The Sacred Beetle and Others 



fatal. No matter : in that atmosphere the 

 dung-cylinders, damp at the start, must in the 

 long run have acquired the hardness of stone. 

 In their hatching-chamber, in the tunnel made 

 by the larva, the temperature undoubtedly 

 sank below freezing-point. 



Then what became of the grub and the 

 egg? Were they really frozen? Every- 

 thing seems to tell us so. That this most 

 delicate of all delicate things, a germ, a rudi- 

 ment of life in a blob of glair, should harden, 

 turn into a bit of stone and then resume its 

 vitality and continue its evolution after thaw- 

 ing seems inadmissible. And yet circum- 

 stances confirm it. We should have to credit 

 the Geotrupes' sausages with athermanous 

 properties unequalled by any other substance 

 to regard them as a sufficient protection 

 against such intense and lasting refrigeration. 

 What a pity that we could derive no informa- 

 tion from the thermometer in this instance I 

 After all, if complete freezing is unproven, 

 one point has been established for certain: 

 the egg and the grub of the Geotrupes can 

 support and survive very low temperatures 

 in their protecting sheath. 



Since the occasion presents itself, let me 

 say a few more words on the insect's powers 

 of resisting cold. Some years ago, while 



330 



