[8] Cf. The Sacred Beetle and Others, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chaps. i to vii. and in particular chap. iv.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
[9] This Beetle, also known as C. Oxythyrea, Muls., is black and, in the males, covered with white spots, suggesting a pall.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
[10] .117 inch.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
[11] 732 cubic inches.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
[12] The Rhinoceros-Beetle.—Translator’s Note. [↑]
CHAPTER II
SAPRINI, DERMESTES AND OTHERS
Twenty thousand, Réaumur[1] tells us, twenty thousand embryos in the body of the Grey Flesh-fly![2] Twenty thousand! What does she want with this formidable family? With offspring that reproduce themselves several times in a year, does she intend to dominate the world? She would be capable of it. Speaking of the Bluebottle,[3] who is far less prolific, Linnæus[4] already wrote:
“Three Flies consume the carcase of a Horse as quickly as a Lion could do it.”