I THE SACRED BEETLE 25 



Who would dare disturb the beatitude of such 

 a banquet ? Alas ! the desire for knowledge makes 

 one capable of anything, and I have not shrunk from 

 even this. I now give the result of thus violating 

 the sanctity of home-life. The ball filled almost the 

 whole space, the magnificent store of victuals rising 

 from floor to ceiling, a narrow passage separated it 

 from the walls. In this sat the banqueters, two at 

 most, often but one, their faces to the table, their 

 backs to the wall. When once they have taken 

 their places nobody stirs, all their vital powers are 

 absorbed by the digestive faculties. No little move- 

 ment which might cause the loss of a mouthful, no 

 daintiness which might waste the food — everything 

 must be done decently and in order. To see them 

 thus absorbed round a lump of dung, one would say 

 that they were aware of their role as earth-cleansers, 

 and consciously devoted themselves to that marvel- 

 lous chemistry which out of impurity brings the 

 flower that gladdens the eye, and the wing-cases of 

 the Scarabaeus which adorn the turf in springtime. 

 To fit it for this all -important work, which turns 

 into living matter the residue that horse and sheep can- 

 not utilise, in spite of the perfection of their digest- 

 ive organs, the dung beetle needs special tools. 

 Accordingly anatomy shows the immense length of 

 its intestine, which, folded repeatedly on itself, slowly 

 deals with the material in its manifold circuits, and 

 exhausts the very last atom capable of being used. 

 Where the stomach of the herbivorous animal can 

 extract nothing, this powerful alembic draws riches 

 which under its influence become the ebony mail of 

 the Scarabaeus sacer, and a cuirass of gold and 



