SECTION III. 

 DUBIOUS INSECTS 



THE BEETLE. 



THE beetle is mentioned only in Lev. xi. 22. It is thought by 

 some critics to be a species of the locust, but by others, the very 

 kind of scarabseus which the ancient Egyptians held in such vener- 

 ation as to pay it divine honors. 



THE CANKER-WORM. 



IN the Philosophical Transactions there is a paper on the bruchus, 

 a great number of which were found in Ireland, in the year 1688. 

 We shall present our readers with a few extracts from this work, 

 leaving them to form their own judgment, as to the identity of the 

 insect described with the canker-worm of scripture. 



'These insects appeared first on the south-west coast of the coun- 

 ty of Galway, whence they made their way into the more inland 

 parts, where multitudes of them showed themselves among the trees 

 and hedges in the day-time, hanging by the boughs, thousands to- 

 gether, in clusters, sticking to the back of one another, as is the 

 manner of bees when they swarm. In this posture, or lying still, 

 and covert under the leaves of the trees, or clinging to the branches, 

 19* 



