166 



THE UNIVERSE. 



it with its two hiiid-feet, which are long, crooked, and 

 suited to this work, and rolls it about in every direction, 

 pushing it backwards. B}^ dint of being Avorked along the 

 sand and fine earth, this ball of excrement, soft enough 

 at first, becomes more and more hard and smooth on the 

 surface. The dung-beetle pursues its work with an un- 

 heard of perseverance; nothing stoj^s it, nothing turns it 

 back : it is a blind instinct that guides it. If the place it 

 is traversing be a hillock or a sloping ascent, it pushes its 

 ball with all its strength. But very often it tumbles, when 

 the ball escapes from its legs and rolls away. The insect 

 then seeks it anxiously, and if some neighbour, without 

 anything to do, has taken possession of it, or if it be lost 

 in the high grass so that it cannot be found again, it forms 

 a new one and lays another egg. 



When the ball is quite finished, well roxmded, large, and 

 hardened, the Scarabasus, which has dug a hole for this 

 purpose, pushes the ball into it and leaves it to its fate. 

 And thus the arduous work is finished. 



It was these rcmariiable labours Avhich drew the attcn- 



_:^^z 



3 I 



102. Cartouches from tlie Temples of TLilos, representing Sacred Scarabasiis, Sacred Ibis &c. 



tion of the ancients to the insect. In old Egypt, Avhere 

 men marvelled at this prodigious care, the sacred Scai'a- 



