, necessitating the removal of the body, is not the only
difficulty with which the Necrophori are acquainted. Frequently,
perhaps more often than not, the ground is covered with grass, above
all with couch-grass, whose tenacious rootlets form an inextricable
network below the surface. To dig in the interstices is possible, but
to drag the dead animal through them is another matter: the meshes of
the net are too close to give it passage. Will the grave-digger find
himself helpless against such an obstacle, which must be an extremely
common one? That could not be.

Exposed to this or that habitual impediment in the exercise of its
calling, the animal is always equipped accordingly; otherwise its
profession would be impracticable. No end is attained without the
necessary means and aptitudes. Besides that of the excavator, the
Necrophorus certainly possesses another art: the art of breaking the
cables, the roots, the stolons, the slender rhizomes which check the
body's descent into the grave. To the work of the shovel and the pick
must be added that of the shears. All this is perfectly logical and
may be clearly foreseen. Nevertheless, let us call in experiment, the
best of witnesses.

I borrow from the kitchen-range an iron trivet whose legs will supply
a solid foundation for the engine which I am devising. This is a
coarse network made of strips of raffia, a fairly accurate imitation
of that of the couch-grass. The very irregular meshes are nowhere wide
enough to admit of the passage of the creature to be buried, which
this time is a Mole. The machine is planted by its three feet in the
soil of the cage, level with the surface. A little sand conceals the
ropes. The Mole is placed in the centre; and my bands of sextons are
let loose upon the body.

The burial is performed without a hitch in the course of an afternoon.
The raffia hammock, almost the equivalent of the natural network of
the couch-grass, scarcely disturbs the burying-process. Matters do not
proceed quite so quickly; and that is all. No attempt is made to shift
the Mole, who sinks into the ground where he lies. When the operation
is finished, I remove the trivet. The network is broken at the spot
where the corpse was lying. A few strips have been gnawed through; a
small number, only as many as were strictly necessary to permit the
passage of the body.

Well done, my undertakers! I expected no less of your skill and tact.
You foiled the experimenter's wile