The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



now at the height of summer. The lilies 

 have had their day. A dry, leafless stick, 

 surmounted by a few tattered capsules, is all 

 that is left of the magnificent plant of the 

 spring. Only the onion-like bulb remains a 

 little way down. There, postponing the 

 process of vegetation, it waits for the steady 

 rains of the autumn, which will renew its 

 strength and make it burgeon into a sheaf of 

 leaves. 



How does the Lily-beetle live during the 

 summer, before the return of the green foli- 

 age dear to its race? Does it fast during 

 the extreme heat? If abstinence is its rule 

 of life in this season of vegetable dearth, 

 why does it emerge from underground, why 

 does it abandon its shell, where it could sleep 

 so peacefully, without the necessity of eat- 

 ing? Can it be need of food that drives it 

 from the substratum and sends it to the sun- 

 light so soon as the wing-cases have assumed 

 their vermilion hue? It is very likely. For 

 the rest, let us look into the matter. 



On the ruined stems of my white lilies I 

 find a portion covered with a scrap of green 

 skin. I set it before the prisoners in my jars, 

 who emerged from their sandy bed a day or 

 two ago. They attack it with an appetite 

 which is extremely conclusive ; the green mor- 

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