CURIOUS FACTS
IN THE
HISTORY OF INSECTS;
INCLUDING
SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS.
A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF THE LEGENDS, SUPERSTITIONS, BELIEFS,
AND OMINOUS SIGNS CONNECTED WITH INSECTS; TOGETHER
WITH THEIR USES IN MEDICINE, ART, AND AS FOOD;
AND A SUMMARY OF THEIR REMARKABLE
INJURIES AND APPEARANCES.
BY
FRANK COWAN.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1865.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865,
by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
TO
MISS CATHARINE STOY
THE FOLLOWING PAGES
ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
BY HER FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
In the early part of the winter of 1863-4, having the free use of the
Congressional Library at Washington, I began the compilation of the
present work. It was my prime intent, and one which I have endeavored to
follow most carefully, to attach some fact, whatever might be its
nature, to as many Insects as possible, to increase the interest, in a
commonplace way, of the science of Entomology. I noticed the pleasurable
satisfaction I invariably felt when I came accidentally upon any
extra-scientific fact, and how the association fixed the particular
Insect, to which it related, ineffaceably upon my memory. To collect and
group, then, all these facts together, to remember many Insects as
easily as one,--was a natural thought; and as this had never been done,
but to a very limited extent, I undertook it myself.
The facts contained in this volume are supposed to be purely historical,
or rather not to belong to the natural history of Insects, namely, their
anatomy, habits, classification, etc. They have been collected mostly
from Chronicles, Histories, Books of Travels, and such like works,
which, at first view, seem to be totally foreign to Insects: and were
only discovered by examination of the indexes and tables of contents.
But are my facts _facts_?--it may be asked. They are; but I do not vouch
for each one’s containing more than one truth. It is a fact, or truth if
you will, that Pliny, Nat. Hist. xi. 34, says, “Folke use to hang
Beetles about the neck of young babes, as present remedies against many
maladies;” but that this statement is entitled to credit, and that these
Insects, hung about the necks of young babes, _are_ a present remedy
against many maladies, are two things which may be very true or far
otherwise. I confine myself to the fact that Pliny says so, and only
wish to be understood in that sense, unless when otherwise stated.
The classification of Mr. Westwood, in the arrangement of the orders and
families, I have followed as closely as was possible, except in one or
two instances: and where Insects have common and familiar names, they
have been given together with their scientific ones.
To Dr. J. M. Toner, of Washington, for his suggestions and assistance in
collecting material, I tender my thanks; the same also to N. Bushnell,
Esq., and Hon. O. H. Browning, of Quincy, Ill., for the use of their
several libraries.
I am much indebted, too, to Mrs. A. L. Ruter Dufour, of Washington, for
many superstitions and two pieces of poetry contained in this volume. I
beg her to accept my thanks.
GREENSBURG, PENNA.,
July 10th, 1865.
CONTENTS.
AUTHORS QUOTED 9
COLEOPTERA--BEETLES.
Coccinellidæ--Lady-birds 17
Chrysomelidæ--Gold-beetles 23
Carabidæ 23
Pausidæ 23
Dermestidæ--Leather-beetles 24
Lucanidæ--Stag-beetles 24
Scarabæidæ--Dung-beetles 27
Dynastidæ--Hercules-beetles, etc. 45
Melolonthidæ--Cock-chafers 47
Cetoniidæ--Rose-chafers 49
Buprestidæ--Burn-cows 50
Elateridæ--Fire-flies, Spring-beetles, etc. 51
Lampyridæ--Glow-worms 55
Ptinidæ--Death-watch, etc. 58
Bostrichidæ--Typographer-beetle, etc. 61
Cantharidæ--Blister-flies 62
Tenebrionidæ--Meal-worms 65
Blapsidæ--Church-yard-beetle, etc. 65
Curculionidæ--Weevils 68
Cerambycidæ--Musk-beetles 72
Galerucidæ--Turnip-fly, etc. 74
EUPLEXOPTERA.
Forficulidæ--Ear-wigs 76
ORTHOPTERA.
