The Sacred Beetle and Others 



shoves the pellet upwards. When his 

 shoulders no longer avail, he works with his 

 legs, now upright, now head downwards. 

 Xhere is a fresh pause, accompanied by fresh 

 signs of uneasiness, when the limit of exten- 

 sion is reached. Thereupon, without dis- 

 turbing the creatip-e, we place a second little 

 stone on the top of the first. With the aid 

 of this new step, which provides a fulcrum 

 for its leyers, the insect pursues its task. 

 Thus adding story upon story as required, 

 I have seen the Scarab, hoisted to the 

 summit of a tottering pile three or four 

 fingers'-breadth in height, persevere in his 

 work until the ball was completely detached. 

 Had he some vague consciousness of the 

 service performed by the gradual raising of 

 the pedestal? I venture to doubt it, though 

 he cleverly took advantage of my platform 

 of little stones. As a matter of fact, if the 

 very elementary idea of using a higher sup- 

 port in order to reach something placed 

 above one's grasp were not beyond the 

 Beetle's comprehension, how is it that, when 

 there are two of them, neither thinks of lend- 

 ing the other his back so as to raise him by 

 that much and make it possible for him to go 

 on working? If one helped the other in 

 this way, they could reach twice as high. 



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