>44 THE burying Beetle. 



bird more and more into the earth, till it was sunk 

 to a considerable depth. The beetle, in conse- 

 quence of this uninterrupted labour, appeared to 

 be tired : leaning its head upon the earth, it con- 

 tinued in that position near an hour, without mo- 

 tion ; and it then retired completely under ground. 



Early in the morning the body was drawn entirely 

 under ground, 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 even- 

 ing the bird was sunk about half a finger's breadth 

 deeper in the earth ; and the operation was con- 

 tinued for near two days more, when the work ob- 

 tained its final completion. 



A single beetle was put into the glass cucurbit 

 with the body of a mole, and covered as before, 

 with a line linen cloth. About seven o'clock in the 

 morning, the bettle had drawn the head oi the mole 

 below ; and, in pushing the earth backward, had 

 formed a tolerably high rampart around it. The 

 interment was completed in this instance by four 

 o'clock in the atternoon, a space of time so short 

 that one could scarcely have imagined possible by 

 so small a creature, without any assistance, consider- 

 ing that the body of the mole must have exceeded 

 it in bulk and weight at least thirty times. 



While engaged in these experiments, a friend who 

 wished to dry a toad in the shade, fixed it to a stick 

 which he stuck into the ground. When it began to 