Blattidæ--Cockroaches 78
Mantidæ--Soothsayers, etc. 82
Achetidæ--Crickets 92
Gryllidæ--Grasshoppers 98
Locustidæ--Locusts 101
NEUROPTERA.
Termitidæ--White-ants 132
Ephemeridæ--Day-flies 138
Libellulidæ--Dragon-flies 138
Myrmeleonidæ--Ant-lions 141
HYMENOPTERA.
Uroceridæ--Sirex 142
Cynipidæ--Gall-flies 143
Formicidæ--Ants 146
Vespidæ--Wasps, Hornets 170
Apidæ--Bees 174
LEPIDOPTERA.
Papilionidæ--Butterflies 216
Sphingidæ--Hawk-moths 232
Bombicidæ--Silkworm-moths 234
Arctiidæ--Woolly-bear-moths 242
Psychidæ--Wood-carrying-moth, etc. 245
Noctuidæ--Antler-moth, Cut-worm, etc. 246
Geometridæ--Span-worms 248
Tineidæ--Clothes’-moths, Bee-moths, etc. 248
HOMOPTERA.
Cicadidæ--Harvest-flies 250
Fulgoridæ--Lantern-flies 255
Aphidæ--Plant-lice 257
Coccidæ--Shield-lice 259
HETEROPTERA.
Cimicidæ--Bed-bugs 265
Notonectidæ--Water-boatmen 275
DIPTERA.
Culicidæ--Gnats 278
Tipulidæ--Crane-flies 286
Muscidæ--Flies 287
Œstridæ--Bot-flies 302
APHANIPTERA.
Pulicidæ--Fleas 305
ANOPLEURA.
Pediculidæ--Lice 316
ARACHNIDÆ.
Acaridæ--Mites 321
Phalangidæ--Daddy-Long-legs 321
Pedipalpi--Scorpions 321
Araneidæ--True-spiders 332
MISCELLANEOUS 363
INDEX 373
AUTHORS QUOTED.
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CURIOUS HISTORY OF INSECTS.
ORDER I.
COLEOPTERA--BEETLES.
Coccinellidæ--Lady-birds.
The Lady-bird, _Coccinella septempunctata_, in Scandinavia was dedicated
to the Virgin Mary, and is there to this day called _Nyckelpiga_--Our
Lady’s Key-maid,[1] and (in Sweden, more particularly) _Jung-fru Marias
Gullhona_--the Virgin Mary’s Golden-hen.[2] A like reverence was paid to
this beautiful insect in other countries: in Germany they have been
called _Frauen_ or _Marien-käfer_--Lady-beetles of the Virgin Mary; and
in France are now known by the names of _Vaches de Dieu_--Cows of the
Lord, and _Bêtes de la Vierge_--Animals of the Virgin.[3] The names we
know them by, _Lady-bird_, _Lady-bug_, _Lady-fly_, _Lady-cow_,[4]
_Lady-clock_, _Lady-couch_ (a Scottish name),[5] etc., have reference
also to this same dedication, or, at least, respect.
The Lady-bird in Europe, and particularly in Germany, where it probably
is the greatest favorite, and whence most of the superstitions connected
with it are supposed to have originated, is always connected with fine
weather. At Vienna, the children throw it into the air, crying,--
Käferl’, käferl’, käferl’,
Flieg nach Mariabrunn,
Und bring uns ä schone sun.
Or,--
Little birdie, birdie,
Fly to Marybrunn,
And bring us a fine sun.
Marybrun being a place about twelve English miles from the Austrian
capital, with a miracle-working image of the Virgin (still connected
with the Virgin), who often sends good weather to the merry Viennese.[6]
And, from the marsh of the Elbe, to this little insect the following
words are addressed:
Maikatt,
Flug weg,
Stuff weg,
Bring me morgen goet wedder med.
Or,--
May-cat,
Fly away,
Hasten away,
Bring me good weather with you to-morrow.[7]
In England, the children are wont to be afraid of injuring the Lady-bird
lest it should rain.
