Perhaps Mrs. Beetle finds that she cannot, without help, take her ball to a good place. Then she flies off, and soon comes back with other beetles of her own kind. They all help her until her ball is where she wishes it to be. How does she tell them what she needs? Who knows that? No one. I have seen four or five beetles at work on one ball.
When the ball is in the right spot, Mrs. Beetle digs a hole with her jaws and horny fore legs. Then she rolls the ball in. She fills up the hole with earth and presses it down flat.
This is not the only beetle that buries its eggs. There is another one, called the Sexton Beetle. When it finds a dead bird, or mouse, or frog, or other small animal, it sets to work to bury it. It digs a little grave for it. This is why it is called a sexton.
This beetle begins to dig under the dead body. As it takes out the earth, the dead thing sinks more and more. At last it is deep enough to be covered, as a coffin is covered in a grave.
In this way this beetle helps to keep the earth and air clean. Is that why it buries things? Oh, no! The reason the beetle does this is, it wants to get a good place for its eggs.
These sexton beetles are black, with yellow bands. They are rather large, and go in pairs. You might think these beetles and the one who makes the ball would be dirty from their work, but they are not.
The Sexton Beetle.
These beetles have a kind of oil over their bodies. This keeps any dirt from sticking to them. So, though they work in dirty places, they are always clean and bright.
These burying beetles have a keen scent. They can smell a dead body even if it is a long way off. Let us watch Mr. and Mrs. Sexton Beetle at work. Here is a dead mouse. Through the air come flying these two beetles. Their wings hum as they come.