More Beetles 



soft vegetable matter, suitably fermented. 



The egg is an ivory globule, departing 

 only slightly from the spherical form and 

 measuring nearly three millimetres l in di- 

 ameter. The hatching takes place twelve 

 days later. The grub is white, bristling 

 with short, sparse hairs. When laid bare 

 and removed from its leaf-mould, it crawls 

 upon its back, that is to say, it possesses 

 the curious method of locomotion character- 

 istic of its race. With its earliest wriggles 

 it proclaims the art of walking on its back, 

 with its legs in the air. 



Nothing is easier than to rear this grub. 

 A thin box, which hinders evaporation and 

 keeps the provisions fresh, receives the 

 nurseling together with a selection of fer- 

 mented leaves, gathered from the heap of 

 mould. This is enough: my charge thrives 

 and undergoes its transformation in the 

 following year, provided I take care to renew 

 the victuals from time to time. No entomo- 

 logical rearing gives less trouble than that 

 of the Cetonia-larva, with its robust appetite 

 and its vigorous constitution. 



Its growth is rapid. At the beginning of 

 August, four weeks after hatching, the grub 



1 .117 inch. Translator's Note. 

 18 



