The Sacred Beetle and Others 



him the indispensable support of a platform, 

 built up little by little. If we deny him this 

 succour, then, no longer encouraged by the 

 contact of his beloved ball, he loses heart 

 and sooner or later flies away, doubtless with 

 many regrets, and disappears. Where to? 

 I do not know. What I do know is that he 

 does not return with a gang of fellow- 

 labourers whom he has begged to help him. 

 What would he do with them, he who cannot 

 make use of even one comrade? 



But perhaps my experiment, which leaves 

 the ball suspended at an inaccessible height 

 and the insect with its means of action 

 exhausted, is a little too far removed from 

 ordinary conditions. Let us try instead a 

 miniature pit, deep enough and steep enough 

 to prevent the Dung-beetle, when placed 

 at the bottom, from rolling his load up the 

 side. These are exactly the conditions stated 

 by Messrs. Blanchard and Illiger. Well, 

 what happens? When dogged but utterly 

 fruitless efforts have convinced him of his 

 helplessness, the Beetle takes wing and dis- 

 appears. Relying upon what these learned 

 writers said, I have waited long hours for 

 the insect to return reinforced by a few 

 friends. I have always waited in vain. 

 Many a time also I have found the pellet 

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