AN INSECT-CAPTIVE. 
73 
the cups of the flowers the honey distilled beneath the dew, penetrat¬ 
ing into the depths of the campanulas, or skilfully gliding into the 
mysterious corolla of the charming Venus’s Slipper. Brilliant cicindelas 
opened the hunt after the gnats, while more unwieldy tribes sought 
their livelihood at the bottom of the herbage. 
“ On this day, then, the 20th of July, allowing my glance to fall 
mechanically at my feet, and withdrawing my eyes for a moment from the 
too luminous picture, I saw with astonishment a scene which vividly 
contrasted with this attractive and holy spot,—an atrocious warlike 
struggle. The insect-giant which we call the stag-beetle, one of the 
largest of European species, a black shining mass, whose horns bristle 
with superb crescent-wise pincers, had seized upon a beetle of far 
inferior size. Nevertheless, the two enemies being equally provided 
with admirable defensive arms, after the fashion of the corselets, armlets, 
and cuisses of our ancient knights, the struggle was long and fierce. Both 
belonged to the murderous race which prey on little insects,—were 
powerful lords in the habit of devouring their vassals. Whichever had 
fallen victim in the fray, the Lilliputian people had certainly applauded. 
However, the blind instinctive movement which leads us, in such cases, 
to separate the combatants, induced me to interfere ; and with the point 
of my umbrella, skilfully, delicately, and without wounding the two 
antagonists, I compelled the stronger of the two to release its grasp.” 
I 
The captive thus secured was, without form of trial, adjudged to 
undergo our investigations as a punishment for his fratricidal voracity. 
Our system, however, is not to impale the insect,—a horrible punish¬ 
ment and a pitiful spectacle which has no end; for a month afterwards, ay, 
and more, you will see the poor transfixed wretches writhing in agony. 
Ether generally kills them rapidly, and apparently painlessly. Well, 
then, we etherized our prisoner largely. In a moment he spun round 
and fell: we thought him finished. An hour or two passed, and lo ! he 
was once more alive, once more upright on trembling feet, and attempt¬ 
ing to walk; he fell, and again he rose. But, to tell the truth, his gait 
was like that of a drunken man. A child would have laughed at it. 
We had no desire to laugh, being obliged to poison him a second time. 
