THE SACRED BEETLE 9 



runs to the ball now rolling, to lend a hand to the lucky 

 owner, who seems to accept the proffered aid kindly. 

 Henceforth, the two cronies work as partners. Each 

 does his best to push the pellet to a place of safety. Was 

 a compact really concluded in the work-yard, a tacit 

 agreement to share the cake between them ? While one 

 was kneading and moulding the ball, was the other tapping 

 rich veins whence to extract choice materials and add 

 them to the common store ? I have never observed such 

 a collaboration ; I have always seen each Dung-beetle 

 occupied solely with his own affairs in the works. The 

 last-comer, therefore, has no acquired rights. 



Is it, then, a partnership between the two sexes, a 

 couple intending to set up house ? I thought so for a 

 time. The two beetles, one before, one behind, pushing 

 the heavy ball with equal zeal, reminded me of a song 

 which the barrel-organs used to grind out some years ago : 



Pour monter notre menage, hélas ! comment feront-nous ? 

 Toi devant et moi derrière, nous pousserons le tonneau.^ 



The evidence of the scalpel compelled me to abandon 

 this domestic idyll. There is no outward difference 

 between the two sexes in the Dung-beetle. I, therefore, 

 dissected the two beetles engaged in conveying one and 

 the same ball ; and they often proved to belong to the 

 same sex. 



Neither community of family nor community of toil ! 

 Then what is the motive for this apparent partnership ? 

 It is just simply an attempt at robbery. The eager 

 fellow-worker, under the deceitful pretence of lending a 

 helpful hand, nurses the scheme of purloining the ball at 



^ " When you and I start housekeeping, alas, what shall we do? 

 You in front and I behind, we'll shove the tub along I" 



2 



