More Beetles 



Let us now try the larvae which, not being 

 rationed by the mother, have unlimited abun- 

 dance at their disposal. Among them are 

 the larvae of Cetonia floricola^ Herbst, liv- 

 ing in heaps of decomposing leaves. I shall 

 certainly never obtain giants from these by 

 resorting to the artifice of a copious diet! 

 In a corner of my garden they swarm in a 

 heap of rotten leaves, where they find the 

 wherewithal to satisfy their gluttonous appe- 

 tites to the full, without having to hunt for 

 it; and yet I never find an adult whose di- 

 mensions are ever so little exaggerated. To 

 make him exceed the usual proportions it is 

 probable that better climatic conditions are 

 necessary, as in the case of the Sacred Beetle, 

 conditions of which I know nothing and 

 which, moreover, I should be unable to real- 

 ize. Only one experiment lies within my 

 power, that of starvation. 



At the beginning of April, I take three 

 batches of larvae of Cetonia floricola chosen 

 from among those most fully developed and 

 therefore liable to undergo their transfor- 

 mation during the course of the summer. 

 At this April season the great hunger sets in 

 which doubles the size of the grub and 

 amasses the reserves needed for the elabora- 

 248 



