in the sculptures. This change of form did not make them less fit emblems of the Gods: the Scarabæus of the Sun appears with the head of a ram as well as of a hawk; and a Scarabæus with the head and legs of a man, was equally emblematic of the God Pthah.* Of other insects I shall only observe, that flies are said to have been preserved in the same tombs ; but doubtless without any idea of sanctity being attached to so odious and troublesome an insect. Indeed they still continue to be one of the plagues of Egypt; and the character of a tormentor, applied to the Evil Being, seems to have been aptly designated by the title Beelzebub †, or "the lord of flies.” The ant is also one of the plagues of the country, as in most hot climates. Horapollo ‡ says it represented in hieroglyphics "knowledge;" but the consideration of its wisdom did not prevent the Egyptians from being fully sensible of the inconvenience it caused them, "having the art of discovering whatever is most carefully concealed;" and the origanum plant was used in order to drive away this industrious and tiresome insect. Few insects of ancient Egypt have come down to us either in the paintings of the monuments, or preserved by accident; the former being confined to the butterfly, beetle, wasp, dragonfly, locust, and housefly; and the latter, to those which have been found in the bodies or heads of mummies.§ *Vide suprà, p. 128.; and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 250. 256. + The zebub, or dthebab, of the Arabs, is the noted fly of the desert, which causes a disease to camels called by the same name. Horapollo, i. 52. and ii. 34. Mr. Pettigrew has enumerated all that have been ascertained by VEGETABILIA. I have stated that the Persea was sacred to Athor, as the sycomore to Netpe. † I have also observed that Plutarch supposes the peach to have been sacred to Harpocrates; though there is reason to believe that his opinion is erroneous§, and that he has confounded it with the tree of Athor. Athenæus, on the authority of Hellanicus, mentions some acanthus (acacia) trees, which blossomed all the year, at a place called Tindium, where certain celebrated assemblies were held; and this town had a large temple, surrounded with black and white acanthus trees, on which chaplets made of their flowers, and pomegranate blossoms entwined with vine leaves, were placed. But this seems rather to indicate a local respect for the acanthus of Tindium, than any adoration generally paid to those trees by the Egyptians. Mr. Hope, to whom those in one of the heads brought by me from Thebes were submitted for examination: 7. Pimelia spinulosa, Klug? Hope. 8. Copris sabæus? "found by Passalacqua; so named on the testimony of Latreille." 9. Midas, Fab. 10. Pithecius, Fab. 11. A species of cantharis in Passalacqua's Collection, No. 442. (Vide Pettigrew, p. 55., whose work is replete with valuable information on the subject of mummies.) *Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 391. ‡ Plut. s. 68. The acanthus was the sont, or Mimosa Nilotica, of modern Egypt. Its flowers were frequently used for chaplets; and its pod, which represented a letter in hieroglyphics, was sometimes placed among the offerings on the altars of the Gods. There is no evidence of its having been sacred. The tamarisk was a holy tree, from having been Fi Sacred Tamarisk of Osiris. From a Tomb at How. No. 465. chosen to overshadow the sepulchre of Osiris, in commemoration of the fable of the chest containing his body having lodged in the branches of one of those trees, on the coast of Byblus, where, driven ashore by the waves of the sea, it was discovered by Isis. The tree is represented in the sacred chamber dedicated to that God at Philæ, and in a small sepulchre at How (Diospolis parva). *It probably included other of the Mimosa or Acacia genus which grew in Egypt. Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 79, 80. + Plut. de Is. s. 15. and 21. In the latter the bird Benno is seated in its branches, accompanied by the name of Osiris, of whom it was an emblem; and in the former two priests are represented watering the tree, as it grows beneath a canopy. This confirms in a remarkable manner the account of Plutarch †, who, in describing "the tomb of Osiris at Philæ No. 465. a. Priests watering the sacred Tamarisk. crowned with flowers at the solemnization of his funeral rites by the priests," says, "it is overshadowed by the branches of a tamarisk tree, whose size exceeds that of an olive." Of the lotus I have already spoken ‡, as also of the papyrus and other plants of the country.§ The agrostis, alluded to by Diodorus, was not related to the grass called agrostis by modern botanists, p. 342. *Woodcut, No. 465. Vide suprà, p. 225.; and Vol. I. (2d Series) + Plut. de Is. s. 21. Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p.332. Vide Vol. II. p. 217. Vide Vol. II. p. 183. 219.; (2d Series) p. 60. 411. et seq. Vol. III. p. 61. 146.; and suprà, Vol. I. but seems rather to be a name applied to the lotus, which was so commonly held in the hands of guests in the convivial meetings of the Egyptians. Proclus pretends that the lotus was peculiarly typical of the Sun," which it appeared to honour by the expansion and contraction of its leaves." It was an emblem of Nofre-Atmoo, and introduced with the infant Deity Ehôou.* "Garlic and onions," according to Plinyt, "were treated as Gods by the Egyptians when taking an oath;" and Juvenal‡ derides them for their veneration of these garden-born Deities. Plutarch says, being held in abhorrence, the priests abstained from them§ as unlawful food; the reason of which was probably derived from a sanatory precaution, as in the case of beans and "other kinds of pulse." || But there is no direct evidence from the monuments of their having been sacred; and they were admitted as common offerings on every altar. Onions and other vegetables were not forbidden to the generality of the people, to whom they were a principal article of food ¶; for, whatever religious feeling prohibited their use on certain occasions, this was confined to the initiated, who were required to keep themselves more especially pure for the ser vice of the Gods. The palm branch I have shown to have been adopted to represent a year, as Horapollo also states**; and Clemens †† considers it the symbol * Vide suprà, p. 25.; and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 410, 411. Plin. xix. 6. Juv. Sat. 15. Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 162. Plut. s. 8. Vide suprà, Vol. II. p. 373. || Plut. s. 5. **Horapollo, i. 4. Vide suprà, p. 2.; and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 256. †† Clem. Strom. 6. |