The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



the one favoured by luck. He becomes the 

 owner of the pill, an intolerant owner ca- 

 pable of wringing the neck of any who should 

 come and sit down at table beside him. Al- 

 ways and everywhere this pitiless competi- 

 tion! 



The grub of the Twelve-spotted Crioceris 

 is a dull white, with an interrupted black scarf 

 on the first segment of the thorax. This 

 sedentary creature has none of the talents of 

 the acrobat grazing on the swaying foliage 

 of the asparagus; it cannot take a grip with 

 its posterior, turned into a prehensile finger. 

 What use would it have for such a preroga- 

 tive, loving repose as it does and destined to 

 put on fat in its cell, without roaming in 

 quest of food? In the same group each 

 species has its own gifts, according to the 

 kind of life that awaits it. 



It is not long before the occupied fruit 

 falls to the ground. Day by day, it loses its 

 green colour as the pulp is consumed. It 

 becomes, at last, a pretty, diaphanous opal 

 sphere, while the berries which have not been 

 injured ripen on the plant and acquire a rich 

 scarlet hue. 



When there is nothing left to eat inside 

 the skin of its pill, the grub makes a hole 

 in it and goes underground. The Tachinae 

 426 