With the Northmen the Lady-bird--Our Lady’s Key-maid--is believed to
foretell to the husbandman whether the year shall be a plentiful one or
the contrary: if its spots exceed seven, bread-corn will be dear; if
they are fewer than seven, there will be an abundant harvest, and low
prices.[8] And, in the following rhyme from Ploen, this insect is
invoked to bring food:
Marspäert (Markpäert) fleeg in Himmel!
Bring my’n Sack voll Kringeln, my een, dy een,
Alle lütten Engeln een.
Or,--
Marspäert, fly to heaven!
Bring me a sack full of biscuits, one for me, one for thee,
For all the little angels one.[9]
In the north of Europe it is thought lucky when a young girl in the
country sees the Lady-bird in the spring; she then lets it creep about
her hand, and says: “She measures me for wedding gloves.” And when it
spreads its little wings and flies away, she is particular to notice the
direction it takes, for thence her sweetheart shall one day come.[10]
The latter part of this notion obtains in England; and it has been
embodied by Gay in one of his Pastorals, as follows:
This Lady-fly I take from off the grass,
Whose spotted back might scarlet red surpass.
Fly, Lady-bird, north, south, or east or west,
Fly where the man is found that I love best.
He leaves my hand, see to the west he’s flown,
To call my true-love from the faithless town.[11]
In Norfolk, too, where this insect is called the Bishop Barnabee, the
young girls have the following rhyme, which they continue to recite to
it placed upon the palm of the hand, till it takes wing and flies
away:[12]
Bishop, Bishop Barnabee,
Tell me when my wedding be:
If it be to-morrow day,
Take your wings and fly away!
Fly to the east, fly to the west,
Fly to him that I love best.[13]
Why the Lady-bird is called Bishop Barnabee, or Burnabee, there is great
difference of opinion. Some take it to be from St. Barnabas, whose
festival falls in the month of June, when this insect first appears; and
others deem it but a corruption of the Bishop-that-burneth, in allusion
to its fiery color.[14]
The following metrical jargon is repeated by the children in Scotland to
this insect under the name of Lady Lanners, or Landers:[15]
Lady, Lady Lanners,
Lady, Lady Lanners,
Tak’ up your clowk about your head,
An’ flee awa’ to Flanners (Flanders).
Flee ower firth, and flee ower fell,
Flee ower pule and rinnan’ well,
Flee ower muir, and flee ower mead,
Flee ower livan, flee ower dead,
Flee ower corn, and flee ower lea,
Flee ower river, flee ower sea,
Flee ye east, or flee ye west,
Flee till him that lo’es me best.
So it seems that also in Scotland, the Lady-bird, which is still a great
favorite with the Scottish peasantry, has been used for divining one’s
future helpmate. This likewise appears from a rhyme from the north of
Scotland, which dignifies the insect with the title of Dr. Ellison:
Dr. Dr. Ellison, where will I be married?
East, or west, or south, or north?
Take ye flight and fly away.
It is sometimes also termed Lady Ellison, or knighted Sir Ellison; while
other Scottish names of it are Mearns, Aberd, The King, and King Galowa,
or Calowa. Under this last title of dignity there is another Scottish
rhyme, which evinces also the general use of this insect for the purpose
of divination:
King, King Calowa,
Up your wings and flee awa’
Over land, and over sea;
Tell me where my love can be.[16]
There is a Netherlandish tradition that to see Lady-birds forebodes good
luck;[17] and in England it is held extremely unlucky to destroy these
insects. Persons killing them, it is thought, will infallibly, within
the course of the year, break a bone, or meet with some other dreadful
misfortune.[18]
In England, the children are accustomed to throw the Lady-bird into the
air, singing at the same time,--
Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home;
Your house is on fire, your children’s at home,
All but one that ligs under the stone,--
Ply thee home, lady-bird, ere it be gone.[19]
Or, as in Yorkshire and Lancashire,--
Lady-bird, lady-bird, eigh thy way home;
Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam,
Except little Nan, who sits in her pan,
Weaving gold laces as fast as she can.[20]
Or, as most commonly with us in America,--
Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, and your children all burn.
