Onthophagi and Oniticelli 



soil, protected against sun and wind, keeps 

 fresh and damp for some little time, steeped 

 as it is in the moisture from the dung. 



For that matter, the danger does not last 

 long. The egg yields up the grub in less 

 than a week; and the larva attains its full 

 development within a dozen days or so, if 

 nothing untoward happens. This makes 

 about twenty days in all for the critical period 

 of the Onthophagus and the Onlticellus. 

 What does it matter if the walls of the 

 emptied thimble do dry after that! The 

 nymph will be all the better off in a solid 

 casket, which will easily crumble to bits later, 

 when, with the first September rains, the in- 

 sect effects its release. 



In appearance and habits the grub re- 

 sembles that which the Sacred Beetle and the 

 others have introduced to us. It possesses 

 the same aptitude for defending the cell 

 against the dangerous intrusion of the dry 

 air; the same zeal, the same nimbleness in 

 cementing the least breach v/ith the putty 

 of the intestines; the same knapsack hunching 

 the middle of the back. 



The grub of the Onlticellus has the most 

 remarkable hump of all. Would you care 

 to have a quick and yet a faithful sketch of 

 259 



