The Dung-Beetles of the Pampas 



opening has been made. This is the air- 

 hole, which allows of gaseous exchanges be- 

 tween the atmosphere inside the box and that 

 outside. 



If it were entirely free, this opening would 

 be dangerous: some plunderer might take ad- 

 vantage of it to enter the casket. The 

 mother foresees the risk. She blocks the 

 breathing-hole with a plug made of the 

 ravelled vegetable fibres of the Cow-dung, a 

 stopper which is eminently permeable. It is 

 an exact repetition of that which the various 

 modellers have shown us at the top of their 

 calabashes and pears. All of them are ac- 

 quainted with the nice secret of the felt stop- 

 per as a means of ventilating the egg in a 

 water-tight enclosure. 



Your name is not an attractive one, my 

 pretty Dung-beetle of the pampas, but your 

 industrial methods are most remarkable. I 

 know some among your fellow-countrymen, 

 however, who surpass you in ingenuity. One 

 of these is Phanaus Milon, a magnificent in- 

 sect, blue-black all over. 



. The male's corselet juts forward. On the 

 head is a short, broad, flattened horn, end- 

 ing in a trident. The female replaces this 

 ornament by simple folds. Both carry on 

 the forehead two spikes which form a trusty 

 249 



