112 THE EGYPTIAN SCARAB^IUS. 



the individuals of each sex, imagined that the Scarabasus was of 

 both combined, and, under this mistaken notion, adopted it as an 

 appropriate emblem of a self-created and supreme First Cause ; 

 and whenever, therefore, they desired, in their hieroglyphic 

 writing, to designate a being self-produced, or to express an idea 

 of a birth, a father, or the world, they represented a Scarabseus. 



This insect was also more especially the symbol of their 

 goddess Neith, whose attribute was supreme power in govern- 

 ing the works of creation, and whose glory was considered to 

 be increased rather than diminished by the presence of an- 

 other power named Phta, the Creator. Neith and Phta, thus 

 considered as two attributes of one spirit (the third being 

 Cneph, or Divine Goodness), are, in their combination, further 

 represented by the supposed union of both sexes in the Scara- 

 bseus. As typical of Neith, the insect was carved or painted on 

 rings, and worn by soldiers, in token of homage to that Power 

 which disposeth the fate of battles. It was also thus worn, and 

 otherwise employed to designate a warrior, from the manly 

 bearing connected with its supposed paternal birth ; and, sculp- 

 tured on astronomical tables, or on columns, it expressed the 

 Divine wisdom which regulates the universe and enlightens man. 



Other symbolic meanings were attached to the Scarabasus, 

 founded on certain peculiarities in its habits and external form. 



The modern representative of the Searabceus sacer (imported 

 from Africa into southern Europe) is the Pill-Beetle, so named 

 from its practice of moulding round pellets'of dung, depositing 



