1<S1 
The Rev. F. W. Hope on JBlatta. 
can judge, never yet swarmed, however abundant some species of 
Egyptian Melolontha may have been at particular times. The 
latter error seems to have originated in the inappropriate use of 
the word Scarabceus, which formerly signified an Ateuchus and 
Melolontha, and also other genera of the Lamellicornes. Scara- 
bceus, by Mr. William Sharp Mac Leay, is now very properly re- 
stricted to those insects which Illiger has denominated Ateuchus. 
Let us proceed, however, with our inquiry respecting other 
significations attributed to the word Oreb. It is allowed by all 
conversant with Hebrew, that the same word signifies a“ Raven,” 
or “ Evening,” and the arguments which have been adduced re- 
specting a species of cockroach of a dark colour now infesting 
Egypt, and of its appearance in the evening, seeming to favour the 
above interpretation, will not I think bear investigation. The 
remark respecting the colour of the species of Blatta being dark, 
may be equally applied to various species of flesh flies, which 
rendering has also been given to Oreb. That the cockroach is a 
nocturnal insect, and prowls about for food chiefly at night, no one 
will dispute ; but what reason, let me ask, have we to believe that 
the fly attacked the Egyptians by night and not by day. We are 
expressly told respecting the plague of flies (Vid. ch. viii. v. 23), 
“ to-morrow shall this sign be,” or as it is rendered in the margin 
of the Bible, “ by to-morrow.” Had this grievous plague been in- 
tended to occur at night, it would most likely have been previously 
specified, as midnight was, when Moses predicted the death of all 
the first-born in the land of Egypt. To proceed however. I have 
before stated that some expositors (viz. Aquila and Jerom) explain 
the term Oreb as “ a mixture of various kinds of flies,” and this 
explanation seems nearly to agree with that in our English trans- 
lation, which is rendered “ swarms of flies.” (Vid. Exodus, viii. 
v. 21.) Bishop Patrick gives another interpretation, “a mixture 
of different insects,” or “ mixture of flies.” 
The Hebrew word Oreb is, in the Septuagint, invariably trans- 
lated K vvogvia, or dog-fly, and it occurs in seven different places 
in our Bible ; and here I cannot help stating that I consider the 
terms of the translation adopted by the Seventy generally more 
significant and accurate than any other authority ; for if the inter- 
preters of the Hebrew text, living on the spot where the insects 
were generated, and who decidedly had far better means of iden- 
tifying species than our modern European travellers and commen- 
tators, — if they invariably render the word Oreb, Kvvoyvta, why 
should we at the present day, after the lapse of many centuries, 
presume to term this Kvroyvia, or dog-fly, a cockroach ? Do the 
