Gold Beetles: Their Nuptial Habits 



busily. The pilgrim is welcome: he will In- 

 crease by one the colony in my vivarium. 

 As I capture him, I perceive that the tips of 

 his wing-cases are slightly damaged. Is this 

 the result of a fight between rivals? There 

 is nothing to tell me. The great thing is 

 that the Beetle should not be handicapped by 

 a serious injury. I examine him, find that 

 he is unwounded and fit for service and put 

 him among the twenty-five occupants of the 

 glass cage. 



Next day, I look for the new inmate. He 

 is dead. His comrades have attacked him 

 during the night and cleaned out his abdo- 

 men, which was inadequately protected by 

 the injured wing-cases. The operation was 

 very neatly done, without any mutilation. 

 Legs, head, corselet are all in their right 

 places; only the abdomen has a wide opening 

 through which its contents have been re- 

 moved. What we see is a sort of golden 

 shell formed of two connected wing-cases. 

 An Oyster-shell emptied of its mollusc looks 

 no cleaner. 



This result astonishes me, for I take very 

 good care that the cage is never without pro- 

 visions. The Snail, the Cockchafer, the 

 Praying Mantis, the Earthworm, the cater- 

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