The Sacred Beetle and Others 



victuals as are their sons, now banqueting for 

 the first time in the open. jQhe cages are 

 stocked with two generations. 



The same synchronizing of fathers and 

 sons is observable among all the Dung-beetles 

 that build their nests in the spring: Sacred 

 ■I'Beetles, Copres and Geotrupes. The pre- 

 caution which I 'have taken to watch the 

 hatchings and to place the youngsters in a 

 special compartment as and when they ap- 

 peared confirms this remarkable simultaneity. 

 ^ It is an entomological principle that the 

 ancestor shall not see his descendants; he 

 dies once the future of his family is assured. 

 By a glorious privilege, the Sacred Beetle 

 and his rivals are allowed to know their suc- 

 cessors: fathers and sons meet at the same 

 banquet, not in my cages, where the problems 

 under consideration compel me to keep them 

 separate, but in the open fields. Together 

 they gambol in the sun, together they exploit 

 the patch of dung encountered; and this life 

 of revelry lasts as long as autumn continues 

 to supply fine days. 



The cold weather arrives. Sacred Beetles 

 and Copres, Onthophagi and Gymnopleuri 

 dig themselves a burrow, go down into it with 

 provisions, shut themselves in and wait. In 

 January, on a frosty day, I dig into the cages 



270 



