I02 



Marvels of the Universe 



for itself. It was often thought that when two beetles were found pushing or devouring the same 

 ball, they were the male and female ; and that if a beetle was unfortunate enough to allow 

 its ball to fall into a hole out of which it could not remove it, it flew away and brought back with 

 it other individuals to help. Monsieur Fabre has shown that neither of these ideas is correct. 

 He found that if he fastened the ball to the ground with a long pin, the head of which was buried 

 in the ball, the beetle would, after much pushing and pulling, lever the ball off the pin by raising it 



with its back, standing as high 

 i as it could on its feet. Could 

 it not reach quite high enough 

 to force the ball off the pin, it 

 would make use of little stones 

 he placed for it. If he did not 

 help it, when the beetle could 

 not reach high enough, it would 

 fly away and leave the ball sus- 

 pended on the pin. If, also, he 

 placed the ball in a hole out of 

 which the beetle could not raise 

 it, after a time it flew away. 

 In neither case, however, did it 

 ever return with other beetles to 

 help it out of its difficulties. 



When the beetle has reached 

 a spot which it considers suit- 

 able, it proceeds to dig a hole 

 with its armed head and power- 

 ful front legs. It forms a 

 chamber large enough to receive 

 the ball, and blocking itself up 

 in this temporary dining-room, 

 it begins to devour its prize. 

 It never ceases to eat until the 

 whole of the pellet has been 

 consumed, taking from a week 

 to a fortnight over it. When 

 all is finished, it comes out of 

 the ground again, flies away, 

 and proceeds to find a fresh 

 dropping. When one beetle has 

 come to the assistance (!) of 

 another, and a place has been 

 selected to bury the prize, the 



nolo hi,-] 



Having rol 

 and 



[/'. //. rah 



THE SACRED BEETLE'S FEAST. 



ed away a large ball of food, the Scarab sets to worli to eat 

 .vill eat steadily on until he Kas consumed the entire mass. 



t. 



original owner starts to do the digging. The treacherous friend now takes the opportunity to 

 run away with the coveted morsel. 



Special chambers are prepared in the spring for the eggs. The female beetle lines it with large 

 quantities of dung arranged in different layers. The centre layer, which contains the egg, consists 

 of a cream}' paste for the newly-hatched grub to feed on. The outer layers become coarser and 

 coarser to be more suitable to the grub as it grows larger. The grub changes to a chrysalis when full 

 fed, and when hatched the perfect insect breaks out of the earth and flies away. 



