The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



his horn cuirass, he will not be able to turn 

 from end to end; he will not even be capable 

 of bending, if some sudden wind should make 

 the passage difficult. He must absolutely 

 find the door in front of him, lest he perish 

 in the casket. Should the grub forget this 

 little formality, should it lie down to its 

 nymphal sleep with its head at the back of 

 the cell, the Capricorn is infallibly lost: his 

 cradle becomes a hopeless dungeon. 



But there is no fear of this danger: the 

 knowledge of the bit of an intestine is too 

 sound in things of the future for the grub 

 to neglect the formality of keeping its head 

 to the door. At the end of spring, the Cap- 

 ricorn, now In possession of his full strength, 

 dreams of the joys of the sun, of the festivals 

 of light. He w^ants to get out. What does 

 he find before him? A heap of filings easily 

 dispersed with his claws; next, a stone lid 

 which he need not even break into fragments : 

 it comes undone in one piece; it Is removed 

 from its frame with a few pushes of the fore- 

 head, a few tugs of the claws. In fact, I find 

 the lid intact on the threshold of the aban- 

 doned cells. Last comes a second mass of 

 woody remnants as easy to disperse as the 

 first. The road is now free: the Cerambyx 

 has but to follow the spacious vestibule, 

 204 



