HELIOPSIS HELIX. 



models of the insects have been found close to the 

 body, folded under many layers of bandages. 



The most precious metals were often employed in 

 the construction of these models, in the place of mar- 

 ble or granite, and oftentimes the gigantic views of 

 the Egyptians induced them to carve colossal statues 

 of them. One of such colossal figures cut out of black 

 granite is to be seen in the saloon of the gallery of 

 the Elgin marbles at the British Museum, and which 

 is so large that the writer could scarcely sit comfort- 

 ably astride upon its back. This statue is known 

 amongst entomologists by the name of Bonelli's horse ; 

 and as the anecdote relates to two distinguished en- 

 tomologists, and has not hitherto appeared in print, 

 we may be excused for occupying the attention of 

 our readers a moment with it. When the late cele- 

 brated Italian professor Bonelli was in England, he 

 was shown the various contents of the British Museum, 

 and on arriving at this statue, the equally celebrated 

 naturalist who accompanied him, and who at that 

 period presided over the zoological department of the 

 establishment, jocosely invited him to mount the sun- 

 beetle, which, from his diminutive size, his friend 

 thought he would not be able to accomplish. He, 

 however, succeeded with difficulty, and since that time 

 the statue has acquired the name mentioned above. 



We may in a great measure account for the disco- 

 very of so many of the models of the sacred beetles 

 in mummies and sarcophagi, by recollecting that the 

 habits of the insect would forcibly exhibit the pheno- 

 mena of resurrection ; and it is to this idea that Mr. 

 Moore alludes in that fanciful work, " The Epicurean," 

 in which he describes an Egyptian chapel, the walls 

 of which were ornamented with the various symbols, 

 by which the mystic wisdom of the Egyptian loves 

 to shadow out the history of the soul, including " the 

 Theban beetle as he comes forth after the waters 

 have passed away, and the first sunbeam falls upon 

 his regenerated wings," adding the following note 

 from M. Jomard, " On voit en Egypte apres la retraite 

 du Nil et la fecondation des terres, le limon convert 

 d'une multitude de Scarabees. Un pareil phenomene 

 a du sembler aux Egyptiens le plus propre a peindre 

 une nouvelle existence." And in the writings of St. 

 Ambrose, the Messiah is frequently compared to a 

 scarabffius, without any notice of the cause for such a 

 strange comparison, although it evidently has partly 

 originated in the supposed resurrection of the insect 

 from the mud left by the retiring Nile, and partly in a 

 still more fanciful reason for the application of this 

 emblem toChrist.quoted by Moore from St. Augustine : 

 " Bonus ille scarabseus tneus, non ea tantum de causa 

 quod unigenitus, quod ipsemet sui auctor mortaliitm 

 speciem indiceret sed quod in hoc nostra tiece sese 

 volutaverit et ex hac ipsa nasci voluerit." 



Many others were the superstitions connected with 

 these insects entertained by the Egyptians, which it 

 would occupy far too much space to detail. It is far 

 more pleasant and refreshing to look at nature as she 

 really is ; and in observing the proceedings of the 

 Heltocanthanis, we not only find a most interesting 

 instance of that instinct which induces the female to 

 re a fit retreat for her progeny, but also perceive 

 the great share which these insects, like the Geotmpes, 

 in the general economy of nature, in places 

 where they abound, as in Egypt. A recent author 

 thus describes the proceedings of one of the species, 

 in the last number of the Entomological Magazine : 

 " Atevchus vaiiolosus flies always in the middle and 



NAT. HibT. VOL. II. 



heat of the day. It walks backwards with its pellets, 

 in which it buries its eggs, and which are generally 

 made of asses' dung. The pellet is about an inch 

 and a half or two inches in diameter, and in rolling ii, 

 they stand almost on their heads with their backs to 

 it, guiding it with their hind feet, and occasionally 

 mounting to the top when they find difficulty in urging 

 it on, probably to destroy its equilibrium. Its wedge- 

 shaped and dentated clypeus gives it strong mecha- 

 nical powers in removing obstacles, and as I frequent! y 

 found it buried under stones, in looking for Carabi, 

 we may remark the wisdom of Providence in furnish- 

 ing it with a lever to raise such heavy weights." 



HELIOPSIS (Persoon). Annual and perennial 

 herbs of America, nearly related to Buphthalmum, and 

 belonginer to the natural order Componita;. 



HELIOTROPIUM (Linnceus). Herbs and un- 

 dershrubs, natives of the warmer parts of the world, 

 and belonging to the natural order Boraginece. The 

 Heliotropes or Turnsoles have long been cultivated 

 favourites, in consequence of the fragrance of some 

 of the species. The H. Peruvianum is seen in almost 

 every cottage. 



HELIX (Linnaeus, and modern naturalists). The 

 common garden snail at once illustrates the charac- 

 ters of this genus, properly so called, though Lin- 

 useus, under that designation, had blended together, 

 in the strangest disorder, land, marine, and fresh- 

 water molluscs, so intermingled both with regard to 

 the habitat and functions of the animal, and the form and 

 character of the shell itself, that the naturalist sought 

 in vain for those concurring testimonies and distin- 

 guishing generic types, by which alone his mind could 

 be guided in the propriety of adopting one system of 

 classification in preference to another. Lamarck first 

 ventured to depart from the arrangement of Linnaeus 

 with respect to this genus, and at once separated 

 from the Helices the genera Auricula, Caracalla, 

 Cyclostama, Planorbis, Achatina, Anastoma, Sulinus, 

 Janthina, Pafudiua, Pupa, Ampullana, Lymncca, 

 Succinca, Sigaretus, some of the Naticce and others, 

 each possessing consistent, natural, and well-marked 

 generic distinctions, sufficiently important to authorise 

 their separation from the incongruous mass in which 

 they had been confounded. Shells of the genus 

 Helix, as it is now constituted, are all of them ter- 

 restrial, and their families innumerable ; all parts of 

 the globe not actually covered with water affording 

 nourishment to the immense variety of different 

 species which every where abound in the hottest as 

 well as the coldest climates. 



Their number and beauty can only be equalled by 

 some families of the insect tribes, in which a similar 

 extent of species is observable. We have already, 

 under the article CONCHOLOGY, endeavoured to be- 

 speak some compassion towards this much persecuted 

 but useful animal, and will, therefore, only repeat the 

 unanswerable conclusion, that where great reproduc- 

 tive powers, or a strong tenacity of life, exist in any 

 class of the Almighty's creatures^ great ends are to 

 be worked by their agency, however humble their 

 powers may appear to that most self-sufficient of all 

 animals man : a conviction of this is forced upon 

 him even by the snail, would he but once condescend 

 to examine the good services it renders mankind, 

 upon the broad principle of universal benefit, dis- 

 missing narrow-minded prejudice, selfish interest, and 

 ignorant cruelty. He would then hail this little crea- 

 ture as a benefactor to society, and its presence' 

 ZZ 



