TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 255 



naked, like the hands of infants, and appearing to 

 stretch themselves out in a supplicating manner ; the 

 delicate moustache of bristles ; the lips drawn out as 

 if by a last agony ; in short, this despised creature, a 

 body of the size of the finger, now the sport of the 

 infinite, death ! all this gives me a feeling of sad- 

 ness, and I find myself murmuring some words of 

 pity, if not of regret, for the defunct little animal. 



Our promenaders possibly experienced something 

 of this feeling but did not dwell on it ; and Le*on, who 

 in fact did not like to lose anything that could be 

 of assistance to him in his favourite studies, at once 

 proposed to carry off the little corpse. 



"Take it away? You must surely be joking," 

 replied his cousin. "It is already in full process of 

 decomposition. A very little longer, and it will walk 

 without any assistance." 



As if to prove the truth of what Kene" had just said, 

 the little carcase, to his great astonishment, commenced 

 to shift its position. 



"Attention ! " called the doctor, " the funeral 

 ceremonies have already commenced." 



Five large beetles, of a black colour, as is befitting 

 to every respectable undertaker, with some yellow 

 bands like belts of leather on their elytra, had thrust 

 themselves beneath the body of the rodent, and had 

 commenced their sinister duty. They had already, in 

 fact, disappeared from sight, and it was only by a 



