IM EARON WALCKENAER ON THE INSECTS 



appears to be much more common than tlie Ateuchus AUgyptiorum, 

 which is of a golden green colour, and must be that imitated liy the 

 artists of Lower Egypt ; while those of Upper Egypt have chosen the 

 Ateuchus JEgyjitiorum for their model. M. Caillaud found this insect 

 in Sennaar, but not iu Egypt. He however discovered the elytra 

 and other remains of them in the mummy-cases in Egypt, which seems 

 to prove that this insect has existed, and perhaps still exists, in that 

 country. As Aristotle and Aristophanes employ the word Cantharis 

 to denote the Sacred Scarabaeus, I infer that these two authors had in 

 view the Ateuchus ^gyptiorum of M. Caillaud. 



This first species of Scarabaeus of which Pliny speaks is also, 

 according to the view we have taken, the first of the three species of 

 these insects which are mentioned by Horapollo as being held in great 

 veneration by the Egyptians. 



The second species of Scarabaeus used as an amulet for the cure of the 

 quartan ague, spoken of by Pliny, is employed, he says, by the magi- 

 cians, but that care must be taken to collect these insects with the left 

 hand. This species has small reflected horns, cui sunt cornicula rejiexa. 



From this indication, Hardouin, and other commentators following 

 him, refer this insect to the Litccnii. They are mistaken. . 



The Lucanus, vulgarly called the Stag-Beetle, is one of those insects 

 which Pliny has most correctly described* ; and naturalists have therefore 

 allowed it to retain the name which he assigned to it. He gives a good de- 

 scription of its long, indented, and bifurcated horns, which he says are 

 suspended around the neck of children to preserve them from the bite of 

 venomous beasts: " Cornua prcelonga bisulcis dentata forcipibus in 

 cacuminer This Avill not agree with the little recurved horns of the 

 other species of Scarabaeus with which it has been identified. This second 

 species of the Scarabaeus of Pliny appears to be the second species de- 

 scribed by Horapollo; according to this author it has two horns, and the 

 form of the bull ; it is sacred to the moon. We are disposed to think that 

 this is the large species of Copris (Bousier), with two horns, which M. Sa- 

 vigny brought from Egypt, and named Midas. It is sculptured in the 

 temple of Karnak, and according to the observation of Latreille appears 

 to belong to the genus Onitis, recently separated from the Coprophagif . 



M. Millin, in his account of the engraved Egyptian stones in the 

 Bibliotheque du Roi, says that an engraving of a sculptured Scara- 

 basus may be seen in the cabinet of antiques of St. Genevieve, 

 which he consider^, as the Scarabceus 3Iimas. In this he is mistaken, 

 for the Scarabceus Mimas is a species peculiar to America ; but the 



the elytra, which are also of a different form. Schocnherr, Si/notipnia Insect., 

 vol. i. p. 18 ; Caillaud, Voijage a MSro'e et au Fleuve Blanc, vol. iv. p. 272, 

 Atlas d'Hist. Nat. et d'Jntiq. ii. 58. p. 10. 



• Plinj', Hist. Nat., book il. chap. 34. , 



t Latreille, /J/mo«>es, pp. 148, 153. Compare Descript. deVEgypte,\o\. iii.p.34. 



