Alone she moulds her sphere, extracts it from the lump and rolls it backwards, with her back to her task, in the position adopted by the male Sisyphus; alone she excavates her burrow, and alone she buries the fruit of her labour.
Oblivious of the gravid mother and the future brood, the male gives her no assistance in her exhausting task.

How different to the little pellet-maker, the Sisyphus! It is now time to visit the burrow.

At no very great depth we find a narrow chamber, just large enough for the mother to move around at her work.

Its very exiguity proves that the male cannot remain underground; so soon as the chamber is ready he must retire in order to leave the female room to move.

We have, in fact, seen that he returns to the surface long before the female.
The contents of the cellar consist of a single pellet, a masterpiece of plastic art.