More Beetles 



thoracic segment ; the legs and mandibles are 

 strongly made. 



Classed close beside the Dung-eaters, the 

 Trox-beetles form a genus of boorish habits, 

 far removed from the domestic fondness of 

 the Scarabasus, the Coprls ^ and the others. 

 With them there are no longer provisions 

 stored away beforehand, no rations kneaded 

 for the larva's benefit. The least industri- 

 ous of the Dung-beetles, the Onthophagi,^ 

 for example, pack into the bottom of a pit 

 a short sausage, selected from the best part 

 of the exploited heap; in the dish thus pro- 

 vided they contrive a hatching-chamber, in 

 which the egg is daintily lodged. Thanks 

 to the mother's care, often, also, to the 

 father's, the new-born grub finds itself pro- 

 vided with all it could wish. It is a privi- 

 leged creature, spared the asperities of life. 



The Trox, on the other hand, has a harsh 

 and pitiless training. The grub has to find 

 board and lodging at its own cost and peril, 

 a serious question even for a consumer of 

 Fox-dung. The mother scatters her eggs 



1 For the Scarabseus, or Sacred Beetle, the Broad- 

 neickied Scarab, the Spanish Copris and the Lunary 

 Copris, cf. The Sacred Beetle and Others: chaps, i to x. 

 and xvi. — Translator's Note. 



2 Cf. The Sacred Beetle and Others: chaps, xi., xvii. 

 and xviii. — Translator's Note. 



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