More Beetles 



herited the noble dimensions of the mother 

 and the other the stunted dimensions of the 

 father? Not possessing, at the moment, a 

 suitable apparatus, that is to say, a tall col- 

 umn of earth held between four planks, I 

 lodged my Beetles in the longest test-tube 

 among my entomological glass-ware, with 

 moist sand and victuals at their disposal. 



At first, all went according to rule, the 

 mother digging and the father clearing away 

 the rubbish. A few droppings were stored; 

 then, on reaching the bottom of the test-tube, 

 the couple pined away and died. The layer 

 of sand was not deep enough. Before pil- 

 ing the food-sausage on top of an egg^ the 

 pair needed a shaft at least forty inches in 

 depth, whereas they had only some eighteen 

 inches to dig in. 



This failure did not put an end to my hst 

 of questions. Where did that pigmy spring 

 from? Was he the outcome of a special pre- 

 disposition, transmitted by heredity? Or 

 was he descended from another dwarf, who 

 himself proceeded from a similar abortion? 

 Was his deficiency merely an accident, which 

 had nothing to do with heredity, an individ- 

 ual littleness not transmissible from father 

 240 



