It is extremely precocious.

It labours in April and May when the air is mild.

In the first fortnight of July, before the terrible dog-days have arrived, the members of its family break their shells and set forth in search of the heap of droppings which will furnish them with food and lodging during the fierce days of summer.
Then come the short but pleasant days of autumn, the retreat underground and the winter torpor, the awakening of spring, and finally the cycle is closed by the festival of pellet-making.
One word more as to the fertility of the Sisyphus.

My six couples under the wire-gauze cover furnished me with fifty-seven inhabited pellets.
This gives an average of more than nine to each couple; a figure which the _Scarabaeus sacer_ is far from attaining.

To what should we attribute this superior fertility?
I can only see one cause: the fact that the male works as valiantly as the female.