The Sacred Beetle and Others 



to those who labour in large workshops; it 

 coats the earthy casing with cement. In this 

 way it avoids, so far as lies in its power, the 

 risk of drowning on rainy days. 



This waterproofing is done at intervals, as 

 the cylinder grows in length. The mother 

 appears to me to attend to it whenever her 

 warehouse of provisions is sufficiently stocked 

 to give her the time. While her companion 

 is pressing, she, an inch higher up, is plas- 

 tering. 



At last the combined efforts of husband and 

 wife result in a cylinder of the regulation 

 length. The greater part of the well above 

 remains empty and uncemented. Nothing 

 tells me that the Geotrupes trouble about this 

 unoccupied area. Scarabaei and Copres 

 shoot into the entrance-passage to the under- 

 ground chamber a portion of the rubbish 

 extracted; they build a barricade in front of 

 the dwelling. The sausage-makers seem to 

 be unfamihar with this precaution. All the 

 burrows which I inspect are empty in the 

 upper part. There is no sign of excavated 

 earth put back and pressed into position; 

 there is merely a little fallen rubbish, coming 

 either from the dung-heap above or from the 

 crumbling walls. 



This neglect might well be ascribed to the 

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