The Sacred Beetle and Others 



author began by counting the first thirty 

 fingers according to the number of joints in 

 the tarsi, it is because he made a mental 

 enumeration on the basis of the general cir- 

 cumstances. He was guilty of a slip which 

 was not so very reprehensible, seeing that, 

 more than a thousand years later, masters 

 like Latreille and Mulsant were guilty of the 

 same slip. If we must blame something, 

 let us blame the exceptional structure of the 

 insect. 



" But," I may be asked, " why should not 

 Horapollo have seen the exact truth? 

 Perhaps the Sacred Beetle of his day had 

 tarsi which the insect no longer possesses. 

 In that case, it has been transformed by the 

 slow work of time." 



I am waiting for some one to show me a 

 natural Scarab of Horapollo's period before 

 I reply to this objection on the part of the 

 evolutionists. The tombs which so reli- 

 giously guard the Cat, the Ibis and the 

 Crocodile must also contain the sacred in- 

 sect. All that I have by me is a few figures 

 showing the Scarab as we find him engraved 

 on the monuments or carved in fine stone as 

 an amulet for the mummies. The ancient 

 artist is remarkably faithful in the execution 

 of the thing as a whole; but his graver and 

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