FISHES — SCARAB BEETLE 39 



imperfect, there appear to.be four species, of which the one inhabiting North 

 Africa, and likewise Madeira and the Canaries, is identical with the European 

 Anguilla vulgaris. In East and South Africa are found A. mossambica, A. ben- 

 galensis, and A. bicolor, the range of all of which extends to the South Pacific. 

 Of these, A. mossambica, ranging from the Cape to Zanzibar and the Seychelles, 

 comes nearest to the European species, from which it differs by the broader bands 

 of teeth. Strange to say, however, there are no eels in tropical West Africa, this 

 being accounted for by Dr. J. Schmidt, of the Danish Fishery Commission, who, 

 with the aid of hydrographers, has ascertained that the water of the great depths 

 of the inter-tropical Atlantic is for the greater part between 4° and 5° C, nowhere 

 reaching the temperature ascertained to be the minimum (7° at a depth of 1000 

 metres) required for the breeding of the eel in the North Atlantic. " Therefore the 

 reason why eels are absent from some of the warmest regions of the world, such as 



West Africa and tropical South America, is that the deep sea to which they would 



have to resort for breeding is too cold, an extraordinary fact when we bear in 



mind that, outside the period of reproduction and of larval life, the European eel 



can accommodate itself to such varied climatic conditions as obtain between the 



Arctic Circle and Nubia. The suitable conditions for breeding are only to be found 



in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean ; in consequence, 



eels are only found in those parts of Africa (North, East, South) which are within 



the migratory powers of the fish." 



The most celebrated of the insects of northern Africa is the 

 Scarab Beetle. 



scarab beetle (bcarabozus sacer), a black burrowing species of about 



an inch in length, held sacred by the ancient Egyptians, and frequently represented 



in their frescoes and sculptures, sometimes on a gigantic scale. It belongs to a 



numerous Mediterranean group, and is itself common to southern Europe and 



south-western Asia as well as to northern Africa. This beetle makes up small 



balls of manure, each of which receives an egg, and is then rolled to some suitable 



