The Burrow 



get wind of the wedding before they know 

 the bride. The Minotaur, on the contrary, 

 has no experience of long pilgrimages and 

 makes his way, within a short radius, to her 

 whom he has already frequented; he recog- 

 nizes her, he distinguishes her from the 

 others by certain emanations, certain indi- 

 vidual secrets inappreciable to any save the 

 enamoured swain. Of what do these efflu- 

 via consist? The insect did not tell me; and 

 that is a pity, for it might have taught us 

 things worth knowing about its powers of 

 smell. 



Now how is the work divided in this 

 household? To discover this is no easy un- 

 dertaking, for which the point of a penknife 

 will suffice. He who proposes to inspect the 

 burrowing insect in its home must resort to 

 exhausting excavations. We have not here 

 the chamber of the Sacred Beetle, the Copris 

 or other Beetles, which is uncovered with- 

 out trouble with a mere pocket-trowel; we 

 have a shaft whose floor can be reached only 

 with a stout spade, manfully wielded for 

 hours at a stretch. And, if the sun be at 

 all hot, you return from your drudgery, feel- 

 ing utterly worn out. 



Oh, my poor joints, grown rusty with age ! 

 85 



