The Larva and the Nymph 91 



that has elapsed since the dagger-thrusts were 

 given. It is therefore assailed with no pre- 

 cautions, usually at the belly, which is the 

 tenderest part and the richest in juices. Soon 

 the turn comes of the third Cricket and lastly 

 of the fourth, who is devoured in ten hours or 

 so. Of these last three victims all that re- 

 mains is the tough integuments, whose various 

 parts are severed one by one and carefully 

 emptied. If a fifth ration be presented, the 

 larva scorns it, or hardly touches it, not from 

 abstemiousness, but from imperious necessity. 

 For observe that hitherto the larva has ejected 

 no excrement and that its intestines, into which 

 four Crickets have been crammed, are distended 

 to bursting-point. A new ration cannot there- 

 fore tempt its gluttony ; and henceforth it thinks 

 only of making itself a silken tabernacle. 



In all, its repast has lasted from ten to 

 twelve days without cessation. At this period 

 the larva's length measures from twenty-five 

 to thirty millimetres ^ and its greatest breadth 

 from five to six.^ Its general outline, spread- 

 ing a little at the back and gradually tapering in 

 front, conforms with the usual type of Hymen- 

 opteron-grubs. Its segments are fourteen in 

 number, including the head, which is very 



* '975 to I '17 inch. — Translator'' s Note. 

 2 '195 to '234 inch. — Translator's Note. 



