The Cetonia-larva 



which, placed very far forward, almost Im- 

 mediately after the head, does not run back 

 beyond the level of the second pair of legs. 

 The vulnerable point is thus easily accessible 

 to the sting, despite the creature's posture 

 of defence, in which it contracts and coils up. 

 In this cylinder I recognize eleven ganglia, 

 one more than in the Cetonia. The first 

 three, or thoracic, ganglia are plainly distin- 

 guishable from one another, although they 

 are set very close together; the rest are all 

 in contact. The largest are the three tho- 

 racic ganglia and the eleventh. 



After ascertaining these facts, I remem- 

 bered Swammerdam's ^ investigations into 

 the grub of the Monoceros, our Oryctes nas't- 

 cornis. I chanced to possess an abridgement 

 of the Biblia nature, the masterly work of 

 the father of insect anatomy. I consulted 

 the venerable volume. It informed me that 

 the learned Dutchman had been struck, long 

 before I was, by an anatomical peculiarity 

 similar to that which the larvae of the Ce- 

 toniae and Anoxiae had shown me in their 

 nerve-centres. Having observed in the Silk- 

 worm a nervous system formed of ganglia 

 distinct one from the other, he was quite sur- 



ijan Swammerdam (1637-1680), the Dutch naturalist 

 and anatomist. — Translator's Note. 

 97 



