THE SACRED BEETLE 



exception, when nothing else has escaped the heavy blows 

 of the insect's leg. The end of the egg rests against it, 

 and, if the stopper were pressed down and driven in, 

 the infant grub might suffer. So the Beetle stops the 

 hole without ramming down the stopper. 



in 



THE GROWINOUP OF THE SCARAB 



About a week or ten days after the laying of the egg, 

 the grub is hatched, and without delay begins to eat its 

 house. It is a grub of remarkable wisdom, for it always 

 starts its meal with the thickest part of the walls, and 

 so avoids making a hole through which it might fall out 

 of the pear altogether. It soon becomes fat; and indeed 

 it is an ungainly creature at best, with an enormous 

 hump on its back, and a skin so transparent that if you 

 hold it up to the light you can see its internal organs. 

 If the early Egyptian had chanced upon this plump 

 white grub he would never have suspected it to contain, 

 in an undeveloped state, the sober beauty of the Scarab ! 



When first it sheds its skin the! insect that appears 

 is not a full-grown Scarab, though all the Scarab's 

 features can be recognised. There are few insects so 

 beautiful as this delicate creature with its wing-cases 

 Iving in front of it like a wide pleated scarf and its fore- 



[21] 



