48 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



Next comes the intestine, narrow, cylindrical, rising 

 forwards. The intestine is followed by the rectum, which 

 pushes backwards. This latter, which is of exceptional 

 size and fitted with powerful walls, is wrinkled across, 

 bloated and distended by its contents. Here is the 

 roomy warehouse in which the scoriae of the digestion 

 accumulate ; here is the mighty ejaculator, always ready 

 to provide cement. 



The grub gets bigger as it eats the wall of its house 

 from the inside. Little by little, the belly of the pear is 

 scooped out into a cell whose capacity grows in propor- 

 tion to the growth of the inhabitant. Ensconced in its 

 hermitage, furnished with board and lodging, the recluse 

 waxes stout and fat. What more does it want ? 



In four or five weeks, the complete development is 

 obtained. The apartment is ready. The worm sheds its 

 skin and becomes a chrysalis. There are very few in the 

 entomological world to vie in sober beauty with the tender 

 creature which, with its wing-cases laid in front of it like 

 a wide-creased scarf and its fore-legs folded under its 

 head, as when the full-grown Scarab counterfeits death, 

 suggests the idea of a mummy maintained by its bandages 

 in a sacerdotal pose. Semi-translucent and honey-yellow, 

 it looks as though it were cut from a block of amber. 

 Imagine it hardened in this state, mineralized, made 

 incorruptible : it would be a splendid topaz jewel. 



In this marvel, so severe and dignified in shape and 

 colouring, one point above all captivates me and gives 

 me at last the solution of a far-reaching problem. Are 

 the front-legs furnished with a tarsus, yes or no ? This 

 is the great business that makes me forget the jewel for 

 the sake of a structural detail. Let us then return to a 

 subject that excited me hi my early days ; for the answer 



