The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



mandible, short, devoid of notches, scooped 

 into a sharp-edged spoon, it digs the opening 

 of its tunnel. The piece cut out is a mouth- 

 ful which, as it enters the stomach, yields its 

 scanty juices and accumulates behind the 

 worker in heaps of wormed wood. The 

 refuse leaves room in front by passing 

 through the worker. A labour at once of 

 nutrition and of road-making, the path is 

 devoured while constructed; it is blocked be- 

 hind as it makes way ahead. That, how- 

 ever, is how all the borers who look to wood 

 for victuals and lodging set about their busi- 

 ness. 



For the harsh work of its two gouges, or 

 curved chisels, the larva of the Capricorn 

 concentrates its muscular strength in the 

 front of its body, which swells into a pestle- 

 head. The Buprestis-grubs, those other in- 

 dustrious carpenters, adopt a similar form; 

 they even exaggerate their pestle. The part 

 that toils and carves hard wood requires a 

 robust structure; the rest of the body, which 

 has but to follow after, continues slim. The 

 essential thing is that the implement of the 

 jaws should possess a solid support and 

 a powerful motor. The Cerambyx-larva 

 strengthens its chisels with a stout, black, 

 horny armour that surrounds the mouth ; yet, 



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