undertakers-in-ordinary

Updated: May 26, 2025

Phanæus Milon scoffs at difficulties. He does much more than that: he laughs at our classifications. The word Dung-beetle implies a lover of dung. He sets no value on it, either for his own use or for that of his offspring. What he wants is the sanies of corpses. He is to be found under the carcasses of birds, Dogs or Cats, in the company of the undertakers-in-ordinary.

Jean-Henri Fabre - The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles