The Gold Beetles: Their Food 



be difficult to find a parallel to their tenacity. 



They continue to bite at the points once 

 bitten; they hold tight and let the desperate 

 worm flounder at will, until the tough, 

 leathery skin ends by giving way. The con- 

 tents pour forth in a blood-stained mess, into 

 which the gluttons plunge their heads. 

 Others hurry up to be in at the death; and 

 soon the mighty worm is a ruin odious to 

 look upon. I put an end to the orgy, lest 

 the gormandizers, heavy with food, should 

 for a long time resist the experiments which 

 I am contemplating. Their frantic feasting 

 tells me pretty clearly that they would finish 

 the huge saveloy if I did not interfere. 



To make amends, I throw them an Earth- 

 worm of medium size. Ripped open at 

 different points and tugged to and fro, the 

 worm is divided into sections which each 

 Beetle carries off as secured and moves away 

 to consume in seclusion. So long as the dish 

 is not cut up, the banqueters eat peacefully 

 among themselves, often head to head, with 

 their mandibles fixed In the same wound; but, 

 so soon as they feel that they have lopped off 

 a bit that suits them, they hasten to make 

 away with their plunder, far from any 

 covetous envy. The bulk is general prop- 

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