More Beetles 



otaur who suggested these experiments in 

 starvation? Assuredly a deficiency of food. 

 Though expert in the art of rationing, the 

 mother was unable to complete the sausage 

 over the egg, perhaps because the materials 

 were lacking, or because some inopportune 

 incident interrupted her work; and the grub, 

 scantily fed, though strong enough to with- 

 stand a not too rigorous diet, was unable to 

 acquire the wherewithal to provide the adult 

 with the amount of substance needed for the 

 normal size. This seems to be the whole 

 secret of the tiny Minotaur. He was a child 

 of poverty. 



While privation reduces the size, it does 

 not follow that unlimited abundance is able 

 to increase it very notably. In vain do I 

 provide the grubs of the Sacred Beetle with 

 an extra allowance of food that doubles or 

 trebles the ration supplied by the mother. 

 My boarders do not attain a growth worth 

 mentioning. As they leave the maternal 

 pears, so do they leave the plentiful messes 

 which my spatula has mixed for them. And 

 this must be so: the appetite has its limits, 

 which, once reached, leave the consumer in- 

 different to the luxuries of the table. It is 

 not in our power to make giants by means of 

 246 



