68 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



sideration of the creature's labors; let us support each 

 piece of evidence by others; and then we shall be able to 

 answer the question. 



First of all, a word as to diet. A general scavenger, 

 the Burying-beetle refuses nothing in the way of cadaveric 

 putridity. All is good to his senses, feathered game or 

 furry, provided that the burden do not exceed his strength. 

 He exploits the batrachian or the reptile with no less 

 animation. He accepts without hesitation extraordinary 

 finds, probably unknown to his race, as witness a certain 

 Gold-fish, a red Chinese Carp, whose body, placed in one 

 of my cages, was instantly considered an excellent tit-bit 

 and buried according to the rules. Nor is butcher's meat 

 despised. A mutton-cutlet, a strip of beefsteak, in the 

 right stage of maturity, disappeared beneath the soil, 

 receiving the same attentions as those which were lav- 

 ished on the Mole or the Mouse. In short, the Necro- 

 phorus has no exclusive preferences; anything putrid he 

 conveys underground. 



The maintenance of his industry, therefore, presents 

 no sort of difficulty. If one kind of game be lacking, 

 some other — the first to hand — will very well replace 

 it. Neither is there much trouble in establishing the site 

 of his industry. A capacious dish-cover of wire-gauze is 

 sufficient, resting on an earthen pan filled to the brim with 

 fresh, heaped sand. To obviate criminal attempts on 

 the part of the Cats, whom the game would not fail to 

 tempt, the cage is installed in a closed room with glazed 

 windows, which in winter is the refuge of the plants and 

 in summer an entomological laboratory. 



