The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



A gesture indicates the height. 



" Yes, sir, for three days I couldn't stand 

 up. I bore it as well as I could, with my leg 

 stretched out on a chair. Soda-compresses 

 did the trick; and there you are, sir, there 

 you are." 



Another woodcutter, he adds, was also 

 stung in the lower part of the leg. He was 

 binding faggots together at some distance 

 and had not the strength to regain his home. 

 He collapsed by the side of the road. Some 

 men passing by carried him on their shoul- 

 ders : 



" A la cahro morto, moussu, a la cabro 

 morto! " 



The story of the rustic narrator, more 

 versed in mimicry than in speech, does not 

 seem to me exaggerated. A White Scor- 

 pion's sting is a very serious accident for 

 a human being. When stung by his own 

 kind, the Scorpion himself quickly succumbs. 

 Here I have something better than the evi- 

 dence of strangers: I have my own observa- 

 tions. 



I take two healthy specimens from my 

 menagerie and place them together at the 

 bottom of a glass jar on a layer of sand. 

 Excited with the tip of a straw which brings 

 them face to face again whenever they draw 

 404 



