28 SCARAB^IDiE — DUNG-BEETLES. 



masses of dung; and in doing this it attracted such general 

 attention as to give rise to the proverb Gantharus inpulam. 

 From the name, derived from a word signifying an ass, it 

 shouhl seem the Grecian beetle made, or was supposed to 

 make, its pills of asses^ dung; and this is confirmed by a 

 passage in one of the plays of Aristophanes, the Irene, 

 where a beetle of this kind is introduced, on which one of 

 the characters rides to heaven to petition Jupiter for peace. 

 The play begins with one domestic desiring another to feed 

 the Cantharus with some bread, and afterward orders his 

 companion to give him another kind of bread made of asses'* 

 dung.^ 



Illustrative of the great strength of the Tumble-bug, the 

 following anecdote may be related : Dr. Brichell was sup- 

 ping one evening in a planter's house of North Carolina, 

 when two of these beetles were placed, without his knowl- 

 edge, under the candlestick. A few blows were struck on 

 the table, when, to his great surprise, the candlestick began 

 to move about, apparently without any agency, except that 

 of a spiritual nature; and his surprise was not lessened 

 when, on taking one of them up, he discovered that it was 

 only a chafer that moved.^ 



In Denmark, the common Dung-beetle, Geotrupes ster- 

 corarius, is called S/carnbosse or Tor{Thor)hist, and an 

 augury as to the harvest is drawn by the peasants from 

 the mites which infest it. The notion is, that if there are 

 many of these mites between the fore feet, there will be an 

 early harvest, but a late one if they abound between the 

 hind feet.^ 



In Gothland, where Thor was worshiped above and more 

 than the other gods, the Scarabseus {Geotrupes) stercora- 

 rius was considered sacred to him, and bore the name of 

 Thorbagge — Thor's-bug. "Relative to this beetle," says 

 Thorpe, "a superstition still exists, which has been trans- 

 mitted from father to son, that if any one finds in his path 

 a Thorbagge lying helpless upon its back, and turns it on 

 its feet, he expiates seven sins ; because Thor in the time 

 of heathenism was regarded as a mediator with a higher 



1 Kirb. and Sp. Introd., i. 255, note. 



2 Ins. Archit., p. 252. 



3 Detharding de Ins. Coleop. Danicis, 9. Quot. by Kirb. and Sp. 

 Introd., i. 33. 



