The Sacred Beetle and Others 



Even when abundant, the cake is buried on 

 the spot in its entirety. Not a trace of it 

 remains outside. Economy demands that it 

 be collected to the very last crumb. 



You see: no traveUing, no carting, no 

 preparations. The cake is carried down to 

 the cellar by armfuls, at the very spot where 

 it lies. The insect repeats, with an eye to its 

 grubs, what it did when working for itself. 

 As for the burrow, whose presence is in- 

 dicated by a good-sized mound, it is a roomy 

 cavern excavated to a depth of some eight 

 inches. I observe that it is more spacious 

 and better built than the temporay abodes 

 occupied by the Copris at times of revelry. 



But let us turn from the insect in its wild 

 state to the insect in captivity. In the former 

 case the evidence furnished by chance en- 

 counters would be incomplete, fragmentary 

 and of dubious relevancy; and we shall do 

 better to watch the Copris in my insect-house, 

 especially as she lends herself admirably to 

 this sort of observation. Let us observe the 

 storing first. 



In the soft evening light, I see her appear 

 on the threshold of her burrow. She has 

 come up from the depths, she is going to 

 gather in her harvest. She has not far to 

 go : the provisions are there, outside the door, 

 i88 



