THE BURYING SYLPH. 481 



mediately concealed themselves. This glass, covered with a cloth, was 

 placed on the open ground, and in the course of fifty days, the four 

 Beetles interred the bodies of four frogs, three small birds, two grass- 

 hoppers, and one mole, besides the entrails of a fish, and two small 

 pieces of t) ,e lungs of an Ox. 



Of the mode in which they performed this very singular operation, 

 the following is an account : A Linnet that had been dead six hours 

 was placed in the middle of the cucurbit: in a few moments the 

 Beetles quitted their holes, and traversed the body. After a few 

 hours, one pair of the Beetles only was seen about the bird : the 

 largest of these was suspected to be the female. They began their 

 work by hollowing out the earth from under the bird. They arranged 

 a cavity the size of the bird, by pushing all around the body the earth 

 which they removed. To succeed in these efforts, they leaned them- 

 selves strongly upon their collars, and, bending down their heads, 

 forced out the earth around the bird like a kind of rampart. The 

 work being finished, and the bird having fallen into the hollow, they 

 covered it, and thus closed the grave. 



It appeared as if the bird moved alternately its head, its tail, its 

 wings, or feet. Every time that any of these movements were obser- 

 ved, the efforts that the Beetles made to draw the body into the grave, 

 which was now nearly completed, might be remarked : in effecting 

 this, they jointly drew it by its feathers below. This operation lasted 

 full two hours, when the smallest or male Beetle drove away the 

 female from the grave, and would not allow her to return, forcing her 

 to enter the hole as often as she attempted to come out of it. 



This Beetle continued the work alone for at least five hours ; and it 

 was truly astonishing to observe the great quantity of earth which he 

 removed in that time : but the surprise of Mr. G. was much augmented, 

 when he saw the little animal stiffening its collar, and exerting all its 

 strength, lift up the bird, make it change its place, turn, and, in some 

 measure, arrange it in the grave that it had prepared ; which was so 

 spacious, and so far cleared, that he could perceive exactly under the 

 bird, all the movements and all the actions of the Beetle. 



From time to time, the Beetle coming out of its hole, mounted upon 

 the bird, and appeared to tread it down ; then, returning to the charge, 

 it drew the bird more and more into the earth, till it was sunk to a 

 considerable depth. The Beetle, in consequence of this uninterrupted 

 labor, appeared to be tired : leaning its head upon the earth, it contin- 

 ued in that position nearly an hour, without motion ; and it then 

 retired completely underground. 



Early in the morning the body was drawn entirely underground, to 

 the depth of two fingers' breadth, in the same position that it had 

 when laid on the earth ; so that this little corpse seemed as if it were 

 laid out on a bier, with a small mount or rampart all round, for the 

 purpose of covering it. In the evening the bird was sunk about half 

 a fingers' breadth deeper in the earth ; and the operation was continued 

 for nearly two days more, when the work obtained its final com- 

 pletion. 



A single Beetle was put into the glass cucurbit, with the body of a 



