The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



the air on the leaves, at a time when its fair 

 round belly is more than ever likely to tempt 

 the Fly. It completely forgets, on its last 

 day, the prudence which it acquired by the 

 long apprenticeship of the centuries. 



This sudden change of purpose, this heed- 

 lessness in the face of danger tells me that 

 the insect forgets nothing, because it has 

 learnt nothing, because it has invented no- 

 thing. When the instincts were being dis- 

 tributed, it received as its share the overcoat, 

 of whose methods it is ignorant, though it 

 benefits by its advantages. It has not ac- 

 quired it by successive stages, followed by a 

 sudden halt at the most dangerous moment, 

 the moment most calculated to inspire it with 

 distrust; it is no more and no less gifted than 

 it was in the beginning and is unable in any 

 way to alter its tactics against the Tachina 

 and its other enemies. 



Nevertheless, we must not be in a hurry 

 to attribute to the garment of filth the exclu- 

 sive function of protecting the grub against 

 the parasite. It is difficult to see in what 

 respect the Lily-grub is more deserving than 

 the Asparagus-grub, which possesses no de- 

 fensive arts. Perhaps it is less fruitful and, 

 to make up for the poverty of the ovaries, 

 boasts an ingenuity which safeguards the 

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