


COLEOPTERA. 
ring, and worn by the foldiers, as a token of homage to that power who difpofed of the fate of battles ; l and 
fculptured on aftronomical tables, or on columns, ™ it expreffed the divine wifdom which regulates the uni- 
verfe and enlightens man. 
1 Authors quote a doubtful paffage in Herapollo Hieroglyph. lib. 1. to fepport this opinion. That fuch rings were worn by the 
ancient Egyptians is beyond conjecture, many remains of them, and fome very perfect, have been found in the fubterranean 
caverns and fepulchres in the Plain of Mummies near Saccara and Giza. Thofe which we have examined, are remarkable for 
the convexity, or full relievo of the figure fculptured on them, in fome it is of the natural fize of the infect, but generally fmaller ; 
the ftone, cornelian, without a rim, and turning on a fwivel ring of gold. 
m Linnzeus fays the Scarabzeus facer is fculptured on the antique Egyptian columns in Rome. ‘* Hic in columnis antiquis 
Rome exfculptus ab Agyptiis.” Sy/. Nat. Does Linnzus allude to any remains of thofe coloffal obelifks, which Auguftus tran{- 
ported to Rome when he fubjugated Egypt, or others of more recent date? It would increafe the intereft of our enquiries, to 
learn, that the Scarabeeus was among the hieroglyphics, on the two very ancient obelifks, carried from Heliopolis, the city of 
the Sun. 
The indefinite and vifionary interpretations, impofed on moft Egyptian hieroglyphics through a long feries of ages, will 
barely fupport a few conjeétures on their original fignification. Thofe which related to local incidents, hiftory, or the arts, are 
veiled in profound obfcurity. The phenomena of nature, and aftronomical calculations, infcribed in thofe charaéters, are fcarcely 
better underftood, though the knowledge of thofe feiences have been in part handed down to us from the learned Egyptians in 
remote ages. We are informed by ancient writers, that the Scarabeeus engraved on the aftronomical tables of thefe people, 
implied the divine Wifdom which governed the motion and order of the celeftial bodies; that thofe tables were huge and mafly 
ftones, or columns of granite, with the characters and figures, large, and highly emboffed; in fhort, fuch as were fuppofed capa- 
ble of long refiftance to the corroding hand. of time. Among thofe the Scarab was probably the moft confpicuous, its fize 
gigantic, and the figure frequently repeated; for this we have obferved, even on {mall Egyptian antiques. 
Various valuable remains of tablets, with figures of the Scarabeus facer, are preferved in the Britifh Mufeum and other. col- 
leGtions of antiquities in this country. Thofe we have examined are of various defcriptions, fome fmaller than the infect itfelf, 
others of a monftrous fize. The ftones on which they are fculptured generally green nephritic or jade flone, or a kind of bafaltes, 
and black marble; the figure baffo relievo, on a tablet or flab, but oftener in re/ievo, with the prominent charaéters of the infect 
very accurately defined, particularly the fix dentations of the clypeo, and thofe of the tibia. The reverfe of the embofied fide 
is fat and fmooth, and abounds in charaéters altogether unknown, though, from the number of religious objects of worfhip 
occafionally interfperfed, we may prefume they contain an ample ftore of the ancient facerdotal language: the moft remarkable 
were the fcarab, the fceptre and eye,* the human figure with a dog’s head,> the hawk,* and the Ibis, or facred bird. On the 
thorax of one fine fpecimen we remarked four elegant figures. One of them is holding a cornuccpia in the left hand, and a 
branch in the right: this is perhaps a fubordinate deity of the Nile, that river having been once found depictured on an an- 
tique Alexandrian coin, like an aged man, holding the cornucopia, and a branch of the Papyrus; denoting its abundance and 
produce. 
The digreffion on the mythological hiftory of this infect may be conftdered by fome as a tedious deviation from the purfuit 
of the naturalift; with others we truft it will be more favourably received 5 for it proves to the unprejudiced mind how deeply 
the hiftory of nature, and in the prefent inftance the fcience of Entomology, involves a moft important enquiry into the firft 
philofophical opinions of the human race. The means, however trifling, muft not be contemned, which illumine the moft 
fublime of all human refearches,— The Study of Mankind. 
a Ofjris, or the fun, b Anubis. c Horus, a famous deity, had three cities dedicated, called by the Greeks the cities of Apollo. 
7 
¢ The mummies of thefe birds are found in urns, in the fubterranean galleries called the well of birds near Saccara, fuppofed from the fize to be the Tantalus 
Ibis of Linnzus. 

