The Bull Onthophagus: the Cell 



to be born, you will be quite surprised at the 

 singular progress which it has made. The 

 Sacred Beetle's egg, for instance, which at 

 first is lodged pretty spaciously in its hatch- 

 ing-chamber, swells until it nearly fills the 

 cavity. 



The first idea that occurs to the mind is 

 a very simple and tempting one, namely, that 

 the egg feeds. Surrounded by strongly- 

 flavoured effluvia, it becomes impregnated 

 with emanations which distend its flexible 

 tunic; it grows by a sort of alimentary 

 respiration, just as a seed swells in fertile 

 soil. That is how I pictured things at the 

 beginning, when the dehcate problem 

 presented Itself for the first time. But is 

 this really what happens? Ah, if it were 

 enough, when we were in need of food, to 

 stand outside a cook-shop and inhale the 

 smell of the good things that were being 

 prepared inside, what a different world It 

 would seem, to many of us ! It would be 

 too lovely ! 



The Onthophagus, the Coprls and the 

 other Beetles with cream-washed hatching- 

 chambers are a delusion and a snare to us, 

 with their eggs which are so ready to swell. 

 The Minotaur tells me so, somewhat late 

 in the day; she compels me to reconsider my 

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