"With regard to the second point, I am satisfied that the _Scaraboeus_ or Beetle itself has no _persona standi in judicio_; and therefore the pursuer cannot insist in the name of the _Scaraboeus_, or for his behoof. If the action lie at all, it must be at the instance of the pursuer himself, as the _verus dominus_ of the _Scaraboeus_, for being calumniated through the _convicium_ directed primarily against the animal standing in that relation to him. Now, abstracting from the qualification of an actual _dominium_, which is not alleged, I have great doubts whether a mere _convicium_ is necessarily transmitted from one object to another, through the relation of a _dominium_ subsisting between them; and if not necessarily transmissible, we must see the principle of its actual transmission here; and that has not yet been pointed out. "LORD HERMAND.--We heard a little ago, my Lord, that there is a difficulty in this case; but I have not been fortunate enough, for my part, to find out where the difficulty lies. Will any man presume to tell me that a Beetle is not a Beetle, and that a Louse is not a Louse? I never saw the petitioner's Beetle, and what's more I don't care whether I ever see it or not; but I suppose it's like other Beetles, and that's enough for me. "But, my Lord, I know the other reptile well. I have seen them, I have felt them, my Lord, ever since I was a child in my mother's arms; and my mind tells me that nothing but the deepest and blackest malice rankling in the human breast could have suggested this comparison, or led any man to form a thought so injurious and insulting. But, my Lord, there's more here than all that--a great deal more. One could have thought the defender would have gratified his spite to the full by comparing the Beetle to a common Louse--an animal sufficiently vile and abominable for the purpose of defamation--[_Shut that door there_]--but he adds the epithet _Egyptian_, and I know well what he means by that epithet. He means, my Lord, a Louse that has been fattened on the head of a _Gipsy or Tinker_, undisturbed by the comb or nail, and unmolested in the enjoyment of its native filth. He means a Louse grown to its full size, ten times larger and ten times more abominable than those with which _your Lordships and I are familiar_. The petitioner asks redress for the injury so atrocious and so aggravated; and, as far as my voice goes, he shall not ask it in vain.