CHAFERS AND CLOCKS 225 



vibration caused by the taps of these small creatures must be 

 so slight that it seems very unlikely that they feel the shock, 

 as a trout can feel a footfall on the bank of the stream. The 

 only alternative is that they can hear. Certain beetles also 

 produce chirping sounds in the same way as grasshoppers 

 by rubbing one part of their anatomy against another ; and 

 there is a strong supposition that these too are the call of 

 mate to mate as well as a method of pleasurable expression, 

 like the song of birds. It seems possible that the hum of 

 the beetle is not a mere accompaniment of clumsy flight, but 

 serves a definite purpose of communication. 



The work of the burying-beetles is a remarkable develop- 

 ment of the carrion-feeding habit which is common to many 

 species. Burying-beetles are much smaller than a dor- 

 beetle or a cockchafer, and they work in small parties, or 

 even singly, so that they have not the ants' advantage of 

 combination on a large scale in performing their remarkable 

 feats. For it is a very remarkable feat for three or four 

 beetles to bury the body of a creature so large in comparison 

 as a field-mouse or a lark. It is accomplished by burrowing 

 beneath the body, and clearing out the earth at the sides 

 until it sinks into the cavity. Then the spare earth is carried 

 back above it, and the burial is complete. Before this stage, 

 however, the female beetle has accomplished the main object 

 of the whole undertaking, and laid her eggs in the body, 

 which serves as food for the young. A party of burying- 

 beetles at work upon some dead waif of the meadows is a 

 common spectacle when the hay is cut ; and the task of the 

 conspicuous yellow-banded insects is interesting, though 

 slightly unsavoury. 



The common dor-beetle is associated with the evenings 

 of late summer, though other species are occasionally seen 

 flying at other times of year. Its heavy drone carries far in 



