The Cerambyx-larva strengthens its chisels with a stout, black, horny armour that surrounds the mouth; yet, apart from its skull and its equipment of tools, the grub has a skin as fine as satin and white as ivory.

This dead white comes from a copious layer of grease which the animal's spare diet would not lead us to suspect.

True, it has nothing to do, at every hour of the day and night, but gnaw.

The quantity of wood that passes into its stomach makes up for the dearth of nourishing elements.
The legs, consisting of three pieces, the first globular, the last sharp-pointed, are mere rudiments, vestiges.

They are hardly a millimetre long.