A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



Many insects lay their eggs on the plants on which they them- 

 selves live. The Plant-lice, which suck the sweet sap of leaves, 

 multiply on these same leaves ; and it does not strike us as wonderful 

 that a Leaf-bug should lay its eggs on the food-plant which is its 

 own source of nourishment. But we may find in Brazil very remark- 

 able dwelling-places, and eggs laid in most peculiar positions. One 

 of the most curious dwelling-places is that of the Sloth-moth. The 

 Sloth moves so slowly that an insect has selected it as its dwelling- 

 place, just as though it were a stuffed example in a museum. One 

 may imagine the surprise of the explorer who first shot a sloth and 

 saw a whole swarm of little moths fly out of its fur ! We do not even 

 yet know whether the caterpillars live on the hair, like those of our 

 Clothes-moths, or whether they eat the green algae, the microscopic 



Fig. 22. — Hercules Beetle {half life-size) 



plants, which often grow so abundantly on the fur of the Sloth that 

 its whole coat assumes a greenish hue. 



The beetles that feed upon wood have a more troublesome task; 

 here the female insect must bore a special hole for the eggs, or she 

 may have to dig her own way into a rotting tree-trunk, even though 

 her own diet may consist of leaves. The giants among the beetles 

 of Brazil live in the timber as larvae, where they become so thick 

 and fat that the Indians and negroes roast or fry the white grubs, 

 which are as big as a man's finger, and eat them with relish. One of 

 these beetles is the Hercules (Fig. 22). The male has handsome 

 grey wing-covers, and from the scutum a long curved horn or tusk 

 runs forwards, which is opposed by a toothed horn that grows 

 out of the head, so that the two make an unsymmetrical pair of 

 tongs. With this horn the beetle is six inches in length. What are we 

 to make of these singular sham tongs? Are they intended to imitate 

 a real pair of pincers, and to serve as a means of intimidation? 

 But then, as in the case of the deer, this intimidation would come 

 into play only in the contests of the males, for the much smaller 

 female wears no horns, and looks merely like a gigantic dung-beetle. 

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