FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



masterpiece of art. It is a copy of the Sacred Beetle's 

 pear on a very much reduced scale, its smallness making 

 the polish of the surface and the elegance of the curves 

 all the more striking. Its diameter, at the broadest 

 point, measures one-half to three-quarters of an inch. 



One more observation about the Sisyphus. Six 

 couples under the wire-gauze cover gave me fifty-seven 

 pears containing one egg each — an average of over nine 

 grubs to each couple. The Sacred Beetle is far from 

 reaching this figure. To what cause are we to attribute 

 this large brood? I can see but one: the fact that the 

 father works as well as the mother. Family burdens 

 that would exceed the strength of one are not too heavy 

 when there are two to bear them. 



[208] 



