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]