344 THE BEETLES. 



ix., p. 86), says : " A golden running beetle came to a cock- 

 chafer lying on its back in the garden, intending to eat it, but 

 was unable to master it ; it ran to the next bush, and returned 

 with a friend, whereupon the two overpowered the cock- 

 chafer, and pulled it off to their hiding-place." 



Many other beetles, in addition to those named, have been 

 observed to summon each other for assistance. This has 

 been seen most strikingly exemplified in the famous Scara- 

 basus, or sacred beetle of Egypt (Ateuclius, or Scaralmms 

 sacer), whose remarkable method of propagation seemed so 

 marvellous to the ancients that they dedicated it to the sun, 

 and that the old Egyptians paid it divine honors, and placed 

 it in their temples, hewing it in colossal size out of stone. 

 The Aviser Romans, on the other hand, narrowed down the 

 worship to carrying beetles carved in stone as amulets. 

 Sometimes real beetles were mummified and kept in special 

 vessels. The Ateuclius has the remarkable habit of making 

 pellets of dung, one or two inches big, in which it places its 

 future young, and then rolls them in front of it until they 

 are round and firm, and have arrived at the 'spot where 

 it wishes to bury them. This turning and rolling of its 

 egg-enclosing dung-pellets was taken by the ancients as a 

 symbol of the movement of the earth, and hence their reve- 

 rence ! Cow-dung is preferred by the Ateuchus for its 

 object before any other, but, in default of this, it will 

 use that of sheep or goats. The work itself is very care- 

 fully performed, and at every couple of steps it halts, to see 

 if the pellet is firm enough. In order to find the place 

 where it may most suitably be buried, the Ateuchus has 

 often a long way to go, in which case one mate generally 

 pulls while the other shoves or pushes. If it finds any 

 roughness of ground on the way, it lifts up the pellet, which 

 sometimes attains the size of a small apple, on its broad, 

 strong head, as with a lever. Sometimes it chances that 

 the pellet falls into a hole, or some uuevenness in the ground, 

 where the beetle does not want it, and out of which it is 

 unable to lift it either alone or with the help of its mate. 

 The beetle then suddenly leaves its ball, spreads its 

 wings, and rises into the air. If the observer is patient 

 enough to see the matter out, he will see the fugitive return 

 after awhile, accompanied by two, three, four, or five com- 

 rades, which now set to work together, and set the pellet 



