The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



tegument, a sort of exceptional shell, of 

 which I do not as yet know any other ex- 

 ample. 



The Long-legged Clythra and the Four- 

 spotted Clythra know nothing of packing 

 their eggs in long-stemmed bundles. In June, 

 from the height of the branches in which 

 they are grazing, both of them carelessly al- 

 low their eggs to drop to the ground, one by 

 one, here and there, at random and at long 

 intervals, without giving the least thought to 

 their installation. They might be little 

 grains of excrement, unworthy of interest 

 and ejected at hazard. The egg-factory and 

 the dung-factory scatter their products with 

 the same indifference. 



Nevertheless, let us bring the lens to bear 

 upon the minute particle so contumeliously 

 treated. It is a miracle of elegance. In 

 both species of Clythrae the eggs have the 

 form of truncated ellipsoids, measuring about 

 a millimetre in length. 1 The Long-legged 

 Clythra's are a very dark brown and remind 

 one of a thimble, a comparison which is the 

 more exact inasmuch as they are dented with 

 quadrangular pits, arranged in spiral series 

 which cross one another with exquisite pre- 

 cision. 



1 .03.9 inch. — Translator's Note. 

 466 



