HERODOTUS AS A BOTANIST. 85 



of as Harmacliis {Hav-eiii-aldui), Horus in the horizon, just 

 elevated above the flood and no more, seated on the blossom 

 that oscillated on its eddies. So too the frog was also an 

 emblem of man as yet in embryo, as Herapollo and the 

 Egyptian monuments show, and I, for one, can testify to its 

 being- no uncommon sight to behold a frog seated on a Avater 

 lily leaf in our ponds at home. 



There may likewise, as in the case of the Indian Cupid, in 

 the appearance of the youthful Horus, be a reference to 

 "Epa)9 or Love, dissipating the shades of night. "- Auditis, 

 an me ludlt amabilis Iiisania 2 " {Addenda IIT.) 



Is it a stretch of imagination on my part to conceive that 

 the ordinary Egyptian, in whose case the rising Nile was 

 freighted with all the hopes of a plenteous harvest, and the 

 annual subsistence of his people thereby, as he watched the 

 flower bud rising too to escape being smirched by the mud 

 so copiously deposited or being soaked by the overflowing 

 wave ; as it reflected in its development the fostering 

 influence of the god of day, and in its graceful form the 

 rays of the orb on high, and in its lovel}^ purity unfolded its 

 individual and unique image ; that such an one could 

 refrain as he called to mind the exceeding serviceableness of 

 that plant as an article of food as well, from the exclamation 

 nofr, oh good — good exceedingly — meet offering for the 

 gods? 



So, as repeatedly elsewhere, have I seen in the temple of 

 Esneh dedicated to Kneph or Shoo, the ram-headed deity, 

 soul of this world, the capitals of the columns of the portico 

 carved in imitation of the lotus, so on its eastern wall of 

 entrance do three lotus blossoms form part of the head- 

 dress of a female figure in relief. 



And hence its perpetuated, generic name of nupliar. 



More than one tribe of plants is designated as the lotus 

 alike in ancient and modern times. 



As a necessary precaution against ambiguity Ave must all 

 of us recall this important fact — 



(1) That more than one tribe of plants is designated as 



the '• lotus " by ancient poet and historian in the 

 classics. 



(2) That more than one tribe of plants is designated as 



the " lotus ^' by modern poets. 



(3) That more than one tril)e of plants is designated as 



the " lotus" by modern botanists. 

 (A) That the tribe of plants however most Avidely and 



