PLATE III
1. The Sacred Beetle pushing away and overturning a thieving friend who tries to force his assistance upon him.
2. Crypt in which the Beetle shapes a grub’s provision into a pear.
[[37]]
The arrangements made are as follows: I once more take the large glass jar. I cover the bottom with a layer of earth a few inches in thickness. To obtain the transparent workshop necessary for my observations, I fix a tripod on the earthy layer and, on this support, a decimetre[1] high, I place a round deal slab of the same diameter as the jar. The glass-walled chamber thus marked out will represent the roomy crypt in which the insect works. In the edge of the deal slab, a hollow is cut, large enough to permit of the passage of the Sacred Beetle and her ball. Lastly, above this screen, I heap a layer of earth as deep as the jar allows.
During the operation, a portion of the upper earth falls through the opening and slips down to the lower space in a wide inclined plane. This was a circumstance which I had foreseen and which was indispensable to my plan. By means of this slope, the artist, when she has found the communicating trap-door, will make for the transparent den which I have arranged for her. She will make for it, of course, only provided that she be in perfect darkness. I therefore contrive a cardboard cylinder, closed at the top, and place the glass apparatus inside it. Left standing where it is, the opaque sheath will provide the dusk which the Scarab demands; suddenly raised, it will give the light which I require on my side.
Things being thus arranged, I go in search of a mother lately removed from her natural lodging with her ball. A morning is enough to provide me with what I need. I place the mother and her ball on the surface of the upper layer of earth; I cap the apparatus with its cardboard sheath; and I wait. The insect, stubborn at [[38]]its work so long as the egg is not deposited, will dig itself a new burrow, dragging its ball with it as it goes; it will pass through the upper layer of earth, which is not sufficiently thick; it will come upon the deal board, an obstacle similar to the broken stones that often bar its passage in the course of its normal excavations; it will investigate the cause of the impediment and, finding the opening, will descend through this trap-door to the lower compartment, which, being free and roomy, will represent to the insect the crypt whence I have just removed it. Thus prophesies my foresight. But all this takes time; and I must wait for the morrow to satisfy my impatient curiosity.
The hour has come: let us go and see. The study-door was left open yesterday: the mere sound of the door-handle might stop my distrustful worker. By way of greater precaution, before entering, I put on silent slippers. And——whoosh! The cylinder is removed. Capital! My expectations are fully justified.
The Scarab occupies the glazed workshop. I catch her at work, with her broad foot laid on the rough sketch of the pear. But, startled by the sudden light, she remains motionless, as though petrified. This lasts a few seconds. Then she turns her back upon me and awkwardly ascends the inclined plane, to reach the darkling heights of her gallery. I give a glance at the work, take note of its shape, its position and its aspect, and restore darkness with the cardboard sheath. Let us not prolong the indiscretion, if we would renew the test.
My sudden, brief visit gives us a first insight into the mysterious work. The ball, at first exactly spherical, now has a stout pad circumscribing a sort of shallow [[39]]crater. The work reminds me, in greatly reduced proportions, of certain prehistoric pots, with round bellies, thick lips around the mouth and a neck strangled by a narrow groove. This rude outline of a pear tells us of the insect’s method, a method identical with that of Pleistoscene man ignorant of the potter’s wheel.