Onthophagi and Oniticelli 



which have no protection against the in- 

 clemencies of the season. I go to work dis- 

 creetly, so as not to submit all my captives 

 to the harsh test. [Those whom I exhume 

 each sit huddled in a shell, beside the re- 

 maining provisions. All that the lethargy 

 produced by the cold allows them to do is to 

 move their legs and antennae a little when 

 I expose them to the sun. 



Hardly has the imprudent almond-tree 

 burst into blossom in February, when some 

 of the sleepers awake. Two of the earlier 

 Onthophagi, O. lemur and O. fronticornis, 

 are very common at this time, already 

 crumbling the dung warmed by the sun on 

 the high-road. Soon the festival of spring 

 begins; and all, large and small, newcomers 

 and veterans, hasten to take part in it. The 

 old ones, not all, but at least some of them, 

 the best-preserved, fly off and get married a 

 second time, an unparalleled privilege. They 

 have two famihes, separated by an interval 

 of a year. They can indeed have three, as 

 is evidenced by certain Scarab {Scarabaus 

 laticollis) who, kept in a cage for three years, 

 gives me every year her collection of pears. 

 Perhaps they even go beyond this. The 

 Dung-beetle tribe has its patriarchs who are 

 truly venerable. 



271 



