The Port Gibson reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 185?-1857, 1854-06-21

The singular history Of one Of these insects
tho ". Vcspil0-is thus detailed by NJ.
Gleditch lie begins BY informing MS that
he had often remarked that even dead moles
when laid upon the ground. especially upon
loose earth. were almost sure to disappear in
the course Of two or three days, often in twelve
hours. To ascertain the cause, he placed a
mole on one Of the beds in his garden. 1t
had vanished by the third morning; and, dig
ging where it had been laid he found it bu-
ried to the depth Of three inches. and under
it four or five beetles, which seemed to have
been agents of this singular inhumation.-
Not perceiving anything particular in the
mole, he buried it again and on examining
at the end Of six days. he found it swarmiug
with maggots, apparently the issue of the bce-
ties, which he now naturally concluded had
buried tic carcass for the food Of their future
young
To determine these points moro clearly, he
put four Of these insects into glass vessel
half filled with earth, and properly secured,
and upon the surface of the earth two frogs.
In less than twelve hours, one Of the frogs
was inferred 5y two Of the beetles the other
two ran about the whole day, as if busted in
measuring the dimensions Of the remaining
corpse. which on the third day was also found
buried. lie then introduced dead linnet
A pair Of beetles were soon engaged upon tho
bird. They began their operations by push
out the earth from under the body, so as TO
form cavity for its reception and it was
curious to see the efforts which tho beetles
made by dragging at the feathers Of the bird
from below. to pull it into its grave. The
male. having driven the female away, contin-
ued the work alone for FIVE long hours.
lie lifted up the bird. changed its place.
turned it, and arranged it in the grave, and
from time to time came out Of the hole, noun
ted upon it, and trod it under foot, and return
cd below and pulled it down. Atlength, ap-
parently wearied with uninterrupted labor, it
came forth and leaned its head upon the
earth beside the bird, without the smallest
motion, as if to rest itself, for full hour,
when it again crept under the earth. The
next morning the bird was an inch and half
under ground, and the trench remained open
the whole day. the corpse seeming as if laid
laid out on bier, surrounded with rampant
of mould. In the evening it had sunk half
an inch lower and in another day the work
was completed, and the bird covered.
NJ. Gledith continued to add other small
dead animals, which were all sooner or later
buried and the result Of this experiment
was, that in fifty days four beetles had intcrr-
ed, in the very small space Of earth allotted
them, twelve carcasses-namelY, four frogs,
three small birds, two fishes, one mole and
two grasshoppers, besides the entrail of a fish,
and two morsels of the lungs Of an OK. In
another experiment. a single beetle buried
mole forty times its own bulk and weight in
two days. It is plain that al this labor is in.
Cured for the sake of placing in security the
young Of these industrious insects, along with
4 necessary provision Of food. One mole
would have suficcd a long time fer the repast
of the beetles themselves, and they could have
more conveniently fed upon it above ground
than below; but if they had left thus exposed
the carcass in which their eggs were deposit
ted. both would have been exposed to the i'm
minent risk of being destroyed at a mouth
ful by the first fox or rapacious bird that
chanced to espy them.