TLDR
How does the Scarab obtain the maternal pear? It is certain, to begin with, that this is in no wise shaped by the mechanism of conveyance along the ground: the shape is incompatible with a rolling in every direction, at haphazard. We might accept that for the belly of the gourd; but the neck, the ellipsoid nipple, hollowed into a hatching-chamber! This delicate work could never result from violent, unmeasured jerks. The goldsmith’s jewel is not hammered on the blacksmith’s anvil. Together with other reasons, all good in evidence, already quoted, the pear-shaped outline delivers us, I hope, once and for all, from the antiquated belief that placed the egg inside a roughly-jolted ball.
To produce his masterpiece, the sculptor retires to his den. Even so the Sacred Beetle. She shuts herself down in her crypt, to model, in contemplative seclusion, the materials introduced. Two opportunities offer for obtaining the block to be worked. In the one case, the Scarab gathers from the heap, according to the method which we know, a choice block, which is kneaded into a ball on the spot and which is already spherical before it is set in motion. Were it only a question of provisions intended for her own meals, she would never act otherwise.via the TL;DR App
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Written by jeanhenrifabre | I was an entomologist, and author known for the lively style of my popular books on the lives of insects.