The Burying-Beetles: Experiments 



plenty of space for the other, which readily 

 slips from the metal band; and the little 

 corpse falls to the ground. 



But, if the bone be too hard, if the prize 

 suspended be a Mole, an adult Mouse or a 

 Sparrow, the wire ligament opposes an in- 

 surmountable obstacle to the attempts of 

 the Necrophori, who, for nearly a week, 

 work at the hanging body, partly stripping 

 it of fur or feather and dishevelling it until 

 it forms a lamentable object, and at last 

 abandon it when desiccation sets in. And 

 yet a last resource remained, one as rational 

 as infallible: to overthrow the stake. Of 

 course, not one dreams of doing so. 



For the last time let us change our artifices. 

 The top of the gibbet consists of a little fork, 

 with the prongs widely opened and measur- 

 ing barely two-fifths of an inch in length. 

 With a thread of hemp, less easily attacked 

 than a strip of raffia, I bind the hind-legs of 

 an adult Mouse together, a little above the 

 heels; and I slip one of the prongs in be- 

 tween. To bring the thing down one has 

 only to slide it a little way upwards ; it is like 

 a young Rabbit hanging in the window of a 

 poulterer's shop. 



Five Necrophori come to inspect what I 

 have prepared. After much futile shaking, 

 34i 



