The Sacred Beetle and Others 



derive any benefit from the circular form? 

 ,Your spectacles would have to be made of 

 walnut-shells if you failed to see that the 

 insect is brilliantly inspired when it kneads 

 its cake into a ball. These victuals, the 

 meagrest of meagre pittances from the point 

 of view of nourishment, for the Sheep's 

 fourfold stomach has already extracted 

 pretty nearly all t^e assimilable matter, have 

 to make up in quantity for what they lack In 

 quality. 



It is the same with various other Dung- 

 beetles. They are all Insatiable gluttons; 

 they all need a much larger amount of food 

 than their modest dimensions would lead us 

 to suspect. The Spanish Copris, no bigger 

 than a good-sized hazel-nut, accumulates 

 underground, for a single meal, a pie as big 

 as my fist; the Stercoraceous Geotrupes 

 hoards in his hole a sausage nine inches long 

 and as wide as the neck of a claret-bottle. 



These mighty eaters have an easy time of 

 it. They establish themselves Immediately 

 under the heap dropped by some standing 

 Mule. Here they dig passages and dining- 

 rooms. The provisions are at the door of 

 the house; they form a roof for It. All that 

 you have to do Is to bring them in, armful by 

 armful, taking only as much as you can carry 



66 



