104 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



Fig. 9. — Work of Phanseus Mile. 



A, the whole piece, actual size. B, the same 

 opened, showing the pill of sausage-meat, 

 tlie clay gourd, the chamber containing the 

 egg and the veutilating-shaft. 



more thoroughly. The 

 calabashes came into 

 my hands in a state 

 of complete desicca- 

 tion. They are very 

 nearly as hard as 

 stone ; their colour 

 favours a pale choco- 

 late. Neither inside 

 nor out does the lens 

 discover the small 

 fibrous particle point- 

 ing to a residuum of 

 grasses. The strange 

 Dung-beetle does not, 

 therefore, employ the 

 bovine cakes, nor 

 anything similar ; he 

 handles products of 

 another class, which 

 are pretty difficult to 

 specify at first. 



Held to the ear 

 and shaken, the ob- 

 ject sounds a little 

 as would the shell of 

 a dry fruit with a 

 stone lying free inside 

 it. Does it contain 

 the grub, shrivelled 

 by desiccation ? Does 

 it contain the dead 

 insect ? I thought so, 



