The Life of the Fly 



within; and behold the atom of animated 

 glair embarking on its struggle with the flint. 

 Obstinately, it sounds each pore; it slips in, 

 crawls on, retreats, begins again. The radicle 

 of the germinating seed is no more persever- 

 ing in its efforts to descend into the cool earth 

 than is the Anthrax-grub in creeping into the 

 lump of mortar. What inspiration urges it 

 towards its food at the bottom of the clod, 

 what compass guides it? What does it know 

 of those depths, of what lies therein or where? 

 Nothing. What does the root know of the 

 earth's fruitfulness? Again nothing. Yet 

 both make for the nourishing spot. Theories 

 are put forward, most learned theories, intro- 

 ducing capillary action, osmosis and cellular 

 imbibition, to explain why the caulicle ascends 

 and the radicle descends. Shall physical or 

 chemical forces explain why the animalcule 

 digs into the hard clay? I bow profoundly, 

 without understanding or even trying to 

 understand. The question is far above our 

 inane means. 



The biography of the Anthrax is now com- 

 plete, save for the details relating to the egg, 

 as yet unknown. In the vast majority of in- 

 sects subject to metamorphoses, the hatching 

 yields the larval form which will remain un- 

 io8 



