The Sacred Beetle and Others 



surface, the other in the ground. Can it be 

 an accident? Or is it not more likely that the 

 Bison constitutes an exception to the long- 

 evity of the Scarabs, Copres and others, who 

 behold their offspring and even fly away to 

 their second wedding in the following spring. 



I incline to the belief that we come back 

 here to the general insect law of a short life 

 deprived of the chief joy of parenthood, the 

 sight of one's children, for no regrettable 

 Incident happened, so far as I know, in the 

 vivarium. If I am right in my conjectures, 

 why does the Bison, though a near kinsman 

 of the Copris, who attains a green old age, 

 die so quickly, like the common herd, once 

 the future of his family is assured? Here 

 again we have an unsolved mystery. 



A rapid sketch of the larva is preferable 

 to long descriptions of its jaws and palpi, 

 which make dull reading. I shall have said 

 enough, I think, on the subject if I mention 

 that it is bent into a crook, that it carries a 

 knapsack on its back, that it is a quick 

 evacuator and that it is clever at stopping 

 up any cracks in the dwelling: characteristict 

 and talents which are a general rule amonfr 

 the Dung-beetles. In August, when the 

 pudding has been consumed in the middla 

 and has become something of a ruin, the 



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