This insect was known to Reaumur.  In nearly all the twigs examined he found its grub, the cause of a misunderstanding at the beginning of his researches.  But he did not, could not see the audacious insect at work.  It is one of the Chalcididae, about one-fifth or one-sixth of an inch in length; entirely black, with knotty antennae, which are slightly thicker towards their extremities.  The unsheathed ovipositor is implanted in the under portion of the abdomen, about the middle, and at right angles to the axis of the body, as in the case of the Leucospis, the pest of the apiary.  Not having taken the precaution to capture it, I do not know what name the entomologists have bestowed upon it, or even if this dwarf exterminator of the Cigale has as yet been catalogued.  What I am familiar with is its calm temerity, its impudent audacity in the presence of the colossus who could crush it with a foot.  I have seen as many as three at once exploiting the unfortunate female.  They keep close behind the Cigale, working busily with their probes, or waiting until their victim deposits her eggs.

The Cigale fills one of her egg-chambers and climbs a little higher in order to bore another hole.  One of the bandits runs to the abandoned station, and there, almost under the claws of the giant, and without the least nervousness, as if it were accomplishing some meritorious action, it unsheathes its probe and thrusts it into the column of eggs, not by the open aperture, which is bristling with broken fibres, but by a lateral fissure.  The probes works slowly, as the wood is almost intact.  The Cigale has time to fill the adjacent chamber.

As soon as she has finished one of these midges, the very same that has been performing its task below her, replaces her and introduces its disastrous egg.  By the time the Cigale departs, her ovaries empty, the majority of the egg-chambers have thus received the alien egg which will work the destruction of their contents.  A small, quick-hatching grub, richly nourished on a dozen eggs, will replace the family of the Cigale.

The experience of centuries has taught the Cigale nothing.  With her excellent eyesight she must be able to perceive these terrible sappers as they hover about her, meditating their crime.  Too peaceable giantess! if you see them why do you not seize them in your talons, crush the pigmies at their work, so that you may proceed with your travail in security?  But no, you will leave them untouched; you cannot modify your instincts, even to alleviate your maternal misfortunes.

The eggs of the common Cigale are of a shining ivory white.  Conical at the ends, and elongated in form, they might be compared in shape to the weaver’s shuttle.  Their length is about one-tenth of an inch, their diameter about one-fiftieth.  They are packed in a row, slightly overlapping one another.  The eggs of the Cacan are slightly smaller, and are assembled in regular groups which remind one of microscopical bundles of cigars.  We will consider the eggs of the common Cigale to the exclusion of the others, as their history is the history of all.