The Sacred Beetle and Others 



and carrying on its back, a large pouch or 

 hump, the emblem of a ready evacuator. 

 Like the Sacred Beetle's, indeed, it excels at 

 stopping up any accidental holes in its shell 

 with an instantaneous spray of stercoral 

 cement, of which it always keeps a supply in 

 its knapsack. It practises moreover an 

 art of vermicelji-making which is unknown 

 to the pill-rollers, except the Broad-necked 

 Scarab, who however but seldom makes use 

 of it. 



The larvae of the various Dung-beetles 

 employ their digestive residues for plaster- 

 ing their cell, whose dimensions lend them- 

 selves to this method of riddance, with- 

 out the necessity of opening temporary 

 windows through which to expel the ordure. 

 Whether because of Insufficient space or for 

 other reasons which escape me, the Sisyphus- 

 larva, after allowing for the regulation coat- 

 ing of the interior, ejects the excess of its 

 products outside. 



Let us keep a close eye on a pear whose 

 inmate Is already growing fairly big. 

 Sooner or later we shall see that the surface 

 at one point Is getting thinner and softer; 

 and then, through the frail screen, there is 

 a spurt of dark-green fluid, which subsides 

 with corkscrew evolutions. One more wart 



352 



