86 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



It settles amid ordure the creatures most highly-endowed 

 with family qualities. True, from there it mounts, with 

 a sudden flight, to the sublimities of the bird. 



The little worm is hatched in about a week : a strange 

 and paradoxical being. On its back, it has an enormous 

 sugar-loaf hump, the weight of which drags it over and 

 capsizes it each time it tries to stand on its legs and walk. 

 At every moment, it staggers and falls under the burden 

 of the hunch. 



Unable to keep its hump upright, the grub of the 

 Onthophagus lies down on its side and licks the cream of 

 its cell all around it. There is cream everywhere, on the 

 ceiling, on the walls, on the floor. As soon as one spot 

 is thoroughly bared, the consumer moves on a little 

 with the help of its well-shaped legs ; it capsizes again and 

 starts licking again. The room is large and plentifully 

 supplied ; and the jam-diet lasts some time. 



The fat babies of the Geotrupe, the Copris and the 

 Sacred Beetle finish at one brief sitting the dainty where- 

 with their cabined lodge is hung, a dainty scantily served 

 and just sufficient to stimulate the appetite and prepare 

 the stomach for a coarser fare ; but the Onthophagus grub, 

 that lean pigmy, has enough to last it for a week and 

 more. The spacious natal chamber, which is out of all 

 proportion with the size of the nursling, has permitted 

 this wastefulness. 



At last, the real loaf is attacked. In about a month, 

 everything is consumed, except the wall of the sack. And 

 now the splendid part played by the hump stands re- 

 vealed. Glass tubes, prepared in view of events, allow 

 me to follow the more and more plump and hunch-backed 

 grub at work. I see it withdraw to one end of the cell, 

 which has become a crumbling ruin. Here it builds a 



