II THE ENCLOSURE 33 



many journeys, for the contents of the hole are out 

 of all proportion with the door, and could not be 

 carried in at once. I recollect a Spanish Copris 

 which, at the moment I came upon it, was finishing 

 a ball as large as an orange at the bottom of a 

 burrow only communicating with the outside world 

 by means of a gallery where I could but just insert 

 my finger. It is true that the Copris do not roll 

 balls or make long journeys to fetch food. They 

 dig a hole immediately under the dung, and crawl 

 backward with successive loads to the bottom of 

 their cavity. The facility for provisioning and the 

 security offered by working under the manure 

 favour a taste for luxury not to be expected in the 

 same degree among beetles belonging to the rude 

 trade of ball-rollers ; but should it return two or 

 three times, Scarabaeus sacer can amass wealth of 

 which Copris hispanica might well be jealous. 



So far the insect has only raw material, put 

 together anyhow. The first thing to do is to select 

 very carefully, taking what is most delicate for the 

 inner layers, upon which the larva will feed, and the 

 coarser for the outer ones which merely serve as 

 a protecting shell. Then around a central hollow 

 which receives the egg the materials must be arranged 

 layer after layer, according to their decreasing fine- 

 ness and nutritive value ; the strata must be made 

 consistent and adhere one to another ; and finally, the 

 bits of fibre in the outside crust, which has to pro- 

 tect the whole thing, must be felted together. How 

 can the Scarabaeus, clumsy and stiff as it seems, 

 accomplish such a work in complete darkness, at the 

 bottom of a hole so full of provisions that there is 



D 



