The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



of certainty almost equivalent to that which 

 would be furnished by direct observation, 

 which is here, unfortunately, impracticable. 

 This presupposes, it is true, in the microscopic 

 little creature destined to live in a place 

 where so many dangers threaten it from the 

 first, an astonishingly rational inspiration, 

 which adapts the means to the end with 

 amazing logic. But is not this the invariable 

 conclusion to which the study of instinct 

 always leads us? 



When dropping her egg upon the honey, 

 therefore, the Anthophora at the same time 

 deposits in her cell the mortal enemy of her 

 race; she carefully plasters the lid which 

 closes the entrance to the cell; and all is 

 done. A second cell is built beside it, pro- 

 bably to suffer the same fatal doom; and so 

 on until the more or less numerous parasites 

 sheltered by her down are all accommodated. 

 Let us leave the unhappy mother to continue 

 her fruitless task and turn our attention to 

 the young larva which has so adroitly se- 

 cured itself board and lodging. 



In opening cells whose lid is still moist, we 

 end by discovering one in which the egg, re- 

 cently laid, supports a young Sitaris. This 

 egg is intact and in irreproachable condition. 

 But now the work of devastation begins : the 

 78 



