FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



legs folded under its head. Half transparent and as 

 yellow as honey, it looks as though it were carved from 

 a block of amber. For four weeks it remains in this 

 state, and then it too casts its skin. 



Its colouring now is red-and-white, so many times 

 does the Sacred Beetle change its garments before it 

 finally appears black as ebony! As it grows blacker it 

 also grows harder, till it is covered with horny armour 

 and is a full-grown Beetle. 



All this time he is underground, in the pear-shaped 

 nest. Great is his longing to burst the shell of his prison 

 and come into the sunshine. Whether he succeeds in 

 doing so depends, on circumstances. 



It is generally August when he is ready for release, 

 and August as a rule is the driest and hottest month of 

 the year. If therefore no rain falls to soften the earth, 

 the cell to be burst and the wall to be broken defy the 

 strength of the insect, which is helpless against all that 

 hardness. The soft material of the nest has become an 

 impassable rampart; it has turned into a sort of brick, 

 baked in the kiln of summer. 



I have, of course, made experiments on insects that 

 are ready to be released. I lay the hard, dry shells in 

 a box where they remain dry; and sooner or later I hear 

 a sharp, grating sound inside each cell. It is the 

 prisoner scraping the wall with the rakes on his fore- 



[22] 



