THE SPANISH COPRIS 67 



render as discreet as possible. The taking down of the 

 armfuls is repeated indefinitely. They are always shape- 

 less scraps, morsels such as one might pick off with a 

 small pair of pincers. 



Having learnt what I want to know about the method 

 of warehousing, I leave the insect to its work, which 

 continues for the best part of the night. On the following 

 days, nothing : the Copris goes out no more. Enough 

 treasure has been amassed in a single night's sitting. 

 Let us wait a while and leave the insect time to stow its 

 harvest as it pleases. 



Before the week is out, I dig up the soil of the volery 

 and lay bare the burrow, the victualling of which I have 

 partly followed. As in the fields, it is a spacious hall, 

 with an irregular, surbased ceiling and an almost level floor. 

 In a corner is a round hole, similar to the orifice of the 

 neck of a bottle. This is the business-entrance, opening 

 on a slanting gallery that runs up to the surface. The 

 walls of the house dug in fresh soil are carefully piled up 

 and possess enough power of resistance not to give way 

 under the disturbance produced by my excavations. 

 We can see that, in labourmg for the future, the insect 

 has put forth all its talent, all its strength as a digger, 

 to produce lasting work. Whereas the marquee in which 

 we feast is a cavity hurriedly hollowed out, our per- 

 manent dwelling is a crypt of larger dimensions and of 

 a much more finished construction. 



I suspect that both sexes take part in the master 

 work : at least, I often come upon the couple in the 

 burrows destined for the laying. The roomy and luxu- 

 rious apartment was no doubt once the wedding-hall ; 

 the marriage was consummated under the great vault 

 to the building of which the swain has contributed : a 



