34 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 



CHAPTER IV. 



I MAY here mention there is another 

 beetle smaller than the one I denominate 

 the eel-beetle. It is half an inch long, and 

 is a well-shaped, active creature ; its colour 

 rather darker than that of Port wine. It 

 breeds in the ordinary way of beetles, by 

 eggs, in damp places, and finishes its career 

 thereafter by giving birth to two wire-like 

 worms, one-thirty-second of an inch thick, 

 and four inches long, which may be seen 

 creeping about in damp places and corners 

 of gardens frequented by these beetles. If 

 they take refuge below a small stone from 

 the sun's rays, they lie till they become 

 black and hard, and quite brittle like hairs of 

 glass, but what they grow to, and whether 

 they be neuters, I know not. I believe 

 they are. This I leave to others, especially 

 to that class of naturalists who have already 

 noticed this insect, and pronounced these 



