THE CAPRICORN 



furnishing, the cover or inner door of the entrance. It 

 is like an oval skull-cap, white and hard as chalk, smooth 

 within and rough without, with some resemblance to 

 an acorn-cup. The rough knots show that the material 

 is supplied in small, pasty mouthfuls, which become solid 

 outside in little lumps. The animal does not remove 

 them, because it is unable to get at them; but the inside 

 surface is polished, being within the grub's reach. This 

 singular lid is as hard and brittle as a flake of limestone. 

 It IS, as a matter of fact, composed solely of carbonate 

 of hme, and a sort of cement which gives consistency to 

 the chalky paste. 



I am convinced that this stony deposit comes from a 

 particular part of the grub's stomach, called the chylific 

 ventricle. The chalk is kept separate from the food, 

 and is held in reserve until the right time comes to dis- 

 charge it. This freestone factory causes me no astonish- 

 ment. It serves for various chemical works in different 

 grubs when undergoing transformation. Certain Oil- 

 beetles keep refuse in it, and several kinds of Wasps use 

 it to manufacture the shellac with which they varnish the 

 silk of their cocoons. 



When the exit way is prepared, and the cell uphol- 

 stered in velvet and closed with a threefold barricade, 

 the industrious grub has finished its task. It lays aside 

 its tools, sheds its skin, and becomes a pupa — weakness 

 personified, in the swaddling-clothes of a cocoon. The 



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