i8 INSECT LIFE i 



front and on either side with the same want of 

 success. Certainly no scavenger beetle ever yet 

 found himself confronted by such a problem of 

 inertia. It is the very moment for claiming assist- 

 ance, a thing all the more easy that the colleague is 

 close at hand, squatted on the top of the dome. 

 Will the Scarabaeus give him a shake, or address 

 him somewhat thus : What are you about, lazy 

 bones ? Come and look here ; something has broken 

 down. Nothing proves that he does so, for the 

 beetle long persists in trying to move the immov- 

 able, examining now on this side, now on that, now 

 above, now below, while his friend still remains 

 quiescent. In the end, however, the latter becomes 

 aware that something unusual is going on ; it is 

 brought home to him by the uneasy comings and 

 goings of his companion and by the immobility of 

 the ball, so in his turn he comes down to look into 

 the matter. Double harness does not prove more 

 effectual than single, and matters grow complicated. 

 The little fans of their antennae open and shut, 

 open again, quiver and betray their lively anxiety. 

 Then a stroke of genius ends their perplexities. 

 Who knows what may be underneath ? They 

 explore below the ball, and a slight excavation 

 reveals the pin. They recognise at once that the 

 crux is there. Had I a voice in the matter I 

 should have said, " An excavation must be made, and 

 the stake which holds the ball must be got out." 

 This very elementary proceeding, and one so easy 

 to such expert excavators, was not adopted nor even 

 attempted. The scavenger beetle was cleverer than 

 the man. The two colleagues, one on this side, one 



