The Sloe-Weevil 



ness, without interfering with any other part. 

 Now let us see what happens. When the 

 time comes for the emergence, with the first 

 autumn rains, let us break open the pills. 

 They contain nothing but shrivelled corpses. 



An egg is killed if you varnish it: when 

 placed under the sitting Hen it remains a 

 lifeless pebble. The chicken has died in the 

 germ. So perish the Sacred Beetle, the 

 Copris and the rest when we varnish the 

 circular disk of felt which acts as a ventilator. 



This method of the porous plug is re- 

 cognized as being so efficacious that it is in 

 general use among the pill-makers of the 

 remotest regions. The Splendid Phanaeus 

 and Bolbites onitoidcs, both from Buenos 

 Aires, ^ employ it as zealously as the Dung- 

 Beetles of Provence. 



One of the dwellers in the pampas uses 

 another process, prescribed by the material 

 which she manipulates. This is Phanaus 

 Milan, a ceramic artist and meat-packer. 

 With very fine clay she fashions a gourd in 

 the middle of which she places a round meat- 



1 For both these Beetles and also for the next insect 

 mentioned in the text, Phanceus Milan, cf. The Gloiv- 

 ivorm and Other Beetles: chap. ix. — Translator's Note. 

 225 



