A Scientific Slaughterer 



Beetles with motor centres brought close 

 together or even gathered into a common 

 mass, making them mutually dependent on 

 one another, will be at the same instant para- 

 lysed with a single stroke of the dagger; or, 

 if several strokes be needed, the ganglia to be 

 stung will at any rate all be there, collected 

 under the point of the dart. 



Which Beetles are they then that constitute 

 a prey so eminently convenient for paraly- 

 sing? That is the question. The lofty 

 science of a Claude Bernard, concerning itself 

 only with the fundamental generalities of 

 organism and life, would not suffice here; it 

 could never tell us how to make this entomo- 

 logical selection. I appeal to any physiolo- 

 gist under whose eyes these lines may come. 

 Without referring to his library, could he 

 name the Beetles in whom that centralization 

 of the nervous system occurs; and, even with 

 the aid of his books, would he at once know 

 where to find the desired information? The 

 fact is that, with these minute details, we are 

 now entering the domain of the specialist; we 

 are leaving the public road for the path 

 known to the few. 



I find the necessary information in M. 

 51 



