The Sacred Beetle: the Ball 



whence, and swoop upon the provender. 

 Have they hastened from afar, these bustling 

 scavengers? Certainly not. Had they 

 been apprised at a great distance by their 

 sense of smell, which is not in itself im- 

 possible, they would not have had time to 

 reach the quite recent windfall so promptly. 

 It follows, therefore, that they were close by, 

 within a radius of ten or twenty yards, 

 hidden underground and dozing. A scent 

 that is ever awake, even in the lethargy 

 of sleep, told them, down in their burrows, 

 of the happy event; and, splitting their 

 ceiHngs, they hurry up forthwith. In less 

 time than the incident takes to relate, a 

 swarming population enlivens what was but 

 now a desert. 



A keen and vigilant scent is the Beetle's, 

 we must admit; a scent which is always in 

 operation. The Dog smells the truffle 

 through the soil, but he Is awake; the pill- 

 roller smells his favourite fare through the 

 ground in the opposite direction, but he is 

 asleep. Which of the two has the subtler 

 scent? 



Science flings wide her net, welcoming 

 even filth; and truth soars at heights where 

 nothing can soil her. The reader will there- 

 fore be good enough to excuse certain de- 



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