umber, which I had never hoped to obtain.

For their maintenance a wire-gauze cover suffices, with a bed of sand
and diet to their taste. They are very small, scarcely larger than a
cherry-stone. Their shape is extremely curious. The body is dumpy,
tapering to an acorn-shaped posterior; the legs are very long,
resembling those of the spider when outspread; the hinder legs are
disproportionately long and curved, being thus excellently adapted to
enlace and press the little pilule of dung.

Mating takes place towards the beginning of May, on the surface of the
soil, among the remains of the sheep-dung on which the beetles have been
feeding. Soon the moment for establishing the family arrives. With equal
zeal the two partners take part in the kneading, transport, and baking
of the food for their offspring. With the file-like forelegs a morsel of
convenient size is shaped from the piece of dung placed in the cage.
Father and mother manipulate the piece together, striking it blows with
their claws, compressing it, and shaping it into a ball about the size
of a big pea.

As in the case of the _Scarabaeus sacer_, the exact spherical form is
produced without the mechanical device of rolling the ball. Before it is
moved, even before it is cut loose from its point of support, the
fragment is modelled into the shape of a sphere. The beetle as geometer
is aware of the form best adapted to the long preservation of preserved
foods.

The ball is soon ready. It must now be forced to acquire, by means of a
vigorous rolling, the crust which will protect the interior from a too
rapid evaporation. The mother, recognisable by her slightly robuster
body, takes the place of honour in front. Her long hinder legs on the
soil, her forelegs on the ball, she drags it towards her as she walks
backwards. The father pushes behind, moving tail first, his head held
low. This is exactly the method of the Scarabaeus beetles, which also
work in couples, though for another object. The Sisyphus beetles harness
themselves to provide an inheritance for their larvae; the larger insects
are concerned in obtaining the material for a banquet which the two
chance-met partners will consume underground.

The couple set off, with no definite goal ahead, across the
irregularities of the soil, which cannot be avoided by a leader who
hauls backwards. But even if the Sisyphus saw the obstacles she would
not try to evade them: witness her obstinate endeavour to drag