34 INSECT LIFE ii 



barely room to move ? When I think how delicate 

 is the work done and how rude the tools of the 

 workman, — of the angular feet fitted to hollow the 

 ground, and, if need be, even tufa, — I am reminded 

 of an elephant trying to make lace. Explain 

 who can this miracle of maternal industry ; I give it 

 up, especially as it has not been my good fortune to 

 see the artist at work. Let us restrict ourselves to 

 describing this masterpiece. 



The ball which contains the egg is generally as 

 large as a middle-sized apple. In the midst is an 

 oval cavity about a centimetre in diameter. At the 

 bottom is the egg, fixed vertically ; it is cylindrical, 

 rounded at each end, yellowish-white, about as large 

 as a grain of wheat, but shorter. The wall of the 

 hollow is washed over with a greenish-brown, semi- 

 fluid matter, manure cream, destined as the first 

 food of the larva. Does the mother collect the 

 quintessence of the dung to make this delicate food? 

 The look of it tells me that it is a pap prepared in 

 the maternal stomach. The pigeon softens grain in 

 its crop, and turns it into a kind of milk food which 

 it disgorges for its nestlings. It would seem that 

 the beetle shows the same tender care. It half 

 digests the choice food, and disgorges it in the shape 

 of a delicate film to line the walls of the cavity 

 where the egg is laid. Thus, when first hatched, 

 the larva finds food easy of digestion, which rapidly 

 strengthens its stomach and allows it to attack the 

 under layers which lack the same refinement of 

 preparation. Under the semi-fluid paste is a choice 

 pulp, compact and homogeneous, whence every particle 

 of fibre is banished. Beyond are the coarser strata 



