The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



merely to make her carry them into the cells 

 which she will soon be building. 



But until then the future parasites must 

 hold tight to the fleece of their hostess, 

 despite her rapid evolutions among the 

 flowers, despite her rubbing against the walls 

 of the galleries when she enters to take shel- 

 ter and, above all, despite the brushing which 

 she must often give herself with her feet 

 to dust herself and keep spick and span. 

 Kence no doubt the need for that curious 

 apparatus which no standing or moving upon 

 ordinary surfaces could explain, as was said 

 above, when we were wondering what the 

 shifting, swaying, dangerous body might be 

 on which the larva would have to establish 

 itself later. This body is a hair of a Bee 

 who makes a thousand rapid journeys, now 

 diving into her narrow galleries, now forcing 

 her way down the tight throat of a corolla, 

 and who never rests except to brush herself 

 with her feet and remove the specks of dust 

 collected by the down which covers her. 



We can now easily understand the use 

 of the projecting crescent whose two horns, 

 by closing together, are able to take hold of 

 a hair more easily than the most delicate 

 tweezers; we perceive the full value of the 

 tenacious adhesive provided by the anus to 



