54 EYE SPY 



those ancient hieroglyphs engraved in the rock or 

 pictured on the crumbling papyrus ; but it is es- 

 pecially in association with death and the tomb 

 that his important significance is emphasized. 

 The dark mortuary passages and chambers hewn 

 in solid rock, often hundreds of feet below the sur- 

 face, where still sleep the mummied remains of an 

 entire ancient people, and which honeycomb the 

 earth beneath the feet of the traveller in certain 

 parts of Egypt, are still eloquent in tribute to the 

 sacred scarab. The lantern of the antiquarian 

 explorer in those dark dungeons of death dis- 

 closes the suggestive figure of this beetle every- 

 where engraved in high relief upon the walls, per- 

 haps enlivened with brilliant color still as fresh 

 as when painted three thousand years ago, em- 

 blazoned in gold and gorgeous hues upon the 

 sarcophagus and the mummy -case within, and 

 again upon the outer covers of the winding-sheet ; 

 finally, in the form of small ornaments the size of 

 nature, beautifully carved on precious stones en- 

 closed within the wrappings of the mummy itself. 

 What other insect has been thus glorified and 

 immortalized? For the sake of its proud lineage, 

 if nothing else, is not our poor tumble-bug deserv- 

 ing of our more than passing attention ? An in- 

 sect which has thus been distinguished by an 

 entire great people of antiquity has some claims 

 on our respect and consideration. 



