GRAVE-DIGGING BEETLE. 
276 
fingers’ breadth, without being in the least altered in 
its position ; so that it resembled a little corpse laid 
out upon a bier, with a small mount all round for 
the purpose of covering it. The bird was sunk 
about half a finger’s breadth deeper into the earth 
before night, and the work continued for nearly 
two days longer. When the grave was finally com- 
pleted, the beetles finished the operation by covering 
the bird with earth. 
This gentleman gives another instance of the great 
industry of this insect. A dead mole and a beetle 
were enclosed together in the glass vessel, which 
was covered as before with a fine linen cloth. By 
seven o’clock in the morning the beetle had drawn 
the head of the mole into the earth, and formed a 
tolerably high rampart around it. By four o’clock 
in the afternoon, the interment of the body was 
completed. We have no reason to doubt the fact; 
yet it must appear an astonishing instance of bodily 
strength and persevering exertion in the little ani- 
mal, which in so short a time, without any assist- 
ance, was able to dig a grave, and bury a body at 
least thirty times its own size and weight. 
Decayed animal substances will always attract 
these insects, if they are within reach of the smell. 
A toad, which a friend of Mr. Gleditsch’s had fixed 
upon a stick in order to dry it in the air, allured 
some of these beetles to the spot. As it was im- 
possible to obtain the toad without bringing it to 
the ground, they immediately went to work, and 
