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THE BURYING-BEETLES: EXPERIMENTS.
Let us proceed to the rational prowess which has earned for the Necrophorus the better part of his renown and, to begin with, let us submit the case related by Clairville--that of the too hard soil and the call for assistance--to experimental test.
With this object in view, I pave the centre of the space beneath the cover, level with the soil, with a brick and sprinkle the latter with a thin layer of sand.

This will be the soil in which digging is impracticable.

All about it, for some distance and on the same level, spreads the loose soil, which is easy to dig.
In order to approximate to the conditions of the little story, I must have a Mouse; with a Mole, a heavy mass, the work of removal would perhaps present too much difficulty.

To obtain the Mouse I place my friends and neighbours under requisition; they laugh at my whim but none the less proffer their traps.