22 INSECT LIFE i 



just where I tried the experiment, either at the top 

 of the pin or at the bottom of the hole, proving that 

 nothing fresh had happened. A pellet abandoned 

 from necessity is abandoned for good and all, without 

 salvage by the help of other beetles. Dexterous use 

 of wedge and lever to move the arrested ball is 

 the highest intellectual effort I have ever seen in 

 the Scarabaeus sacer. As a counterpoise to what 

 experiment refutes, namely, an appeal for help to 

 brother beetles, I very willingly chronicle this feat 

 of mechanics for the glorification of the Scarabaeus. 

 Straying over sandy plains thickset with thyme, ruts, 

 and slopes, the ball is rolled for a while by the two 

 partners, the material thus acquiring a firmness 

 which they probably find palatable. By and by a 

 favourable spot is selected. The proprietor, who has 

 always kept the place of honour behind the ball and 

 is the one who performs almost the whole work of 

 draught, begins to hollow out the dining-room. 

 Beside him is the ball, to which his associate clings, 

 motionless. Head and toothed legs attack the sand, 

 flinging quantities backward, and the excavation 

 advances rapidly. Soon the insect disappears therein. 

 Each time that he brings a load to upper air he 

 never fails to glance at the ball to make sure that 

 all is going on well. Now and again he brings it 

 nearer to the edge of the cavity, feels it, and seems 

 to gain new zeal from its contact. The other beetle, 

 hypocrite that he is, continues to inspire confidence 

 by his motionless attitude on the ball. Meanwhile, 

 the underground hall grows larger and deeper, and 

 the excavator appears more rarely, hindered by the 

 extent of his labours. The moment is favourable, 



