252 GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA. 



a large number of snake charmers; the snakes which they use In 

 their performances, especially the once sacred viper, urau snake, 

 and the Egyptian spectacle snake, are always first deprived of their 

 fangs. The snake most frequently depicted by the ancients is the 

 very deadly and dangerous horned viper. 



In the great insect world Africa has many forms which are 

 known in other parts of the world. Day butterflies are scarce, while 

 moths are more abundant. The beetles are not exactly numerous, 

 but among them are some very line specimens of brilliant beetles, 

 sand beetles, and dermestes. The commonest are the blackbeetles, 

 but the best known of all is the sacred scarabee beetle of Egypt, 

 which is so frecjuently represented upon monuments and gems. 



CHARACTERISTIC SCENE OF ANIMAL LIFE. 



A characteristic scene of animal life, often to be observed both 

 in Central and South Africa, are the manoeuvers of a company of 

 these droll little creatures busily employed rolling up manure into 

 globes as large as a walnut, pushing and thrusting each other aside 

 until the great business is completed, and then, with their heads 

 bent dowai to the earth, rolling away the work of their feet to bury 

 it in a convenient place. The beetle rolls up these balls to feed its 

 young, and deposits its eggs in them. In the theological symbolism 

 of the ancient Egyptians, these "pills" are compared to the sub- 

 stance of which the world was formed, and which was also repre- 

 sented as globular. The beetle itself is looked upon as the principle 

 of light and creative force, wdiicli, in union wnth the sun, infuses 

 into matter the germs of light and creation, as the beetle deposits 

 its eggs in the ball. The deity Ptah (that is, the forming and impel- 

 ling force) then gives to these germs their form, and creates the 

 heavens and the earth. 



The wasp tribe is also represented by many fine and large var- 

 ieties. The bee is nearly akin to our own, and has often been intro- 

 duced into other countries. Ants, locusts, and cockroaches are at 

 times great pests. The common house-fly is nowhere more bold and 

 importunate, and succeeds only too completely in rendering an other- 

 wise pleasant life most disa.o7^.eable. The stinging gnat is just as 



