The Sacred Beetle 



banqueters sprawling. It is the Sacred 

 Beetle, clad all in black, the biggest and most 

 famous of our Dung-beetles. Behold him 

 at table, beside his fellow-guests, each of 

 whom is giving the last touches to his ball 

 with the flat of his broad fore-legs or else en- 

 riching it with yet one more layer before re- 

 tiring to enjoy the fruit of his labours in 

 peace. Let us follow the construction of the 

 famous ball in all its phases. 



The clypeus, or shield, that Is, the edge of 

 the broad, flat head, Is notched with six an- 

 gular teeth arranged in a semicircle. This 

 constitutes the tool for digging and cutting 

 up, the rake that lifts and casts aside the un- 

 nutritious vegetable fibres, goes for some- 

 thing better, scrapes and collects it. A 

 choice Is thus made, for these connoisseurs 

 differentiate between one thing and another, 

 making a rough selection when the Beetle is 

 occupied with his own provender, but an ex- 

 tremely scrupulous one when it is a case of 

 constructing the maternal ball, which has a 

 central cavity In which the egg will hatch. 

 Then every scrap of fibre is conscientiously 

 rejected and only the stercoral quintessence is 

 gathered as the material for building the In- 

 ner layer of the cell. The young larva, on 

 issuing from the egg, thus finds in the very 

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