The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



of the sausage. In order to feed, the grub 

 does not have to work upwards ; on the con- 

 trary, it works downwards. 



More remarkable still: the egg does not 

 lie immediately on top of the provisions; it 

 is installed in a clay chamber with a wall 

 about one-twelfth of an inch in thickness. 

 This wall forms an hermetically-sealed lid, 

 curves into a cup and then rises and bends 

 over to make a vaulted ceiling. 



The germ is thus enclosed in a mineral 

 box, having no connection with the provision- 

 store, which is kept strictly shut. The new- 

 born grub must employ the first efforts of its 

 teeth to break the seals, to cut through the 

 clay floor and to make a trap-door which will 

 take it to the underlying cake. 



A rough beginning for the feeble mandible, 

 even though the material to be bored through 

 is a fine clay. Other grubs bite at once into 

 a soft bread which surrounds them on every 

 side; this one, on leaving the egg, has to 

 make a breach in a wall before taking nour- 

 ishment. 



Of what use are these obstacles? I do 

 not doubt that they have their purpose. If 

 the grub is born at the bottom of a closed pot, 

 if it has to chew through brick to reach the 

 larder, I feel sure that certain conditions of 

 246 



