No; the prizes of life do not fall to the share of the useful.

Necrophori and Geotrupes devote themselves to works of general salubrity; and these two corporations, so interesting in the accomplishment of their hygienic functions, so remarkable for their domestic morality, are given over to the vermin of poverty.

Alas, of this discrepancy between the services rendered and the harshness of life there are many other examples outside the world of scavengers and undertakers! The Burying-beetles display an exemplary domestic morality, but it does not persist until the end.

During the first fortnight of June, the family being sufficiently provided for, the sextons strike work and my cages are deserted, so far as the surface is concerned, in spite of new arrivals of Mice and Sparrows.

From time to time some grave-digger leaves the subsoil and comes crawling languidly in the fresh air.
Another rather curious fact now attracts my attention.