80 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



Her object in staying is to mount guard over the cradles. 

 The pear of the Sacred Beetle suffers from the mother's deser- 

 tion. It soon shows cracks, and becomes scaly and swollen. 

 After a time it loses its shape. But the nest of the Copris 

 remains perfect, owing to the mother's care. She goes from 

 one to the other, feels them, listens to them, and touches 

 them up at points where my eye can detect no flaw. Her 

 clumsy horn-shod foot is more sensitive in the darkness than 

 my sight in broad daylight : she feels the least threatening 

 of a crack and attends to it at once, lest the air should enter 

 and dry up her eggs. She slips in and out of the narrow spaces 

 between the cradles, inspecting them with the utmost care. 

 If I disturb her she sometimes rubs the tip of her body against 

 the edge of her wing-cases, making a soft rustling sound, 

 like a murmur of complaint. In this way, caring industri- 

 ously for her cradles, and sometimes snatching a brief sleep 

 beside them, the mother waits. 



The Copris enjoys in her underground home a rare privi- 

 lege for an insect : the pleasure of knowing her family. She 

 hears her grubs scratching at the shell to obtain their liberty ; 

 she is present at the bursting of the nest which she has made 

 so carefully. And when the little captive, stiffening his legs 

 and humping his back, tries to split the ceiling that presses 

 down on him, it is quite possible that the mother comes to 

 his assistance by making an assault on the nest from the 

 outside. Being fitted by instinct for repairing and building, 

 why should she not also be fitted for demolishing ? How- 

 ever, I will make no assertions, for I have been unable to 

 see. 



Now it is possible to say that the mother Copris, being 

 imprisoned in an enclosure from which she cannot escape, 

 stays in the midst of her nests because she has no choice in 

 the matter. Yet, if this were so, would she trouble about 

 her work of polishing and constant inspection ? These cares 

 evidently are natural to her : they form part of her habits. 

 If she were anxious to regain her liberty, she would surely 



