The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



the fine skin protected by the wing-cases. 

 By means of attacks which the assailant re- 

 news as soon as they are repulsed by the as- 

 sailed, the Carabus contrives to raise the 

 cuirass slightly and to slip his head beneath 

 it. From the moment that the pincers have 

 made a gash in the vulnerable skin, the 

 Rhinoceros is lost. Soon there will be no- 

 thing left of the colossus but a pitiful empty 

 carcase. 



Those who wish for a more hideous con- 

 flict must apply to Calosoma sycophanta, the 

 handsomest of our flesh-eating insects, the 

 most majestic in costume and size. This 

 prince of Carabi is the butcher of the cater- 

 pillars. He is not to be overawed even by 

 the sturdiest of rumps. 



His struggle with the huge caterpillar of 

 the Great Peacock Moth 1 is a thing to see 

 once, not oftener : a single experience of such 

 horrors is enough to disgust one. The con- 

 tortions of the eviscerated insect, which, with 

 a sudden heave of the loins, hurls the bandit 

 in the air and lets him fall, belly uppermost, 

 without managing to make him release his 

 hold; the green entrails spilt quivering on the 



1 Cf. The Life of the Caterpillar: chap. xi. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



356 



