The Sacred Beetle 



Now this wonderful metamorphosis of 

 ordure has to be accomphshed in the short- 

 est possible time: the public health demands 

 it. And so the Scarab is endowed with 

 matchless digestive powers. Once housed in 

 the company of food, he goes on eating and 

 digesting, day and night, until the provisions 

 are exhausted. There is no difficulty in 

 proving this. Open the cell to which the 

 Dung-beetle has retired from the world. At 

 any hour of the day, we shall find the insect 

 seated at table and, behind it, still hanging 

 to it, a continuous cord, roughly coiled like 

 a pile of cables. One can easily guess, with- 

 out embarrassing explanations, what this 

 cord represents. The great ball of dung 

 passes mouthful by mouthful through the 

 Beetle's digestive canals, yielding up its 

 nutritive essences, and reappears at the op- 

 posite end spun into a cord. Well, this un- 

 broken cord, which is always found hanging 

 from the aperture of the draw-plate, is 

 ample proof, without further evidence, that 

 the digestive processes go on without ceasing. 

 When the provisions are coming to an end, 

 the cable unrolled is of an astounding length: 

 it can be measured in feet. Where shall we 

 find the like of this stomach which, to avoid 

 any loss when life's balance-sheet is made out, 



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