The meaning of this familiar, though very curious couplet, seems to be
this: the larvæ, or young, of the Lady-bird feed principally upon the
aphides, or plant-lice, of the vines of the hop; and fire is the usual
means employed in destroying the aphides; so that in killing the latter,
the former, which had come for the same purpose, are likewise destroyed.
Immense swarms of Lady-birds are sometimes observed in England,
especially on the southeastern coast. They have been described as
extending in dense masses for miles, and consisting of several species
intermixed.[21] In 1807, these flights in Kent and Sussex caused no
small alarm to the superstitious, who thought them the forerunners of
some direful evil. They were, however, but emigrants from the
neighboring hop-grounds, where, in their larva state, they had been
feasting upon the aphides.[22]
The Lady-bird was formerly considered an efficacious remedy for the
colic and measles;[23] and it has been recommended often as a cure for
the toothache: being said, when one or two are mashed and put into the
hollow tooth, to immediately relieve the pain. Jaeger says he has tried
this application in two instances with success.[24]
In the northern part of South America--the Spanish Main--a species of
Lady-bug, Captain Stuart tells me, is extensively worn as jewels and
ornaments. He may, however, refer to some species of the
Gold-beetles--_Chrysomelidæ_, next mentioned.
Hurdis, who has frequently, in his Poems, availed himself of the modern
discoveries in Natural History, has drawn the following accurate and
beautiful picture of the Lady-bird in his tragedy of Sir Thomas More:
SIR JOHN.
What d’ye look at?
CECILIA.
A little animal, that round my glove,
And up and down to every finger’s tip,
Has traveled merrily, and travels still,
Tho’ it has wings to fly: what its name is
With learned men I know not; simple folk
Call it the Lady-bird.
SIR JOHN.
Poor harmless thing!
Save it.
CECILIA.
I would not hurt it for the world;
Its prettiness says, Spare me; and it bears
Armor so beautiful upon its back,
I could not injure it to be a queen:
Look, sir, its coat is scarlet dropp’d with jet,
Its eyes pure ivory.
SIR JOHN.
Child, I’m not blind
To objects so minute: I know it well;
’Tis the companion of the waning year,
And lives among the blossoms of the hop;
It has fine silken wings enfolded close
Under that coat of mail.
CECILIA.
I see them, sir,
For it unfurls them now--’tis up and gone.[25]
Southey, also, in his lines addressed to this insect under the name of
the Burnie-Bee, has thus elegantly described it:
Back o’er thy shoulders throw thy ruby shards,
With many a tiny coal-black freckle deck’d;
My watchful eye thy loitering saunter guards,
My ready hand thy footsteps shall protect.
So shall the fairy train, by glow-worm light,
With rainbow tints thy folding pennons fret,
Thy scaly breast in deeper azure dight,
Thy burnish’d armor deck’d with glossier jet.[26]
Chrysomelidæ--Gold-beetles.
In Chili and Brazil, the ladies form necklaces of the golden
_Chrysomelidæ_ and brilliant Diamond-beetles, with which their countries
abound, which are said to be very beautiful.[27] The wing-cases of our
common Gilded-Dandy, _Eumolpus auratus_, the metallic colors of which
are pre-eminently brilliant and showy, have been recommended as
ornaments for fancy boxes, and such like articles.[28] A closely allied
species, I have seen upon the finest Parisian artificial flowers.
Carabidæ.
In some parts of Africa, a rather curious benefit is derived from a
large beetle belonging to this family, the _Chlænius saponarius_, for it
is manufactured by the natives into a soap.[29]
Pausidæ.
The etymology of the word _Pausus_, Dr. Afzelius imagines to be from the
Greek παυσις, signifying a pause, cessation, or rest; for Linnæus, now
(in 1796) old and infirm, and sinking under the weight of age and labor,
saw no probability of continuing any longer his career of glory. He
might therefore be supposed to say _hic meta laborum_, as it in reality
proved, at least with regard to insects, for Pausus was the last he ever
described.[30]
Dermestidæ--Leather-beetles.
In one of the stone coffins exhumed from the tumuli in the links of
Skail, were found several small bags, which seemed to have been made of
rushes. They all contained bones, with the exception of one, which is
said to have been full of beetles belonging to the genus _Dermestes_.
