70 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



undertake anything under conditions of light, however 

 softly modulated. It demands complete obscurity, 

 which I produce by means of a cardboard box encasing 

 the cylmder. By carefully raising this box a little, I 

 am able, presently, when I feel incUned, to surprise the 

 captive at her work and even to follow her doings for a 

 time. The method, the reader will see, is much simpler 

 than that which I used when I wished to see the Sacred 

 Beetle engaged in modelling her pear. The easier-going 

 mood of the Copris lends itseK to this simplification, 

 which would be none too successful with the other. A 

 dozen of these eclipsed apparatus are thus arranged on 

 the large table m the laboratory. Any one seeing the 

 set would take them for an assortment of groceries in 

 whity-brown paper bags. 



For darkness, I use flower-pots filled with fresh, heaped 

 sand. The mother and her cake occupy the lower 

 portion, which is arranged as a nest by means of a card- 

 board screen forming a ceiling and supportmg the sand 

 above. Or else I simply put the mother on the surface 

 of the sand with a supply of provisions. She digs herself 

 a burrow, does her warehousing, makes herself a nest 

 and things happen as usual. In all cases, a sheet of 

 glass used as a lid answers for my prisoners' safety. 

 I rely upon these several dark apparatus to inform me 

 about a delicate point the particulars whereof will be 

 set forth in their proper place. 



What do the glass jars covered with an opaque sheath 

 teach us ? They teach us much, of a most interesting 

 character, and this to begin with : the big loaf does not 

 owe its curve — which is always regular, notwithstanding 

 its varying form — to any rolling process. The inspection 

 of the natural burrow has already told us that so large 



