194 



THE UNIVERSE. 



we throw a frog or a bird upon the ground, it will not bury 

 either of them; but throw out a dead mole in a garden 

 where these burying-beetles are never seen, and one of 

 these Coleoptera, which has scented it afar off, will imme- 

 diately arrive and inter it. 



For this pmpose the Necrophorus does not excavate a 

 hole, as one might think; it always remains unseen, hidden 

 beneath the corpse which it is burying. The work goes on 

 without being noticed, and consists in throwing up on the 

 sides of the mole the soil which was below it; this manoeuvre 

 being continued at the same time beneath all parts of the 

 dead body, it disaj^pears, sinking little by little. And 

 when it has at last arrived below the level of the soil, the 



116. Eur3'ing-beetle3 interring a small Eat. 



sexton has only, in order to hide it from view and finish 

 its work, to throw a few portions of the upturned earth 



