The Dung-Beetles of the Pampas 



whole attains and even exceeds the size of a 

 Hen's egg. 



It Is a very curious piece of work and of 

 a rare perfection, especially when we con- 

 sider the artist's clumsy and massive build. 

 No, once again, the tool does not make the 

 workman, among Dung-beetles any more 

 than among ourselves. To guide the model- 

 ler there is something better than a set of 

 tools: there is what I have called the bump, 

 the genius of the animal. 



Phanaus Milon scoffs at difficulties. He 

 does much more than that: he laughs at our 

 classifications. The word Dung-beetle im- 

 plies a lover of dung. He sets no value on 

 it, either for his own use or for that of his 

 offspring. What he wants is the sanies of 

 corpses. He is to be found under the car- 

 casses of birds. Dogs or Cats, in the com- 

 pany of the undertakers-in-ordinary. The 

 gourd which I will presently describe was 

 lying in the earth under the remains of an 

 Owl. 



Let him who will explain this conjunction 

 of the appetites of the Necrophorus ' with 

 the talents of the Sacred Beetle. As for me, 

 baffled by tastes which no one would suspect 



1 Or Burying-beetle. Cf. Chapters XI. and XII. of the 

 present volume. — Translator's Note. 

 251 



