The Sacred Beetle: the Modelling 



pear-shaped outline has not demanded a 

 general recasting of the mass, inside as well 

 as out, but has been obtained by simple 

 pressure and by drawing out the neck. 



This Is how, in the vast majority of cases, 

 things happen under normal conditions. 

 Almost all the pears that I dig up In the fields 

 have rinds and are unpolished, some more, 

 others less. If we put on one side the In- 

 evitable Incrustations due to the carting- 

 process, these blemishes would seem to point 

 to a prolonged rolling In the Interior of the 

 subterranean manor. The few which I find 

 perfectly smooth, especially those wonder- 

 fully neat specimens furnished by my cages, 

 dispel this mistake entirely. They show us 

 that, when the materials are collected near 

 the burrow and stored away unshaped, the 

 pear Is modelled wholly without rolling; they 

 prove to us that. In other cases, the lines of 

 earth and grit on the outside of the ball are 

 not a sign of Its having been rolled to and fro 

 in the workshop, but are simply the marks of 

 a fairly long journey on the surface of the 

 ground. 



To be present at the construction of the 

 pear is no easy matter : the mystery-loving 

 artist obstinately refuses to do any work as 

 soon as the light reaches her. She needs 



III 



