958 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



"is slioiu of its glory," and only between 400 and 500 cedar trees are 

 found in small groups in various parts of the mountain range, most of 

 them in the valley of Kadisha, nearly 7,000 feet above the sea. The 

 tree is still called by the Arabs Ar.z, identical with the ancient Hebrew 

 name.' 



Cone of a Lebanon fir. — The Hebrew word^ Berosh, which is 

 rendered by the English version "tir," probably comprises the other 

 coniferous trees of Palestine, including junipers, pines, and the funeral 

 cypress. Of the pine there are four species in Palestine. The most 

 common is the Aleppo pine {Pinus lialepemifi), then the pinaster (P. 

 pinaster), the stone {P.pinea), and the Pyrenean [P. pijrenaiea). The 

 Juniperus excelsa is very common, and the Cyprcssus He:npervirens is the 

 common species of western Asia and southern Europe. " Fir trees" are 

 frequently referred to in the Old Testament in association with cedars 

 of Lebanon, though the former were deemed inferior: "Howl, O tir 

 tree, for the cedar is fallen."^ "Fir" timber was used for the floors 

 of the temple,^ for ships' planks,"* and for musical instruments.'^ The 

 fruit is but once mentioned: "I am like a green fir tree; from me is thy 

 fruit found."" 



FAUNA. 



Though for obvious reasons no attempt was made at a comi)ete col- 

 lection of the fauna of the Bible, a sufticient number of specimens was 

 shown from each class to make the exhibit of this division of the 

 natural history of the Bible in some measure representative. 



MAMMALS. 



The mammals were illustrated by the following specimens: 

 The ape" {Ranumanmonlxey, tSemnopithecus entellus ; Hebrew, Qof). — 

 The ape was not native in Palestine. It is mentioned in the Bible 

 among the commodities brought to Solomon by the ships of Tarshish." 

 The Hebrew name for ape is cognate with that in the Tamil language 

 {Kapi), and it is therefore assumed that the apes were brought from 

 Ceylon or South India, where the genus SemnopUlweas is especially fre- 

 quent. The ape has also been identified among the animals depicted 

 on the Assyrian monuments. 



The bat (Hebrew, Atallef). — The bat is classed in the catalogue of 

 animals'" among the unclean birds, which are forbidden for food. In 



' Immauuel Loew, Aramaeische Pflanzeuuameu, Leipzig, 1881, p. 57. 

 - Some authorities favor the renderiug cypress. 

 ■' Zacliariah xi, 2. 



■•I Kiugs vi, 15. The Revised ^'ersiou gives cypress in the margin. 

 •'■ Ezekiel xxvii, 5. 

 ^11 Samuel vi, 5. 

 ' Hosea xiv, 8. 



" Siuce the version of 1611 English usage has changed. Monkey, the more general 

 term, a\ ould be a litter rendering. 



■' i Kings X, 22, and the ])arallel passages in II Chronicles ix, 21. 

 '"Leviticus xi, 19, 20; compare Deuteronomy xiv, 18. 



