The operation has been performed very cleanly, without any dismemberment.

Claws, head, corselet, all are correctly in place; the abdomen only has a gaping wound through which its contents have been removed.

What remains is a kind of golden shell, formed of the two conjoined elytra.

The shell of an oyster emptied of its inmate is not more empty.
This result astonishes me, for I have taken good care that the cage should never be long without food.

The snail, the pine-cockchafer, the Praying Mantis, the lob-worm, the caterpillar, and other favourite insects, have all been given in alternation and in sufficient quantities.