The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



knows hardly anything of the present, sees 

 very clearly into the future. Let us take 

 an illustration on this curious subject. For 

 three years on end, the larva wanders about 

 in the thick of the trunk; it goes up, goes 

 down, turns to this side and that; it leaves 

 one vein for another of better flavour, but 

 without moving too far from the inner 

 depths, where the temperature is milder and 

 greater safety reigns. A day is at hand, a 

 dangerous day for the recluse obliged to quit 

 its excellent retreat and face the perils of the 

 surface. Eating is not everything: we have 

 to get out of this. The larva, so well- 

 equipped with tools and muscular strength, 

 finds no difficulty in going where it pleases, 

 by boring through the wood; but does the 

 coming Capricorn, whose short spell of life 

 must be spent in the open air, possess the 

 same advantages? Hatched inside the 

 trunk, will the long-horned Beetle be able to 

 clear itself a way of escape? 



That is the difficulty which the worm solves 

 by inspiration. Less versed in things of the 

 future, despite my gleams of reason, I re- 

 sort to experiment with a view to fathoming 

 the question. I begin by ascertaining that 

 the Capricorn, when he wishes to leave the 

 trunk, is absolutely unable to make use of 

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