FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



fills almost the whole room: the banquet rises from floor 

 to ceiling. Only a narrow passage runs between it and 

 the walls, and here sit the banqueters, two at most, very 

 often only one. Here the Sacred Beetle feasts day and 

 night, for a week or a fortnight at a time, without 

 ceasing. 



II 



THE PEAR 



As I have already said, the ancient Egyptians thought 

 that the egg of the Sacred Beetle was within the ball 

 that I have been describing. I have proved that it 

 is not so. One day I discovered the truth about the 

 Scarab's egg. 



A young shepherd who helps me in his spare time 

 came to me one Sunday in June with a queer thing in 

 his hand. It was exactly like a tiny pear that had lost 

 all its fresh colour and had turned brown in rotting. It 

 was firm to the touch and very graceful in shape, though 

 the materials of which it was formed seemed none too 

 nicely chosen. The shepherd assured me there was an 

 egg inside it; for a similar pear, crushed by accident in 

 the digging, had contained a white egg the size of a grain 

 of wheat. 



[16] 



