Chapter xiv
THE GEOTRUPES: THE LARVA
The egg takes from one to two weeks to hatch, according as it is laid in October or September. As a rule the hatching takes place in the first fortnight of October. The larva grows pretty quickly and soon manifests very different characteristics from those displayed by the other Dung-beetles. We find ourselves in a new world, full of surprises. The grub is folded in two, it is bent into a hook, as required by the narrowness of the cell, which is scooped out gradually as the inside of the sausage is consumed.
Even so did the grubs of the Sacred Beetle, the Copris and the others comport themselves; but the larva of the Geotrupes has not the hump that gave the first-named such an ungainly figure. Its back is curved regularly. This entire absence of a knapsack, of a putty-bag, points to different habits. The larva, in fact, is not acquainted with the art of plugging crevices. If I contrive an opening in the part of the sausage which it occupies, I do not see it taking note of the hole, turning round and forthwith repairing the damage with a few pats of a trowel well supplied with cement. The access of the air does not trouble it apparently, or rather there is no provision against this in its means of defence. [[222]]
You have only to take a glance at its dwelling. What would be the use of the plasterer’s art of stopping up crannies, when the house simply cannot crack? Closely moulded in the cylinder of the burrow, the sausage is preserved from crumbling to dust by the support of its mould. The Sacred Beetle’s pear, which is free on every side in a large underground cavity, often swells, splits, peels off. The Geotrupes’ sausage, being packed in a casing, is free from these imperfections. Besides, if it were to burst, the accident would not be serious, for now, in autumn and winter, in a soil that is always damp and fresh, there is no fear of that desiccation which is so greatly dreaded by the pill-rollers. Hence there is no special industry designed to circumvent a peril that is unlikely and of little consequence; no excessively docile intestine to keep the trowel supplied; no ugly hump to act as a mortar-magazine. The inexhaustible evacuator of our earlier studies disappears and is replaced by a grub whose motions are more moderate.
Obviously, big eater as the larva is and, moreover, sequestered in a cell allowing of no communication with the outside, it is utterly ignorant of what we call cleanliness. Let us not take this to mean that it is disgustingly filthy, soiled with excrement: we should be making a grave mistake. Nothing could be neater or glossier than its satiny skin. We wonder what pains it must take over its toilet, or else what special grace enables all these eaters of ordure to keep themselves so clean. Seeing them outside their usual environment, no one would suspect their sordid life.
We must look elsewhere for any defect in cleanliness, if indeed it is right to give the name of defect to a quality which, all things considered, makes for the creature’s [[223]]good. Language, the one and only mirror of our thoughts, easily goes astray and becomes treacherous when attempting to express reality. Let us substitute the larva’s point of view for our own, let us throw off the man and become the Dung-beetle: offensive epithets will disappear forthwith.
The grub, that mighty eater, has no relations with the outside world. What is it to do with the remains of what it has digested? Far from being embarrassed by them, it takes advantage of them, as do many other solitaries cabined in a shell. It uses them to keep out the draughts from its hermitage and to pad it with quilting. It spreads them into a soft couch, grateful to its delicate skin; it builds them into a polished niche, a water-tight alcove which will protect the long winter torpor. I told you that one had but to imagine one’s self a Dung-beetle for a moment in order to change one’s language utterly. Behold that which was hateful and burdensome turned into something of value, which will contribute largely to the grub’s welfare. Onthophagi and Copres, Scarabæi and Gymnopleuri have accustomed us to this kind of industry.
The sausage is in an upright position, or nearly so. The hatching-chamber is at the bottom end. As the grub grows, it attacks the provisions overhead, but does not touch the wall around, which is of considerable thickness. It has indeed so huge a dish at its disposal that abstinence becomes no difficult matter. The Sacred Beetle’s grub, which has no occasion to take precautions against the winter, has a very skimpy helping. Its little pear is a niggardly ration and is consumed throughout, all but a slender wall, which the inmate, however, takes care to thicken and strengthen with a good layer of its mortar. The grub of the Geotrupes is very [[224]]differently situated. It is supplied with a colossal sausage, representing nearly a dozen times as much as the other provisions. However well endowed it be with stomach and appetite, it could not possibly consume the whole lot. Besides, the question of food is not the only one to be considered this time: there is also the serious matter of the hibernation. The parents foresaw the severity of the winter and bequeathed their sons the wherewithal to face it. The giant roly-poly will become a blanket against the cold.