The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



and olive brown. All the brown rings bris- 

 tle with short, sparse hairs. The anal seg- 

 ment, which is narrower than the rest, bears 

 at the tip two long cirri, very fine, slightly 

 waved and almost as long as the whole ab- 

 domen. 



This description enables us to picture a 

 sturdy little creature, capable of biting lustily 

 with its mandibles, exploring the country with 

 its big eyes and moving about with six strong 

 harpoons as a support. We no longer have 

 to do with the puny louse of the Oil-beetle, 

 which lies in ambush on a cichoriaceous blos- 

 som In order to slip into the fleece of a har- 

 vesting Bee; nor with the black atom of the 

 Sitaris, which swarms in a heap on the spot 

 where it is hatched, at the Anthophora's 

 door. I see the young Mylabris striding 

 eagerly up and down the glass tube in which 

 it was born. 



What is it seeking? What does it want? 

 I give it a Bee, a Halictus,^ to see if it will 

 settle on the insect, as the Sitares and Oil- 

 beetles would not fail to do. My offer is 

 scorned. It is not a winged conveyance that 

 my prisoners require. 



The primary larva of the Mylabris there- 



1 Cf. Bramble-bees and Others: chaps, xii. to xiv. — 

 Translator's Note. 



176 



