The Sacred Beetle and Others 



the larva obtains a free space at the back, 

 in which its droppings are deposited witiiout 

 dirtying the provisions. The hatching- 

 chamber is the first to be filled up in this way ; 

 then gradually more and more of the 

 segment which has been eaten into follows 

 suit, always in the round part of the pear, 

 which consequently by degrees recovers its 

 original compactness at the top, while the 

 bottom becomes less and less thick. Behind 

 the grub is the ever-increasing mass of used 

 material; in front of it is the layer, smaller 

 day by day, of untouched food. 



Complete development is attained in four 

 or five weeks. By that time there is in the 

 belly of the pear an eccentric, circular cavity, 

 with walls very thick towards the neck of 

 the pear and very flimsy at the other end, 

 the disparity being occasioned by the me- 

 thod of eating and of progressive filling 

 up. The meal is over. Next comes the 

 furnishing of the cell, which must be 

 padded snugly for the tender body of the 

 nymph, and the strengthening of one of the 

 hemispheres, the one whose walls have been 

 scraped by the last bites to the utmost per- 

 missible limit. 



F'or this most Important work the larva 

 has wisely reserved a plentiful stock of 



140 



