The Sacred Beetle: the Pear 



insect could obtain other forms of a less 

 delicate curve than its pear-shaped piece of 

 work. It could, for instance, make a rough 

 cylinder, the sausage which is customary 

 among the Geotrupes; simplifying the work 

 to the utmost, it could leave the lump with- 

 out any definite form, just as it happened to 

 find it. Things would proceed all the faster 

 and would leave more time for playing In 

 the sun. But no: the Sacred Beetle never 

 chooses any shape but the sphere, though 

 it necessitates such scrupulous accuracy; she 

 acts as though she knew the laws of evapora- 

 tion and geometry from beginning to end. 



It remains for us to examine the neck of 

 the pear. What can be its object, its use? 

 The reply forces itself upon us irresistibly. 

 This neck contains the egg, in the hatching- 

 chamber. Now every germ, whether of 

 plant or animal, needs air, the primary 

 stimulus of life. To admit that vivifying 

 combustible, the shell of a bird's egg is 

 riddled with an endless number of pores. 

 The pear of the Sacred Beetle may be 

 compared with the Hen's egg. Its shell is 

 the rind, hardened by pressure, with a view 

 to avoiding untimely desiccation; its nutri- 

 tive mass, its meat, its yolk is the soft ball 

 sheltered under the rind; its air-chamber Is 

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