The Giant Scarites 



a Phrygian cap, right at the hinder end of 

 her foot, as a delicious tit-bit. The game 

 has firmer flesh and is less nauseously slimy. 



To feast gluttonously on a Snail whom I 

 myself have rendered defenseless by break- 

 ing her shell is nothing for a warrior to 

 boast about; but we shall soon see the Cara- 

 bus display his daring. I offer a Pine-chafer, 

 in the pink of strength, to the Golden Beetle, 

 whose appetite has been whetted by a few 

 days' fasting. The victim is a colossus be- 

 side the Golden Carabus; an Ox facing a 

 Wolf. 



The beast of prey prowls round the peace- 

 ful creature and selects its moment. It 

 rushes forward, recoils, hesitates and returns 

 to the charge. And lo, the giant is over- 

 thrown ! Incontinently the other devours 

 him, ransacking his belly. If this had hap- 

 pened in a higher order of the animal world, 

 it would make one's flesh creep to watch the 

 Carabus half immersed in the big Cockchafer 

 and rooting out his entrails. 



I test the eviscerator with a more difficult 

 quarry. This time the victim is Oryctes 

 nasicornis, the powerful Rhinoceros Beetle, 

 an invincible giant, one would think, under 

 the shelter of his armour. But the hunter 

 knows the weak point of the horn-clad prey, 



355 



