S C A R A B Æ U S S AC E R.
S A C R E D B E E T L E .
S P E C I F I C C H A R A C T E R .
X o Icutellum. Front o f the head divided into fix dentations. Thorax unarmed, margin crennlated.
Wing-cafes fmooth. Shanks of the pofterior legs hairy.
S c a r a b æ u s S a c e r : e x f c u te l la t u s c ly p e o f e x d e n t a to th o r a c e in e m i i c r e n u la t o , tib i is p o f tic is c ilia tls ,
e ly t r is læ v ib u s . Lhm. SjJl. N.u.
Fab. Ent. SyJi. 1. f . 6 2 . 2 0 5 .
•Scarabæus Sacer is a native of China; it is alfo found in other parts o f the Eaft Indies, in Egypt, Bar-
bary, the Cape o f Good Hope, and other countries of Africa, and throughout the fouth of Europe.
A few remains of ancient monuments, and fome fragments of hiftoric information, preferv’ed from an
early period of the world, afford certain and interefting details of this inconfiderable creature. Thofe
remains evince indeed but the firft dawning of natural and moral philofophy on the human mind, but,
connefted with the hiftory of the in fe â before us, are too important to be paffed over in filence.
The Scarabæus was held in profound veneration by the people of Egypt, s They regarded it as a vifible
deity; but a more refined fyftem o f religious worlliip prevailed in their temples among the priefts and
fages. il They deemed it only the fj’mbol o f their god, and, afcribiug both fexes to the Scarab, it became
a flriking emblem of a felf-created and fupreme firft caufe. «
This infeft was more efpecially the fymbol of their god Neith, ^ whofe attribute was power fupreme in
governing the works o f creation, and whofe glory was increafed, rather than diminiihed, by the prefence of
a fuperior being, Phtha, the creator. The theological definition o f the two powers being independent, yet
centering in one fpirit, is implied by the figurative union of two fexes in the Scarab. In the latter fenfe it
fignified therefore but one omnipotent power. The Scarab, typifying Neitli, was carved or painted on a
f T h e fpecies worlhipped by the Egyptians is precifely noted by Linnæus. Scarabausfacer: and alfo by Olivier. Scarabe'/acri.
“ Cet infefle etoit autrefois en veneration en Egypt.” 0/h .
^ EJchenbach, fablonjki, Soevary,
i “ The father, mother, male and female art thou.” Synejiut. Hymn. Phtha.—“ The Egyptian fpirit Phtha gave chaos form,
and then created all things.” Jamblkhus de Myfierns, fe£i. 8.
k NAth. The difpofer of all things, &c. Jablon/ki. “ Sais,” of the Delta, “ the capital of its diftrift, is a confiderable
c ity, of which Amafis was king. Neith, the Minerva of the Greeks, is the titular divinity.” Plato in Tim<co.—“ On the door
of the temple of Neith yczs engraved in hieroglyphics, ‘ I am what is, what was, what ih a llb e ; mortal has never raifed
my veil ; the fun is the fruit of my womb.” Proclus Commentary on the Timsus o f Plato, &c.—Thefe paffages demonftrate Neith
and Phtha to be two attributes o f one fpirit. The third attribute is Cneph, or divine goodnefs. Savarj.
C O L E O P T E R A .
ring, and worn by the foldiers, as a token of homage to that power who difpofcd o f the fate of battles ; 1 and
fculptured on aftronomical tables, or on columns, m it exprefled the divine wifdom which regulates the uni-
verfe and enlightens man.
i Authors quote a doubtful paffage in HerapoHo Hieroglyph, lib. 1. to fupport this opinion. That fuch rings were worn by the
ancient Egyptians is beyond conjefture, many remains of them, and fome very perfea, have been found in the fubterranean
caverns and fepulchres in the Plain of Mummies near Saccara and Giza. Thofe which wc have examined, are remarkable for
the convexity, or full relievo of the figure fculptured on them, in fome it is o f the natural fize of the in fea , but generally fmaller ;
the ftone, cornelian, without a rim, and turning on a fwivel ring o f gold.
Linnæus fays the Scarabæus facer is fculptured on the antique Egyptian columns in Rome. “ Hie in columnis antiquis
Romæ exfculptus ab Ægyptiis.” SyJi. Nat. Does Linnæus allude to any remains of thofe coloflal obelifks, w hich Auguftus tranf-
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 Scarabæus was among the hieroglyphics, on the two very ancient obelifks, carried from Hcliopoli.s, thc 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 conjeftures on their original fignification. Thofe which related to local in cidents, hiftory, or the arts, are
veiled in profound obfcurity. The phænomena of nature, and aftronomical calculations, infcribed in thofe charaSlers, are fcarcely
better underftood, though thc knowledge of thofe fciences have been in part handed down to us from the learned Egyptians in
remote ages. We are informed by ancient writers, that the Scarabæus 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 maiTy
ftones, or columns of granite, with the characters and figures, large, and highly embofled ; 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 fmall Egyptian antiques.
■Various valuable remains o f tablets, with figures of the Sc.xrab<tus facer, arc preferved in the Britifli Mufcum and other col-
leftions of antiquities in this country. Thofe we have examined arc of various defcriptions, fome fmaller than the infcft ilfelf,
others of a monftrous fize. The ftones on which they are fculptured generally green nephritic or jade Jlone, or a kind of b.jfaltee,
and black marble; the figure bajfo relievo, on a tablet or flab, but oftener in relievo, with the prominent charafters of the infeft
very accurately defined, particularly the fix dentations of the clypeo, and thofe of the tibiæ. The reverfe o f the emhoffed fide
is flat and fmooth, and abounds in charaaers altogether unknown, though, fiom the number of religious objefts of worfhip
occafionally interfperfed, we may prefume they contain an ample ftore o f 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,H or facred bird. On the
thorax of one fine fpecimen we remarked four elegant figures. One of them is holding a corn-.aapia 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 depidlured on an antique
Alexandrian coin, like an aged man, holding the cornucopia, and a branch of the Papyrus ; denoting its abundance and
protluce.
The digrefiion on the mythological hiftory of this iiife£l may be confidered by fome as a tedious deviation from the purfuit
o f the naturalift; with others we truft it will be more favourably received ; 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 cefearches,— The Study o f Manhnd.
« or the fan. b An:
li Tho mun\mics of thcfc birds are found
Ibis of Linn.£us.