BURYING BEETLES. 83 



to lie unburied, the Burying Beetles are very numerous, and 

 their work is really valuable. It is chiefly owing to their 

 labours that a dead bird, mouse, rat, or any similar creature is 

 so seldom seen. In the first place, all wild creatures, on feeling 

 the approach of death, seek out some retired spot wherein to 

 breathe their last; and, in the second place, thjir bodies are 

 mostly found and interred by the Burying Beetles before they 

 become offensive to the nostrils. The sensitive organs of these 

 insects detect decaying animal matter at wonderful distances, so 

 that if a dead bird be laid on the ground and left undisturbed, it 

 is mostly beneath the surface in four or five days. 



When collecting these Beetles for the purpose of dissecting 

 them throughout their various stages of existence, and watching 

 the development of the various organs, I used to take dead birds, 

 mice, rats, or even pieces of butchers' offal, and hide them away 

 in fields, taking care to place them on soft ground, and always 

 covering them with a flat stone so as to prevent them from being 

 seen. The stone was no impediment to the Beetles, who are 

 directed by their olfactory and not their visual organs, and in 

 the course of a single summer I thus obtained as many 

 specimens as were needed. 



Abroad, however, and especially in those vast tracts of land 

 which have never been subjected to man,' the Burying Beetles 

 are, as might be supposed, larger, more powerful, and more 

 numerous than they are with us, and perform good service in 

 placing beneath the ground those dead animals which would 

 otherwise be allowed to decay upon its surface. Thus they are 

 not only scavengers, but agriculturists, for they enrich the soil 

 by burying beneath its surface those substances which would 

 only be wasted if allowed to decay above ground. 



There is proverbially no rule without its exception, and such 

 exceptions are found in this group of insects. Though the 

 typical Beetles do bury decaying animal substances, several 

 species do nothing of the kind, among which is the singular 

 insect which is shown in the illustration on the next page. 



It is a very odd-looking creature, with exceedingly long and 

 slender legs and antennae, and a very smooth and convex body. 

 The creature is absolutely without eyes, so that the antennae 

 probably supply their place. The body is red, and the skin is 



G 2 



