216 



rXSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



Aci-ida verrucivora depositing her eggs. 

 Tlie usual position of tlie ovipositor is represented by dots. 



A more laborious task is performed by an insect by no 

 means uncommon in Britain, the Burying Beetle (^Necro- 

 pliorus vespiUo), which may be easily recognised by its longisli 

 body, of a black colour, with two broad and irregularly 

 indented bands of yellowish brown. A foreign naturalist, 

 M. Gleditsch, gives a very interesting account of its in- 

 dustry. He had " often remarked that dead moles, when 

 laid upon the ground, especially if upon loose earth, were 

 almost sure to disappear in the course of two or three days, 

 often of twelve hours. To ascertain the cause, he placed a 

 mole upon one of the beds in his garden. It had vanished 

 by the third morning ; and on digging where it had been 

 laid, he found it buried to the depth of three inches, and 

 under it four beetles, which seemed to have been the agents 

 in this singular inhumation. Not perceiving anything par- 

 ticular in the mole, he buried it again ; and on examining it 

 at the end of six days, he found it swarming with maggots, 

 apparently the issue of the beetles, which M. Gleditsch now 

 naturally concluded had buried the carcass for the food of 



