The Cionus 
captivate the eye, we should be wrong not 
to take this magnificence into our reck- 
oning. 
But far more important are the habits, 
the ingenious devices, which give a real charm 
to entomological study. Now it so happens 
that among the insects it is the largest, the 
most magnificent, that are generally the 
most inefficient: a freak of nature that recurs 
elsewhere. What can we expect of a Cara- 
bus, all shimmering with metallic gleams? 
Nothing but feasting amid the foam secre- 
ted by a murdered snail. What can we ex- 
pect of the Cetonia, who looks as though she 
had escaped from a jeweller’s show-case? 
Nothing but drowsy slumbers in the heart of 
a rose. These magnificees cannot do any- 
thing; they have no craft, no trade. 
If, on the contrary, we wish to see original 
inventions, artistic masterpieces and ingen- 
ious contrivances, we must apply to the hum- 
ble creatures that are oftener than not un- 
known to any one. And we must not allow 
ourselves to be disgusted by the spots fre- 
quented. Ordure has beautiful and curious 
things in store for us, the like of which we 
should never find on the rose. The Mino- 
307 
