The Crioceres 



When the preparations for the metamor- 

 phosis are at hand, the stomachic pouch, 

 having no longer to do duty as a digestive 

 laboratory, serves the insect as a factory, or 

 a warehouse for different purposes. Here 

 the Sitares store up their uric waste pro- 

 ducts ; here the Capricorns collect the chalky 

 paste which becomes the stone lid for the 

 entrance to the cell; here caterpillars keep in 

 reserve the gums and powders with which 

 they strengthen the cocoon; hence the Hy- 

 menoptera draw the lacquer which they em- 

 ploy to upholster their silken edifice. And 

 now we find the Lily-beetle using it as a store 

 for frothy cement. 1 What an obliging organ 

 is this digestive pouch! 



The two Asparagus-beetles are likewise 

 proficient dribblers, worthy rivals of their 

 kinswoman of the lily in the matter of build- 

 ing. In all three cases the underground shell 

 has the same shape and the same structure. 



When, after a subterranean visit of two 

 months' duration, the Lily-beetle returns to 

 the surface in her adult form, a botanical 

 problem remains to be solved before the his- 

 tory of the insect is completed. We are 



1 This subject is continued in the essay on the Foamy 

 Cicadella. Cf. The Life of the Grasshopper: chap, xx. 

 Translator's Note. 



439 



