's humble +companion. I was something like St. Roch's dog in the presence of those +honors which did not concern me. I stood and looked on, with my awful +red hands concealed behind my back, under the broad brim of my felt hat. + +After the official compliments had been exchanged, the conversation +began to languish; and the minister seized my right hand and gently drew +it from the mysterious recesses of my wide awake. + +'Why don't you show those gentlemen your hands?' he said. 'Most people +would be proud of them.' + +'Workman's hands,' said the prefect's secretary. 'Regular workman's +hands.' + +The general, almost scandalized at seeing me in such distinguished +company, added: 'Hands of a dyer and cleaner.' + +'Yes, workman's hands,' retorted the minister, 'and I wish you many like +them. Believe me, they will do much to help the chief industry of your +city. Skilled as they are in chemical work, they are equally capable of +wielding the pen, the pencil, the scalpel and the lens. As you here seem +unaware of it, I am delighted to inform you.' + +This time, I should have liked the ground to open and swallow me up. +Fortunately, the bell rang for the train to start. I said goodbye to the +minister and, hurriedly taking to flight, left him laughing at the trick +which he had played me. + +The incident was noised about, could not help being so, for the +peristyle of a railway station keeps no secrets. I then learned to what +annoyances the shadow of the great exposes us. I was looked upon as an +influential person, having the favor of the gods at my disposal. Place +hunters and canvassers tormented me. One wanted a license to sell +tobacco and stamps, another a scholarship for his son, another an +increase of his pension. I had only to ask and I should obtain, said +they. + +O simple people, what an illusion was yours! You could not have hit upon +a worse intermediary. I figuring as a postulant! I have many faults, +I admit, but that is certainly not one of them. I got rid of the +importunate people as best I could, though they were utterly unable +to fathom my reserve. What would they have said had they known of the +minister's offers with regard to my laboratory and my jesting reply, in +which I asked for a crocodile skin to hang from my ceiling! They would +have taken me for an idiot. + +Six months elapsed; and I received a letter summoning me to call upon +the minister at his office. I suspected a proposal to promote me to a +more important grammar school and wrote begging that I might be left +where I was, among my vats and my insects. A second letter arrived, +more pressing than the first and signed by the minister's own hand. This +letter said: 'Come at once, or I shall send my gendarmes to fetch you.' + +There was no way out of it. Twenty-four hours later, I was in M. Duruy's +room. He welcomed me with exquisite cordiality, gave me his hand and, +taking up a number of the Moniteur: 'Read that,' he said. 'You refused +my chemical apparatus; but you won't refuse this. + +I looked at the line to which his finger pointed. I read my name in the +list of the Legion of Honor. Quite stupid with surprise, I stammered the +first words of thanks that entered my head. + +'Come here,' said he, 'and let me give you the accolade. I will be your +sponsor. You will like the ceremony all the better if it is held in +private, between you and me: I know you!' + +He pinned the red ribbon to my coat, kissed me on both cheeks, made me +telegraph the great event to my family. What a morning, spent with that +good man! + +I well know the vanity of decorative ribbonry and tinware, especially +when, as too often happens, intrigue degrades the honor conferred; but, +coming as it did, that bit of ribbon is precious to me. It is a relic, +not an object for show. I keep it religiously in a drawer. + +There was a parcel of big books on the table a collection of the reports +on the progress of science drawn up for the International Exhibition of +1867, which had just closed. + +'Those books are for you,' continued the minister. 'Take them with you. +You can look through them at your leisure: they may interest you. There +is something about your insects in them. You're to have this too: it +will pay for your journey. The trip which I made you take must not be +at your own expense. If there is anything over, spend it on your +laboratory.' + +And he handed me a roll of twelve hundred francs. In vain I refused, +remarking that my journey was not so burdensome as all that; besides, +his embrace and his bit of ribbon were of inestimable value compared +with my disbursements. He insisted: 'Take it,' he said, 'or I shall be +very angry. There's something else: you must come to the emperor's with +me tomorrow, to the reception of the learned societies.' + +Seeing me greatly perplexed and as though demoralized by the prospect