The Beaded Trox 



the Carib country It had been steeped in a 

 poison which should have ensured its preser- 

 vation for an indefinite length of time. A 

 useless precaution: the Moths have invaded 

 the thing; they are gnawing at the Rattle- 

 snake's skin and find the unusual dish, here 

 eaten for the first time, excellent. More 

 familiar victuals, such as the skin of our na- 

 tive Snake, tanned by the maggots and the 

 sun, would be exploited with even greater 

 enthusiasm. 



And any relics of what has once lived are 

 visited by specialists who come hurrying up 

 to work upon dead matter and restore it to 

 circulation under new forms. Among them 

 are some whose peculiar specialty shows us 

 with what scrupulous economy the waste 

 material of life is utilized. Such is the 

 Beaded Trox (T. perlatus, scriba), a 

 humble Beetle, no larger than a cherry-stone 

 at most, black all over and decorated on the 

 wing-cases with rows of protuberances which 

 have earned it the epithet of beaded. 



Not to know the Trox is quite excusable, 

 for the insect has never been much talked 

 about. It is an obscure creature, over- 

 looked by the historian. When impaled in 

 a collector's box, it ranks close to the Dung- 



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