Grasshoppers in Fabres

Author: [France] J H Fabres Translation: Wang Guang

Two species of exotic locusts

I. Enbusa

The ocean is the place where creatures first appeared, and now there are many strange-looking animals, which makes it impossible for people to count their specific numbers and distinguish their specific species. The original models of these animal kingdoms are preserved in the depths of the ocean. This is what we often say, the ocean is an invaluable treasure house of human beings and one of the important conditions for human survival.

On land, however, almost all the strange animals in the past have died out, leaving only a few. Mostly insects. One of them is mantis, which I have told you about its unique shape and habits. The other is Embuca.

This insect, in its larval stage, may be the strangest animal in Brovin Province. This is a slender, wobbly and strange-looking insect. Its shape is different from any insect. People who are not used to it will never dare to touch it with their fingers. My neighbor's children were deeply impressed by its strange appearance after seeing this strange insect. They call it a "kid". They imagine that it has something to do with witchcraft, demons and so on. From spring to May, or to autumn, sometimes in sunny winter, you can meet them, although you never integrate large groups.

Tough grass on the wasteland, bushes that can be shined by the sun, and places sheltered by stones are Enbusha's favorite houses that are afraid of cold.

I'll try my best to tell you what it looks like. The tail of its body often rolls up and bends to the back, forming the shape of a hook. The lower part of its body, that is, the upper part of the hook, is covered with many leaflike scales, arranged in three rows.

This hook is installed on four slender legs and shaped like stilts; At the joint of the thigh and calf of each foot, there is a curved and protruding blade, similar to the blade commonly used by butchers to cut meat.

In front of the hook of stilts or quadrupeds, there is a long straight chest protrusion. It is round and thin, like a grass with hunting tools at the end of its stem, which is completely similar to mantis's hunting tools.

There is a sharp harpoon and a cruel vise with teeth like a saw. There is a groove in the middle of the chin made of the upper arm, with five long nails on each side and small serrations inside. Arm-made jaws also have the same grooves, but the serrations are thinner, denser and more tidy.

When it is resting, the sawtooth of the forearm is embedded in the groove of the upper arm. Its whole is like a machinable machine, with serrations, serrations, grooves and grooves. If this machine were bigger, it would be a terrible instrument of torture.

Its head is also a supplement to this machine. What a strange head this is! Pointy face, curly and long beard, huge and prominent eyes, and the front end of the dagger in between; On my forehead, there is something I have never seen before-something similar to a monk's hat. The exquisite headdress protrudes forward and forms pointed wings from left to right.

Why does this "child" wear a grotesque pointed hat like an ancient fortune teller? Its use will soon be known.

At this time, the color of this animal is ordinary, usually gray, and it will become striped with gray-green, white and pink after development.

If you meet this strange thing in the jungle, its four legs are wobbly, its head keeps swinging at you, turning its monk hat and staring at your forehead.

On its pointed face, you seem to see the image of being in danger. However, if you want to catch it, this threatening gesture will soon disappear.

Its high chest will press down, trying to escape with big steps, and its weapon will help it hold the twig. If you have a good eye, you can easily be caught in a wire cage.

At first, I didn't know how to feed them. My "child" is very young, only one or two months old at most. I caught locusts of the right size for them to eat, and I chose the smallest one to feed them.

The "imp" not only doesn't want them, but also fears them. No matter how gently the rash locust approaches it, it will be treated badly.

The pointed hat came down, and with an angry poke, the locust rolled away.

So the magician's hat is actually a self-defense weapon. The male sheep collided and fought with his opponent with his forehead. Similarly, Spusa used his monk's hat to resist his opponent.

The second time, I fed it a live fly, and this Enbusha immediately regarded it as delicious at a banquet. When the fly approached it, Embuca, who had been waiting for it, turned his head, bent down his chest, gave the fly a sudden fork and sandwiched it between two saws. Even the old cat didn't catch the mouse so quickly.

I was surprised to find that a fly can not only provide it with a meal, but also eat it all day, even for several days. This fierce-looking insect is an extremely dieting animal.

I thought they were demons at first, but later I found that they ate as little as patients. After a while, even small flies can't lure them. In the winter months, it is completely fasting. In spring, I'm going to eat a small amount of rice butterflies and locusts. They always attack prisoners' necks, just like mantis.

Young Embuca had a very special habit when he was locked in a cage.

In the wire cage, its attitude is the same from beginning to end, and it is a strange attitude. Its four hind paws are hanging upside down, holding the wire, motionless, just like a little golden monkey hanging upside down on a bar, with its back down, and its whole body hanging on those four points. If it wants to move, the harpoon in front will stretch out, and then, grab another wire tightly and pull it into your arms.

