The Spotted Larinus 
The proof is completed by the final result 
of my experiments. In vain I keep the 
thistle-heads fresh in glass tubes, plugged 
with a stopper of wet cotton-wool: my 
attempts at rearing are not once crowned 
with success. As soon as the head is re- 
moved from the plant, its inhabitants begin 
to die of starvation, whether I intervene or 
whether I do not. They all pine away in 
the heart of their native globe and at last 
perish, no matter in what receptacle—test- 
tube, flask or tin box—I place my collection. 
Later, on the other hand, when the feeding- 
period is over, I shall find it very easy to 
keep the grubs in good condition and to 
follow at will their preparations for the 
nymphosis. 
This failure tells me that the larva of the 
Spotted Larinus does not sustain itself with 
solid food; it prefers the clear broth of the 
sap. It taps the cask of its azure cellar, 
that is to say, it makes a careful gash in the 
axis of the head as well as in the central 
nucleus. 
From these surface wounds, which are 
kept open by fresh strokes of the plane as 
soon as a dry scab forms upon them, it laps 
35 
