The Burying-Beetles: The Burial 



snow upon the abdomen, and the slender 

 Staphylinus, 1 all, whence coming no one 

 knows, hurry hither in squads, with never- 

 wearied zeal, investigating, probing and 

 draining the infection. 



What a spectacle, in the spring, beneath 

 a dead Mole ! The horror of this labora- 

 tory is a beautiful sight for one who is able 

 to observe and to meditate. Let us over- 

 come our disgust; let us turn over the unclean 

 refuse with our foot. What a swarming 

 there is beneath it, what a tumult of busy 

 workers ! The Silphae, with wing-cases wide 

 and dark, as though in mourning, flee dis- 

 traught, hiding in the cracks in the soil; the 

 Saprini, 2 of polished ebony which mirrors the 

 sunlight, jog hastily off, deserting their work- 

 shop ; the Dermestes, of whom one wears a 

 fawn-coloured tippet flecked with white, seek 

 to fly away, but, tipsy with the putrid nectar, 

 tumble over and reveal the immaculate white- 

 ness of their bellies, which forms a violent 

 contrast with the gloom of the 'rest of their 

 attire. 



What were they doing there, all these 

 feverish workers? They were making a 



1 Or Rove-beetle. Translator's Note. 



2 The Saprinus is a very small carnivorous Beetle. 

 Cf. The Life of the Fly: chap. xvi. Translator's Note. 



295 



