The Sacred Beetle and Others 



of my experiment with the glass rod speak, 

 very plainly and tell us that the Ontho- 

 phagus, here rivaUing the Pigeon, but with 

 a different method, disgorges the first mouth- 

 fuls for her sons. And the same may be 

 said of the other Dung-beetles skilled in the 

 art of building a hatching-chamber in the 

 centre of the provisions. 



No elsewhere In the insect world, except 

 among the Bees, who prepare disgorged 

 food in the shape of honey, is such solicitude 

 seen. The dung-workers edify us with their 

 morals. Several of them practise associa- 

 tion in couples and found a household; 

 several anticipate the process of suckling, 

 that supreme expression of maternal tender- 

 ness, by turning their crop Into a nipple. 

 Life has Its freaks. It settles amid ordure 

 the creatures most highly-endowed with 

 domestic qualities. True, from there it 

 mounts, with a sudden flight, to the sublime 

 virtues of the bird. 



Among the OnthophagI the egg grows 

 considerably larger after it is laid; it almost 

 doubles Its hnear dimensions, thus Increasing 

 the bulk eightfold. This growth Is general 

 among the Dung-beetles. If you note the 

 size of an egg recently laid by any species 

 and measure it again when the grub is about 

 396 



