106 



KNOWLEDGE 



[June 1, 1898. 



the species that formed it. Some are made of pieces cut 

 from the leaves of the food-plant, and the varied colom-, 

 texture, and outline of these are the causes of great 

 diversity in the aspect of the cases. Others are composed 

 wholly of silk, stained usually more or less black ; such 

 cases are often shaped something like a pistol, and, when 

 cut open, remind one very much of a pipe-case. Some 

 caterpillars, again, use the husks of the seeds they have 

 been feeding on, and so save themselves the trouble of 

 manufacturing a receptacle. When quite young the larva 

 feed as miners in the interior of leaves or seeds ; but after 

 a while they change their habits and begin to make a 

 case, either coming out of the mine and spinning a silken 

 pistol-shaped tube, or, like Inrun-aria, cutting out the two 

 skins of the part of the leaf they have mined, and tacking 

 their edges together with silk. A minute species that 

 feeds on elm ingeniously saves itself the trouble of making 

 two seams by using that part of the leaf which is close to 

 the margin, thus taking advantage of the natural junction 

 which unites the two cuticles there. The outhne of the 

 elm leaf, it will be remembered, is notched into a series of 

 tooth-like projections ; each of these the caterpillar neatly 

 and carefully excavates, then cutting the cuticles along 

 parallel to the margin, but in one continuous curve, it 

 fastens the severed edges together, making that the lower 



Fig. 11. — Cases of Coleupkoi-ce ; magnified two diameters. 



surface of its case, while the upper edge retains the saw- 

 like outhne of the leaf. Whatever may be the structure 

 of the case, its inner surface is made beautifully smooth 

 with a lining of silk. 



The caterpillar roams about over the leaves on its six 

 fi'ont legs, with its body elevated in the air like that of an 

 acrobat, and crowned with the case as with an extinguisher. 

 Its prolegs, ten in number, are very slightly developed, as 

 there is scarcely anything for them to do, and it retains 

 its hold of the case by httle booklets at the end of its body, 

 which it uses like grappling irons. When about to feed, 

 it perforates a little round hole in the cuticle of a leaf, and 

 then begins to mine into the tissues beneath, stretching 

 itself as far forward as it can reach, and thus excavating 

 an irregular blotch. As it grows, its little house iu course 

 of time needs reconstruction, as its accommodation is 

 limited and it is easier to construct a new abode than to 

 enlarge the old one. When such a time arrives, the 

 caterpillar mines into a leaf, and having devoured the 

 cellular tissues over a certain area, cuts out the cuticles 

 and fastens them together for the walls of a new domicile, 

 just as on the former occasion. When about to pupate it 

 shrinks into its case, the mouth of which it fastens to a leaf 

 by silken cords ; its changes to a chrysalis within, and in 

 the month of -July makes its exit at the further end as a 

 fully-developed moth. The cases of the Coleopliora; serve 

 not only as a protection to the larvae during their active 

 summer life, but also, as they all hibernate in the larval 

 condition, render them good service as snug and safe 

 winter quarters. 



THE OLDEST BOOK IN THE WORLD. 



By J. H. MiTCHiNER, F.R.A.S. 



THE only complete work that, without question, can 

 lay claim to being the oldest book in the world is 

 known as the " Papyrus Prisse," and now forms 

 one of the treasures of the Bibliotheque Nationale. 

 It was presented to the great library of Paris by a 

 Frenchman of the name of Prisse, who discovered the 

 papyrus at Thebes. The tomb in which it was found 

 contained the mummy of one of the Eutews of the 

 eleventh, or first Theban, dynasty. The date when the 

 manuscript was written cannot, therefore, have been later 

 than 2500 b.c. But if the exact age of this identical copy 

 should be doubtful, we know precisely, from the text itself, 

 the date of its composition, as it states it was compiled by 

 one Ptah-hotep, who lived in the reign of King Assa. The 

 full title runs : "Precepts of the Prefect Ptah-hotep, under 

 the King of the South and North, Assa." As this king 

 was the last but one of the fifth dynasty, Ptah-hotep, 

 who flourished iu the reign of this Pharaoh, and held the 

 distinguished office of " prefect," must have compiled his 

 work about 3350 b.c. Divided into forty-four paragraphs 

 or chapters, the work is something very much more than 

 a mere literary curiosity. It is written iu the Egyptian 

 hieratic character ; is rhythmic, if not poetic ; is adJressed 

 to the educated classes, and embodies throughout high 

 and noble principles for the regulation of individual life 

 and conduct, and for the maintenance of good government. 

 The man in authority is enjoined by this very ancient 

 writer to labour at all times to be a true gentleman, lest 

 from his own defects of character he suffer the authority 

 given him by favour of the Supreme Being to be weakened. 

 An Egyptian Prefect was the highest dignitary in the 

 land, second only in authority to Pharaoh himself. It 

 was the office held by .Joseph in the Biblical story ; " Only 

 in the throne will I be greater than thou." The Prefect 

 had the custody of the key of the Larit, or royal granaries, 

 to which no entrance could be obtained without the pro- 

 duction of the prefectorial seal. The holder of the office 

 was at once the Egyptian First Lord of the Treasury, 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, in his judicial capacity, 

 Lord Chief -Justice of Egypt. 



All our greatest Egyptologists bear testimony to the 

 extraordinary civilization of ancient Egypt. The work of 

 Ptah-hotep fully confirms this position. It testifies to a 

 height of culture and refinement obtaining in Egyptian 

 society 5210 years ago, that to our Western circumscribed 

 notions of modern superiority are simply inconceivable. 

 The teachings of the " Precepts " more than justify all 

 that has been said by Egyptologists. "It is certain," 

 says Prof. Eenouf, " that at least 8000 years before Christ 

 there was in Egypt a powerful and elaborately organized 

 monarchy, enjoying a material civilization, in many 

 respects not inferior to that of Europe in the last cen- 

 tury." Leptius writes: "The fourth dynasty ascended 

 the throne about 3124 b.c, and at that time, long before 

 our usual ideas of the development of nations, there is 

 found a people highly instructed in all the arts of peace ; 

 a state carefully organized ; a hierarchy firmly founded, 

 minutely divided, and organized even to the smallest 

 external matters ; an universally diffused system of writing, 

 and the common use of papyrus : in short, a civilization 

 which in all essential points has already attained its full 

 maturity, and only by close investigation is further 

 development in some directions discovered." 



M. Mariett says ; " Art under the fourth and fifth 

 dynasties obtained a height never afterwards surpassed. 



