196 BAHON WAIXKENAER ON THE INSECTS 



It appears therefore that the Melolonllui Fullo of Pliny Bhould be 

 sought for among the Coprides, {Bomkrs,) or among the CetonicE, 

 and not among the Chafers. 



Pliny says that the green Scarabaeus possesses the property of ren- 

 dering the vision more penetrating, and that engravers upon gems rest 

 their eyes by gazing upon these insects. " Scarabcci viridis natura 

 contuentium viswji exacuit, itaque gemmarum sculptores contuitu eorum 

 acquiescunt*." Marcellus Empiricus, copying Pliny, relates the same 

 fact, but he gives us the additional information that this Scarabaeus is of 

 the colour of the emerald, " Scarabmis coloris smaragdinu' This defini- 

 tion is exactly suitable to the Cetonia fastuosa, and to the Cetonia 

 avurata, particularly to the former. These two species are of a beautiful 

 golden or emerald green, but the Cetonia aurata is distinguished from 

 the other by white spots upon the elytra ("albis gnttis"); it is nine lines 

 in length, and is frequently found in gardens, upon roses and other 

 flowers. The great Chafer with white spots, the Mehlontha Fullo of 

 modern naturalists, is, on the contrary, rare, and is found only upon 

 downs and in the vicinity of the sea. 



From all these circumstances I conclude that the Cetania aurata was 

 the object of the superstition of which Pliny speaks, and is the insect 

 to which he gives the name of Fullo. 



To recapitulate: the word Spondyle, or Sphondyle, in the works of 

 Aristotle, denotes the Cockchafer, both the perfect insect and its 

 larva. 



As employed by Pliny, who was unacquainted with the metamorphosis 

 of the Cockchafer, Spondyle denotes only the larva of this insect, or 

 the white worm, taken for a small serpent, which in the time of Agri- 

 cola, in the sixteenth century, was still known to the Greeks by this 

 . name of Spondyle. 



The " Scarabmis qui pilas volvit" of Pliny, which cured the quartan 

 ao'ue and was adored by the Egyptians, is the Scarabceus sacer of 

 Linn8eus, the Ateuchus sacer and Ateuchtis laticollis of Fabricius, and 

 the Ateuchus agyptiacus of Latreille and Caillaud. 



The true Scarabaeus of HorapoUo, the wings of which form rays 

 when extended, is also the same insect. 



The Sacred Scarabaeus, named Cantharis in Aristotle and Aristo- 

 phanes, is the Ateuchus agyptiacus. 



The " Scarabceus cui sunt cornicida rejkxa' of Pliny is the Ateuchus 

 Midas, the Copris Midas, common in Egypt and brought from that 

 country by M. Savigny. 



The Scarabaeus with two horns, sacred to the moon, of HorapoUo, is 

 also the Copris Midas. 



alluded to is still we believe a subject of discussion. See London and Edinburgh 

 Philosophical Magazine, vol. iv. p. 170. — Edit.] 



• PHny, Hist. Nat., book xxix. chap. 38. vol. viii. p. 270. 



