The Bison Onitis 



grub retires to the lower end and here 

 isolates itself from the remainder of the 

 cavity by means of a spherical enclosure, of 

 which the mortar-bag supplies the materials. 



The work, a graceful sphere about the 

 size of a large cherry, Is a masterpiece of 

 stercoral architecture and may be compared 

 with that which the Bull Onthophagus has 

 already shown us. Little nodes, arranged 

 in concentric lines and alternating like the 

 tiles of a roof, adorn the object from pole 

 to pole. Each of them must correspond 

 with a stroke of the trowel putting its load 

 of mortar in place. If you did not know 

 what It was, you would take the thing for 

 the chiselled kernel of some tropical fruit. 

 A sort of rough pericarp completes the 

 illusion. It Is the rind of the pudding which 

 surrounds the central jewel but is easily re- 

 moved, just as the husk separates from the 

 tiut. When we have done the sheUIng, we 

 are quite surprised to find this splendid 

 kernel under its rustic wrapper. 



Such Is the chamber built with a view to 

 the metamorphosis. The larva spends the 

 winter there In a state of torpor. I hoped 

 to obtain the adult Insect In the spring. [To 

 my great surprise, the larval stage continued 

 until the end of July. It takes about a year, 



375 



