The Sacred Beetle and Others 



be left empty. Under this mound is a shaft 

 which is rarely more than four inches in 

 depth, followed by a horizontal gallery, 

 either straight or winding, which ends in a 

 spacious hall, large enough to contain a 

 man's fist. This is the crypt in which the 

 egg lies enveloped in food and subjected to 

 the incubation of a hot sun baking the ground 

 only a few inches above it; this is the roomy 

 workshop in which, the mother, unfettered 

 in her movements, has kneaded and shaped 

 the future nurseling's food into a pear. 



This stercoraceous bread has its main axis 

 lying in a horizontal position. Its shape 

 and size remind one exactly of those little 

 Midsummer's Day pears which, by virtue of 

 their bright colouring, their flavour and their 

 early ripening, are so popular with the 

 children. There is a slight variation in the 

 bulk of the pears found. The largest 

 dimensions are 45 millimetres in length by 

 30 millimetres in width; ^ the smallest are 

 35 millimetres by 28.^ 



Without being as polished as stucco, the 

 surface, which is absolutely even, is carefully 

 glazed with a thin layer of red earth. At 

 first soft as potter's clay, the pyriform loaf 



^1.7 5x1. 17 inches. — Translator's Note. 

 21,36x1.09 inches. — Translator's Note. 



86 



