208 



NA TURE 



[June 30, 1904 



represented with the legs spotted right down to the hoofs, 

 after the fashion of the southern races of this species, and 

 unlike the Nubian form, in which the spotting stops short 

 at the knees and hocks. It must be acknowledged, how- 

 ever, that the artistic merit and attention to details are 



nothing like so 

 good in the Cush 

 tribute scene as in 

 the Ptahhetep fres- 

 coes. 



Among the Carni- 

 vora, the lion and 

 the leopard are fre- 

 quently depicted, 

 but in the afore- 

 said frescoes of the 

 tribute-bearers from 

 Cush, the spots of 

 the latter animal are 

 represented as more 

 like those of the 

 ocelot. As might 

 have been expected, 

 the ichneumon, or 

 Egyptian mungoose 

 {Herpestcs ichticu- 

 ^ mon), the snake- 



destroying propensi- 

 ties of which render 

 nhabitants of the Nile 

 the frescoes. 



-Male addax, from the Ptahhe 

 Chapel. 



it so venerated among the 

 delta, is very frequently represented 

 It is well shown in Fig. 6, A., from the Ptahhetep hunting- 

 scene. The fore part of the animal shown at D in th 

 same figure seems to be intended for the little African 

 fennec fox {Cams famelicus), the projecting appendix seen 

 below the eye in the figure being apparently a conventional 

 mode of representing the bristles or " whiskers," which are 

 remarkably well developed in that species. 



The long-tailed and long-hind-legged animal shown at 

 B in Fig. 6 is apparently the lesser, or hairy-footed, jerboa 

 {]acuhis hirtipes), the small size of the ears showing that 

 it is not intended for the larger jerboa (Jacuhis aegyptiaciis). 

 Another rodent shown in some of the frescoes, as in one 

 of labourers bringing in sheaves of corn (Goss, op. cit. p. 

 195), is the Egyptian hare. The length of the ears, by 

 which the animals are being carried, is, however, greatly 

 exaggerated, the length of these appendages being nearly 

 equal to that of the head and body. 



A remarkable instance of fidelity to nature occurs in the 

 two portraits of a hedgehog shown at C in Fig. 6, from 

 the Ptahhetep hunting-scene, one of these representing the 



animal standing in 

 the open, and the 

 second showing it 

 coming out of a hole 

 with a locust in its 

 mouth. The well 

 developed ears 

 clearly show that 

 the species depicted 

 is the long-eared 

 hedgehog (Erin- 



acciis a u r i t u s), 

 which differs from 

 its European cousin 

 by the large size of 

 the ears. 



Turning to cer- 

 tain sculptures from 

 Assyria, Babylonia 

 and other parts of 

 western Asia, I may 

 in the first place 

 direct attention to 

 an illustration in 

 N'au.x's "Nineveh and Persepolis," entitled "Figure 

 Carrying Gazelle," which is reproduced in the accom- 

 panying cut (Fig. 7). The original slab, which is 

 preserved in the British Museum, was one of those 

 obtained from the palace at Nimroud by Sir Henrv 

 Layard, in whose ov.n work it bears the above-mentioned 



oryx, from the 

 Chapel. 



legend. Clearly such a title does manifest injustice to the 

 genius and fidelity to nature of the ancient sculptor, who 

 has faithfully portrayed the palmated and branching antlers 

 and dappled hide of a fallow-deer, spots being, it is almost 

 unnecessary to mention, quite unknown in any species of 

 gazelle. The interest of this sculpture does not, however, 

 by any means end here, for the details of the antlers and 

 other features are sufficient to show that the .species 

 portrayed is evidently the Mesopotamian fallow-deer (Cervus 

 mesopotamicus), which is a native of the L.uristan province 

 of Mesopotamian Persia, and was first definitely made 

 known to European science by the late Sir Victor Brooke 

 in 1875. That a species should have been thus clearly 

 portrayed centuries and centuries ago by a sculptor of the 



Fig 6. — Small 



mammals from the Ptahhetep Chapel. 

 Lesser jerboa; c, Hedgehog: d, Fenne 



NO. 1809 VOL. 70] 



Babylonian era, and should have remained unknown in 

 western Europe until the close of the third quarter of the 

 nineteenth century, is certainly a curious feature in the 

 progress of human knowledge. 



Of minor interest is another slab from Nimroud of which 

 a cut appears in Vaux's above-mentioned volume, where 

 it is lettered " Figure 

 Carrying a Goat." The 

 form of the horns, the 

 general contour of the 

 animal, and, above all, the 

 absence of a beard on the 

 chin, indicate, however, 

 that the sculptor has re- 

 presented one of the 

 gazelles, which is prob- 

 ably the common Dorcas 

 gazelle (Gazella dorcas), 

 which at the present da\ 

 has a wide distribution in 

 North Africa, whence it 

 extends into Palestine and 

 Syria. It is, however, 

 possible that the figure 

 may be intended for the 

 goitred gazelle (Gazella 

 subgutturosa), which 

 ranges from the Caucasus 

 through Persia and Syria, 

 and thence into Central 

 Asia, where it is repre- 

 sented by a distinct local 

 race. 



The last, but by no 

 means the least interesting 

 allude is one from Nimroud of 

 on p. 225 of the work above 

 scribed as a " Bull-hunt 



IG. 7.— Human figure carrying 

 Mesopotamian fallow deer, from 

 the Palace at Nimroud. 



sculpture to which I shall 

 •hich a woodcut appears 

 cited, where it is de- 



The horns of the animals 

 depicted are, however, as shown in the accompanying re- 

 production of the cut (Fig. 8), quite unlike those of the 

 bulls represented in the Egyptian frescoes, and strongly 

 recall those of the white-tailed gnu (Comiochactes gnu) of 

 South Africa. Moreover, the tails of these animals are of 

 the same type as those of the horses shown in this and 

 other sculptures, and are quite different from those of the 

 oxen of the sculptures and frescoes, which have a some- 

 what club-shaped form. It would appear, therefore, that 

 the portrait is that of an animal with a fully haired tail 



