The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



the tibiae are attacked. This, it seems, is 

 the method usually employed when the corpse 

 is caught by one of its limbs in some narrow 

 fork of a low-growing plant. While trying 

 to saw through the bone — a heavy job this 

 time — one of the workers slips between the 

 shackled legs; in this position, he feels the 

 furry touch of the Mouse against his chine. 

 No more is needed to arouse his propensity 

 to thrust with his back. With a few heaves 

 of the lever the thing is done : the Mouse 

 rises a little, slides over the supporting peg 

 and falls to the ground. 



Is this manoeuvre really thought out? 

 Has the insect indeed perceived, by the light 

 of a flash of reason, that to make the morsel 

 fall it was necessary to unhook it by sliding 

 it along the peg? Has it actually perceived 

 the mechanism of the hanging? I know 

 some persons — indeed, I know many — 

 who, in the presence of this magnificent re- 

 sult, would be satisfied without further in- 

 vestigation. 



More difficult to convince, I modify the 

 experiment before drawing a conclusion. I 

 suspect that the Necrophorus, without in any 

 way foreseeing the consequences of his ac- 

 tion, heaved his back merely because he felt 

 the animal's legs above him. With the sys- 

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