The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



ready to become an apparent corpse once 

 more if I renew my shock tactics. 



Let us repeat the experiment immediately. 

 The newly resuscitated Beetle is for a second 

 time lying motionless on his back. He pro- 

 longs his make-believe of de^ath longer than 

 he did at first. When he wakes up, I renew 

 the test a third, a fourth, a fifth time, with 

 no intervals of repose. The duration of the 

 motionless condition increases each time. 

 To quote the figures, the five consecutive ex- 

 periments, from the first to the last, have 

 continued respectively for 17, 20, 25, 33 and 

 50 minutes. Starting with a quarter of an 

 hour, the attitude of death ends by lasting 

 nearly i^ whole hour. 



Without being constant, similar facts re- 

 cur repeatedly in my experiments, the du- 

 ration, of course, varying. They tell us 

 that as a general rule the Scarites lengthens 

 the period of his hfeless posture the oftener 

 the experiment is repeated. Is this a matter 

 of practice, or is it an increase of cunnmg 

 employed in the hope of finally tiring a too 

 persistent enemy? It would be premature 

 to draw conclusions: the cross-exammation 

 of the insect has not yet been thorough 



enough. 



Let us wait. Besides, we need not 

 373 



