The Beaded Trox 



ger-joints, radiating like knotty sticks, Rab- 

 bits' skulls overlapping their powerful inci- 

 sors, all white and clean enough to arouse 

 the envy of the people who prepare our ana- 

 tomical specimens. 



Yes, working one on the soft parts and 

 then the other on the hard, the maggot and 

 the Dermestes have performed a meritori- 

 ous task. There is no longer any pestilen- 

 tial filth, any dangerous effluvia. The resi- 

 due, mostly of a chalky nature, if it still of- 

 fends the eye, is at least capable of vitiating 

 the air, the first aliment of life. General 

 hygiene is satisfied. 



Besides his bones, the Mole has left the 

 tatters of his fur; the Snake has been flayed 

 in tatters like the skin which boiling water 

 strips from a fleshy root. The Fly's solvent 

 was powerless to affect these refractory sub- 

 stances; the Dermestes refused them. Will 

 these epidermic shreds remain unutilized? 

 Certainly not. Nature, the sublime econo- 

 mist, takes good care that all things return 

 to the treasury of her works. Not an atom 

 must be allowed to go astray. 



Others will come, frugal and patient 

 pickers-up of unconsidered trifles, and will 

 garner the Mole's fur, hair by hair, to cover 



57 



