More Beetles 



ously tasting on this side and on that. It 

 coils and uncoils, it wriggles about, it sways 

 to and fro. It is happy. So am I, to see it 

 satisfied and glistening with health. I shall 

 be able to watch its progress to the end. 



In a couple of months' time, now ascend- 

 ing, now descending through its column of 

 food and stopping at the best places, it is a 

 handsome larva, well-shaped, neither fat nor 

 spare, not unlike the Cetonia-grub in appear- 

 ance. Its hind-legs have none of the shock- 

 ing irregularity that used to surprise me so 

 greatly when I was studying the family of 

 the Geotrupes. 



The grub of the last-named has hind-legs 

 weaker than the rest, twisted, unfit for walk- 

 ing and turned over on its back. It is born 

 a cripple. The grub of the Minotaur, de- 

 spite the close analogy between the two dung- 

 workers, is exempt from this infirmity. Its 

 third pair of legs is no less accurate in shape 

 and arrangement than the two other pairs. 

 Why is the Geotrupes knock-kneed at birth 

 and his close kinsman perfect? This is one 

 of those little secrets of which it is only fit- 

 ting that we should know how to admit our 

 ignorance. 



The larval stage ends in the last days of 

 146 



