Rev. Dr Scott on the Semamith of' Solomon. 33 



awakened at the thought of the industry as well as the numbers 

 of this insect, yet the chilling recollection is apt to steal on, that 

 all these webs are instruments of destruction, snares for catching 

 as prey, those little unfortunate beings who happen to be en- 

 tangled. 



These operations of the field-spider have been beautifully il- 

 lustrated by the Abbe Pluche, in a work once very popular, but 

 now little read, entitled, Spectacle dc la Nature, or Nature 

 Displayed. 



But whatever occasion these operations of the field spider may 

 give to ornamented description, they have nothing to do with 

 the proceedings of the semamith, as mentioned by the wise king 

 of Israel ; and, therefore, that his account may be consistent, we 

 are forced to look about for some other animal. 



To the lovers of truth, we will be justified in so doing, after 

 they understand that the semamith is not the ordinary name of 

 the spider in the Hebrew language. This is ocubish, which has 

 become ocuhlm in Chaldee, and unhiibus in Arabic, both of 

 which signify a spider. 



In the Hebrew Bible^ there are two passages in which the 

 spider, under the name of ocubish, is mentioned. One of these 

 is in Job viii. 14, " The hypocrite's hope shall be cut off, and 

 Ills trust shall be a spider''s house or web."" The other is in 

 Isaiah lix. and 5, " they hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the 

 spider'*s web." In these passages, every one sees that the pro- 

 per work of the spider is noticed. 



We allow that this insect, or any other thing, may have two 

 names, provided that the one recall some idea which is not sug- 

 gested by the other ; and we would not object to semamith, as 

 the name of the spider, more than to ocubish, if the accounts 

 accompanying the use of the former, corresponded as well with 

 the habits of the insect, as they do when the latter is used. 



From the want of this correspondence, several ancient as well 

 as modern interpreters have been persuaded, that the animal 

 denoted by semamith belongs to the lizard, and not the insect 

 tribe. The Septuagint translators, who are more ancient than 

 any other, and whose authority is entitled to high regard, have 

 rendered semamith by the term calabotes, which Ilesychius the 



OCTOBER DECEMBER 1827. C 



