114 THE MODERN SCARAB.EUS. 



highly valuable in its real usefulness as an insect scavenger, 

 and in this capacity was to the full as worthy of being held 

 sacred as the snake-devouring ibis, the egg-eating ichneumon, 

 or the man-eating crocodile. 



The Scarabrcus was never, that we know of, made in Eng- 

 land a recipient exactly of divine honours ; yet would it ap- 

 pear that this, or a beetle of similar habits, held no mean place 

 in the estimation of one at least among our ancestors, and in 

 times comparatively recent. Mouffet, one of the fathers of 

 entomology, is loud in praise of its virtues, which (according 

 to him) should serve as a stimulant to every good quality, 

 should invite to labour, temperance, prudence, justice, mo- 

 desty, and should teach man contentment, by showing him 

 ho\v a beetle can luxuriate in a bed of dung, just as well as in 

 a bed of roses. \^Q\\ justice should have a place in this cata- 

 logue of virtues to be learnt from beetle practice, puzzles us, 

 we confess, to discover ; nor may it be worth the trouble of 

 inquii'v. Perhaps it would better suit our purpose to see 

 whether this once worshipped and lauded Scarabseus has sunk, 

 in these modern times, into utter disregard; or whether amongst 

 those who, perhaps, know him not by name, there may not be 

 found a considerable number who, inasmuch as they follow his 

 ways, may be said still to worship his image. 



^Yllere, at all events, shall we find a better emblem, if not a 

 briter god, for the busy of the money-making, money-loving 

 world, living immersed in lilthy lucre, than the dung-abiding 



