rusted growth. It was the larva that showed me my
mistake.

The larva is a maggot curved like a hook, carrying on its back an ample
pouch or hunch, forming part of its alimentary canal. The reserve of
excreta in this hunch enables it to seal accidental perforations of the
shell of its lodging with an instantaneous jet of mortar. These sudden
emissions, like little worm-casts, are also practised by the Scarabaeus,
but the latter rarely makes use of them.

The larvae of the various dung-beetles utilise their alimentary residues
in rough-casting their houses, which by their dimensions lend themselves
to this method of disposal, while evading the necessity of opening
temporary windows by which the ordure can be expelled. Whether for lack
of sufficient room, or for other reasons which escape me, the larva of
the Sisyphus, having employed a certain amount in the smoothing of the
interior, ejects the rest of its digestive products from its dwelling.

Let us examine one of these "pears" when the inmate is already partly
grown. Sooner or later we shall see a spot of moisture appear at some
point on the surface; the wall softens, becomes thinner, and then,
through the softened shell, a jet of dark green excreta rises and falls
back upon itself in corkscrew convolutions. One excrescence the more has
been formed; as it dries it becomes black.

What has occurred? The larva has opened a temporary breach in the wall
of its shell; and through this orifice, in which a slight thickness of
the outer glaze still remains, it has expelled the excess of mortar
which it could not employ within. This practice of forming oubliettes in
the shell of its prison does not endanger the grub, as they are
immediately closed, and hermetically sealed by the base of the jet,
which is compressed as by a stroke of a trowel. The stopper is so
quickly put in place that the contents remain moist in spite of the
frequent breaches made in the shell of the "pear." There is no danger of
an influx of the dry outer air.

The Sisyphus seems to be aware of the peril which later on, in the
dog-days, will threaten its "pear," small as it is, and so near the
surface of the ground. It is extremely precocious. It labours in April
and May when the air is mild. In the first fortnight of July, before the
terrible dog-days have arrived, the members of its family break their
shells and set forth in search of the heap of droppings which will
furnish them with food and lodgin