228 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



returned with a friend, whereupon the two overpowered the 

 cockchafer, and pulled it off to their hiding-place. 



Similarly, there is no doubt that the burying beetles 

 (^NicTophorus) co-operate. 



Several of them unite together to bury under the ground, as 

 food and shelter for their young, some dead animal, such as a 

 mouse, a toad, a mole, a bird, &c. The burial is performed 

 because the corpse, if left above ground, would either dry up, or 

 grow rotten, or be eaten by other animals. In all these cases 

 the young would perish, whereas the dead body lying in the 

 earth and withdrawn from the outer air lasts very well. The 

 burying beetles go to work in a very well-considered fashion, 

 for they scrape away the earth lying under the body, so that it 

 sinks of itself deeper and deeper. When it is deep enough down, 

 it is covered over from above. If the situation is stony, the 

 beetles with united forces and great efforts drag the corpse to 

 some place more suitable for burying. They work so diligently 

 that a mouse, for instance, is buried within three hours. But 

 they often work on for days, so as to bury the body as deeply as 

 possible. From large carcasses, such as those of horses, sheep, 

 &c., they only bury pieces as large as they can manage.^ 



Lastly, Clarville gives a case of a burying beetle which 

 wanted to carry away a dead mouse, but, finding it too 

 heavy for its unaided strength, went off, like the beetles 

 previously mentioned, and brought four others to its as- 

 sistance.^ 



A friend of Grleditsch fastened a dead toad, which he 

 desired to dry, upon the top of an upright stick. The 

 burying beetles were attracted by the smell, and finding 

 that they could not reach the toad, they undermined the 

 stick, so causing it to fall with the toad, which was then 

 buried safe out of harm's way.^ 



A converse exemplification of beetle-intelligence is 

 given by Gr. Berkeley.'* He saw a beetle carrying a dead 

 spider up a heath plant, and hanging it upon a twig of the 

 heath in so secure a position, that when the insect had left 

 it Mr. Berkeley found that a sharp shake of the heather 

 would not bring the dead spider down. As the burying 



' Biicliner, loo. eit., p. 344. 

 2 Quoted in Strauss, Insects, s. 389. 

 ' Kirby and Spence, loe. dt., pp. 321-2. 

 * Life and Recollections, vol. ii., p. 356. 



