The Sacred Beetle and Others 



digs with her legs and forehead. Soon the 

 hollow is big enough to hold the pellet, the 

 sacred thing which she insists on having quite 

 close to her : she must feel it bobbing up 

 and down behind her, on her back, safe from 

 parasites, before she decides to go farther. 

 She is afraid of what might happen to the 

 little loaf if itr were left on the threshold 

 of the burrow until the home was completed. 

 There are plenty of Aphodii and Midges to 

 grab it. One cannot be too careful. 



The pellet therefore is inserted, half in 

 and half out of the partly-formed basin. 

 The mother, underneath, gets her legs round 

 it and pulls; the father, above, lets it down 

 gently and sees that the hole is not choked 

 up with falling earth. All goes well. The 

 digging is resumed and the descent continues, 

 always with the same caution, one of the 

 Sisyphi pulling the load, the other regulating 

 the drop and clearing away anything that 

 might hinder the operation. A few more 

 efforts; and the ball disappears underground 

 with the two miners. What follows for 

 some time to come can be only a repetition 

 of what we have just seen. Let us wait half 

 a day or so. 



If we have kept careful watch, we shall 

 see the father come up again to the surface 



348 



