The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1867-04-05

wishing the whole tribe of Scdrdboei at
the devil.
"Ah, if had only known you were
here! !" said Legrand, "but it's so long
since 1 saw you; and how could fore
see that you would pay me visit this
very night of all others? AS l was
coming home 1 met Lieutenant c.,
from the fort, and very foolishly, l lent
him the bug so it will be impossible
for you to see it until the morning.
Stay here tonight, and l will send Jup
down for it at sunrise. 1t is the lowell
est thing in creation ~
"What ?-sunrise?"
Nonsense! no!-the bug. 1t is of a
brilliant gold color-about the size of a
large hickory-nut-with two Jet black
spots near one extremity of the back,
and another, somewhat longer, at the
other. The dqtenilG are"
"Dey aint no tin in him, Massa Will,
/ keep tellin on you," here inter-
rupted Jupiter; ode bug is goole bug,
solid ebery bit oh him, inside and ALL,
sep him wing-neber feel half so hebby
bug in my life."
"Well, suppose it is, Jup," replied
Legrand, somewhat more earnestly, it
seemed to me, than the case demanded,
sis that any reason for your letting the
birds burn? The ecolor''-here he turned
to me-"is really almost enough to war
rant Jupiter's idea. You never saw a
more brilliant metallic lustre than the
scales emit-but of this you cannot
judge till tomorrow. In the meantime
/ can give you some idea of the shape. "
Saying this, he seated himself at a
small table, on which were pen and
ink, but no paper. lie looked for some
in Il drawer, but found none.
"Never mind" said he at length, "this
will answer )" and he drew from his
waistcoat pocket scrap of what took
to be very dirty foolscap, and made up
on it rough drawing with the pen.
While he did this, retained my seat
by the fire, for / was still chilly. When
the design was complete, he handed ii
to me without rising. As l received it,
a loud growl was heard, succeeded by a
scratching at the door. Jupiter opened
it, and a large Newfoundland, belong
ing to Legrand, rushed in, leaped upon
my shoulders, and loaded me with ca.
resses for l had shown him much at.
tention during his previous visits
When his gambols were over, looked
at the paper, and to speak the truth,
found myself not little puzzled al
what my friend had depicted.
"Well," | said, after contemplating
it for some minutes, "this is Il strange
ScdTdJpuS, l must confess new to me
never saw anything like it beforc-un
less it was skull, or a deaths head
which it more nearly resembles thar
anything else that has come under M
observation"
"a deaths head!" echoed Legrand-
"Oh-yes-well, it has something of
that appearance upon paper, no doubt
The two upper black spots look like
eyes, eh ? and the longer one at the bot
tom like a mouth-and then the shape
of the whole is oval"
"Perhaps so," said l "but, Legrand
| fear you are no artist, must wait un
til see the beetle itself, if am to form
any idea of its personal appearance"
"Well, don't know" said he lit
tie nettled, az draw tolerably-shoulc
do it at least-have had good masters
and fiatter myself that l am not quite ;
blockhead."
"But, my dear fellow, you are joking
then," said l, "this is a very passabl,
skull-indeed, / may say that it is ;
very excellent skull, according to thr
vulgar notions about such specimens OF
physiology-and your ScaraJ9uS mus
be the queerest scdrdJIus in the worlC
if it resembles it. Why, we may ge
up very thrilling bit of superstition
upon this hint. l presume you vii
call the bug ScdrdbTus colDW hominiS
or something of that kind-there ar,
many similar titles in the Natural His
tories. But where are the datenlce yol
spoke OFF,"
"The dnteRnG !" said Lcgrand, wht
seemed to be getting unaccountabl,
warm upon the subject 81 am sur
you must see the anteRRCe. made then
as distinct as they are in the origina
insect, and presume that is sufficient.
"Well, WE'LL" l said, "porhaps yor
have-still | don't see them )" and
handed him the paper without addi
tional remark, not wishing to rutlle hi
temper; but | was much surprised q
the turn affairs had taken; his iIl-humo
puzzled me--and, as for the drawing O
the beetle, there were positively no 0i
tenn@ visible, and the whole did bear
very close resemblance to the ordinar
cuts of death's-head.
lie received the paper very peevishl
and was about to crumple it, apparentl
to throw it in the fire, when casuf
glance at the design seemed suddenl
to rivct his attention. In an lnstan
his face grew violently rcd-in anothC
as excessively pale. For some minute
he continued to scrutinin the drawin
minutely where he sat. At length i
arose, took a candle from the table, an
proceeded to seat himself on tca-che
in the farthest corner of the room. Hel
| again he made an anxious eXaminatio
+ of the paper; turning it in all dire
5 tions. lie said nothing, however, al
= his conduct greatly astonished me; "
1 | thought it prudent not to eXaccrba