Both the bag and beetles were black and rotten.[31]
Four species of _Dermestes_ were found in the head of one of the mummies
brought by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson from Thebes--the _D. vulpinus_ of
Fabricius, and the _pollinctus_, _roei_, and _elongatus_ of Hope.[32]
It is a remarkable coincidence that two peoples should bury beetles of
the same genus with their dead, and much the more so, when they differ
so widely, as did the ancient Britons and Egyptians. Was it for the same
reason--the result of any communication?
At one time the ravages of the _Dermestes vulpinus_ were so great in the
skin-warehouses of London, that a reward of £20,000 was offered for an
available remedy.[33]
Lucanidæ--Stag-beetles.
The etymology of the word Lucanus, as well as its application to a
species of insect, it is interesting to notice. The ancients gave the
name of _Lucas_, _Lucana_, to the _ox_ and elephant. It is said that
Pyrrhus had thus named the elephant the first time that he saw it,
because this word signified ox in his own language, and that he thus
gave it the name of the largest animal which he had ever before seen.
According to Pliny, who employed the word _Lucani_, in speaking of the
Horn-beetles, Nigridius was the first who gave the name to these
insects; and this he did, most probably, from their large size, and the
resemblance of their mandibles to horns. Dalechamp, however, thinks that
the name _Lucanus_ was given to the Horn-beetle only because this insect
was very common among the Lucanians, a people of Italy. But it is
probable, after what has been above said, that the Lucanians themselves
were thus named, in consequence of the great numbers of oxen which they
reared. The common name, _Flying-bull_, given to this insect in
different languages, corresponds very well with that given by
Nigridius.[34]
A popular belief in Germany is, that the Stag-beetle, _Lucanus cervus_,
carries burning coals into houses by means of its jaws, and that it has
thus occasioned many fearful fires.[35]
In the New Forest of England, the Stag-beetle by the rustics is called
the _Devil’s Imp_, and is believed to be sent to do some evil to the
corn; and woe be to this unfortunate insect when met by these
superstitious foresters, for it is immediately stoned to death. A
writer, in the Notes and Queries,[36] states that he saw one of these
insects actually thus destroyed.
Professor Bradley, of Cambridge, mentions the following remarkable
instance of insect strength in a Stag-beetle. He asserts that he saw the
beetle carry a wand a foot and a half long, and half an inch thick, and
even fly with it to the distance of several yards.[37] Linnæus observes,
that if the elephant was as strong in proportion as the Stag-beetle, it
would be able to tear up rocks and level mountains.[38]
Bingley has the following marvelous story of the supposed rapacity of
the Stag-beetle, which, it has been remarked, if not gravely stated by
the reverend editor of the Animal Biography, as related to him by one
of his own intimate and intelligent friends, might have been supposed by
the general reader to have been borrowed from the Travels of the
veracious Munchausen. “An intimate and intelligent friend of the editor
informed him that he had often found several heads of these insects
together, all perfectly alive, while the abdomens were gone, and the
trunks and heads were left together. How this circumstance took place he
never could discover with any certainty. He supposes, however, that it
must have been in consequence of the severe battles that sometimes take
place among the fiercest of the insect tribes; but their mouths not
seeming formed for animal food, he is at a loss to guess what becomes of
their abdomens. They do not fly till most of the birds have retired to
rest, and indeed if we were to suppose that any of them devoured them,
it would be difficult to say why the heads or trunks should be
rejected.”[39]
Moufet says: “When the head (of the Stag-beetle) is cut off, the other
parts of the body live long, but the head (contrary to the usual custom
of insects) lives longer. This is said to be dedicated to the moon, and
the head and horns of it wax with the moon, and do wane with the moon,
but it is the opinion of vain astrologers.”[40]
The mandibles of the Stag-beetle were formerly employed in medicine,
under the name of Horns of Scarabæi. This remedy was administered as an
absorbent, in case of pains or convulsions supposed to be produced by
acidity in the _primæ viæ_.[41] This is the insect most probably alluded
to by Pliny, when he says, “Folke use to hang Beetles about the neck of
young babes, as present remedies against many maladies.”[42] The
_Scarabæus cornutus_ of Schröder (v. 345) is also, perhaps, the _Lucanus
cervus_. We learn from this gentleman that it has been recommended to be
worn as an amulet for an ague, or pains and contractions of the tendons,
if applied to the part affected. He tells us also, that if tied about
the necks of children, it enables them to retain their urine. An oil,
prepared by infusion of these insects, is recommended by the same
author, in pains of the ears, if dropped into them.[43]
The _Cossus_ of the Greeks and Romans, which, at the time of the
greatest luxury among the latter, was introduced at the tables of the
rich, was the larva, or grub, of a large beetle that lives in the stems
of trees, particularly the oak; and was, most probably, the larva of the
Stag-beetle, _Lucanus cervus_. On this subject, however, entomologists
differ very widely, for it has been supposed the larva of the _Calandra
palmarum_ by Geoffroy and Keferotein; of the _Prionus damicornis_ by
Drury; but of the _Lucanus cervus_ by Roesel, Scopoli, and most others.
