FABRES BOOK OF INSECTS 



formless mass of scrapings has become a pear, perfect 

 in outline and exquisitely finished. 



The part that rests on the floor of the burrow is crusted 

 over with particles of sand, while the rest is polished 

 like glass. This shows that the Beetle has not rolled 

 the pear round and round, but has shaped it where it 

 lies. She has modelled it with little taps of her broad 

 feet, just as she models her ball in the daylight. 



By making an artificial burrow for the mother Beetle 

 in my own workshop, with the help of a glass jar full 

 of earth, and a peep-hole through which I can observe 

 operations, I have been able to see the work in its vari- 

 ous stages. 



The Beetle first makes a complete ball. Then she 

 starts the neck of the pear by making a ring round the 

 ball and applying pressure, till the ring becomes a groove. 

 In this way a blunt projection is pushed out at one side 

 of the ball. In the centre of this projection she employs 

 further pressure to form a sort of crater or hollow, with 

 a swollen rim; and gradually the hollow is made deeper 

 and the swollen rim thinner and thinner, till a sack is 

 formed. In this sack, which is polished and glazed in- 

 side, the egg is laid. The opening of the sack, or extreme 

 end of the pear, is then closed with a plug of stringy 

 fibres. 



There is a reason for this rough plug — a most curious 



[20] 



