The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



face of the insect and contained in the ca- 

 vern formed by the spreading peak of the 

 corselet, is a regular Cyclop's eye. 



At the moment of the pairing, the illumina- 

 tion becomes much fainter, is almost extin- 

 guished; all that remains alight is the humble 

 fairy-lamp of the last segment. This dis- 

 creet night-light is enough for the wedding, 

 while, all around, the host of nocturnal in- 

 sects, lingering over their respective affairs, 

 murmur the universal marriage-hymn. The 

 laying follows very soon. The round, white 

 eggs are laid, or rather strewn at random, 

 without the least care on the mother's part, 

 either on the more or less cool earth or on a 

 blade of grass. These brilliant ones know 

 nothing at all of family-affection. 



Here is a very singular thing: the Glow- 

 worm's eggs are luminous even when still 

 contained in the mother's womb. If I hap- 

 pen by accident to crush a female big with 

 germs that have reached maturity, a shiny 

 streak runs along my fingers, as though I 

 had broken some vessel filled with a phos- 

 phorescent fluid. The lens shows me that I 

 am wrong. The luminosity comes from the 

 cluster of eggs forced out of the ovary. Be- 

 sides, as laying-time approaches, the phos- 

 phorescence of the eggs is already made mani- 

 26 



