The Sacred Beetle and Others 



withdrawal underground for the winter 

 sleep, the awakening in spring and lastly, to 

 complete the cycle, the pill-rolling festival. 



One more observation about the Sisyphus. 

 My six pairs under the wire-gauze cover 

 gave me fifty-seven inhabited pellets. This 

 census shows an average of over nine births 

 to each couple, a figure which the Sacred 

 Beetle is far from reaching. To what cause 

 are we to attribute this flourishing brood? 

 I can see but one: the fact that the male 

 works as well as the mother. Family 

 burdens that would exceed the strength of 

 one are not too heavy when there are two 

 to bear them. 



354 



