28 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



mum values. All other conditions remaining equal, the 

 evaporation is obviously in proportion to the extent 

 of the evaporating surface. The alimentary mass must 

 therefore be given the smallest possible surface, in order 

 by so much to decrease the waste of moisture ; neverthe- 

 less, this smallest surface must unite the largest aggregate 

 of nutritive materials, so that the worm may find sufficient 

 nourishment. Now which is the form that encloses the 

 greatest bulk within the smallest superficial area ? 

 Geometry answers, the sphere. 



The Scarab, therefore, shapes the worm's allowance 

 into a sphere (we will pass over the neck of the pear for 

 the moment) ; and this round form is not the result of 

 blind mechanical conditions, imposing an inevitable 

 shape upon the workman ; it is not the forcible effect 

 of a rolling along the ground. We have already seen 

 that, with the object of easier and swifter transit, the 

 insect kneads the plunder which it intends to consume 

 at a distance into an exact ball, without moving it from 

 the spot at which it lies ; in a word, we have observed 

 that the round form precedes the roUing. 



In the same way, it will be shown presently that the 

 pear destined for the worm is fashioned down in the 

 burrow. It undergoes no process of rolling, it is not 

 even moved. The Scarab gives it the requisite outline 

 exactly as a modelling artist would do, shaping his clay 

 under the pressure of the thumb. 



Supplied with the tools which it possesses, the insect 

 would be capable of obtaining other forms of a less dainty 

 curve than its pear-shaped work. It could, for instance, 

 make the coarse cylinder, the sausage in use among the 

 Geotrupes ; simplifying the work to the utmost, it could 

 leave the morsel without any settled form, just as it 



