THE STAG-BEETLE 



part. From those eggs will come forth worms which 

 will patiently work their way into the wood, hollow 

 out galleries there in their turn, and begin all over 

 again the very sort of existence led by their fore- 

 fathers. 



"The greater number of insects have the same life- 

 history as the stag-beetle : they pass through differ- 

 ent stages before taking on their final form. All 

 without exception, the smallest as well as the larg- 

 est, come from eggs deposited by the mother in 

 chosen places where the needed nourishment, so 

 variable in different species, is easy to find. 



"From the egg emerges, not the finished insect 

 with all its distinctive traits, but a provisional crea- 

 ture bearing, very often, no resemblance to the par- 

 ent or to the matured offspring of that parent. This 

 initial form we called a worm in speaking of the stag- 

 beetle, and the name is in that instance appropriate ; 

 but in a multitude of cases it would be incorrect, 

 having no agreement with the creature's appearance. 

 We then call it a larva. 



"The larva is therefore the insect under the form 

 it presents on emerging from the egg. Its contin- 

 uance in this form is longer than in that of the finally 

 perfected creature. The larva of the stag-beetle re- 

 mains a larva for three or four years, whereas the 

 beetle itself lives but a couple of months. The sole 

 occupation of this grub is eating, continual eating, 

 that it may grow fat and store up supplies enough 

 to carry it through its subsequent transformations. 



"Having attained sufficient size, the larva con- 



