Insects and Mushrooms 



The insect, especially in the larval stage, is 

 the principal devourer of the mushroom. We 

 must distinguish between two groups of con- 

 sumers. The first really eat, that is to say, 

 they break their food into little bits, chew it 

 and reduce it to a mouthful which is swallowed 

 just as it is; the second drink, after first turn- 

 ing their food into a broth, like the Blue-bot- 

 tles. The first are the less numerous. Con- 

 fining myself to the results of my observations 

 in the neighbourhood, I count, all told, in the 

 group of chewers, four Beetles and a Moth- 

 caterpillar. To these may be added the Mol- 

 lusc, as represented by a Slug, or, more spe- 

 cifically, an Arion, of medium size, brown 

 and adorned with a red edge to his mantle. A 

 modest corporation, when all is said, but active 

 and enterprising, especially the Moth. 



At the head of the mushroom-loving 

 Beetles, I will place a Staphylinid {Oxyporus 

 rufus, LIN.), prettily garbed in red, blue and 

 black. Together with his larva, which walks 

 with the aid of a crutch at its back, he haunts 

 the fungus of the poplar {PhoUota agerita, 

 fries). He specializes in an exclusive diet. 

 I often come across him, both in spring and 

 autumn, and never any elsewhere than on this 

 mushroom. For that matter, he had made a 

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