438 THE INSECT WORLD. 
of the south of Russia the lovers of sporting are in the habit of 
making their dogs, from time to time, swallow (as a preservative) 
half of a Cetonia with bread or a little wine. very one in those 
countries is persuaded of the efficacy of this means for stopping 
the development of the disease. One ought not, perhaps, to 
reject a belief so widespread and deeply rooted without some 
experiments to guarantee us in doing so, for medicine does not yet 
possess any remedy against hydrophobia. It might not then be 
useless to try this. 
Two smaller species than the rose beetle, the Cetonia stictica 
and the Cetonia hirtella, which has yellowish hairs, live on the 
flowers of thistles. Western Africa, the Cape, Madagascar, &c., 
are very rich in species of Cetonie. Among 
the Cetoniade is the genus Goliathus, gigantic 
insects which inhabit Africa. Their total 
length sometimes attains from three to five 
inches. Their colours are generally a dull 
white or yellow, which has nothing metallic 
about it, with spots of a velvety black; these 
are due to.a sort of down of an extreme thin- 
ness, and which very easily comes off. The 
} head of these enormous Coleoptera is gene- 
Fig. 424.—Cetonia argentea. rally cut or scooped out, and is adorned some- 
times with one or two horns. Their legs, strong and robust, are 
armed with spurs, and sometimes present on their exterior sharp 
indentations, which give to these insects.a crabbed physiognomy, 
which their inoffensive habits are far from justifying. All these 
horns, and all these teeth which look so terrible, are nothing in 
fact, with a great number of these insects, but simple ornaments. 
They compose the picturesque uniform of the males. It is equi- 
valent to the bear-skin caps, the flaming helmets, and the bullion- 
fringed epaulettes of our soldiers. The dress of the female 
Goliathus is much more modest, as is becoming to the sex. We 
here represent the Goliathus Derbyana (Fig. 425) and Polyphemus 
(Fig. 426). 
The Goliaths were formerly excessively rare in collections, and 
of a price inaccessible to ordinary amateurs—one single specimen 
costing as much as twenty pounds. But for some time the 

