More Beetles 



candles and you will have something nearly 

 resembling that budding flesh in process of 

 crystallization. 



The arrangement of the limbs is faultlessly 

 symmetrical. The folded legs make one 

 think of arms crossed upon the Breast in a 

 sacerdotal attitude. Our painters have no 

 better symbol for representing mystic res- 

 ignation to the hand of destiny. Joined to- 

 gether, the tarsi form two long, knotted 

 cords that lie along the nymph^s sides like a 

 priest's stole. The wings and wing-cases, 

 fitting by pairs into a common sheath, are 

 flattened into wide paddles like flakes of talc. 

 In front, the antennae are bent into elegant 

 crosiers and then slip under the knees of the 

 first pair of legs and rest their tips on the 

 wing-paddles. The sides of the corselet 

 project slightly, like a head-dress recalling 

 the spreading white caps of our French nuns. 



My children, when I show them this won- 

 derful creature, find a very happy phrase to 

 describe it : 



"It's a little girl making her first com- 

 munion," they say, "a little girl in her white 

 veil." 



What a lovely gem, if it were permanent 

 and incorruptible! An artist seeking for a 

 i86 



