The Sacred Beetle and Others 



Married life, domestic life comes into being: 

 a glorious innovation; and the pioneer is a 

 Dung-beetle ! Go downwards : there is no- 

 thing resembling it; go upwards: for a long 

 time there is still nothing. We have to 

 mount to the top of the scale. 



Take that little fish of our brooks, the 

 Stickleback. The male knows very well how 

 to build out of algae and different water- 

 weeds a nest, a snuggery, in which the female 

 will come and spawn ; but he knows nothing 

 of work shared in common. The cares of a 

 family in which the mother takes little interest 

 fall upon him alone. No matter: there is 

 one step gained, a great one and especially a 

 very remarkable one among fishes, who are 

 so supremely indifferent to family-affection 

 and substitute an appalling fecundity for the 

 trouble of breeding. Fabulous figures make 

 good the voids due to the lack of industry in 

 the parents, even in the mother, a mere bag 

 for eggs. 



Certain Toads attempt the duties of pater- 

 nity; and then we have nothing more till we 

 come to the bird, that paragon of the dome- 

 stic virtues. Here we find married life in all 

 its moral beauty. A contract turns the 

 couple into two collaborators, both equally 

 zealous for the prosperity of the family. 



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