The first two, being neither natives of Italy nor inhabiting the oak,
are out of the question. But the larva of the _Lucanus cervus_, and
perhaps also the _Prionus coriarius_, which are found in the oak as well
as in other trees, may each have been eaten under this name, as their
difference could not be discernible either to collectors or cooks.
Linnæus, following the opinion of Ray, supposed the caterpillar of the
great Goat-moth to be the cossus.[44]
Pliny tells us that the epicures, who looked upon these _cossi_ as
delicacies, even fed them with meal, in order to fatten them.[45]
Our children, who call the Stag-beetles and the _Passalus cornutus_,
oxen, are wont to hitch them with threads to chips and small sticks,
and, for their amusement, make them drag the wood along as if they were
oxen.
Scarabæidæ--Dung-beetles.
The _Coprion_, _Cantharus_, and _Heliocantharus_ of the ancients were
evidently the _Scarabæus (Ateuchus) pilurarius_, or, as it is commonly
called, the Tumble-dung, or one nearly related to it, for it is
described as rolling backward large masses of dung; and in doing this
it attracted such general attention as to give rise to the proverb
_Cantharus pipulam_. From the name, derived from a word signifying an
ass, it should seem the Grecian beetle made, or was supposed to make,
its pills of _asses’_ dung; and this is confirmed by a passage in one of
the plays of Aristophanes, the Irene, where a beetle of this kind is
introduced, on which one of the characters rides to heaven to petition
Jupiter for peace. The play begins with one domestic desiring another to
feed the Cantharus with some bread, and afterward orders his companion
to give him another kind of bread made of _asses’_ dung.[46]
Illustrative of the great strength of the Tumble-bug, the following
anecdote may be related: Dr. Brichell was supping one evening in a
planter’s house of North Carolina, when two of these beetles were
placed, without his knowledge, under the candlestick. A few blows were
struck on the table, when, to his great surprise, the candlestick began
to move about, apparently without any agency, except that of a spiritual
nature; and his surprise was not lessened when, on taking one of them
up, he discovered that it was only a chafer that moved.[47]
In Denmark, the common Dung-beetle, _Geotrupes stercorarius_, is called
_Skarnbosse_ or _Tor(Thor)bist_, and an augury as to the harvest is
drawn by the peasants from the mites which infest it. The notion is,
that if there are many of these mites between the fore feet, there will
be an early harvest, but a late one if they abound between the hind
feet.[48]
In Gothland, where Thor was worshiped above and more than the other
gods, the _Scarabæus (Geotrupes) stercorarius_ was considered sacred
to him, and bore the name of Thorbagge--Thor’s-bug. “Relative to this
beetle,” says Thorpe, “a superstition still exists, which has been
transmitted from father to son, that if any one finds in his path a
Thorbagge lying helpless upon its back, and turns it on its feet, he
expiates seven sins; because Thor in the time of heathenism was
regarded as a mediator with a higher power, or All-father. On the
introduction of Christianity, the priests strove to terrify the
people from the worship of their old divinities, pronouncing both
them and their adherents to be evil spirits, and belonging to hell.
