April, 1Q16 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 27 



in Egypt and Nubia, named by Latreille Ateuchus Aigyptoruin, is 

 golden green, larger than the true sacer, and Pliny says that to 

 gaze upon it relieves the eyes of fatigue. Another species men- 

 tioned in ancient times, but not now clearly identified is smaller 

 and with small Tiorns turned backward. This creature preserved 

 life if picked up by the left hand and worn as an amulet. Still 

 another is called Fullo, is covered with white spots, and made a 

 orecious amulet. No Ateuchus corresponds to this description 

 but it has been discovered recently that beetles of other families 

 were considered also as scarabs, notably those of the genus Pimelia. 

 There is a species of this genus, quite as robust as an Ateuchus, 

 which is thoroughly specked with white. Moreover, the beetle 

 shown in figure i is undoubtedly a Pimelia, although regarded by 

 the Egyptians themselves as a scarab. The three elytral marks 

 are a faithful copy of a species still common in Africa. Further 

 evidence is the pygidium shown in the drawing. This is a con- 

 stant character in Pimelia, but never found in the coprophagous 

 Scarabaeids. 



In the American Museum of Natural History there are several 

 fine necklaces brought from the Congo region by the Lang and 

 Chapin expedition, which clear up the matter. They are of 

 Pimelia beetles which the natives strung after having embalmed 

 them. The process of filling the bodies with gums and spices is 

 remarkably like the ancient Egyptian embalming process, so much 

 so that it is almost certain that it is a survival of the same custom 

 and further proof of the kinship of the aboriginal Egyptians with 

 the black races throughout the whole length of Africa. 



The beetle shown in figure 3 is obviously a true Scarabaeid, 

 but figure 4, while a scarab in religious intent, reminds one 

 strongly of a Cetonia. 



When the annual subsidence of the overflow of the Nile leaves 

 throughout the valley its fertile coating of rich mud, the scarab is 

 the first notable creature emerging. It heralds the beginning of 

 spring, the return of nature's creative power. Its stay is brief. 

 Writers of the last century B. C. assert that the odor of roses is 

 fatal to it. In reality the scarab disappears for the season about 

 the time the roses blossom. Promptly after emergence from the 

 mud the scarab takes some cattle dung, shapes it into a sphere, 



