12 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



assured me there was an egg inside it ; for a similar pear, 

 crushed by accident in the digging, had contained a white 

 egg the size of a grain of wheat. 



At daybreak the next morning the shepherd and I went 

 out to investigate the matter. We met among the browsing 

 sheep, on some slopes that had lately been cleared of 

 trees. 



A Sacred Beetle's burrow is soon found : you can tell it 

 by the fresh little mound of earth above it. My companion 

 dug vigorously into the ground with my pocket trowel, while 

 I lay down, the better to see what was being unearthed. A 

 cave opened out, and there I saw, lying in the moist earth, a 

 splendid pear upon the ground. I shall not soon forget my 

 first sight of the mother Beetle's wonderful work. My excite- 

 ment could have been no greater had I, in digging among the 

 relics of ancient Egypt, found the sacred insect carved in 

 emerald. 



We went on with our search, and found a second hole. Here, 

 by the side of the pear and fondly embracing it, was the 

 mother Beetle, engaged no doubt in giving it the finishing 

 touches before leaving the burrow for good. There was no 

 possible doubt that the pear was the nest of the Scarab. In 

 the course of the summer I found at least a hundred such 

 nests. 



The pear, like the ball, is formed of refuse scraped up in 

 the fields, but the materials are less coarse, because they are 

 intended for the food of the grub. When it comes out of the 

 egg it is incapable of searching for its own meals, so the mother 

 arranges that it shall find itself surrounded by the food that 

 suits it best. It can begin eating at once, without further 

 trouble. 



The egg is laid in the narrow end of the pear. Every germ 

 of life, whether of plant or animal, needs air : even the shell 

 of a bird's egg is riddled with an endless number of pores. If 

 the germ of the Scarab were in the thick part of the pear 

 it would be smothered, because there the materials are very 