On the poor Thorbagge the name was now bestowed of Thordjefvul or
Thordyfvel--Thor-devil, by which it is still known in Sweden Proper.
No one now thinks of Thor, when he finds the helpless creature lying
on its back, but the good-natured countryman seldom passes it without
setting it on its feet, and thinking of his sin’s atonement.”[49]
A common symbol of the Creator among the Hindoos (from whom it passed
into Egypt, and thence into Scandinavia, says Bjornstjerna) was the
_Scarabæus (Ateuchus) sacer_, commonly called the Sacred-beetle of the
Egyptians.[50] Of this insect we next treat at length.
Of the many animals worshiped by the ancient Egyptians, one of the most
celebrated, perhaps, is the insect commonly known as the
Sacred-scarab--_Scarabæus sacer_. This name was given it by Linnæus, but
later writers know it as the _Ateuchus sacer_.[51] The insect is found
throughout all Egypt, in the southern part of Europe,[52] in China, the
East Indies, in Barbary, and at the Cape of Good Hope.[53]
The _Ateuchus sacer_, however, is not the only insect that was regarded
as an object of veneration by the Egyptians; but another species of the
same genus, lately discovered in the Sennâri by M. Caillaud de Nantes,
appears to have first fixed the attention of this people, in consequence
of its more brilliant colors, and of the country in which it was found,
which, it is supposed, was their first sojourn.[54] This species, which
Cuvier has named _Ateuchus Ægyptorum_, is green, with a golden tint,
while the first is black.[55] The _Buprestis_ and _Cantharus_, or
_Copris_, were also held in high repute by the Egyptians, and used as
synonymous emblems of the same deities as the Scarabæus. This is further
confirmed by the fact of S. Passalacqua having found a species of
Buprestis embalmed in a tomb at Thebes.[56] But the _Scarabæus_, or
_Ateuchus sacer_, is the beetle most commonly represented, and the type
of the whole class; and the one referred to in this article under the
general name of _Scarabæus_, unless when otherwise particularly
mentioned.
The Scarabæus, according to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, was
sacred to the Sun and to Pthah, the personification of the creative
power of the Deity; and it was adopted as an emblem or symbol of--
1. The World.--According to P. Valerianus, the Scarab was symbolical of
the world, on account of the globular form of its pellets of dung, and
from an odd notion that they were rolled from sunrise to sunset.[57]
2. The Sun.--P. Valerianus supposes this insect to have been a symbol of
the sun, because of the angular projection from its head resembling
rays, and from the thirty joints of the six tarsi of its feet answering
to the days of an (ordinary) solar month.[58] According to Plutarch, it
was because these insects cast the seed of generation into round balls
of dung, as a genial nidus, and roll them backward with their feet,
while they themselves look directly forward. And as the sun appears to
proceed in the heavens in a course contrary to the signs, thus the
Scarabæi turn their balls toward the west, while they themselves
continue creeping toward the east; by the first of these motions
exhibiting the diurnal, and by the second the annual, motion of the
earth and the planets.[59] Porphyry gives the same reason as Plutarch
why the beetle was considered, as he calls it, “a living image of the
sun.”[60] Horapollo assigns two reasons for the Scarab being taken as
an emblem of the sun. He tells us there are three species of beetles:
one of which has the form of a cat, and is radiated;[61] and this one
from a supposed analogy the Egyptians have dedicated to the Sun,
because, first, the statue of the Deity of Heliopolis (City of the Sun)
has the form of a cat![62] In this, however, Wilkinson asserts, that
Horapollo is wrong; for the Deity of Heliopolis, under the form of a
cat, was the emblem of Bubastis, and not of Rê, a type of the sun; and
the presence of her statue is explained by the custom of each city
assigning to the Divinities of neighboring places a conspicuous post in
its own temples; and Bubastis was one of the principal contemplar
Deities of Heliopolis.[63] The second reason of Horapollo is, that this
insect has thirty fingers, which correspond to the thirty days of a
solar month.[64]
3. The Moon.--The second of the three species of beetles, described by
Horapollo, has, according to this writer, two horns, and the character
of a bull; and it was consecrated to the moon; whence the Egyptians say,
that the bull in the heavens is the elevation of this Goddess. This
statement of beetle “with two horns” (the _Copris Isidis_) consecrated
to the moon, Wilkinson says is not confirmed by the sculptures where it
is never introduced.[65]
It is said the Egyptians believed that the pellet of the Scarabæus
remained in the ground for a period of twenty-eight days. May not this
have some connection with their choosing the insect as a symbol of the
moon which divides the year into months of twenty-eight days each; or,
of the month itself (of which we shall notice it was also a symbol) for
the same reason? I have seen, too, a Scarabæus engraved upon a seal, the
joints of whose tarsi numbered but twenty-eight.
