THE ELEPHANT-BEETLE 243 



the latter is not at work must now be held in such a 

 position as to be beneath the worker. 



To obtain this result the insect rears herself upon 

 her hind legs, supporting herself upon the tripod formed 

 by the end of the wing-covers and the posterior tarsi. It 

 would be hard to imagine anything more curious than 

 this little carpenter, as she stands upright and brings her 

 nasal bradawl down towards her body. 



Now the drill is held plumb against the surface, 

 and the boring commences. The method is that 1 

 witnessed in the wood on the day of the storm. Very 

 slowly the insect veers round from right to left, then 

 from left to right. Her drill is not a spiral gimlet which 

 will sink itself by a constant rotaiy motion ; it is a 

 bradawl, or rather a trochar, which progresses by little 

 bites, by alternative erosion, first in one direction, then 

 the other. 



Before continuing, let me record an accident which is 

 too striking to be passed over. On various occasions I 

 have found the insect dead in the midst of its task. The 

 body is in an extraordinary position, which would be 

 laughable if death were not always a serious thing, 

 above all when it comes suddenly, in the midst of 

 labour. 



The drill is implanted in the acorn just a little beyond 

 the tip ; the work was only commenced. At the top of 

 the drill, at right angles to it, the Balaninus is suspended 

 in the air, far from the supporting surface of the acorn. 

 It is dried, mummified, dead I know not how long. 

 The legs are rigid and contracted under the body. Even 

 if they retained the flexibility and the power of extension 

 that were theirs in life, they would fall far short of the 



