More Beetles 



ant light of truth. All our sciences bear 

 witness to this, even the science of number. 

 Try to add a column of figures written in 

 Roman numerals : you will abandon the task, 

 stupefied by the confusion of the symbols, 

 and you will realize how great a revolution 

 was made in arithmetic by the invention of 

 the figure nought. Like the egg of Colum- 

 bus, it was indeed a very small thing, but it 

 had to be thought of. 



Until the future casts the unfortunate Ful- 

 ler into oblivion, we will say Pine Cock- 

 chafer, so far as we are concerned. Using 

 this name, no one can make a mistake: our 

 insect frequents the pine-tree only. It has 

 a handsome and portly appearance, vying 

 with that of Oryctes nasicornis. 1 Its cos- 

 tume, though not boasting the metallic 

 splendour dear to the Carabus, 2 the Bupre- 

 stis, 3 and the Cetonia, is at least unusually 

 elegant. A black or brown ground is thickly 

 strewn with capricious spots of white velvet. 

 It is at the same time modest and magnificent. 



By way of plumes, the male wears at the 



iThe Rhinoceros Beetle. Cf. The Glow-worm and 

 Other Beetles: chap. xiii. Translator's Note. 



2 Cf. Chapters xiii. and xiv. of the present volume. 

 Translator's Note. 



3 Cf. The Glo<w-<worm and Other Beetles: chaps, viii. 

 and xiv. {Translator's Note. 



198 



