CHAP. XIV. SACRED PLANTS. 26l 



VEGETABILIA. 



I have stated that the Persea was sacred to 

 Athor*, as the sycomore to Netpe. t I have also 

 observed that Plutarch supposes the peach to have 

 been sacred to Harpocratest ; though there is rea- 

 son to believe that his opinion is erroneous §, and 

 that he has confounded it with the tree of Athor. 



Athenaeus, on the authority of HellanicusH, 

 mentions some acanthus (acacia) trees, which 

 blossomed all the year, at a place called Tindium, 

 where certain celebrated assemblies were held ; 

 and this town had a large temple, surrounded with 

 black and white acanthus trees, on which chaplets 

 made of their flowers, and pomegranate blossoms 

 entwined with vine leaves, were placed. But this 

 seems rather to indicate a local respect for the 

 acanthus of Tindium, than any adoration generally 

 paid to those trees by the Egyptians. 



Mr. Hope, to whom those in one of the heads brought by me from 

 Thebes were submitted for examination : — 



1. Corynetes violaceus, Fab, 



2. Necrobia mumiarum, Hope, 



3. Dermestes vulpinus, Fab. 

 4. pollinctus, ~j 



5. roei, >- Hope. 



6. elongatus, J 



7. Pimelia spinulosa, K/ug ? 



8. Copris sabaeus ? " found by Passalacqua ; so named on the tes- 



timony of Latreille." 



9. Midas, Fab. 



10. Pithecius, Fab. 



11. A species of cantharis in Passalacqua's Collection, No. 442. 

 (r/rfe Pettigrew, p. 55., whose work is replete with valuable in- 

 formation on the subject of mummies.) 



* r»/esi<p-«. Vol. I. (•2d Series) p.391. 



t Vide supra. Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 313. % Pl"t. s. 68. 



§ Vide supra, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 392. 40G. 



II Vide Athen. xv. p. 679, 680. 



• S 3 



