The Bull Onthophagus: the Cell 



question : Is this lime-wash, this semifluid 

 cream, the result of a natural oozing, or is it 

 the product of maternal foresight? A 

 simple and conclusive experiment will give 

 us the answer. I ought to have made it at 

 the outset. I did not think of it, because 

 the simple is usually the last thing that we 

 call to our aid. Here is the experiment. 



I pack a little glass jar, the size of a Hen's 

 egg, with Sheep-dung as employed by the 

 Onthophagus. With a glass rod, which 

 leaves a perfectly smooth impression, I make 

 a cylindrical cavity in the heap about an inch 

 deep. After withdrawing the rod, I cover 

 the orifice with a slab of the same material; 

 and I protect the whole against desiccation 

 by means of an hermetically closed lid. It 

 is the Sacred Beetle's pear, with its hatching- 

 chamber, on a larger scale; it is the Ontho- 

 phagus' thimble, enormously exaggerated. 

 I may say that, after the withdrawal of the 

 glass rod, the surface of the cavity is a dull, 

 greenish black, with not a trace of extra- 

 vasated shiny moisture. If an oozing by 

 capillary action really takes place, the semi- 

 fluid varnish will appear; if nothing of the 

 kind should occur, the surface will remain 

 dull. 



I wait a couple of days to allow the cap- 



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