The Bull Onthophagus: the Larva 



it each time that it tries to stand on its legs 

 and walk. At every moment, it staggers 

 and falls under the burden of the hunch. 

 The Sacred Beetle's larva showed us long 

 ago a knapsack which was a storehouse of 

 cement to stop up the accidental cracks in 

 the provision-box and protect the food from 

 drying too rapidly. The Onthophagus' 

 grub exaggerates a similar warehouse to the 

 utmost degree; it makes a cone-shaped 

 monument of it, so extravagant and gro- 

 tesque as to border on caricature. Is it 

 some mad masquerader's joke or a rational 

 deformity which will have its uses later? 

 The future will tell us. 



Without saying anything more about it, 

 for lack of words to give a picture of 

 anything so extraordinary, I will refer 

 the reader to the grub of the Oniticellus, 

 which I sketched in an earlier chapter.^ 

 The two hunchbacks are very much alike. 



Unable to keep its hump upright, the grub 

 of the Onthophagus hes down on its side 

 in the cell and licks the cream all around it. 

 There is cream everywhere, on the ceiling, 

 on the walls, on the floor. As soon as one 

 spot is thoroughly bared, the consumer 



1 Chapter XI. of the present volume. — Translator's 

 Note. 



403 



