10 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



pushing his prize backwards. A neighbour, whose own task 

 is hardly begun, suddenly drops his work and runs to the 

 moving ball, to lend a hand to the owner. His aid seems to 

 be accepted willingly. But the new-comer is not really a 

 partner : he is a robber. To make one's own ball needs hard 

 work and patience ; to steal one ready-made, or to invite* 

 oneself to a neighbour's dinner, is much easier. Some thieving 

 Beetles go to work craftily, others use violence. 



Sometimes a thief comes flying up, knocks over the owner 

 of the ball, and perches himself on top of it. With his fore- 

 legs crossed over his breast, ready to hit out, he awaits events. 

 If the owner raises himself to seize his ball the robber gives 

 him a blow that stretches him on his back. Then the owner 

 gets up and shakes the ball till it begins rolling, and perhaps 

 the thief falls off. A wrestling- match follows. The two 

 Beetles grapple with one another : their legs lock and un- 

 lock, their joints intertwine, their horny armour clashes and 

 grates with the rasping sound of metal under a file. The 

 one who is successful climbs to the top of the ball, and after 

 two or three attempts to dislodge him the defeated Scarab 

 goes off to make himself a new pellet. I have sometimes 

 seen a third Beetle appear, and rob the robber. 



But sometimes the thief bides his time and trusts to cun- 

 ning. He pretends to help the victim to roll the food along, 

 over sandy plains thick with thyme, over cart-ruts and steep 

 places, but he really does very little of the work, preferring 

 to sit on the ball and do nothing. When a suitable place for 

 a burrow is reached the rightful owner begins to dig with 

 his sharp-edged forehead and toothed legs, flinging armfuls 

 of sand behind him, while the thief clings to the ball, shamming 

 dead. The cave grows deeper and deeper, and the working 

 Scarab disappears from view. Whenever he comes to the 

 surface he glances at the ball, on which the other lies, demure 

 and motionless, inspiring confidence. But as the absences of 

 the owner become longer the thief seizes his chance, and 

 hurriedly makes off with the ball, which he pushes behind 



