70 ITS IMAGE ON SIGNETS. 



wore the image of the beetle upon their signets ; and 

 this, perhaps, may account not only for the number 

 of them found, but also for the coarseness of the 

 workmanship."* 



The unrolment of a mummy in the Royal College 

 of Surgeons, London, on the 16th of January, 1834, 

 afforded another example of the superstitious feelings 

 connected with the scarabseus among the ancient 

 Egyptians. From the mythological characters 

 painted on the cases, the nature of the colours em- 

 ployed, &c., it was ascertained that the body was 

 that of an incense-bearing priest, of the temple 

 of Ammon, at Thebes. " An amulet of various- 

 coloured stones was on the breast, and lower down 

 a scarabaeus, about an inch in length, in jade or 

 other hard substance." — Lit. Gaz., No. 887. 



The habits of the beetle at Rosetta, described by 

 Doctor Clarke, are similar to those of many indi- 

 viduals of the same family, — among them to one 

 which I have found about the base of the Moume 

 mountains, county of Down, in spring (Geottntpes 

 vernalis). Tliis insect is said to deposit its egg in a 

 ball, prepared for that purpose, and rolled in the man- 

 ner already described ; but in districts where sheep 

 are kept it wisely saves its labour, and ingeniously 

 avails itself of the pellet- shaped balls of dung which 

 * Travels, vol. iv. p. 8. 



