The Burying-Beetles: Experiments 



tests which are to follow will confirm the 

 merits of these valiant auxiliaries. 



In the second place, the points where the 

 Mouse lies being recognized as presenting 

 an insurmountable resistance, there is no 

 grave dug in advance, a little farther off, in 

 the loose soil. All the attempts are limited, 

 I repeat, to shallow soundings, which in- 

 form the insect of the possibility of inhuma- 

 tion. 



It is absolute nonsense to speak of their 

 first preparing the grave to which the body 

 will afterwards be carted. In order to ex- 

 cavate the soil, our sextons have to feel the 

 weight of their dead upon their backs. They 

 work only when stimulated by the contact of 

 its fur. Never, never in this world, do they 

 venture to dig a grave unless the body to be 

 buried already occupies the site of the cavity. 

 This is absolutely confirmed by my two 

 months and more of daily observations. 



The rest of Clairville's anecdote bears ex- 

 amination no better. We are told that the 

 Necrophorus in difficulties goes in search of 

 assistance and returns with companions who 

 assist him to bury the Mouse. This, in an- 

 other form, is the edifying story of the Sa- 

 cred Beetle whose pellet has rolled into a rut. 

 Powerless to withdraw his booty from the 

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