watching them that a slight excess of size was the distinctive sign of
the female. My menagerie, so ill-proportioned in the matter of sex, was
therefore the result of chance. I do not suppose this preponderance of
males exists in natural conditions. On the other hand, one never sees
such numerous groups at liberty, in the shelter of the same stone. The
Gardener lives an almost solitary life; it is rarely that one finds two
or three beneath the same object of shelter. The gathering in my
menagerie was thus exceptional, although it did not lead to confusion.
There is plenty of room in the glass cage for excursions to a distance
and for all their habitual manoeuvres. Those who wish for solitude can
obtain it; those who wish for company need not seek it.

For the rest, captivity cannot lie heavily on them; that is proved by
their frequent feasts, their constant mating. They could not thrive
better in the open; perhaps not so well, for food is less abundant under
natural conditions. In the matter of well-being the prisoners are in a
normal condition, favourable to the maintenance of their usual habits.

It is true that encounters of beetle with beetle are more frequent here
than in the open. Hence, no doubt, arise more opportunities for the
females to persecute the males whom they no longer require; to fall upon
them from the rear and eviscerate them. This pursuit of their onetime
lovers is aggravated by their confined quarters; but it certainly is not
caused thereby, for such customs are not suddenly originated.

The mating season over, the female encountering a male in the open must
evidently regard him as fair game, and devour him as the termination of
the matrimonial rites. I have turned over many stones, but have never
chanced upon this spectacle, but what has occurred in my menagerie is
sufficient to convince me. What a world these beetles live in, where the
matron devours her mate so soon as her fertility delivers her from the
need of him! And how lightly the males must be regarded by custom, to be
served in this manner!

Is this practice of post-matrimonial cannibalism a general custom in the
insect world? For the moment, I can recollect only three characteristic
examples: those of the Praying Mantis, the Golden Gardener, and the
scorpion of Languedoc. An analogous yet less brutal practice--for the
victim is defunct before he is eaten--is a characteristic of the Locust
family. The female of the white-faced Decticus