The Sacred Beetle and Others 



we do not know the use always strike us as 

 singular. Having never been intimate with 

 the West-Indian Hercules, I must content 

 myself with suspicions touching the purpose 

 of his fearsome equipment. 



Well, one of the subjects in my insect- 

 house would achieve a similar savage finery 

 if he persisted in 'his attempts. I speak of 

 the Cow Onthophagus (0. Vacca). His 

 nymph has on its forehead a big horn, one 

 only, bent backward; on its corselet it 

 possesses a similar horn, jutting forward. 

 The two, approaching their tips, look like 

 some kind of pincers. What does the insect 

 lack in order to acquire, on a smaller scale, 

 the eccentric ornament of the West-Indian 

 Scarab? It lacks perseverance. It matures 

 the appendage of the forehead and allows 

 that of the corselet to perish atrophied. It 

 succeeds no better than the Bull Ontho- 

 phagus in its attempt to grow a pointed stake 

 upon its back; it loses a glorious opportunity 

 of making itself fine for the wedding and 

 terrible in battle. 



The others are no more successful. I 



bring up six different species. All, in the 



nymphal state, possess the thoracic horn and 



the eight-pointed ventral coronet; not one 



bene^ts by these advantages, which dis- 



414 



