THE GEOTRUPES 119 



each new twilight ? It is obvious that Stercorarius 

 is incapable^of consuming provisions so plentiful in a 

 single night. He has such a superabundance of victuals 

 in his larder that he does not know how to dispose of 

 them ; he is surfeited with good things by which he will 

 not profit ; and, not satisfied with having his store 

 crammed, the acquisitive plutocrat slaves, night after 

 night, to store away more. 



From each warehouse, set up here, set up there, as 

 things happen, he deducts the daily meal beforehand ; 

 the rest, that is to say, almost the whole, he abandons. 

 My voleries testify to the fact that this instinct for 

 burymg is more exacting than the consumer's appetite. 

 The ground is soon raised, in consequence ; and I am 

 obliged, from time to time, to lower the level to the desired 

 limits. If I dig it up, I find it choked, throughout its 

 depth, with hoards that have remained intact. The 

 original earth has become an inextricable conglomerate, 

 which I must prune with a free hand, if I would not go 

 astray in my future observations. 



Allowing for errors, either of excess or deficiency, which 

 are inevitable in a subject that does not admit of precise 

 gauging, one point stands out very clearly from my 

 enquiry : the Geotrupes are passionate buriers ; they take 

 underground a deal more than is necessary for their con- 

 sumption. As this work is performed, in varying degrees, 

 by legions of collaborators, large and small, it is evident 

 that the purification of the soil must benefit by it to an 

 ample extent and that the pubHc health is to be con- 

 gratulated on having this army of auxiliaries in its service. 



In other respects, the plant and, indirectly, a host of 

 different existences are interested in these interments. 

 What the Geotrupe buries and abandons the next day 



