110 
FEARFUL CONTEST IN AN OMNIBUS. 
[Nature and Art, September 1, 1866. 
as you truly say, the little warrior is evidently 
strangling his great black, opponent with his pro- 
boscis. Really, the skill of fence with various 
weapons on both sides, which we have witnessed, is 
most extraordinary. But, look ! the beetle is not 
idle with his tremendous mandibles, though thrown 
upon his back. He is still formidable ; and I 
believe that he has just bitten off three of the legs 
of his antagonist.” 
“Pray, oh, pray, separate them, then!” cried 
Pretty Bonnet. 
“ It is of no use,” urged Lens ; “ the little Chilo 
has learnt something by experience, and is now 
keeping his enemy at a greater distance, while beat- 
ing him over the head with repeated wing-blows. 
There — there — there ! right and left ! to stupefy 
him, till he gets another chance at one of the joints 
in the armour, when he will, I have no doubt, go 
in and win. I think,” he continued, “that the 
beaten giant is one of the burying- beetles — perhaps, 
Necrophorus germanicus, the largest of the British 
species. He intended, most probably, to carry off 
the Chilo, and bury him in the subterranean larder 
adjoining his family nursery, as food for his necro- 
phorine offspring ; but he is more likely, I think, 
to get a free burial for himself. See how the brave 
little Chilo is pegging away at him.” 
I suggested that the beetle was not so large as 
IP. germanicus, and that it was possibly Necrodes 
littoralis, common during June on the banks of the 
Thames ; and, having been brought away by some 
accident from the neighbourhood of the drowned 
creatures which form his usual food, he had got 
frightfully hungry, and pounced upon the little moth 
as a dernier ressort. But, then, I remarked that his 
form and size was more like Necrophorus ruspator, 
only he had not the fine orange markings ; perhaps 
it was an entirely new species, thus accidentally 
discovered. 
“ It is, at all events, one of the burying-beetles, 
or sextons, as they are sometimes called,” said I, 
turning to Pretty Bonnet, “as you may see by the 
curious brush-like form of its front legs, which 
enable it to excavate its burrows by brush-work 
instead of spade-work ; and it is most expert in 
applying the spade-brush principle.” 
“ How very interesting,” said Pretty Bonnet ; 
“ but he evidently will not have an opportunity of 
applying the spade-brush principle in the interment 
of the dear little moth. See, he appears quite ex- 
hausted, and is making but little resistance to the 
continued blows of his brave little opponent.” 
“You are right,” I replied; “whether Necro- 
phorus or Necrodes, he is evidently beaten.” 
He was, in fact, lying on his back ; and so, as an 
Irishman might use the expressive proverb, was “on 
his last legs.” The omnibus was slackening its 
speed, for we were approaching the “ Swiss Cottage,” 
which is its terminus north-westward ; and the 
motions of the black giant, but recently so vigorous, 
became sluggish, and almost lifeless ; while the little 
Chilo, like a true Jack the Giant-killer, was as 
active as ever. 
“ I am so glad the moth has won,” exclaimed 
Pretty Bonnet, quite beaming at the triumph of her 
favourite. 
But, as the omnibus drew up, the Chilo, too, 
became less and less active ; perhaps from wounds 
received in the conflict from the possibly venomous 
mandibles of the beetle, which might be producing 
an ominous torpor ; or, perhaps, excessive over- 
exertion in defending itself against a too-powerful 
enemy had overtaxed its powers. Plowever this 
might be, as the omnibus finally stopped, poor 
Chilo fell stark and still by the side of its prostrate 
foe. 
“ How shocking ! ” sighed Pretty Bonnet. “ Poor 
things ! they are both dead ! ” 
And then we all three stooped down, to take a 
last look at the brave combatants— but found 
neither Chilo nor Necrodes ! Chilo turned out to 
be a split straw, with jagged ends for its long, 
sharp palpi, and an entangled hair for a proboscis. 
Necrodes was just simply a black silk tag-button 
from a lady’s dress, the ends of silk with which it 
had been sewn on making the formidable mandibles ; 
while the two, entangled together by a loose raveling 
of cotton, and jolted up and down by the action of 
the omnibus, had performed a series of evolutions 
and revolutions, out of which our active imagina- 
tions had conjured up a terrific insect-combat, during 
which speculations of a supposed scientific character 
had been hazarded upon “ the baseless fabric of a 
vision.” 
For a few moments I was quite taken aback by 
the totally unexpected denouement; and when I 
looked round for my companions, intending to offer 
a few observations to Pretty Bonnet and Lens, in 
mitigation of our being all three so egregiously 
“ sold” by a button and a bit of straw, I found they 
had both disappeared ; and as the conductor, for the 
third time (though the first two ejaculations had 
only reached my perception very vaguely), was 
calling out to me rather sharply, “ Now, sir ! we 
don't go any further,” I got at my money as quickly 
as I could in my then confused state of mind, paid 
my fare, and moved out of sight of the conductor 
aiid the “ Swiss Cottage.” 
H. Noel Humphreys. 
