THE SACRED BEETLE 37 



The arrangements made are as follows : I once more 

 take the large glass jar. I cover the bottom with a layer 

 of earth a few inches in thickness. To obtain the 

 transparent workshop necessary for my observations, I 

 fix a tripod on the earthy layer and, on this support, 

 a decimetre^ high, I place a round deal slab of the 

 same diameter as the jar. The glass-walled chamber 

 thus marked out will represent the roomy crypt in which 

 the insect works. In the edge of the deal slab, a hollow 

 is cut, large enough to permit of the passage of the 

 Sacred Beetle and her ball. Lastly, above this screen, 

 T heap a layer of earth as deep as the jar allows. 



During the operation, a portion of the upper earth 

 falls through the opening and slips down to the lower 

 space in a wide inclined plane. This was a circumstance 

 which I had foreseen and which was indispensable to my 

 plan. By means of this slope, the artist, when she has 

 found the communicating trap-door, will make for the 

 transparent den which I have arranged for her. She 

 will make for it, of course, only provided that she be in 

 perfect darkness. I therefore contrive a cardboard 

 cylinder, closed at the top, and place the glass apparatus 

 inside it. Left standing where it is, the opaque sheath 

 will provide the dusk which the Scarab demands ; sud- 

 denly raised, it will give the light which I require on my 

 side. 



Things being thus arranged, I go in search of a mother 

 lately removed from her natural lodging with her ball. 

 A morning is enough to provide me with what I need. 

 I place the mother and her ball on the surface of the 

 upper layer of earth ; I cap the apparatus with its 

 cardboard sheath ; and I wait. The insect, stubborn at 

 ^ 3'9 inches. — Translator's Note. 



