594 



(toatfurg at Natural 



evident. But a more remarkable peculiarity 

 exists in the structure and situation of the 

 hind legs, which are placed so near the ex- 

 tremity of the body, and so far from each 

 other, as to give the insect a most extraordi- 

 nary appearance whilst walking. This pe- 

 culiar formation is, nevertheles* (as Mr. 

 McLeay observes), particularly serviceable 



SCALE INSECTS. A name given to 

 insects belonging to the family Coccidce, 

 many species of which live as parasites on 

 various plants, particularly on hot-house 

 plants, and do them considerable injury. 

 They belong to the order Jfemiptera, in 

 winch the bugs, plant-lice, and Cicadas are 

 included ; although the main characteristic 

 of the order corresponds only with the males, 

 as they are winged. The females are shaped 

 like a scale or shield, convex above, flat or 

 concave below, provided with six very 

 delicate feet, which sometimes, chiefly when 

 the female has grown old, merge into the 

 substance of the body. Anteriorly, at about 

 the third part of the length of the insect, is 

 situated a short or long rostrum on the under 

 Bide, which it inserts into the epidermis of 

 plants, and sucks out their juices. After 

 pairing, when the eggs begin to develop 

 themselves, the female dies, and her body 

 serves as a protection to her posterity, by 

 covering the eggs till the young are hatched, 

 when they crawl away. Almost all sorts of 

 plants suffer from the attacks of some species 

 or other of Scale Insects, but chiefly in warm 

 weather, and more especially at all times 

 are those affected which are reared and kept 

 in hot-houses. The Scale Insects are much 

 more difficult to destroy than the Aphides ; 

 as they do not die from the effects of to- 

 bacco : the best remedy is to brush off the 

 insects from the twigs and stems, and to 

 wipe them off with a cloth or sponge from 

 the leaves of more tender plants ; and it is 

 advisable to cleanse plants in pots at a dis- 

 tance from the greenhouse, as the insects are 

 apt to creep up again and renew their de- 

 predations. The trees mostly infested with 

 them are the peach and nectarine, the plum 

 and damson, the wild chestnut and the vine. 

 [See Coccus.] 



SCANSORES. The name of an order of 

 birds, whose feet are peculiarly adapted for 

 climbing. It comprehends the families of 

 Psittacidce, or Parrots ; Ehamphastidce, Pi- 

 cidce, or Woodpeckers ; and Cuculidas, or 

 Cuckoos. That which particularly distin- 

 guishes this order is the power of turning 

 one of the front toes backwards, so as to 

 oppose two hind toes to the two front ones. 

 In their food, habits, outward appearance, 

 and structure, the above-named families are 

 very dissimilar ; and therefore no general 

 statement will be applicable to all of them : 

 but it will be seen that the form of their 

 feet, which gives them great power of pre- 

 hension, and thus enables them to cling 

 with firmness to their perch, renders walking 

 more difficult ; and that, as they pass most 

 of their time in trees, their powers of flight 

 are usually moderate. 



SCARAB^JID^. An extensive and im- 

 portant group of Coleoptera, including the 

 numerous dung-feeding Lamellicorns, of 

 which the majority are inhabitants of tro- 

 pical countries : some of these are among the 

 most bulky species of beetles, but such as 

 our own country produce_s are of small size. 

 " From the great similarity in the structure 

 of the mouth of all these insects," says Mr. 

 Westwood, " a great uniformity of habits is 



to its possessors in rolling the balls of ex- 

 crementitious matter in which they enclose 

 their eggs ; whence these insects were named 

 by the first naturalists Pilularice. These 

 balls are at first irregular and soft, but, by 

 degrees, and during the process of rolling 

 along, become rounded and harder : they are 

 propelled by means of the hind legs ; and 

 the insects occasionally mount to the top, 

 when they find a difficulty in urging them 

 along ; probably in order to destroy the 

 equilibrium. Sometimes these balls are an 

 inch and a half or two inches in diameter ; 

 and in rolling them along the beetles stand 

 almost upon their heads, with their heads 

 turned from the balls. These manoeuvres 

 have for their object the burying of the balls 

 in holes, wliich the insects have previously 

 dug for their reception ; and it is upon the 

 dung, thus deposited, that the larvae, when 

 hatched, feed. It does not appear that these 

 beetles have the instinct to distinguish their 

 own balls, as they will seize upon those be- 

 longing to another, in case they have lost 

 their own ; and, indeed, it is said that se- 

 veral of them occasionally assist in rolling 

 the same ball. They fly during the hottest 

 part of the day." 



" The type of this family is the renowned 

 ' Sacred Beetle ' of the Egyptians, of which 

 so many models, carvings, amulets, &c. are 

 discovered, occasionally of a gigantic size, in 

 sarcophagi, and rolled up in the mummies 

 and relics of that remarkable people, by 

 whom its appearance in great numbers on 

 the sandy margins of the Nile, after the 

 annual rising and falling of the river, to- 

 gether with its extraordinary motions whilst 

 rolling along its little globular balls of dung, 

 were regarded as mystically representing 

 the motions of the earth, the sun and pla- 

 netary bodies. It was also regarded as 

 the emblem of fertility ; and, even at the 

 present day, we are informed by Dr. Clarke 

 that it is eaten by the women of Egypt. 

 The various species of Sacred Beetles, whereof 

 Dejean enumerates twenty-six, are distin- 

 guished by their flattened form, radiated 



