122 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



/• 



pended, has for the moment no other occupation. But, 

 at laying-time, these laborious undertakings are impos- 

 sible. The hours pass swiftly. In four or five weeks, a 

 pretty numerous family has to be housed and victualled, 

 which puts a long, patiently -sunk pit entirely out of the 

 question , 



The burrow dug by the Geotrupe for the benefit of her 



grub is hardly deeper than 

 that of the Copris or the 

 Sacred Beetle, notwithstand- 

 ing the difference of the sea- 

 sons. Three decimetres,^ 

 roughly speaking : that is all 

 that I find in the fields, where 

 nothing occurs to limit the 

 depth. 



The contents of the rustic 

 dwelling take the form of a 

 sort of sausage or pudding, 

 which fills the lower part of 

 the cylinder and fits it exactly. 

 Its length is not far short 

 of a couple of decimetres.'^ 

 This sausage is almost always 

 irregular in shape, now curved, 

 now more or less dented. 

 These imperfections of the surface are due to the acci- 

 dents of a stony ground, which the insect does not always 

 excavate according to the canons of its art, which favours 

 the straight line and the perpendicular. The moulded 

 material faithfully reproduces all the irregularities of its 



^ 11 to 12 inches. — Translator's Note. 

 2 7^ to 8 inches. — Translator's Note. 



"^ -_ ,- ' 



Fig. r.i.— Section ot the Stercora- 

 ceous Geotrupe's sausage at its 

 lower end, showing the egg and 

 the hatching-chamber. 



