pit is deep enough to receive the ball; she cannot dispense with the
close contact of the sacred object; she must feel it bobbing behind her,
against her back, safe from all parasites and robbers, before she can
decide to burrow further. She fears what might happen to the precious
loaf if it were abandoned at the threshold of the burrow until the
completion of the dwelling. There is no lack of midges and tiny
dung-beetles--Aphodiinae--which might take possession of it. It is only
prudent to be distrustful.

So the ball is introduced into the pit, half in and half out of the
mouth of the burrow. The mother, below, clasps and pulls; the father,
above, moderates the jolts and prevents it from rolling. All goes well.
Digging is resumed, and the descent continues, always with the same
prudence; one beetle dragging the load, the other regulating its descent
and clearing away all rubbish that might hinder the operation. A few
more efforts, and the ball disappears underground with the two miners.
What follows will be, for a time at least, only a repetition of what we
have seen. Let us wait half a day or so.

If our vigilance is not relaxed we shall see the father regain the
surface alone, and crouch in the sand near the mouth of the burrow.
Retained by duties in the performance of which her companion can be of
no assistance, the mother habitually delays her reappearance until the
following day. When she finally emerges the father wakes up, leaves his
hiding place, and rejoins her. The reunited couple return to their
pasturage, refresh themselves, and then cut out another ball of dung.
As before, both share the work; the hewing and shaping, the transport,
and the burial in ensilage.

This conjugal fidelity is delightful; but is it really the rule? I
should not dare to affirm that it is. There must be flighty individuals
who, in the confusion under a large cake of droppings, forget the fair
confectioners for whom they have worked as journeymen, and devote
themselves to the services of others, encountered by chance; there must
be temporary unions, and divorces after the burial of a single pellet.
No matter: the little I myself have seen gives me a high opinion of the
domestic morals of the Sisyphus.

Let us consider these domestic habits a little further before coming to
the contents of the burrow. The father works fully as hard as the mother
at the extraction and modelling of the pellet which is destined to be
the inheritanc