OUR BEETLE FRIENDS 223 



the walls of their temples and monuments ; 

 while ancient gems were frequently fashioned 

 in their image. It appears to have been as a 

 religious symbol representing a unique birth a 

 father the world. The Egyptians failing to 

 distinguish the sexes, considered that the 

 Scarabaeus had no mother, and that therefore 

 its birth was unique. They believed that when 

 the male Scarabaeus wished to procreate, the 

 insect took the dung of the ox, and working it 

 up in a ball with the aid of its legs, so as to give 

 it the shape of the world, rolled it with its hind 

 legs from east to west, and placed it in the 

 ground, allowing it to remain there twenty-eight 

 days. On the twenty-ninth day the parent 

 Scarab brought the ball, now open, to the surface 

 and threw it into the water, when the young 

 male Scarab came forth. 



An interesting and very useful beetle is the 

 Carabus auratus, which in France goes by the 

 name of the Gardener. It has a rather gracefully 

 shaped body of a beautiful golden green colour, 

 the antennae and legs are russet-tinted, and 

 the wing-cases or elytra have three rounded, 

 sculptured ribs running lengthwise. The Carabus 

 may be frequently met with running rapidly 

 about the lanes and fields in search of prey. It has 

 quite a fierce, alert air, and attacks and devours 

 caterpillars, snails, slugs, worms, and even the 

 cockchafers. 



In the months of May and June it may 

 frequently be seen preying upon some hapless 

 cockchafer which has blundered against some- 

 thing in its flight, and fallen to the ground, where 





