The Sacred Beetle: the Larva 



there is nothing to distinguish it, from the 

 point of view of food? Could the tiny 

 creature be warned of the proximity of the 

 outer air by the effect which a thin wall has 

 on its sensitive skin? If so, how is this 

 effect produced? Besides, what does a grub, 

 that moment born, know of outside dangers? 

 I am quite in the dark. 



Or rather I begin to see daylight. I 

 recognize once again, under another aspect, 

 what was taught me some years ago by the 

 Scolia-wasps ^ and the Sphex-wasps,^ those 

 scientific eaters, those skilful anatomists, who 

 can discriminate so well between the lawful 

 and the unlawful and are consequently able 

 to devour their prey without killing it until 

 the end of the meal. The Sacred Beetle has 

 his own complicated art of eating. Though 

 he need not trouble about the preservation of 

 the victuals, which are not liable to go bad, 

 he has nevertheless to guard against ill-timed 

 mouthfuls, which would rob him of his 

 shelter. Of these dangerous mouthfuls, the 

 earliest are the most to be feared, because 



1 Cf. The Life and Love of the Insect, by J. Henri Fabre, 

 translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chap. xi. — 

 Translator's Note. 



2 Cf. The Hunting Wasps, by J. Henri Fabre, translated 

 by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chaps, iv. to x. — Trans- 

 lator's Note. 



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