PARENTAL CARE AMONG ANIMALS 



and about his hind legs, buries himself in the damp 

 earth until the development of the young ones is 

 nearly complete, then plunges into a pool, where 

 he is freed from his living burden. In the case of 

 the Surinam toad, the male is said to help the female 

 in placing the eggs upon her back, where each sinks 

 into a little skin pocket, in which it develops without 

 passing through a tadpole stage. 



In many insects the mothers exert themselves 

 unsparingly to provide stores of food for the young, 

 but help on the father's part is very rare. Among 

 the dung-rolling beetles there are exceptions such 

 as the Sisyphus, the males and females of which work 

 together in kneading a ball of dung and trundling 

 it, over great difficulties, to the underground burrow 

 where the eggs are laid. In the case of the scarabee, 

 Fabre tells us that while the sexes work together 

 when rolling balls of dung for their own consumption, 

 the female is left to do all the work of moulding 

 the ball and transporting it when it is for the use 

 of the future brood. 



It is among birds and insects that we find the 

 finest examples of parental care, but what a contrast 

 there is between the two sets of cases. Among 

 insects the preparations that are made for the young 

 are for the most part the outcome of instinct, that 

 is, of an inborn power of doing what seems to be very 

 wise and clever. Moreover the mother is often 

 without the satisfaction of even seeing her offspring, 

 for she dies before her eggs are hatched. Among 

 birds, while instinctive behaviour continues, it is 

 mingled with much more intelligence, and the pre- 

 47 



