CHAPTER VI 



THE BURYING-BEETLES : EXPERIMENTS 



Let us proceed to the rational prowess which has earned 

 for the Necrophorus the better part of his renown and, 

 to begin with, let us submit the case related by Clairville 

 — that of the too hard soil and the call for assistance — 

 to experimental test. 



With this object in view, I pave the center of the space 

 beneath the cover, level with the soil, with a brick and 

 sprinkle the latter with a thin layer of sand. This 

 will be the soil in which digging is impracticable. All 

 about it, for some distance and on the same level, spreads 

 the loose soil, which is easy to dig. 



In order to approximate to the conditions of the little 

 story, I must have a Mouse ; with a Mole, a heavy mass, 

 the work of removal would perhaps present too much 

 difficulty. To obtain the Mouse I place my friends and 

 neighbors under requisition ; they laugh at my whim but 

 none*the less proffer their traps. Yet, the moment a 

 Mouse is needed, that very common animal becomes rare. 

 Braving decorum in his speech, which follows the Latin 

 of his ancestors, the Provenqal says, but even more 

 crudely than in my translation: "If you look for dung, 

 the Asses become constipated ! " 



At last I possess the Mouse of my dreams ! She comes 



76 



