More Beetles 



disappear completely, for at the moment of 

 the nymphosis the body must be free of any 

 impurity. With this cement, which has un- 

 dergone a prolonged refining in the intestine, 

 the grub plasters its sandy wall. Using its 

 round rump as a trowel, it smooths, polishes 

 and repolishes the layer of stucco, until the 

 rude cell of the start becomes a velvet-lined 

 chamber. 



All is ready for the stripping that releases 

 the nymph. This nymph has peculiarities 

 deserving special mention. The male's tri- 

 dent, in particular, is already, both in shape 

 and size, what it will be in the adult Beetle. 

 At last, when October is at hand, I obtain the 

 perfect insect. The total period of develop- 

 ment, beginning with the egg, has lasted five 

 months. 



Let us return to the Minotaur mother who 

 is provided with 255 pellets, 225 of which 

 were amassed by the male, before he went 

 out to die, and 30 by the widow herself. 

 When the great heat comes, she no longer 

 shows herself at all, detained at the bottom 

 of the shaft by her domestic duties. In spite 

 of my impatience to know what is going on 

 indoors, I wait, keeping ever on the watch. 

 At last October brings the first rains, so 

 148 



