to understand those Scriptural passages which record instances of shepherds attacking lions single-handed.

The bear that destroyed the forty-and-two children that mocked Elisha was, no doubt, the Ursus Syriacus, the Palestine representative of the U. arctos of North Europe; it was noticed by Hemprich and Ehrenberg, on the Macmel, one of the summits of Lebanon; and, according to Dr. Thomson, it is still found on the high mountains of that part of the country. The hyæna and wolf are also still found in Palestine, while foxes and jackals are common everywhere. We may here remark in passing that the 300 foxes that Samson is said to have caught were no doubt jackals. The Hebrew shûal is the Persian shaghal, the German schagal, and our English jackal. Critics have advanced many objections to this transaction of the Hebrew Judge. Part of the difficulty, however, vanishes if we suppose that jackals are intended; for these animals, which for the most part are gregarious in their habits, might readily have been captured in nets or pitfalls in great numbers; and there is no necessity for concluding that Samson did all the hunting himself, and had no helpers. With respect to the other difficulty, that two animals united by their tails, instead of running off, would stand still and fight most fiercely, it must be remembered that we are not told the length of the cord that united the animals-a very important consideration-for a cord of merely a couple of yards long might have answered the required purpose; jackals being, as was said, gregarious in their habits, we can easily believe that couples thus united would run together, and make the best of their way out of the sight of their captors.

Boars and leopards are still found in some parts of Palestine. Mount Tabor is a favourite haunt of wild boars, and Pococke observed herds of these animals near the Jordan, where it flows out of the Lake of Tiberias. The havoc which wild boars do to vineyards is well known, and is especially referred to in the Bible. Miss E. A. Beaufort relates in her charming work, Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines' (vol. ii. p. 59), a curious anecdote of a panther, which formed an attachment to a Russian hermit that a few years ago lived on the top of Mount Tabor. One winter's day a noble panther approached the cave in which he lived; he threw him a piece of bread, and the panther crouched down at his feet. He soon became quite tame, and thenceforth, wherever the hermit went, the beautiful creature was at his side following him like a dog. Mr. Rogers, the English Consul at Haiffa, who told me this story, frequently saw them together on the mountain.' It is impossible to read this anecdote without calling

to

to mind the well-known story of Androclus and the Lion, living together in a cave, as told by Aulus Gellius.*

The ornithology of Palestine is very varied, and the Bible contains several allusions to birds. The migratory habits of some species are especially noticed. 'The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming.' 'Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings towards the South?' In this country the smaller species of Raptors are resident the whole year; but in Palestine nearly all are summer migrants. The singing of birds and the soft murmuring of the turtle-dove were indications that the winter was past, the rain over and gone,' and that the warm spring had commenced. Palestine is rich in song-birds. The blackbird and thrush of England mingle their melodious notes with those of the nightingale of the country (Ixos xanthopygus), the finest songster in Palestine, which pours forth its song long before sunrise, and continues its concert with its fellows till nearly noon. Various kinds of pigeons (Columbide) may be seen; the Turtur auritus frequents the orangegroves round Jaffa; and the Turtur Ægyptiacus is common near Jericho. Partridges, francolins, quails, and sand-grouse are abundant.

Much has been written on the subject of the 'quails' which fed the wandering Israelites in the wilderness, but we think that the common quail is denoted by the Hebrew term Selâv. Ludolf would have that they were locusts, and has written a work in support of his theory. He has been followed by Patrick. Rudbeck § said the selâv were flying-fish (Exocetus). Ehrenberg was of the same opinion, substituting, however, the genus Trigla for Exocetus. Mr. Forster has advanced an opinion that red geese, of the genus Casarca, are the birds intended. Sir E. Tennent is inclined to adopt this explanation. Several Biblical commentators, as Rosenmüller and Gesenius, refer the selâv to a species of sand-grouse (Pterocles alchata) common in the Bible lands. The bird last named has some slight claims, but not equal

*Nor is it easy to write Mr. Rogers's name and designation without being reminded of his sister's truly interesting Domestic Life in Palestine.'

† Ibis, vol. i. p. 30.

Dissertatio de Locustis, cum Diatriba, qua sententia autoris nova de Selavis, sive locustis, cibo Israëlitarum in deserto defenditur,' &c. Fran. ad Moen. 1694.

S'Ichthyologiæ Biblicæ, Pars I., de Ave Selav, cujus fit mentio Numb. xi. 31, in quâ contra Bochartum et Ludolfum non Avem plumosam nec Locustam fuisse, sed potius Piscis genus, demonstratur.' Ups., 1705.

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claims with the common quail, to represent the selâv of the Scriptures. The explanation of selâv by wild-geese,' or 'cranes,' is purely gratuitous. Mr. Forster's casarca is the C. rutila, a bird about the size of a mallard, which can by no means answer the supposed requisite of being two and a half cubits high. Professor Stanley's 'large red-legged cranes' are evidently white storks (Ciconia alba), and would suit as to height, but certainly not as to flavour. Had the learned Professor of Ecclesiastical History only tried to swallow a mouthful of stork's flesh, he would have been convinced that the Israelites would never have eaten it for a day, much less for a month! The Hebrew selâv is the same as the Arabic saluâ, which, according to Schultens, is from an Arabic root signifying to be fat;' the round, plump form of the quail suits this derivation admirably.. Quails (Coturnix dactylosonans) migrate in immense numbers; as many as 100,000 have been taken near Nethuno in one day. They fly in the evening or at night; they are so exhausted after flight that they are barely able to rise a few feet from the ground, and are in consequence readily captured. Clouds of quails,' says Shaw, alight in spring along the coasts of Provence; here they are sometimes found so exhausted that for a few of the first days they may be caught with the hand.' And there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.' This latter expression is explained by the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Josephus to refer to the height at which the quails flew above the ground in their 'exhausted condition' as just mentioned.

