MAY 99 



an inch and a half of one of those sleepy- 

 looking creatures. A pink flash, which the 

 initiated know to be the flip of the animal's 

 sticky tongue, and the beetle is gone. 



AN ANCIENT COUSIN 



It was a member of the same family that 

 excited the wonder of the early Egyptians. 

 The sudden appearance of the insects in 

 large numbers, then as now, attracted at- 

 tention. When to this was coupled the 

 habit, common in their species, as in the 

 "tumble-bugs," of depositing the egg in a 

 mass of droppings covered with earth and 

 then rolling the ball away to a safe place, 

 all the needed suggestion was at hand. The 

 scarab, for so they called him, seemed to be 

 without natural birth, and he was engaged, 

 when making his clay ball, in the act of 

 creation. Naturally this made him sacred 

 to the creator god, Ptah. So they cut him 

 out of stone, carved their names on the 

 under surface, bored these jewels, strung 

 them on strings, and then wore them about 

 their necks to gain the favor of the god. 



