The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



off! Her state of lethargy has lasted more 

 than half an hour. 



Now for the Goose. I have none. The 

 gardener next door trusts me with his. She 

 is brought to my house, which she fills with 

 her trumpeting as she waddles about. 

 Shortly afterwards there is absolute silence: 

 the web-footed Amazon is lying on the 

 ground, with her head tucked under her wing. 

 Her immobility is as profound and as pro- 

 longed as that of the Turkey and the Guinea- 

 fowl. 



It is the Hen's turn now and the Duck's. 

 They too succumb, but, so it seems to me, less 

 persistently. Can it be that my hypnotic 

 tricks are less efficacious with small birds 

 than with large ones? To judge by the 

 Pigeon, this may well be so. He yields to 

 my art only to the extent of two minutes' 

 sleep. A still smaller bird, a Greenfinch, is 

 even more refractory: all that I obtain from 

 him is a few seconds' drowsiness. 



It would appear, then, that, in proportion 

 as the activity is concentrated in a body of 

 less volume, the torpor has less hold. The 

 insect has already shown us this. The Giant 

 Scarites does not stir for an hour, while the 

 Smooth-skinned Scarites, a pigmy, wearies 

 my persistence in turning him over; the large 

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