The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



sheath which I have been careful to put over 

 the jar, in order to spare the creature the 

 annoyance of the light. 



When the house is deemed to be long 

 enough, the Scarites returns to the entrance, 

 which he works more carefully than the rest. 

 He makes a funnel of it, a pit with shifting, 

 sloping sides. It is the Ant-Lion's crater on 

 a larger scale and constructed in a more 

 rustic fashion. This mouth is continued by 

 an inclined plane, kept free of all rubbish. 

 At the foot of the slope is the vestibule of the 

 horizontal gallery. Here, as a rule, the 

 hunter lurks, motionless, with his pincers 

 half open. He is waiting. 



There is a sound overhead. It is a speci- 

 men of game which I have just introduced, 

 a Cicada, a luscious morsel. The drowsy 

 trapper at once wakes; he moves his palpi, 

 which quiver with cupidity. Cautiously, step 

 by step, he climbs his inclined plane. He 

 takes a glance outside the funnel. The Ci- 

 cada is seen. 



The Scarites darts out of his pit, runs for- 

 ward, seizes the Cicada and drags her back- 

 wards. The struggle is brief, thanks to the 

 trap of the entrance, which yawns like a fun- 

 nel to receive even a bulky quarry and con- 

 tracts into a crumbling precipice that para- 

 366 



