The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



What follows — the larval existence and 

 the metamorphosis — Is a secondary and, for 

 that matter, a familiar detail. It is a dry 

 subject and I will deal with It briefly. At 

 the end of May, I exhume a Brown Rat, 

 burled by the grave-diggers a fortnight 

 earlier. Transformed Into a black, sticky 

 mass, the horrible dish provides me with fif- 

 teen larvae already, for the most part, of 

 the normal size. A few adults, unquestion- 

 ably connections of the brood, are also 

 swarming amid the putrescence. The laying- 

 tlme Is over now and victuals are plentiful. 

 Having nothing else to do, the foster-parents 

 have sat down to the feast with the nurs- 

 lings. 



The undertakers are quick at rearing a 

 family. It Is at most a fortnight since the 

 Rat was laid In the earth; and here already 

 is a vigorous population on the verge of the 

 metamorphosis. This precocity amazes me. 

 It would seem as though carrion liquefaction, 

 deadly to any other stomach, were In this 

 case a food productive of special energy, 

 which stimulates the organism and acceler- 

 ates its growth, so that the fare may be con- 

 sumed before Its approaching conversion Into 

 mould. Living chemistry makes haste to 

 312 



