192 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



place to another,* the beetle has recourse to its op- 

 posite extremity, and pushes the pellet backwards 

 with the tip of its abdomen and hind legs. When 

 the surface of the ground is unequal the labour is 

 greatly increased; both the beetle and its charge 

 sometimes tumble over a declivity, or it may be 

 seen struggling, like the Sisyphus of heathen my- 

 thology, to push its ball to the summit of an emi- 

 nence that obstructs the line of road. But when 

 an obstacle of this kind occurs to an individual, his 

 associates never fail to hasten to his aid, and their 

 united efforts are generally successful. 



The incessant and arduous labour which these 

 insects undergo, led the Egyptian priests to regard 

 them as symbolical of the labours of Osiris or of the 

 Sun. A singular account of them is given by some 

 ancient authors, particularly H. Apollodorus and 

 P. Valerianus. All these Scarabaei, according to 

 the former of these authors, have thirty fingers, 

 corresponding to the number of days which the sun 

 takes to traverse each sign of the zodiac. There 

 are three distinct kinds of them ; the first, or scara- 

 baeus properly so called, presents the appearance of 

 rays, and has on that account been consecrated to 



* We have been assured by an intelligent gamekeeper 

 in the south of Scotland, that he has seen pheasants re- 

 move their eggs to a place of safety by rolling them along 

 the ground by means of their head and bill. The same 

 thing has been observed of an Emu or Cassowary kept in 

 the Zoological Gardens in London. 



