The Geotrupes: the Larva 



looking for Scolla-cocoons in a heap of 

 mould, I had made a large collection of the 

 grubs of Cetonia aurata} I placed my loot 

 in a flower-pot with a few handfuls of de- 

 cayed vegetable matter, just enough to cover 

 the insects' backs. I intended to draw upon 

 them for certain enquiries which I was ma- 

 king at the time. The pot remained in the 

 open air; and I forgot all about it. A cold 

 snap came, accompanied by sharp frost and 

 snow. Then I remembered my Cetoniae, so 

 ill-protected against this kind of weather. I 

 found the contents of the pot hardened Into 

 a conglomeration of earth, dead leaves, ice, 

 snow and shrivelled grubs. It was a sort of 

 almond-rock, in which the larvae stood for 

 the almonds. Sorely tried by the cold as 

 they were, the colony ought to have perished. 

 But no: when the thaw arrived, the frozen 

 larvae came to life again and began to swarm 

 about as though nothing unusual had hap- 

 pened. 



The insect's powers of endurance are less 

 great than the larva's. As the organization 

 becomes more refined, it loses its robustness. 

 My cages, which went through such a bad 



1 The Rose-chafer, whose grub forms the prey of the 

 Scolia-wasp. Cf. The Life and Love of the Insect: chap. 

 xi. — Translator's Note, 



331 



