The Sacred Beetle: the Ball 



for our want of skill; to enlarge his snow- 

 ball and make it into the enormous sphere 

 which he will end by being unable to move, 

 the schoolboy rolls it in the snow : the rolling 

 gives it the regularity which the direct work 

 of the hands, guided by an inexperienced 

 eye, would not. More dexterous than we, 

 the Sacred Beetle can dispense with either 

 rolling or rotation; he moulds his ball by 

 means of superadded layers, without shift- 

 ing its place and without even descending for 

 an instant from the top of his dome to view 

 the whole structure from the requisite 

 distance. The compasses of his bow-legs, a 

 living pair of callipers which measure 

 and check the curve, are sufficient for his 

 purpose. 



It is only with extreme caution, however, 

 that I introduce these callipers, as I am 

 perfectly convinced, by a host of facts, that 

 instinct has no need of special tools. If 

 further proof were wanted, here it is. The 

 male Scarab's hind-legs are perceptibly 

 bowed; the female's, on the contrary^ are 

 almost straight, though she is much the 

 cleverer and is able, as we shall see presently, 

 to produce masterpieces whose exquisite 

 form far surpasses that of a monotonous 

 sphere. 



63 



