The Beaded Trox 



fur. I produced my pocket trowel and 

 joined her in the task; and in a moment I 

 possessed a dozen Trox-beetles, most of 

 whom I found in a filthy tangle of fur and 

 broken bones. They were working away at 

 it and apparently feeding on it. I had dis- 

 turbed them at their banquet. 



What could this mess be? That was the 

 fundamental question to be solved. Bril- 

 lat-Savarin ^ declared as an axiom : 



''Tell me what you eat and I will tell you 

 what you are." 



If I wish to know the Trox, I must first 

 enquire what she eats. Reader, pity the sor- 

 rows of the naturalist! Behold me scruti- 

 nizing, meditating, conjecturing, my mind set 

 in a whirl by an unspeakable problem, a ster- 

 coral problem. 



Whom am I to hold responsible for this 

 fibrous lump, in which I seem to distinguish 

 Rabbit's fur as the chief ingredient? The 

 probabilities point to the dog. Rabbits 

 abound on the Serignan hills; they even en- 

 joy a certain reputation among our epicures. 

 The village sportsmen hunt them assiduously; 

 and their Dogs, those poachers heedless of 



1 Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), the author of 

 La Physiologic du Gout. — Tra7islator's Note. 

 61 



