The Geotrupes: the Larva 



and scrutinized; and the lifeless legs reduced 

 to stumps are passed over in silence. Are 

 the experts then so busy with the Gnat that 

 they cannot see the Camel? I give it up. 



Observe also that the hind-legs of the per- 

 fect insect are longer and stronger than the 

 middle-legs and vie with the fore-legs in vi- 

 gour. The atrophied limbs of the grub, 

 therefore, become the adult's powerful press- 

 ing-machine ; the impotent stumps change into 

 strong stamping-tools. 



Who will tell us the origin of these anoma- 

 lies now thrice observed among the dung- 

 workers? The Sacred Beetle, who is sound 

 in every limb during his infancy, loses his 

 fore-fingers when the adult form appears; 

 the Onthophagus, who sports a horn on his 

 thorax in his nymphal stage, drops it and does 

 without the ornament In the end; the Geo- 

 trupes, at first a limping grub, turns his use- 

 less stumps Into the best of his levers. The 

 last-named makes progress; the others retro- 

 cede. Why does the cripple become able- 

 bodied and why do the able-bodied become 

 cripples? 



We make chemical analyses of the suns; 

 we surprise the nebulas In labour and watch 

 the birth of worlds; and shall we never know 

 why a miserable grub is born limping? 



325 



