The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



surface and the whole of the head and runs 

 up the back of the thorax. This cast skin, 

 which is stiff and keeps its shape, is half- 

 enclosed, as was the pseudochrysalis, in the 

 skin shed by the secondary larva. Lastly, 

 through the fissure, which divides it almost 

 in two, a Meloe-nymph half-emerges; so 

 that, to all appearances, the pseudochrysalis 

 has been followed immediately by the nymph, 

 which does not happen with the Sitares, which 

 pass from the first of these two states to the 

 second only by assuming an intermediary 

 form closely resembling that of the larva 

 which eats the store of honey. 



But these appearances are deceptive, for, 

 on removing the nymph from the split sheath 

 formed by the integuments of the pseudo- 

 chrysalis, we find, at the bottom of this 

 sheath, a third cast skin, the last of those 

 which the creature has so far rejected. This 

 skin is even now adhering to the nymph by 

 a few tracheal filaments. If we soften it 

 in water, we easily recognize that it possesses 

 an organization almost identical with that 

 which preceded the pseudochrysalis. In the 

 latter case only, the mandibles and the legs 

 are not so robust. Thus, after passing 

 through the pseudochrysalid stage, the Oil- 

 134 