of +an imperial interview: 'Don't try to escape me,' he said, 'or look out +for the gendarmes of my letter! You saw the fellows in the bearskin caps +on your way up. Mind you don't fall into their hands. In any case, lest +you should be tempted to run away, we will go to the Tuileries together, +in my carriage.' + +Things happened as he wished. The next day, in the minister's company, I +was ushered into a little drawing room at the Tuileries by chamberlains +in knee breeches and silver-buckled shoes. They were queer people to +look at. Their uniforms and their stiff gait gave them the appearance, +in my eyes, of beetles who, by way of wing cases, wore a great, +gold-laced dress coat, with a key in the small of the back. There were +already a score of persons from all parts waiting in the room. These +included geographical explorers, botanists, geologists, antiquaries, +archeologists, collectors of prehistoric flints, in short, the usual +representatives of provincial scientific life. + +The emperor entered, very simply dressed, with no parade about him +beyond a wide, red, watered silk ribbon across his chest. No sign of +majesty, an ordinary man, round and plump, with a large moustache and +a pair of half-closed, drowsy eyelids. He moved from one to the other, +talking to each of us for a moment as the minister mentioned our +names and the nature of our occupations. He showed a fair amount of +information as he changed his subject from the ice floes of Spitzbergen +to the dunes of Gascony, from a Carlovingian charter to the flora of +the Sahara, from the progress in beetroot growing to Caesar's +trenches before Alesia. When my turn came, he questioned me upon the +hypermetamorphosis of the Meloidae [a beetle family including the oil +beetle and the Spanish fly], my last essay in entomology. I answered as +best I could, floundering a little in the proper mode of address, mixing +up the everyday monsieur with sire, a word whose use was so entirely new +to me. I passed through the dread straits and others succeeded me. My +five minutes' conversation with an imperial majesty was, they tell me, a +most distinguished honor. I am quite ready to believe them, but I never +had a desire to repeat it. + +The reception came to an end, bows were exchanged and we were dismissed. +A luncheon awaited us at the minister's house. I sat on his right, not +a little embarrassed by the privilege; on his left was a physiologist +of great renown. Like the others, I spoke of all manner of things, +including even Avignon Bridge. Duruy's son, sitting opposite me, chaffed +me pleasantly about the famous bridge on which everybody dances; he +smiled at my impatience to get back to the thyme-scented hills and the +gray olive yards rich in Grasshoppers. + +'What!' said his father. 'Won't you visit our museums, our collections? +There are some very interesting things there.' + +'I know, monsieur le ministre, but I shall find better things, things +more to my taste, in the incomparable museum of the fields.' + +'Then what do you propose to do?' + +'I propose to go back tomorrow. + +I did go back, I had had enough of Paris: never had I felt such tortures +of loneliness as in that immense whirl of humanity. To get away, to get +away was my one idea. + +Once home among my family, I felt a mighty load off my mind and a great +joy in my heart, where rang a peal of bells proclaiming the delights of +my approaching emancipation. Little by little, the factory that was to +set me free rose skywards, full of promises. Yes, I should possess the +modest income which would crown my ambition by allowing me to descant on +animals and plants in a university chair. + +'Well, no,' said Fate, 'you shall not acquire the freedman's peculium; +you shall remain a slave, dragging your chain behind you; your peal of +bells rings false!' + +Hardly was the factory in full swing when a piece of news was +bruited, at first a vague rumor, an echo of probabilities rather than +certainties, and then a positive statement leaving no room for doubt. +Chemistry had obtained the madder dye by artificial means; thanks to a +laboratory concoction, it was utterly overthrowing the agriculture and +industries of my district. This result, while destroying my work and my +hopes, did not surprise me unduly. I myself had toyed with the problem +of artificial alizarin and I knew enough about it to foresee that, in +no very distant future, the work of the chemist's retort would take the +place of the work of the fields. + +It was finished; my hopes were dashed to the ground. What to do next? +Let us change our lever and begin to roll Sisyphus' stone once more. Let +us try to draw from the ink pot what the madder vat declines to yield. +Laboremus! + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of the Fly, by J. 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