The Bull Onthophagus: the Cell 



equipped with one of these tasters. She 

 bores an exactly round hole into the piece 

 which she is exploiting; she goes straight to 

 the middle, where the material, not being 

 exposed to the contact of the air, has kept 

 more savoury and pliable. Here and here 

 alone are gathered the armfuls which, gradu- 

 ally stowed away, kneaded and heaped up to 

 the requisite extent, fill the sack to the top. 

 Lastly, a plug of the same mortar, the sides 

 of which are made partly of sand and partly 

 of stercoral cement, roughly closes the cell, 

 in such a way that an external inspection does 

 not allow one to distinguish front from 

 back. 



To judge of the work and its merit, we 

 must open it. A large empty space, oval in 

 shape, occupies the rear end. This is the 

 birth-chamber, huge in dimensions compared 

 with its contents, the egg fixed on the wall, 

 sometimes at the bottom of the cell and 

 sometimes on the side. This egg is a tiny 

 white cylinder, rounded at each end and 

 measuring a millimetre ^ in length imme- 

 diately after it is laid. With no other sup- 

 port than the spot on which the oviduct has 

 planted it, it stands on its hinder end and pro- 

 jects into space. 



1 .039 inch. — Translator's Note. 

 391 



