ON ENTOMOLOGY. 3 



below, and even mounting upon it as if to tread it into the grave. They 

 labour at their task of inhumation, with the most unwearied industry. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Gleditsh, who was the first to give an accurate account of 

 the proceedings of these grave-diggers, four beetles were observed 

 to inter in a very small space of earth to which they were confined ; no 

 fewer than twelve carcasses, few of which were inferior insize to a mole. 

 The object of all this solicitude, is the security and comfort of their 

 young ; as the carcass, which forms a nidus for their eggs, if left exposed 

 would run the risk of being devoured by beasts of prey, or the juices 

 would be speedily evaporated by the heat of the sun, and the maggots 

 thus deprived of their appropriate nourishment ; the species amounts to 

 nearly 30. They are almost invariably of a brownish black colour 

 frequently variegated with spots of orange yellow, 7 different kinds, 

 occur in Britain. 



ATENOBUS SACER or SACRED EGYPTIAN BEETLE ; this renow- 

 ned insect has been singularly exempted, from the obscurity and 

 neglect which have fallen to the lot of most of its tribe. It was 

 one of those creeping things, to which the Egyptians paid divine honours, 

 and appears to have constituted one of the favourite deities of that re- 

 markable people. If it enjoyed an inferior degree of veneration to the 

 snake-devouring Ibis ; it certainly far surpassed in virtue the sacred 

 leeks and onions, from which Juvenal takes occasion to congratulate the 

 nation, on account of the number and dignity of its gods. It was con- 

 secrated to the sun, and representations of it are of frequent occurrence 

 in their hieroglyphical writings, it was likewise sculptured on their rings, 

 bracelets, necklaces, and other ornaments, and even inclosed in their 

 coffins along with the embalmed bodies of the dead. 



The CERAMBYX LONGIMANUS or HARLEQUIN BEETLE is remarkable 

 for the length of its fore legs and its antennae ; this insect is of 

 frequent occurrence in Brazil, Guiana, and other tropical countries 

 of America. It is known to the natives, by the name of Mouche 

 Bagasse, a term taken from a tree which has lately been described under 

 the botanical appellation of Bagassa Guyanensis ; the wood of this tree 

 is of a bright yellow, and when it is felled there issues from it a white 

 viscid juice of a peculiar and penetrating odour, of which the insects 

 are so fond that they seldom fail to be attracted by it. The negroes, 

 who often employ themselves in searching for the rarer and more beau- 

 tiful kinds of insects, that they may dispose of them to collectors, 

 avail themselves of this propensity, and sometimes cut down these trees 

 as the most ready means of obtaining a supply of Beetles ; it is geneially 

 found on the trunk, or at the bottom of trees, rarely under the bark and 

 never on the leaves ; its motions are so sluggish, that it may be said to 

 drag itself along, rather than walk. It occasionally takes wing on the 

 approach of evening ; but its flight is slow and unsteady, scarcely ap- 

 pearing under the guidance of the animal, as it strikes against any 



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