The Anthrax 



the period of the nymphosis. We shall soon 

 see other instances of this. 



Motionless though it be, the Chalicodoma- 

 grub is none the less alive. The primrose tint 

 and the glossy skin are unequivocal signs of 

 health. Were it really dead, it would, in less 

 than twenty-four hours, turn a dirty brown 

 and, soon after, decompose into a fluid pu- 

 trescence. Now here is the marvellous thing: 

 during the fortnight, roughly, that the An- 

 thrax' meal lasts, the butter-colour of the 

 larva, an unfailing symptom of the presence 

 of life, continues unaltered and does not 

 change into brown, the sign of putrefaction, 

 until hardly anything remains; and even then 

 the brown hue is often absent. As a rule, the 

 look of live flesh is preserved until the final 

 pellet, formed of the skin, the sole residue, 

 makes its appearance. This pellet is white, 

 with not a speck of tainted matter, proving 

 that life persists until the body is reduced to 

 nothing. 



We here witness the transfusion of one ani- 

 mal into another, the change of Chalicodoma- 

 substance into Anthrax-substance; and, as long 

 as the transfusion is not complete, as long as 

 the eaten has not disappeared altogether and 

 become the eater, the ruined organism fights 



43 



