The Gold Beetles: Their Food 



silken purses of the Bombyx.^ I have not 

 the slightest hope that I shall one day find 

 them there myself. These purses are in- 

 habited only in winter, when the Carabus, 

 indifferent to food and overcome by torpor, 

 lies snugly underground. But in April, 

 when the caterpillars march in procession, 

 seeking a good site for burial and metamor- 

 phosis, the Beetle, if he has the good luck 

 to encounter them, must profit largely by the 

 windfall. 



The furry nature of the game does not put 

 him off; nevertheless, the hairiest of our 

 caterpillars, the so-called Hedgehog,^ with 

 Its undulating mane, half-red, half-black, 

 does seem to be too much for the glutton. 

 For days on end it wanders about the cage 

 in the assassins' society. The Carabi seem 

 to Ignore its presence. From time to time, 

 one of them will stop, circumnavigate the 

 hairy creature, examine It and try to dig Into 

 the bristling fleece. Rebuffed at once by the 

 long, thick, hairy palisade, he retires with- 



^ The Pine Processionary is the caterpillar of the Moth 

 known as the Pine Bombyx. — Translator's Note. 



2 The larva of the Tiger-moth (Celonia caja) Cf. 

 The Life of the Caterpillar: chaps, vi. and vii. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



287 



