Seeking for better pasture, they move lazily on. I see them scattered at random; a few of them are grouped in the same trench; but I never see them browsing economically abreast as Réaumur relates. There is no order, no understanding between messmates, contemporaries though they be and all sprung from the same row of eggs. Nor is any heed paid to economy: the lily is so generous!
Meanwhile, the paunch swells and the intestine labours. Here we are! I see the first bit of the overcoat evacuated. As is natural in extreme infancy, it is liquid and there is not much of it. The scanty flow is used all the same and is laid methodically, right at the far end of the back. Let the little grub be. In less than a day, piece by piece, it will have made itself a suit.
The artist is a master from the first attempt. If its baby-flannel is so good to start with, what will the future ulster be, when the stuff, brought to perfection, is of much better quality? Let us proceed; we know what we want to know concerning the talents of this manufacturer of excremental broadcloth.
What is the purpose of this nasty great-coat? Does the grub employ it to keep itself cool, to protect itself against the attacks of the sun? It is possible: a tender skin need not be afraid of blistering under such a soothing poultice. Is it the grub's object to disgust its enemies? This again is possible: who would venture to set tooth to such a heap of filth? Or can it be simply a caprice of fashion, an outlandish fancy? I will not say no. We have had the crinoline, that senseless bulwark of steel hoops; we still have the extravagant stove-pipe hat, which tries to mould our heads in its stiff sheath. Let us be indulgent to the evacuator nor disparage his eccentric wardrobe. We have eccentricities of our own.
To feel our way a little in this delicate question, we will question the near kinsmen of the Lily-beetle. In my acre or two of pebbles I have planted a bed of asparagus. The crop, from the culinary point of view, will never repay me for my trouble: I am rewarded in another fashion. On the scanty shoots which I allow to display themselves freely in plumes of delicate green, two Crioceres abound in the spring: the field species (C. campestris, LIN.) and the twelve-spotted species (C. duodecimpunctata, LIN.). A splendid windfall, far better than any bundle of asparagus.
The first has a tricolor costume which is not without merit. Blue wing-cases, braided with white on the outer edge and each adorned with three white dots; a red corselet, with a blue disk in the centre. Its eggs are olive-green and cylindrical and, instead of lying flat, grouped in short lines, after the manner of the lily-dweller's, occur singly and stand on end on the leaves of the asparagus-plant, on the twigs, on the flower-buds, more or less everywhere, without any fixed order.
Though living in the open air on the leaves of its plant and thus exposed to all the various perils that may threaten the Lily-grub, the larva of the Field Crioceris knows nothing whatever of the art of sheltering itself beneath a layer of ordure. It goes through life naked and always perfectly clean.
It is of a bright greenish yellow, fairly fat behind and thinner in front. Its principal organ of locomotion is the end of the intestine, which protrudes, curves like a flexible finger, clasps the twig and supports the creature while pushing it forward. The true legs, which are short and placed too far in front with regard to the length of the body, would find it very difficult by themselves to drag the heavy mass that comes after. Their assistant, the anal finger, is remarkably strong. With no support, the larva turns over, head downwards, and remains suspended when shifting from one sprig to another. This Jack-in-the-bowl is a rope-dancer, a consummate acrobat, performing its evolutions amid the slender sprigs without fear of a fall.
Its attitude in repose is curious. The heavy stern rests on the two hind-legs and especially on the crooked finger, the end of the intestine. The fore-part is lifted in a graceful curve, the little black head is raised and the creature looks rather like the crouching Sphinx of antiquity. This pose is common at times of slumber and blissful digestion in the sun.