Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/236



rive o'clock in the afternoon; but after the rush of the first few days not many appear before dusk. It is difficult to catch a nymph in the very act ofmaking its exit from the ground, and apparently no observations have been recorded on the manner of its leaving. Do the insects leisurely open their doors some time in advance of their actual need and wait below till the proper hour, or do they break through the thin caps ofearth and emerge at once? Digging up many open chambers revealed a living nymph in only one. Another issued from one of several dozen holes filled with liquid plaster for obtaining casts. Add to this the fact that great numbers of fresh holes are to be seen every morning during the emergence season, and the evidence would appear to indicate that the insects open their doors in the evening and come out at once. Only one chamber was round in the daytime partly opened. If the insects are elusive and wary of being spied upon as they make their début into the upper world, a witness of tleir subsequent behavior does not embarrass them at all. However, events are imminent; there is no time to waste. The crawling insects head for any upright object within their range of vision- a tree is the ideal goal if it can be attained, and since the creatures were born in trees there is likely tobe one near by. Yet it ffequently happens that trees in which many were hatched have been since cut down, in which case the returning pilgrims must make a longer journey perhaps than anticipated. But the transformation can not be delayed; if a tree is not accessible, a bush or a weed, a post, a telegraph pole, or a blade of grass will do. On the trees some get only so far as the trunk, others attain the branches, but the mob gets out. upon the leaves. Thotlgh thousands emerge almost simultaneously, they have not all been timed alike. Some have but a few minutes to spare, others can travel about for an hour or so before anything happens.

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