AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 351 



species of the ScarabceidcE* roll together wet dung into 

 round pellets, deposit an egg in the midst of each, and 

 when dry push them backwards by their hind feet into 

 holes of the surprising depth of three feet, which they 

 have previously dug for their reception, and which are 

 often several yards distant. Frequently the road lies 

 across a depression in the. surface, and the pellet when 

 nearly pushed to the summit rolls back again. But our 

 patient Sisyphi are not easily discouraged. They repeat 

 their efforts again and again, and in the end their per- 

 severance is rewarded by success. The attention of these 

 insects to their eggs is so remarkable, that it was ob- 

 served in the earliest ages, and is mentioned by ancient 

 writers, but with the addition of many fables, as that 

 they were all of the male sex, that they became young 

 again every year, that they rolled the pellets containing 

 their eggs from sun-rise to sun-set every day, for twenty- 

 eight days without intermission b , &c. It is one of this 

 tribe of beetles (S. sacer) whose image is so often met 

 with amongst the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, with 

 whom it was a symbol of the world, of the sun, and of a 

 courageous warrior. Of the world, as P. Valerianus 

 supposes, on account of the orbicular form of its pellets 

 of dung, and the notion of their being rolled from sun- 

 rise to sun-set ; of the sun,. because of the angular pro- 

 jections from its head resembling rays, and the thirty 

 joints of the six tarsi of its feet answering to the days of 

 the month ; and of a warrior, from the idea of manly 



* Mr. W. S. MacLeay in his very remarkable and learned work 

 (Horce Entomologies] has very properly restored its name to the 

 true Scaral(Eiis of the ancients, which gives its name to this group. 



b Mouftet, 153. 



