The Sacred Beetle and Others 



build turrets of clay and domes of masonry; 

 they mould earthenware urns. The Spiders 

 vie with them. Remember the flying- 

 machines, the rose-patterned paraboloids of 

 certain Epeirae; the globular bag of the 

 Lycosa ; the Labyrinth Spider's cloisters with 

 their Gothic arches; the Clotho Spider's tent 

 and lentiform p6ckets.^ 



The Locust makes pits surmounted by a 

 frothy chimney; the Mantis whips her glair 

 into a frothy mass.- The Fly and the 

 Butterfly, on the other hand, know nothing 

 of these fond attentions : they limit them- 

 selves to laying their eggs at spots where 

 the young can find board and lodging for 

 themselves.^ The Beetle also is generally 

 extremely Ignorant of the finer points of nest- 

 building. By a very singular exception, the 

 Dung-beetles, alone among the immense host 

 of wearers of armoured wing-cases, have a 

 special art of rearing, a system of upbringing 

 which can bear comparison with that of the 



1 For the Epeirae, or Garden Spiders, the Lycosa, or 

 Black-bellied Tarantula, and the Labyrinth and Clotho 

 Spiders, cf. The Life of the Spider, by J. Henri Fabre, 

 translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: passim. — 

 Translator's Note. 



2 Cf. The Life of the Grasshopper: chaps, viii., ix., xvi. 

 and xvii. — Translator's Note. 



3 Cf. The Life of the Fly and The Life of the Cater- 

 pillar: passim. — Translator's Note. 



386 



