The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles. Fabre Jean-Henri

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СКАЧАТЬ that each might seek to gain access, through some imperceptible fissure, to an Anthophora-cell. This presumption turned out to be entirely at fault. In the boxes in which I had placed the eggs laid by my captives, the young larvæ, little black creatures at most a twenty-fifth of an inch long, did not move away, provided though they were with vigorous legs; they remained higgledy-piggledy with the white skins of the eggs whence they had emerged.

      In vain I placed within their reach lumps of earth containing nests of the Anthophora, open cells, larvæ and nymphs of the Bee: nothing was able to tempt them; they persisted in forming, with the egg-skins, a powdery heap of speckled black and white. It was only by drawing the point of a needle through this pinch of living dust that I was able to provoke an active wriggling. Apart from this, all was still. If I forcibly removed a few larvæ from the common heap, they at once hurried back to it, in order to hide themselves among the rest. Perhaps they had less reason to fear the cold when thus collected and sheltered beneath the egg-skins. Whatever may be the motive that impels them to remain thus gathered in a heap, I recognized that none of the means suggested by my imagination succeeded in forcing them to abandon the little spongy mass formed by the skins of the eggs, which were slightly glued together. Lastly, to assure myself that the larvæ, in the free state, do not disperse after they are hatched, I went during the winter to Carpentras and inspected the banks inhabited by the Anthophoræ. There, as in my boxes, I found the larvæ piled into heaps, all mixed up with the skins of the eggs.

       CHAPTER III

      THE PRIMARY LARVA OF THE SITARES

      Nothing new happens before the end of the following April. I shall profit by this long period of repose to tell you more about the young larva, of which I will begin by giving a description. Its length is a twenty-fifth of an inch, or a little less. It is hard as leather, a glossy greenish black, convex above and flat below, long and slender, with a diameter increasing gradually from the head to the hinder extremity of the metathorax, after which it rapidly diminishes. Its head is a trifle longer than it is wide and is slightly dilated at the base; it is pale-red near the mouth and darker about the ocelli.

      The labrum forms a segment of a circle; it is reddish, edged with a small number of very short, stiff hairs. The mandibles are powerful, red-brown, curved and sharp; when at rest they meet without crossing. The maxillary palpi are rather long, consisting of two cylindrical sections of equal length, the outer ending in a very short bristle. The jaws and the lower lip are not sufficiently visible to lend themselves to accurate description.

      The antennæ consist of two cylindrical segments, equal in length, not very definitely divided; these segments are nearly as long as those of the palpi; the outer is surmounted by a cirrus whose length is as much as thrice that of the head and tapers off until it becomes invisible under a powerful pocket-lens. Behind the base of either antennæ are two ocelli, unequal in size and almost touching.

      The thoracic segments are of equal length and increase gradually in width from front to back. The prothorax is wider than the head, but is narrower in front than at the base and is slightly rounded at the sides. The legs are of medium length and fairly robust, ending in a long, powerful, sharp and very mobile claw. On the haunch and thigh of each leg is a long cirrus, like that of the antennæ, almost as long as the whole limb and standing at right angles to the plane of locomotion when the creature moves. There are a few stiff bristles on the legs.

      The abdomen has nine segments, of practically equal length, but shorter than those of the thorax and diminishing very rapidly in width toward the last. Fixed below the eighth segment, or rather below the strip of membrane separating this segment and the last, we see two spikes, slightly curved, short, but with strong, sharp, hard points, and placed one to the right and the other to the left of the median line. These two appendages are able, by means of a mechanism recalling, on a smaller scale, that of the Snail's horns, to withdraw into themselves, as a result of the membranous character of their base. They can also retreat under the eighth segment, borne, as they are, by the anal segment, when this last, as it contracts, withdraws into the eighth. Lastly, the ninth or anal segment bears on its hinder edge two long cirri, like those of the legs and the antennæ, curving backwards from tip to base. At the rear of this segment a fleshy nipple appears, more or less prominent; this is the anus. I do not know where the stigmata are placed; they have evaded my investigations, though these were undertaken with the aid of the microscope.

      When the larva is at rest, the various segments overlap evenly; and the membranous intervals, corresponding with the articulations, do not show. But, when the larva walks, all the articulations, especially those of the abdominal segments, are distended and end by occupying almost as much space as the horny arches. At the same time the anal segment emerges from the sheath formed by the eighth; the anus, in turn, is stretched into a nipple; and the two points of the penultimate ring rise, at first slowly, and then suddenly stand up with an abrupt motion similar to that of a spring when released. In the end, these two points diverge like the horns of a crescent. Once this complex apparatus is unfolded, the tiny creature is ready to crawl upon the most slippery surface.

      The last segment and its anal button are curved at right angles to the axis of the body; and the anus comes and presses upon the surface of locomotion, where it ejects a tiny drop of transparent, treacly fluid, which glues and holds the little creature firmly in position, supported on a sort of tripod formed by the anal button and the two cirri of the last segment. If we are observing the animal's manner of locomotion on a strip of glass, we can hold the strip in a vertical position, or even turn it upside down, or shake it lightly, without causing the larva to become detached and fall, held fast as it is by the glutinous secretion of the anal button.

      If it has to proceed along a surface where there is no danger of a fall, the microscopic creature employs another method. It crooks its belly and, when the two spikes of the eighth segment, now fully outspread, have found a firm support by ploughing, so to speak, the surface of locomotion, it bears upon that base and pushes forward by expanding the various abdominal articulations. This forward movement is also assisted by the action of the legs, which are far from remaining inactive. This done, it casts anchor with the powerful claws of its feet; the abdomen contracts; the various segments draw together; and the anus, pulled forward, obtains a fresh purchase, with the aid of the two spikes, before beginning the second of these curious strides.

      During these manoeuvres, the cirri of the flanks and thighs drag along the supporting surface and by their length and elasticity appear fitted only to impede progress. But let us not be in a hurry to conclude that we have discovered an inconsistency: the least of creatures is adapted to the conditions amid which it has to live; there is reason to believe that these filaments, far from hampering the pigmy's progress, must, in normal circumstances, be of some assistance to it.

      Even the little that we have just learnt shows us that the young Sitaris-larva is not called upon to move on an ordinary surface. The spot, whatever it may be like, where this larva is to live later exposes it to the risk of many dangerous falls, since, in order to prevent them, it is not only equipped with strong and extremely mobile talons and a steel-shod crescent, a sort of ploughshare capable of biting into the most highly polished substance, but is further provided with a viscous liquid, sufficiently tenacious and adhesive to hold it in position without the help of other appliances. In vain I racked my brains to guess what the substance might be, so shifting, so uncertain and so perilous, which the young Sitares are destined to inhabit; and I discovered nothing to explain the necessity for the structure which I have described. Convinced beforehand, by an attentive examination of this structure, that I should witness some peculiar habits, I waited with eager impatience for the return of the warm weather, never doubting that by dint of persevering observation the mystery would be disclosed to me next spring. At last this spring, so fervently desired, arrived; I brought to bear all the patience, all the imagination, all the insight and discernment that I may possess; but, to my utter shame and still greater regret, the secret escaped me. Oh, how painful are those tortures of indecision, when one has to postpone till the following year an investigation which has led to no result!

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