The Cetoniae 



has reached half its final size. The idea 

 occurs to me to estimate its consumption 

 of food by means of the stercoral granules 

 which collect in the box from the time of 

 its first mouthful. I find, 11,978 cubic milli- 

 metres;^ that is to say, in one month the grub 

 has digested a volume of matter equivalent 

 to several thousand times its own initial bulk. 



The Cetonia-grub is a mill that is always 

 grinding dead vegetable substances into 

 meal; it is a crushing-machine of great 

 efficiency, which night and day, almost all 

 the year round, shreds and powders the 

 matter which fermentation has already re- 

 duced to tatters. In the rotting heap the 

 fibres and veins of the leaves would remain 

 intact indefinitely. The grub takes posses- 

 sion of these refractory remnants; with its 

 excellent shears it tears and minces them 

 very small; it dissolves them, reducing them 

 to a paste in the intestines, and adds them, 

 henceforth capable of being used, to the 

 riches of the soil. 



In the larval stage, the Cetonia is a most 

 active manufacturer of leaf-mould. When 

 the metamorphosis occurs and I review the 

 results of my insect-rearing for the last time, 



^ 732 cubic inches. — Translator's Note. 

 19 



