24 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



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centre of the pear is full and consists of one continuous, 

 homogeneous alimentary mass. 



My deductions, which any observer in my place would 

 certainly have shared, seemed very reasonable ; the 

 Scarab, however, is of another way of thinking. We 

 have our logic, of which we are rather proud ; the Dung- 

 kneader has hers, which is better than ours in this contin- 

 gency. She has her own foresight, her own discernment 



of things ; and she places her 

 egg elsewhere. 



But where ? Why, in the 

 narrow part of the pear, in 

 the neck, right at the end. 

 Let us cut this neck length- 

 wise, taking the necessary pre- 

 cautions, so as not to damage 

 the contents. It is hollowed 

 into a recess with polished 

 and shiny walls. This is the 

 tabernacle of the germ, the 

 hatching-chamber. The egg, 

 which is very large in propor- 

 tion to the size of the layer, 

 is a long white oval, about 

 10 millimetres in length by 

 5 millimetres in its greatest width. ^ A slight empty 

 space separates it on all sides from the chamber- walls. 

 There is no contact with these walls, save at the rear 

 end, which adheres to the top of the recess. Lying hori- 

 zontally, following the normal position of the pear, the 

 whole of it, excepting the point of attachment, rests upon 

 an air-mattress, most elastic and warmest of beds. Let 



Fig. 1. — Section of the Sacred 

 Beetle's pill, showing the egg 

 and the hatching-chamber. 



^ "4 X '2 inches. — Translator's Note, 



