THE GIRDLER BEETLE 26 1 



that I have disclosed it in its haunt, and shown it to be 

 a prosaic beetle, I must be true to scientific fact, and 

 that fact is that this is a mother beetle, working solely 

 in the interest of her offspring. It must be admitted 

 that she takes a curious mode of providing for her chil- 

 dren ; but she is doubtless doing the best she knows, 

 and the plan seems to have worked very well, or else we 

 would not see her following the hereditary example of 

 her long line of foremothers. This is the way she in- 

 sures her posterity. First she finds a twig that suits 



her fancy and her fancy is easily satisfied. After 

 gnawing around on the bark for a while, as though to 

 find a suitable place to begin operations, she at length 

 starts her groove, travelling round and round the twig, 

 sideways, sinking the girdle deeper at every turn until 

 satisfactorily completed. After this sometimes before, 



