THE SACRED BEETLE 43 



sop on the walls of its lodging. There is not much of it, 

 but it is strengthening and possesses a high nourishing 

 value. The pap of tender childhood is followed by the 

 pottage of the weaned nursling. 



The time has come for a sight stranger than any yet 

 displayed to me by the mechanical daring of the insect. 

 Anxious to observe the grub in the intimacy of its home, 

 I open in the belly of the pear a little peep-hole half a 

 centimetre square. The head of the recluse at once 

 appears in the opening, to enquire what is happening. 

 The breach is perceived. The head disaj^pears. I can 

 just see the white chine turning about in the narrow 

 cabin ; and, then and there, the wmdow which I have 

 contrived is closed with a soft, brown paste, which soon 

 hardens. 



The inside of the cabin, said I to myself, is no doubt a 

 semi-fluid porridge. Turning upon itself, as is shown 

 by the sudden slide of the back, the grub has col- 

 lected an armful of this material and, completing the 

 circuit, has stuck its load, by way of mortar, in the 

 breach considered dangerous. I remove the closing plug. 

 The grub acts as before, puts its head at the window, 

 withdraws it, spins round upon itself like a fruit-stone 

 slipping in its shell and forthwith produces a second 

 plug as ample as the first. Forewarned of what was 

 coming, this time I saw more clearly. 



What a mistake was mine ! I am not too greatly 

 thunderstruck, however : in the exercise of its defensive 

 skill, the animal often employs methods which our 

 imagination would not dare to contemplate. It is not 

 the head that is presented at the breach, after the pre- 

 liminary twisting : it is the opposite extremity. The 

 grub does not bring an armful of its alimentary dough, 



