260 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



in the sculptures. This change of form did not 

 make them less fit emblems of the Gods : the Sca- 

 rabseus of the Sun appears with the head of a ram 

 as well as of a hawk ; and a Scarabseus with the 

 head and legs of a man, was equally emblematic of 

 the God Pthah.* 



Of other insects I shall only observe, that flies 

 are said to have been preserved in the same tombs ; 

 but doubtless without any idea of sanctity being 

 attached to so odious and troublesome an insect. 

 Indeed they still continue to be one of the plagues of 

 Egypt ; and the character of a tormentor, applied to 

 the Evil Being, seems to have been aptly designated 

 by the title Beelzebub t, or " the lord of flies." 



The ant is also one of the plagues of the country, 

 as in most hot climates. Horapollot says it repre- 

 sented in hieroglyphics "knowledge;" but the 

 consideration of its wisdom did not prevent the 

 Egyptians from being fully sensible of the incon- 

 venience it caused them, ** having the art of dis- 

 covering whatever is most carefully concealed;" 

 and the origanum plant was used in order to drive 

 away this industrious and tiresome insect. 



Few insects of ancient Egypt have come down 

 to us either in the paintings of the monuments, or 

 preserved by accident ; the former being confined 

 to the butterfly, beetle, wasp, dragonfly, locust, and 

 housefly ; and the latter, to those which have been 

 found in the bodies or heads of mummies. § 



* Videsuprfi, p. 128.; and Vol, I. (2il Scries) p. 250. 2.50. 

 \ The zcbiih, or dlhrhuh, of the Arabs, is the noted fly of the desert, 

 whicl) causes a disease to camels called by the same name. 

 i Iloiapollo, i. .52. and W.'.iV. 

 Q Mr. Pettigrew has enumerated all that have been ascertained by 



