6 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society Vol. XII 



There should be noted, also, the similar Biblical conception of 

 the bee. The word Deborah is often chosen as a Christian name 

 with the idea that it typifies industry, frugality and beneficence. 

 The Hebrews were well acquainted with honey, for one of the 

 early promises was to lead them to " a land flowing with milk and 

 honey " ; but all mentions of the bee dwell upon its stinging end. 

 In Deuteronomy, " The Amorites chased you as bees do." In 

 Psalm CXVIII, " They (mine enemies) compassed me like bees." 

 In Isaiah, predicting disaster to Judah, " And it shall come to pass 

 in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the bee that is in the land 

 of Assyria [home of Lihth?]. And they shall come and shall 

 rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the 

 rocks, and upon all thorns, and in all bushes." Thus it will be 

 seen that Deborah signifies a vengeful beast whose sting is de- 

 struction. 



In interpretation of the deborah of the riddle of Samson about 

 the bees in the carcass of the lion there is no more renowned 

 paper in entomology than that of the late Baron Osten Sacken on 

 the Bugonia Myth, identifying this particular deborah with count- 

 less others as the once Palsearctic, now cosmopolitanly common 

 Syrphid, Eristalis tenax. 



The word Lilith is next to be consulted. The root lilaiu, 

 night or darkness, is not Hebrew, but is Assyrian. The Assyrian 

 spelling for the woman is Lilit or Lilu. It is not necessarily a 

 duplicated root, but probably is, the root being originally the 

 monosyllable li. This seems to mean night, and the idea of night 

 is from the darkened blueness of the sky. In Demonology Lilith 

 always operates at night. Moreover throughout the East indigo 

 and its dark color have etymologically gone hand in hand. Lilang 

 or lilak are present Persian adjectives meaning dark blue. The 

 Persian for indigo is nil, adjective nilak. The Sanscrit for dark 

 blue is nila, and its noun, nili, is indigo. While there is no direct 

 connection between Lilith and our familiar shrub, the lilac, no 

 evidence that the flower was regarded sacred to that divinity, 

 yet the root is the same. This flower is native to Assyria and 

 thereabouts. In Persian it is variously called lilaj, lilang, or 

 lilanj. In Ottoman Turkish it is leilag (authority W. W. Skeats), 



