CHAP. XIV. ALL BEETLES IN ONE CLASS. 259 



secrated to the Moon ; whence the Egyptians say 

 that the bull in the heavens is the elevation of 

 this Goddess. The third has one horn, and a 

 peculiar form ; and is supposed, like the Ibis, to 

 refer to Mercury." 



The mode of representing the Scarabsei on the 

 monuments is frequently very arbitrary, and some 

 are figured with or without the scutellum. But 

 I do not believe they denoted a different genus ; 

 and the characteristic of another kind of beetle 

 appears rather to be introduced to show that they 

 were all comprehended under one general deno- 

 mination, and was intended rather to combine 

 than to distinguish separate genera. That it was 

 not with a view to indicate a distinct division of 

 this class of insects, is shown by their sometimes 

 introducing two scutella, one on either clypeus, 

 no example of which occurs in nature * ; and it 

 seems that the Scarabseus, Buprestis, Ateuchus, 

 and Copris were all used by the Egyptians as sy- 

 nonymous emblems of the same Deities. This is 

 further confirmed by the fact of S. Passalacqua 

 having found a species of Buprestis embalmed in 

 a tomb at Thebes. But the Scarabseus, or Ateuchus 

 sacer, is the beetle most commonly represented, 

 and the type of the whole class. 



Fabulous insects did not hold a less conspicuous 

 place on the Egyptian monuments than fanciful 

 animals and birds ; and beetles with the heads of 

 hawks, rams, cowst, and even men, are represented 



* An instance of this occurs in the large Scarabaeus of the British 

 Museum. 

 f Mr. Hertz has a small Scarabaeus in stone with the head of a cow. 



S 2 



