The Sacred Beetle and Others 



surface, the other in the ground. Can it be 

 an accident ? Or is it not more likely that the 

 Bison constitutes an exception to the long- 

 evity of the Scarabs, Copres and others, who 

 behold their offspring and even fly away to 

 their second wedding in the following spring. 



I incline to the belief that we come back 

 here to the general insect law of a short life 

 deprived of the chief joy of parenthood, the 

 sight of one's children, for no regrettable 

 incident happened, so far as I know, in the 

 vivarium. If I am right in my conjectures, 

 why does the Bison, though a near kinsman 

 of the Copris, who attains a green old age, 

 die so quickly, like the common herd, once 

 the future of his family is assured? Here 

 again we have an unsolved mystery. 



A rapid sketch of the larva is preferable 

 to long descriptions of its jaws and palpi, 

 which make dull reading. I shall have said 

 enough, I think, on the subject if I mention 

 that it is bent into a crook, that it carries a 

 knapsack on its back, that it is a quick 

 evacuator and that it is clever at stopping" 

 up any cracks in the dwelling: characteristic! 

 and talents which are a general rule among 

 the Dung-beetles. In August, when the 

 pudding has been consumed in the middle 

 and has become something of a ruin, the 



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