In this way, the insect was dragged on the wire, still with its back down, so the harpoon was folded in half, retracted and placed on its chest.

This upside-down posture will make us uncomfortable and difficult to do. If people are likely to get sick, it is either hypertension or cerebral hemorrhage. However, Enbusa has kept this position for a long time. It can last for more than ten months in a wire cage, and it hasn't changed at all.

The fly is really in this position on the ceiling, but it has time to rest. When it is tired, it needs to rest for a while, and then it will do this action after it is refreshed. It flies in the air, walks in its usual habit and bathes in the sun.

Enbusha, on the other hand, kept this strange posture for more than ten months and never rested. It hangs on barbed wire, with its back down, hunts, eats, digests, sleeps, and goes through all the experiences of insect life until it dies. It was very young when it climbed up, and it was already an old body when it fell down.

This is a habitual action. It should be noted that it only happens in prison, and it is not an inherent habit of this insect. Because outdoors, except for a few times, when it stands on the grass, its back is up, not upside down.

Similar to this kind of behavior, I know another strange example, which is more special than this one. This is the posture of wasps and bees at night. There is a special kind of wasp-the "mud bee" with red front feet, which is very abundant in my garden at the end of August. They like sleeping on mint grass very much. In the evening, especially in the hot days, when the storm is brewing and the wind and rain are coming, we can see a strange sleeper-still sleeping peacefully there.

It's probably at night, and its sleeping position is nothing more strange than this. It will be strange when you see it. It bites the stem of mint grass with its jaw, and the square stem can hold it more firmly than the round stem. It only bites it with its mouth, but its body is straight in the air and its legs are folded at right angles to the trunk. This insect completely puts its whole body weight on its big cheek.

The mud bee sleeps like this with its powerful jaw and stretches itself in the air. If we speculate according to this situation of animals, our previous concept of rest will be overthrown.

Despite the storms and swaying branches, the sleepers were not bothered by the swaying hammocks. At most, he put his front foot against the swaying branch at some time. Perhaps the wasp's jaw is like a bird's toe, with a strong grip, much stronger than the wind.

Nevertheless, some wasps and bees sleep in this strange posture-biting branches with their big gills, straightening up and shrinking their legs.

About mid-May, when Embuca was fully developed. Its posture and dress are more eye-catching than mantis. It still retains a little strange appearance of its childhood-upright chest, weapons on its knees and three rows of scales under its body. But now it can't be rolled into a hook, and now it looks much more elegant: big gray-green wings, pink shoulders, agile flight, and white and green stripes under the body.

The male Enbusa is a playboy, similar to some moths, exaggerating himself with feathery tentacles.

In spring, when farmers meet Embuca, they always think they saw their daughter Mantis this autumn.

They are so similar in appearance that people suspect that their habits are the same. Because they all look the same, they are all insects, so people have not observed them carefully, nor have they inspected their actions. They sit and lie down, so they guess their living habits are the same.

But in fact, because of its abnormal armor, people will think that Embuca's lifestyle is even fiercer than mantis. However, this idea is wrong. This misunderstanding is unfair to Embuca, and the conclusion without investigation is unreliable.

Although they are all fighting postures, Enbusha is a peaceful and friendly animal! It is not an aggressive and vicious murderer.

Put them in a wire cage, whether it's half a dozen (one dozen is twelve, and half a dozen is six) or only one pair, they never forget their gentle gesture. Are peaceful, friendly and mutually beneficial.

Even when the development is completed, they are considerate, humble and not aggressive. They eat little, and only two or three flies are enough for food every day.

Small animals that eat a lot are of course aggressive. The full animals regard fighting as a means of digesting food and a way of keeping fit. Competing for strength and winning, and never letting people suffer, this is a typical law of the jungle. It always sees cheap, fights for benefits, and grabs good things. Mantis got excited at the sight of locusts, and the war inevitably began. Mantis immediately pounced on the grasshopper, but the grasshopper did not show weakness. The grasshopper tried to pounce on the mantis with its sharp teeth, but the mantis gave the grasshopper a powerful counterattack with its sharp double clips. The scene where you fought with me was wonderful.

However, Embuca, who is on a diet, is a messenger of peace. He never fights with his neighbors, nor does he threaten outsiders with the shape of a ghost. It never competes with its neighbors for territory like mantis. It never spreads its wings suddenly and doesn't spit like a poisonous snake. It never eats its brothers and sisters. Unlike mantis, swallowing her husband. It never does such inhuman things.

