The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



the young larva manage to breathe under 

 that clay casing, which intercepts the access 

 of the air? 



Have no fears : the pot-maker knows quite 

 well how matters stand. She takes good 

 care not to close the top with the plastic 

 earth which supplied her with the walls. At 

 some distance from the tip of the nipple, 

 the clay ceases to play its part and makes 

 way for fibrous particles, for tiny scraps of 

 undigested fodder, which, arranged one 

 above the other with a certain order, form a 

 sort of thatched roof over the egg. The 

 inward and outward passage of the air is 

 assured through this coarse screen. 



One is set thinking in the presence of this 

 layer of clay, which protects the fresh pro- 

 visions, and this vent-hole stopped with a 

 truss of straw, wihich admits the air freely, 

 while defending the entrance. There is the 

 eternal question, if we do not rise above the 

 commonplace : how did the insect acquire so 

 wise an art? 



Not one fails in obeying those two laws, 

 the safety of the egg and ready ventilation; 

 not one, not even the next on my list, whose 

 talent opens up a new horizon: I am now 

 speaking of Lacordaire's Gromphas. Let 

 not this repellant name of Gromphas (the old 

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