254 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



animals in that part of the country. JEWan*, 

 however, states that the Phagrus, the sacred fish of 

 Syene, was the same as that called by the people 

 of Elephantine Mseotes. The reason assigned by 

 him for the veneration there paid to it, is the 

 intimation it gave of the rising Nile t; and he gives 

 it the additional credit of being exempt from the 

 cannibal propensity common to other fish, of eating 

 those of its own kind. 



Several fish have been found embalmed in the 

 tombs ; but their forms are not easily distinguished, 

 and it is difficult to ascertain the species to which 

 they belong. 



Scorpion and Solpuga. 



The scorpion was an emblem of the Goddess 

 Selk ; though we should rather expect it to have 

 been chosen as a type of the Evil Being.t Julian § 

 mentions scorpions of Coptos, which, though in- 

 flicting a deadly sting, and dreaded by the people, 

 so far respected the Goddess Isis, who was particu-, 

 larly worshipped in that city, that women, ingoing 

 to express their grief before her, walked with bare 

 feet, or lay upon the ground, without receiving any 

 injury from them. Many extravagant fables are 

 reported by the same author of these, as other 

 animals ; and he even furnishes scorpions and pigs 

 with wings. II 



No representation has yet been found of the 



* MWan, All. x. 19. 



f Plutarch applies the same to the Phagnis. Vide suprdy p. 240. 

 j AClian, vi. 2.3. ; he even produces them from a dead crocodile 

 (ii. .3:{.). 



^ iElian, x. 23. || TElian, xvi. 41. and xii. .38. 



