The Sacred Beetle and Others 



in sufficient numbers. The first especially 

 abound. I am delighted, for the Bull 

 Onthophagus is the chief of the clan. There 

 is none to equal him, if not in dress, for this 

 may be a richer copper in the others, at least 

 in the handsome horns which are the 

 masculine prerogative. He will be the 

 object of special attention in my menagerie. 

 For the rest, as what he teaches me is re- 

 peated elsewhere without noteworthy varia- 

 tions, his history will be that of the whole 

 tribe. 



I capture him, as well as the others, in the 

 course of May. At this period of genetic 

 awakening, I find them swarming very busily 

 under the Sheep-droppings, not those which 

 are moulded into olives and scattered in 

 trails, but those which are ejected in slabs 

 of some size. The first are too dry and too 

 scanty and the Onthophagus thinks nothing 

 of them; the second are goodly messes and 

 he works them in preference to any other 

 material. 



The Mule's copious heap is also largely 

 utilized; but it is very stringy and, though 

 the Beetle finds plenty in it for his own feasts, 

 he very seldom uses it for his offspring. 

 Where the nests are concerned, the Sheep 

 is the main purveyor. Her exceptionally 

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