Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1899-03-18
THE SACRED BEETLE.
Curious Acts Of the SrRrabTus That
Led "a Hts Dedication.

i Lea to His DetHcnttOu.
u As far as I can make ont, pair Of bee
!, ties, male and female, seem usually to
share hole I'm common and 10 roll balls
Of food to il either alone or i'm concert.
cannot say have ever seen much cooper
stion except between such partners. Once
"a ball Is secured and safely landcd-for
here. as elscw here. there's many slip
'twixt the cup and the lip-the happy
couple proceed To eat it up and apparently
do not emerge again from their burrOw
till the supply is exhausted Patient nat
uralists say that one hall has been known
10 last scarab as long as fortnight, hut
this do not vouch for of personal knowl
edge When more food is wanted, the
couple emerge once more on the open sand
and begin 10 collect fresh dung and refuse,
which they roll into n new food ball and
then dry and harden
Till very lately IL was universally be.
licvcd that the female scarab laid an egg
in some Of the balls and that the young
Rrubs hatchcd within such food stocks
and bcgan at once To dcvour them. This
belief has recently been contradictcd with
great emphasis by good French observer,
who opened many halls and found no eggs,
but | cannot accept his conclusion.
Venice this year and saw In several one or
two eggs. while in one case (unearthed
from n holcl discovered half grown
larva. venture. therefore. in this mat
ter tn believe my own eyes as against those
of even the most celebrated and authorita-
tive entomologists. In Egypt II has been
universally believed from all antiquity
and think quite rightly-that after the
scarab has laid an egg in the hall the par
cnts unite in rolling II TO place Of safety,
above the level of the annual inundation
due to the rise II the Nile. At any rate,
scarsibs abound In Egypt.
At n very early date IL would seem, the
curious action Of these beetles attracted
the attention Of the ancient Egyptians,
whose worship Of animals was one of the
most marked features of their monstrous
religion; hence grew n strange and wide
spread superstition. A race which deifled
the hawk. the cat. the ibis and the jackal
was not likely to overlook the marvellous
proceedings of the pious and dutiful scarab.
so the very early Egyptians, we may con
lecture. began by thinking therc must be
something divine in the nature Of an in
sect which worked So ccasclcssly on behalf
Of its young and rolled such big round
halls behind IL up such relatively large
hillocks. Watching "a little closer, as time
went ON. the Egyptian discovered, no
doubt. that sacred beetles did not proceed
| directly from sacred beetles. like lambs
/ from ewes. hut grew. as II were. ont Of
the dirt and corruption of the mysterious
pellets.
A modern observer would Of course at
once suspect that the scarab laid an egg
inside the ball and would promptly pro
cecd to pull one open and look for IL, but
that cold scientific method was not likely
To commend itself 10 the mystic and deep
ly religious Egyptian mind The priests
by the Nile jumped rather to the conclu-
! sion that the scarab collected dirt i'm order
to make n future scarab out of clay, and
that from this dirt the young beetle grew,
| self existent, self developed. self created
Considering the absence Of scientific
knowledge and comparative groups Of sci
entitic facts at the time. such "a conclusion
was by no means unnatural Once started
ON So strange set of ideas. the Egyptians
proceeded to evolve n worshipof the scarab
which grcw ever and developed. as they
thought the scarab itself did. practically
out ~ nothing The Immortality Of the
soul and the rcsurrctlon Of the body were
the central ideas Of Egyptian religion.
The thinkers Of Thebes and Memphis in
stantly perceived fanciful analogy be-
tween the scarab rising from its bed Of
dirt and the mummy rcviving when tho
expected day II resurrection should at last
arrive. Asa consequence of this analogy
the scarab was made sacred |; was rev
crcncsd during It's life and often preserved
after It's death. like the mummictl cats and
hawks and sacred Apis bulls which formed
such special objects of Ncncration to tho
dcvout of Egypt Grant Allen in Strand
Magazine.