THE ELEPHANT-BEETLE 255 



passage ! If I dared, I would say it had dropped like a 

 stone into a well. 



That idea we must abandon at once ; the passage is 

 extremely narrow and encumbered with shavings, so that 

 such a thing would be impossible. Moreover, according 

 to the direction of the stem, accordingly as it pointed 

 upwards or downwards, the egg would have to fall 

 downwards in one acorn and upwards in another. 



A second explanation suggests itself, not less perilous. 

 It might be said : "The cuckoo lays her egg on the grass, 

 no matter where ; she lifts it in her beak and places it in 

 the nearest appropriate nest." Might not the Balaninus 

 follow an analogous method ? Does she employ the 

 rostrum to place the egg in its position at the base of the 

 acorn ? I cannot see that the insect has any other 

 implement capable of reaching this remote hiding-place. 



Nevertheless, we must hastily reject such an absurd 

 explanation as a last, desperate resort. The elephant- 

 beetle certainly does not lay its egg in the open and seize 

 it in its beak. If it did so the delicate ovum would cer- 

 tainly be destroyed, crushed in the attempt to thrust it 

 down a narrow passage half choked with debris. 



This is very perplexing. My embarrassment will be 

 shared by all readers who are acquainted with the struc- 

 ture of the elephant-beetle. The grasshopper has a sabre, 

 an oviscapt which plunges into the earth and sows the 

 eggs at the desired depth ; the Leuscopis has a probe 

 which finds its way through the masonry of the mason- 

 bee and lays the egg in the cocoon of the great somnolent 

 larva ; but the Balaninus has none of these swords, 

 daggers, or pikes ; she has nothing but the tip of her 

 abdomen. Yet she has only to apply that abdommal 