Conformable to this supposition, the following quotation may be given
from that chapter of the Treasvrie of Auncient and Modern Times devoted
to the “Many meruailous (marvelous) properties in sundrie things; and to
what Stars and Planets they are subjected naturally,” where we find
mention of the Scarab as being subject to the moon: “The _Scarabe_,
which is otherwise commonly called the Beetle-flye, a little old
Creature, is maruelously subject to the Moon, and thereof is found both
written, and by experience: That she gathereth or little pellets, or
little round bals, and therein encloseth her young Egges, keeping the
Pellets hid in the ground eight and twenty daies; during which time the
Moone maketh her course, and the nine and twentieth day shee taketh them
forth, and then hideth them againe vnder the Earth. Then, at such time
as the Moone is conioyned with the Sunne, which wee vsually tearme the
New Moone: they all issue forth aliue, and flye about.”[66]
4. Mercury.--The third of the three species of beetles, described by
Horapollo, has one horn, and a peculiar form; and it is supposed, like
the Ibis, to refer to Mercury.[67]
5. A Courageous Warrior.--As such they forced all the soldiers to wear
rings, upon each of which a beetle was engraved, _i.e._ an animal
perpetually in armor, who went his rounds in the night.[68] Plutarch
thus alludes to this custom: “In the signet or seal-ring of their
martial and military men, there was engraven the portraeture of the
great Fly called the Beettil;” and assigns this curious and ridiculous
reason, “because in that kinde there is no female, but they be all
males.”[69] The custom is also mentioned by Ælian;[70] and some Scarabs
have been found perfect, set in gold, with the ring attached.[71] The
Romans adopted this emblem and made it a part of some legionary
standards.
6. Pthah, the Creative Power.--Plutarch says, that in consequence of
there being no females of this species, but all males, they were
considered fit types of the creative power, self-acting and
self-sufficient.[72] Some, too, have supposed that its position upon the
female figure of the heavens, which encircles the zodiacs, refers to the
same singular idea of its generative influence.[73]
7. Pthah Tore, another character of the creative power.[74]
8. Pthah-Sokari-Osiris.--Of this pigmy Deity of Memphis, it was adopted
as a distinctive mark, being placed on his head.[75]
9. Regeneration, or reproduction, from the fact of its being the first
living animal observed upon the subsidence of the waters of the
Nile.[76]
10. Spring.[77]
11. The Egyptian month anterior to the rising of the Nile, as it appears
first in that month.[78] It also may have been a symbol of a lunar month
from an above-mentioned belief, namely, that its pellets remain
twenty-eight days in the ground. It is sometimes found with the joints
of its tarsi numbering but twenty-eight instead of thirty, hence the
supposition is that it was held as a symbol of a lunar, as well as a
solar, month.
12. Fecundity.--Dr. Clarke informs us that these beetles are even yet
eaten by the women to render them prolific.[79]
13. With the eyes pierced by a needle, of a man who died from fever.[80]
14. Surrounded by roses, of a voluptuary, because they thought that the
smell of that flower enervated, made lethargic, and killed the
beetle.[81]
15. An only son; because, says Fosbroke, they believed that every beetle
was “both male and female.”[82] Was it not because they imagined these
insects were all males, as above stated upon the authority of Plutarch,
and hence the analogy in a family of an only son since it could be but
of the masculine gender?