More Beetles 



For a month and longer, without taking any 

 food, he works like a madman and is always 

 fit and strong. If I told my neighbours, the 

 chawbacons, that in a certain world the la- 

 bourer does a month's hard work without a 

 bite of food, they would reply with an in- 

 credulous guffaw. If I say as much to the 

 chewers of ideas, perhaps I shall scandalize 

 them. 



No matter : let me repeat what the Mino- 

 taur told me. The chemical enetgy derived 

 from nourishment is not the only origin of 

 animal activity. As a source of life there 

 is something better than digested food. 

 What? How can I tell? Apparently the 

 effluvia, known or unknown, emanating from 

 the sun and transformed by the organism 

 into a mechanical equivalent. So we were 

 told before by the Scorpion and the Spider;^ 

 So we are told now by the Minotaur, who is 

 more convincing with his arduous calling. 

 He does not eat, yet he is a frantic worker. 



The insect world is fruitful in surprises. 

 The three-pronged Dung-beetle, an accom- 

 plished faster and nevertheless a remarkable 

 labourer, sets us a magnificent problem. Is 



1 Cf. The Life of the Spider: tchap. v. The essays on 

 the Scorpion will appear in the next, the concluding 

 volume of the series. — Translator's Note. 

 114 



