FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



nest in a way that was familiar to her, and then left her 

 egg underground while she engaged in fresh enterprises. 

 The Copris behaves very differently. 



Her burrow is almost filled by three or four ovoid 

 nests, standing one against the other, with the pointed 

 end upwards. After her long fast one would expect her 

 to go away, like the Sacred Beetle, in search of food. 

 On the contrary, however, she stays where she is. And 

 yet she has eaten nothing since she came underground, 

 for she has taken good care not to touch the food prepared 

 for her family. She will go hungry rather than let her 

 grubs suffer. 



Her object in staying is to mount guard over the 

 cradles. The pear of the Sacred Beetle suffers from the 

 mother's desertion. It soon shows cracks, and becomes 

 scaly and swollen. After a time it loses its shape. But 

 the nest of the Copris remains perfect, owing to the 

 mother's care. She goes from one to the other, feels 

 them, listens to them, and touches them up at points 

 where my eye can detect no flaw. Her clumsy horn-shod 

 foot is more sensitive in the darkness than my sight in 

 broad daylight: she feels the least threatening of a crack 

 and attends to it at once, lest the air should enter and 

 dry up her eggs. She slips in and out of the narrow 

 spaces between the cradles, inspecting them with the 

 utmost care. If I disturb her she sometimes rubs the 



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