142 FLORA OF THE 



viz. the leaf-head of a date tree, and two pairs of 

 horns supporting it It is a motive which was fre- 

 quently used by Assyrian artists of all sorts. What 

 is called the honeysuckle pattern, or ' anthemion,' is 

 nothing but the date tree head, as will be seen further 

 on, supported by horns. If search were made we should 

 probably be able to trace the descendants of these 

 date leaves and horns in many a decorative pattern 

 used at the present day in architecture, wall decorations, 

 tapestry, furniture, etc. 



This so-called honeysuckle pattern is not, I think, 

 the only outcome of the superstition of tying horns on 

 trees, for I believe the flenr-de-lys, so much used in 

 heraldry as a royal emblem, and on many coats of 

 arms, seems nothing but a modified imitation of the 

 real horns tied on trees or posts, and originally used 

 by Assyrians for warding off the mischief supposed to 

 ensue from the stroke of an evil eye.^ 



I shall now endeavour to develop this other idea 

 further, but before doing so we have to ascertain what 

 has been stated by archaeologists to have been the 

 genesis of the device used in heraldry and known as 

 the ' fleur-de-lys' [de lis, or de luce). An outline of it is 

 given in figs. 70 and 71. A modification of the same 

 thing is given in fig. 72. 



1 Littre says: " Mauvais neil, faculte funeste attribuee a certains individus, 

 de porter malheur a ceux qu'ils regardent." 



