4 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



We have here the whole series of bucolic denominations 

 made famous by the poets of antiquity. Virgil's eclogues 

 have lent their vocabulary for the Dung-beetles' glorifi- 

 cation. 



What alacrity around one and the same dropping ! 

 Never did adventurers hurrying from the four corners of 

 the earth display such eagerness in working a Californian 

 claim. Before the sun becomes too hot, they are there 

 in their hundreds, large and small, promiscuously, of 

 every sort, shape and size, hastening to carve themselves 

 a slice of the common cake. There are some that work 

 in the open air and scrape the surface ; there are some 

 that dig themselves galleries in the thick of the heap, in 

 search of choice veins ; others work the lower stratum 

 and bury their spoil without delay in the underlying 

 ground ; others — the smallest — stand aside to crumble 

 a morsel that has fallen from the mighty excavations of 

 their more powerful fellow- workers. Some, the new- 

 comers and, no doubt, the hungriest, consume their meal 

 on the spot ; but the greater number mean to put by a 

 substance that will allow them to spend long days in 

 plenty, do-^n in some safe retreat. A nice, fresh dropping 

 is not found just when j^ou want it, amid the fields bare 

 of thyme ; a windfall of that sort is as manna from the 

 sky ; only fortune's favourites receive so fair a portion. 

 Wherefore the riches of to-day are prudently stored for 

 the morrow. 



The stercoraceous scent has carried the glad tidings 

 half a mile around ; and all have hastened up to gather 

 provisions. A few laggards are still arriving, a- wing or 

 on foot. 



Who is this that trots towards the heap, fearing lest 

 he come too late ? His long legs move with a sudden, 