Of the class Reptilia different sorts of lizards are mentioned in the Bible, but only in the list of unclean animals. We need not stop to notice them; the crocodile has been already considered. Different kinds of serpents are frequently alluded to. The 'deaf adder that stoppeth her ears' is probably the Egyptian Cobra (Naia haje), one of the most general subjects of the charmer's art; the adder (Hebrew shephiphôn) in the path that biteth the horse's heels' is the Cerastes Hasselquistii, or horned viper of North Africa and Arabia. It is impossible to say what the fiery serpents' that destroyed the murmuring Israelites denote, but as the venomous serpents that are found in the Peninsula of Sinai are few in species, perhaps some Cobra may be intended. The fiery flying serpent' of Isaiah (xiv. 29) could never have any existence in nature. Professor Stanley, in his sermon on

had

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单 Zoology,' xi. 362 (1819).

'Human

'Human Corruption,' speaking of the serpent of the Fall, eloquently observes :-'We might show how in the natural history of the actual serpent there meet together those outward characteristics which give a special significance to its selection as the symbol of evil; how the towering pride of its crested head, and the beauty of its glittering skin, the subtle fascination in the fixed and steadfast gaze of its unshaded eye, the wily cunning of its tortuous movements, the malignant venom of its poison, the undisguised shamelessness of its natural lust, the low and grovelling descent into the dust of the earth-are indeed fit emblems of almost every form of the darker side of human life.' Of the Batrachia we have Biblical notice only of the frog (Rana esculenta), in the matter of the Egyptian plague.

Fish are mentioned only in the aggregate; there is no allusion to any particular kinds, and little is known about the fish of the Jordan and Lake of Tiberias. The fish of the Sea of Galilee have long been famous for their excellent quality; the mesht (Sparus Galilæus) and the binny (Barbus binni, Cuv.) appear to be almost the only ascertained species known to occur in this lake. All travellers are agreed as to the total absence of organic life in the waters of the Dead Sea. It would, however, be interesting to determine whether some species of Artemia (brine shrimp) may not be found in the shallow pools at the extreme south end of the lake. The Artemia salina is, as far as is yet known, the only animal capable of living in a concentrated solution of salt. In the open tanks at Lymington myriads of these transparent little shrimps, which are about half an inch in length, may be seen swimming actively about in water every pint of which contains as much as a quarter of a pound of salt.'*

The only direct allusion to any of the Mollusca occurs in Psalm lviii. 8; the Hebrew word translated 'snail' in Leviticus xi. 30 probably denotes some species of lizard. The expression in the Psalm 'let them consume away like a snail' refers to an erroneous notion that the snail, by leaving its slimy track behind it, actually wasted away.

Pearls are the subject of several allusions. They were, no doubt, yielded for the most part by the Avicula margaritifera, or pearl-oyster, and were obtained from the Persian Gulf, which has long been celebrated for the excellence of its pearls.

Of insects, the ant and locust are particularly mentioned. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.' Solomon very properly enumerates ants amongst the four things which, though little upon the earth, are ex

* Dictionary of the Bible,' art. Palestine, Zoology of.

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ceeding

ceeding wise.' According to the attentive observation of entomologists, ants do not prepare their meat in the summer for winter's consumption; at least, it is pretty certain that in a country like Palestine, where the cold of winter is severe, these insects lie dormant. It is true that Colonel Sykes has a paper (vol. ii. Transac. of Entomol. Society,' p. 103) on a species of Indian ant, which he calls Atta providens, from the fact of his having found a large store of grass-seeds in its nest; but that gentleman's observations merely show that this ant carries seeds underground, and brings them again to the surface, apparently to dry, after they have got wet during the monsoons." The processionary ant of Brazil (Oecodoma cephalotes) carries immense quantities of portions of leaves into its underground nest. Some people have supposed that these leaves were for food, but Mr. Bates, who has paid a good deal of attention to the subject, convinced himself that the leaves were taken for the purpose of lining the channels of the nest, and not for food. Ants will also carry away grains of corn. They are great robbers,' says Dr. Thomson, and plunder by night as well as by day, and the farmer must keep a sharp eye to his floor, or they will abstract a large quantity of grain in a single night.' (The Land and the Book,' p. 337.) It was natural to conclude that these busy little animals, which are perpetually running away with something or other in their mouths, were intent on laying up store for future use. The ancient Greeks and Romans were under this impression. It will be enough to quote the well-known lines of Horace :

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'Parvula (nam exemplo est) magni formica laboris

Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo
Quem struit, haud ignara ac non incauta futuri.'

The Arabians held the wisdom of the ant in such estimation that they used to place one of these insects in the hand of a newly-born infant, repeating these words, May the boy turn out clever and skilful.'

We often read of locusts, the most injurious insect that exists. About ten different Hebrew names occur, which Bochart argues denote so many species. This is certainly an error: the destructive locusts with which the inhabitants of the Bible lands were acquainted are limited to two or three species; such as the Edipoda migratoria and the Acridium peregrinum; some of the Hebrew names may be synonyms, others may indicate the larval or nymphal conditions of these two pre-eminent devourers of every green thing. The following are the Biblical 'Dictionary of the Bible,' art. Ant, App. A.

Vol. 114.-No. 227.