More Beetles 



tents, which show through. The hatching 

 takes place in the middle of August, a month 

 after the laying. 



How shall I feed the grubs and watch 

 them take their first mouthfuls? I go by 

 what I have learnt from the spots frequented 

 by the grown larvae. I make a mixture of 

 moist sand and the fine detritus of any leaves 

 whatever browned with decay. The new- 

 born grubs thrive in this environment: I see 

 them opening short galleries here and there, 

 seizing on decayed particles and devouring 

 them with every sign of satisfaction, so much 

 so that, if I had the leisure to continue this 

 rearing for the three or four years required, 

 I should certainly obtain larvae ripe for 

 transformation. 



But there is no need to waste my time in 

 rearing them thus : by digging in the fields I 

 obtain the fully developed grub. It is mag- 

 nificently fat, bent into a hook, a creamy 

 white in front and an earthy brown behind, 

 because of the wallet in which it hoards the 

 stercoral treasure destined later to plaster 

 and cement the cell in which the nymphosis 

 will take place. All these hook-shaped 

 wallet-bearers, Oryctes- and Cetonia-larvae, 



