292 MUSCID^ — FLIES. 



Protestants beyond Seas, printed in 1680, we find the in- 

 sinuating detectives of the Spanish Inquisition under the 

 name of FHes.^ 



FHes are mentioned somewhere in Lyndwood as the em- 

 blem of unclean thoughts.^ 



Flies were driven away when a woman was in labor, for 

 fear she should bring forth a daughter.^ 



Flies are found represented in the pottery of the ancient 

 Egyptians.* 



Flies ( Guspi) were sacrificed to the Sun by the ancient 

 Peruvians.^ 



" To let a Flee (Fly) stick i' the wa' " is, in Scotland, 

 not to speak on some particular topic, to pass it over with- 

 out remark.^ 



"Certes, a strange thing it is of these Flies," says Pliny, 

 '' which are taken to be as senselesse and witlesse creatures, 

 yea, and of as little capacity and understanding as any other 

 whatsoever : and yet at the solemne games and plaies holden 

 every fifth yeare at Olympia, no sooner is the bull sacrificed 

 there to the Idoll or god of the Flies called Myiodes, but a 

 man shall see (a wonderful thing to tell) infinit thousand 

 of flies depart out of that territorie by flights, as it were 

 thick clouds."^ 



This Myiodes or Maagrus, the "Fly-catcher," was the 

 name of a hero, invoked at Aliphera, at the festivals of 

 Athena, as the protector against Flies. It was also a sur- 

 name of Hercules. 



The following rendering of the second verse of the first 

 chapter of the Second Book of Kings, by Josephus, contains 

 an allusion to the worship of Baalzebub under the form of 

 a Fly : " Now it happened that Ahaziah, as he was coming 

 down from the top of his house, fell down from it, and in his 

 sickness sent to the Fly (Baalzebub), which was the god of 

 Ekron, for that was this god's name, to enquire about his 

 recovery."^ 



With reference to this worship, we read in Purchas's 



1 Barleian Miscel., viii. 423. « 



2 Fosbr. Encycl. of Antiq., ii. 738. 3 md, 

 * Wilkinson's And. Egypt., 2d S. ii. 126, 260. 



^ Hawk's Peruvian Antiq , p. 197. 



6 Jamieson's Scottish Did. 



T Nat. Hist., xxix. 6. Holl. Trans., p. 364. K. 



8 Antiq. of the Jews, B. ix. c. 2. wiiiston's Trans., p. 274. 



