The Sacred Beetle and Others 



closed; a much more economical proceeding. 

 Sparingly measured out, the rations must not 

 be wasted: there Is just enough to live upon. 

 Besides, the cement Is of better quality; it 

 soon sets. Lastly, the urgent repairs are 

 more quickly effected If the intestines lend 

 their kindly aid. 



They do, in point of fact, and to an 

 astonishing degree. Five, six times in 

 succession and oftener, I remove the plug; 

 and, time after time, the mortar ejects a 

 copious discharge from its apparently In- 

 exhaustible reservoir, which Is ever at the 

 mason's service, without an Interval for rest. 

 The grub Is already beginning to resemble 

 the Sacred Beetle, whose stercoraceous prow- 

 ess we know: It is a past master in the art 

 of dunging. It possesses above any other 

 animal In the world an Intestinal docility 

 which anatomy will undertake presently to 

 explain to us in part. 



The plasterer and the mason have their 

 trowels. In the same way, the grub, that 

 zealous repairer of breaches made in Its 

 home, has a trowel of its own. The last 

 segment is lopped off slantwise and carries on 

 its dorsal surface a sort of inclined plane, a 

 broad disk surrounded by a fleshy pad. In 

 the middle of the disk is a slit, forming the 

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