More Beetles 



not strike me as impracticable. In one of 

 my appliances, the male held out until June, 

 after placing a treasure-house of pellets at 

 his mate's disposal." 



He in like manner would be entitled to say: 

 "The Sheep is not always very generous. 

 The crops are lean around the burrow; and, 

 when I have rolled the few available victuals 

 into the burrow, I soon pine away, worn out 

 by unemployment. If my colleague survived 

 till June in a scientific apparatus, it was be- 

 cause he was surrounded by inexhaustible 

 riches. The power of storing as much as he 

 pleased made life sweet to him; the certainty 

 of work lengthened his days. I am not as 

 well-provided for as he and I allow myself 

 to die of boredom when I have finished gath- 

 ering the poor harvest in my neighbour- 

 hood." 



"Very well; but you have wings, you are 

 able to fly. Why do you not go some dis- 

 tance away? You would find enough to sat- 

 isfy your passion for hoarding. But you 

 don't do this. Why? Because time has not 

 taught you the fruitful device of making 

 excursions a few steps from your home. 

 How is it that, in order to assist your mate 

 till the end of her labours, you have not yet 

 162 



