*This small species of Charadrius is common on the sand banks of the Nile, and, as I believe it to be the Trochilus of Herodotus, I have ventured to give it this specific name. It is the Ch. melanocephalus of Linnæus. Vide Description de l'Egypte, Oiseaux, Pl. 6.; and infrà, p. 226.; and Vol. III. p. 79, 80. The fish I have also noticedt; I shall therefore content myself with the names of those which were held sacred, Of the second division of the animal kingdom, the Mollusca, containing shellfish, nothing is known which connects any of them with the religion of Egypt: and of the *The specific name of this snake has been adopted by mistake, as I have already observed. The Haja, Hýe, or Hých, being the Arabic name of the Cerastes, and, indeed, for snakes in general, the Asp being called Nashir. + Vol. III. p. 58. An error for Suenitæ, the people of Syene. Vide Plut. de Is. s. 7. third, or Articulata, the only one which appears to have been sacred to, or emblematic of, any Deity, is the scorpion, in the third class, or ARACHNIDES. Sculptures, and in pottery. Thebes. Locusts, butterflies, moths, and other insects, are represented in the sculptures, but none appear to claim the honour of being Mite rod. Flies Among the vegetables of Egypt, the following were sacred, or connected with religion: The * Though Pliny and Juvenal are positive about onions being sacred, and even "Gods," it may be doubted; as the monuments do not confirm the statement, and they are commonly offered on all altars, as I have already observed. priests alone abstained from them. Vide also infrà, on the Onion. |