The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



knows naught of the delights of flying: all 

 her life long, she retains the larval shape, 

 which, for the rest, is similar to that of the 

 male, who himself is imperfect so long as he 

 has not achieved the maturity that comes 

 with pairing-time. Even in this initial stage, 

 the word " worm " is out of place. We 

 French have the expression " Naked as a 

 worm," to point to the lack of any defensive 

 covering. Now the Lampyris is clothed, 

 that is to say, he wears an epidermis of some 

 consistency; moreover, he is rather richly 

 coloured: his body is dark brown all over, set 

 off with pale pink on the thorax, especially 

 on the lower surface. Finally, each segment 

 is decked at the hinder edge with two spots 

 of a fairly bright red. A costume like this 

 was never worn by a worm. 



Let us leave this ill-chosen denomination 

 and ask ourselves what the Lampyris feeds 

 upon. That master of the art of gastro- 

 nomy, Brillat-Savarin, 1 said : 



" Show me what you eat and I will tell 

 you what you are." 



A similar question should be addressed, by 

 way of a preliminary, to every insect whose 

 habits we propose to study, for, from the 



^nselme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), author of La 

 Psychologic du gout. — Translator's Note. 

 2 



