More Beetles 



vegetarian banquet has its plant, its fruits, its 

 pod, its seed, which it eagerly exploits, dis- 

 daining other victuals, though they may be 

 of equal value. 



The carnivorous insect, on the other hand, 

 has no narrow specialities and devours any 

 kind of flesh. The Golden Carabus finds 

 the caterpillar, the Mantis, the Cockchafer, 

 the Earthworm, the Slug or any other kind of 

 game to his taste. The Cerceres collect, for 

 their grubs, bags of Weevils or Buprestes, 

 without distinction of species. The Bru- 

 chus,^ on the other hand, will touch nothing 

 but her pea or her bean; the Golden Rhynchi- 

 tes ^ only her sloe ; the Spotted Larinus ^ only 

 the sky-blue ball of her little thistle ; the Nut- 

 weevil ^ only her filbert; the Iris-weevil ^ only 

 the capsule of the yellow water iris. And 

 so with other insects. The vegetarian is a 

 short-sighted specialist; the meat-eater an 

 emancipated generalizer. 



1 For the Pea-weevil and the Haricot-weevil, cf. The 

 Life of the Weeml, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by 

 Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chaps, xi. to xiii. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



2 For the Sloe-weevil, cf. idem: chap. x. — Translator's 

 Note. 



3 Cf . idem: chap. ii. — Translator's Note. 



4 Cf. idem: chap. vi. — Translator's Note. 



5 Cf. idem: chap. xiv. — '^Translator's Note. 



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