The organs of these two insects are exactly the same. So this difference in personality has nothing to do with the shape and appearance of the body. Perhaps it can be said that it is caused by the difference in food.

Whether people or animals, a simple life can always make people more gentle and easy-going. All these can create a good environment in a peaceful place. However, if you are too thick, you will start to be cruel. Greedy people eat meat and drink-this is the common reason for wildness-they can never be as gentle and calm as self-made hermits. Eating some bread and soaking it in milk is a simple life. It is an ordinary insect. It is peaceful, gentle and kind. On the other hand, mantis is a glutton.

Although my explanation is clear, some people may ask deeper questions.

These two kinds of insects are exactly the same in appearance, so their needs in life must be the same. Why is one so greedy and the other so abstemious? As other insects tell us, their attitudes, hobbies and habits do not depend entirely on their own shape and body structure, but on the laws that determine matter, and there are laws that determine instinct.

Second, the white-faced owl

In my area, katydids are white-faced. Whether he is good at singing or in his solemn richness, he can be regarded as the best in Cao Meng. It has a gray body, a pair of powerful cheeks, and a broad ivory face.

If you want to catch it, it's not difficult and not annoying. In the hottest summer, we can often see it jumping back and forth on the long grass. Especially under the rocks where pine trees grow.

The Greek Dectikog (etymology of white-faced owl and Decticns) means to bite, like to bite. So the white-faced owl took this name.

Really good at biting insects. If a strong grasshopper catches your finger, you should be careful. It will bite your fingers, bleed, and make you painful, even sometimes unbearable. Its powerful jaw seems to be a fierce weapon. When I want to catch it, I must be very careful to guard against it, otherwise I will be in danger of being bitten by it, and I may be bitten by it at any time. The large muscles protruding from its cheeks are obviously used to chop up the hard-skinned fish it catches.

Keeping the white-faced owl in my cage, I found that any fresh meat such as locusts and grasshoppers meets their needs. Especially grasshoppers with blue wings are especially suitable for their hobbies.

When food is put into a cage, it often causes a commotion. Especially when they are very hungry, they stumble forward step by step. Because its neck is very long, it can't move quickly. Some locusts were caught at once, some flew around and jumped, and some jumped to the top of the cage in a hurry to escape from the owl's reach. Because of its heavy body, it can't climb that high. But locusts can only prolong their life, and eventually they will be eaten by white-faced owls. They are either tired or tempted by the green food below, and they run down from above, so they will be caught by the owl immediately and become delicious in its mouth.

Although this owl has low intelligence, it can use scientific killing methods. As we have seen in other places, it tends to stab its prey in the neck first, and then bite off the nerve that controls its movement, making it lose its resistance immediately. Like other carnivores, such as mammals, tigers, cheetahs and so on. They all bite the throat tube of their prey first, make it stop breathing and lose its resistance, and then enjoy its body bit by bit.

This is a clever way, because locusts are hard to kill. Sometimes, although the locust's head has fallen off, its body can still beat. I have seen several locusts, which have been half eaten and kept jumping around, but they all escaped.

Because it likes locusts and some races that are harmful to immature grains, it may be good for agriculture to have more.

But now it is very weak in helping to preserve the fruits on the land. The main interest it brings us is actually the historical sites left over from ancient times. It left us with some habits that are no longer used today.

I should thank the white-faced owl for letting me know one or two things about the little owl again.

Unlike locusts and mantis, it doesn't put its eggs in a bucket made of hard foam, nor does it lay its eggs in a cave in a branch like cicada.

This owl plants its eggs in the soil like plant seeds. The female white-faced owl has an organ at the tail of her body that can help her dig a small hole in the soil. In this cave, many eggs were laid and the soil around the cave was loosened. Use this instrument to push the soil into the cave, just as we fill the cave with crutches. In this way, cover the small earth manhole cover and then level the soil on it.

Then, it will go to nearby places for a walk, entertainment and relaxation. Before long, it will return to the place where it laid its eggs before, close to the original place-it remembers it clearly-and start working again.

If we pay attention to it for an hour, we can see all the movements, no less than five times, including walking nearby. It often lays its eggs very close.

After all kinds of work are finished, I look at this small hole. Only the eggs are placed there, and there is no space or shell to protect them. Generally, there are about 60, most of which are purple-gray in color and shaped like edges.

I began to observe the owl's work, just to see how its eggs hatch, so at the end of August, I took a lot of eggs and put them in a glass bottle covered with sand. They spent eight months in it and didn't feel the pain caused by climate change: no storm, no heavy rain, no heavy snow, and no excessively hot light and sun that they had to experience outdoors.

