The cold days are coming; soon the frosts will be here.

To wander on the surface would expose it to grave perils.

It must contrive without delay to descend into the earth, and that to no trivial depth.

This is the unique and imperative condition of safety, and in many cases it is impossible of realisation.

What use are the claws of this tiny flea against rock, sandstone, or hardened clay?
The creature must perish if it cannot find a subterranean refuge in good time.
Everything goes to show that the necessity of this first foothold on the soil, subject as it is to so many accidents, is the cause of the great mortality in the Cigale family.