The Burying-Beetles: Experiments 



their theories, by the dangerous generosity 

 of the evolutionists. 



Divine reason, sun of the intellect, what 

 a clumsy slap in thy august countenance, 

 when the glorifiers of the animal degrade 

 thee with such denseness! 



Let us now examine the mental obscurity 

 of the Necrophori under another aspect. 

 My captives are not so satisfied with their 

 sumptuous lodging that they do not seek to 

 escape, especially when there is a dearth of 

 labour, that sovran consoler of the afflicted, 

 man or beast. Internment within the wire 

 cover palls upon them. So, when the Mole 

 is buried and everything in order in the cellar, 

 they stray uneasily over the trellised dome ; 

 they clamber up, come down, go up again and 

 take to flight, a flight which instantly becomes 

 a fall, owing to collision with the wire grat- 

 ing. They pick themselves up and begin all 

 over again. The sky is splendid,; the 

 weather is hot, calm and propitious for those 

 in search of the Lizard crushed beside the 

 footpath. Perhaps the effluvia of the gamy 

 tit-bit have reached them from afar, imper- 

 ceptible to any other sense than that of the 

 grave-diggers. My Necrophori therefore 

 would be glad to get away. 



Can they? Nothing would be easier, if 



345 