June came, and the eggs in the bottle showed no signs of hatching. It's the same as when I first took them nine months ago, but it doesn't wrinkle or change color, but it looks extremely healthy. In June, you can often meet little katydids in Yuan Ye, and some of them have even made great progress. Therefore, I doubt whether there is any reason to postpone it.

Therefore, there is a view that the eggs of this owl, like plants, are planted in the ground and exposed to rain and snow without protection.

The eggs in my bottle are relatively dry for two-thirds of the year. Because they originally spread like plant seeds. It probably needs water to hatch, and it needs all suitable hatching conditions, just like seeds need water to germinate. At this time, I began to decide to give it a try.

I separated some eggs I took before and put them in my glass tube. On top of them, a thin layer of wet sand was added. Then plug the glass tube with wet cotton to keep the humidity inside. Anyone who sees my experiment will think that I am the kind of botanist who is testing seeds.

My hope can come true. In a warm and humid environment, eggs will soon show signs of hatching. They will gradually become bigger and bigger, and their shells will crack obviously. I spent two weeks working hard, and I waited every hour carefully and tirelessly to see how the little owl escaped from the egg, so as to solve the long-standing question in my heart.

That question is like this. Traditionally, this owl is buried about an inch deep under the soil. Now this newborn owl jumps on the grass in early summer, fully developed, with a pair of long tentacles as thin as hair. Moreover, there are two abnormal legs behind him-like two support bars for jumping, which makes walking very inconvenient.

I really want to know how all the work was done when this small and weak animal came to the ground with such heavy luggage on its back. What does it use to dig a path in the soil? It has tentacles, which will break when it meets small grains of sand, and long legs, which will break with a little force. It is obvious that this small animal can't be liberated from the pit.

I have already told you: cicada and mantis, when one comes out of its branch and the other comes out of its nest, wear a kind of protection, just like a coat.

I think this little owl, when it comes out of the sand, must have simpler, tighter and narrower clothes than when it jumped in the grass after birth, as a kind of protection.

My estimate is not wrong. At this time, the white-faced owl, like other insects, did put on protective clothing. This tiny, fleshy animal grows in a sheath, with a chest six feet flat and a straight back.

In order to make it easier to release, tie its thigh to its side; The other half of the inconvenient organ-tentacles-is still in the bag.

Its neck bends to its chest. That big black spot-it's eyes, and its lifeless swollen face makes people think it's a helmet. Because the head is bent, the neck is very open. Its ribs are beating slightly at the same time, and the time is intermittent. Because of this prominent beating rib, the newborn owl's head can rotate freely. Pushing wet sand by his neck, he dug a small cave. As a result, the tendon opens, becomes spherical, and is tightly stuffed in the hole, so that when its larva moves its back and pushes the soil, it can have enough strength.

In this way, further steps are successful. Every time the bubble rises, it is very helpful for the little owl to crawl in the hole.

Looking at this soft little animal, it still has no color, moving its swollen neck and digging up the earth wall. It's pitiful.

Its muscles are still not strong, which is really not conducive to fighting hard stones! However, through unremitting efforts, it has achieved ultimate success.

One morning, this place was made into a small tunnel, not straight, about an inch deep and as wide as straw. In this way, tired insects can finally reach the ground.

Before he was completely unearthed, the strugglers also needed a rest to recover their energy after the trip. Make a final struggle again, and try to expand the ribs protruding behind the head to break through the sheath that has protected it for a long time. In this way, the animal abandoned its fur.

This is a young owl. It's still gray, but it turned black the next day. Compared with the fully developed owl, it is simply a slave. However, when it matures, its ivory face is born, and there is a narrow white stripe under its thigh.

The katydids that developed in front of me! The life before you is too dangerous.

Many of your relatives are exhausted before they are free. In my glass tube, I saw many cows give up their unsuccessful struggle because of sand.

It has a kind of fluff and wants to wrap its body. If I don't help, the journey on the ground will be more dangerous because the soil outside the house is rougher and has been hardened by the sun.

This nigger with white stripes is biting the lettuce leaves I gave him and jumping into the cage I gave him. I can feed him easily.

But it can't provide me with more knowledge, so I restored its freedom to repay the knowledge it taught me. I gave it this house-a glass tube and locusts in the garden.

Because it taught me that when a grasshopper leaves the spawning ground, it will put on a temporary protective suit and wrap all the stupidest and heaviest parts, such as its long legs and its tentacles, in a sheath. It also told me that this slightly flexible mummy-like animal has a tumor or a vibrating bubble on its head and neck-a machine that was originally generated, in order to facilitate its travel. When I first observed the owl, I didn't see it as a walking aid.