CHAPTER XIII 

 THE SISYPHUS 



YOU are not tired, I hope, of hearing about the 

 Scavenger Beetles with a talent for making balls. 

 I have told you of the Sacred Beetle and of the 

 Spanish Copris, and now I wish to say a few 

 words of yet another of these creatures. In the insect world 

 we meet with a great many model mothers : it is only fair, 

 for once, to draw attention to a good father. 



Now a good father is rarely seen except among the higher 

 animals. The bird is excellent in this respect, and the furred 

 folk perform their duties honourably. Lower in the scale of 

 living creatures the father is generally indifferent to his family. 

 Very few insects are exceptions to this rule. This heartless- 

 ness, which would be detestable in the higher ranks of the 

 animal kingdom, where the weakness of the young demands 

 prolonged care, is excusable among insect fathers. For the 

 robustness of the new-born insect enables it to gather its food 

 unaided, provided it be in a suitable place. When all that 

 the Pieris need do for the safety of the race is to lay her eggs 

 on the leaves of a cabbage, of what use would a father's care 

 be ? The mother's botanical instinct needs no assistance. 

 At laying-time the other parent would be in the way. 



Most insects adopt this simple method of upbringing. 

 They merely choose a dining-room which will be the home of 

 the family once it is hatched, or else a place that will allow 

 the young ones to find suitable fare for themselves. There 

 is no need for the father in such cases. He generally dies 

 without lending the least assistance in the work of setting up 

 his offspring in life. 



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