The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



its thimble-pits and its hop-scales? A few 

 little accidental facts put me on the right 

 track. To begin with, I acquire the cer- 

 tainty that the egg does not descend from 

 the ovaries as I find it on the ground. Its 

 ornamentation, incompatible with a gentle 

 gliding movement, had already told me as 

 much; I now have a clear proof. 



Mingled with the normal eggs of both the 

 Golden Cryptocephalus and the Long-legged 

 Clythra, I find others which differ in no re- 

 spect from the usual run of insects' eggs. 

 The eggs are perfectly smooth, with a soft, 

 pale-yellow shell. As the cage contains no 

 other insects than the Clythra under con- 

 sideration or the Cryptocephalus, I cannot 

 be mistaken as to the origin of my finds. 



Moreover, if any doubts remained, they 

 would be dispelled by the following evidence : 

 in addition to the bare, yellow eggs there are 

 some whose base is set in a tiny brown, pitted 

 cup, obviously the work of either the Two- 

 spotted Cryptocephalus or the Long-legged 

 Clythra, according to the cage, but unfinished 

 work, which half-clothed the egg, as it left 

 the ovaries, and then, when the dress-ma- 

 terial ran short, or something went wrong 

 with the machinery, allowed it to cross the 

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