92 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society Vol. XIII 
trust shall be a spider’s web (1. e., no stronger). Isaiah LIX. 5: 
“Their (spiders’) webs shall not become garments” (1. e., insuffi- 
ciently strong). 
The word rimmah, for which the only possible translation is 
“worm,” is of great interest because its root is the same as the 
Sanscrit krims, wrimi, and the Latin vermes, all three having ex- 
actly the same signification, both true worm or wormlike larva. 
Micah I. 17 mentions a true worm, “they move out of their holds 
like worms of the earth.” Exodus XVI. 20-24 reminds one irre- 
sistibly in its allegory of the edible fungi, fresh one day and the 
next riddled by hosts of larve of mycetophagous flies and beetles. 
“Some of them left their manna until the morning and it bred 
worms and stank. They laid it up (on the Sabbath) and it did 
not stink, neither was there any worm therein.” Isaiah dwells on 
the worms feasting in the bodies of the dead, and in one place, 
LXVI. 24, forecasting a sort of Hell, “ for their worm shall not 
die; neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an ab- 
horrence unto all flesh.” Job mentions the worms “ destroying 
this body” and “ feeding sweetly upon him.” The worm emblem 
of humility has mention by the Psalmster, XXII. 6—“ But lama 
worm andno man.” Job is the apotheosis of humility : “ Man that 
is a worm, and the son of man, which is a worm.” “My flesh is 
clothed with worms and dust.” “I have said to corruption, Thou 
art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.” 
The ash of Hebrew and the Ses of Greek are the clothes moth, 
or possibly occasionally some other species having similar habit. 
There is no reason for stumbling over the simile of Job IV. 19 of 
the houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust, which are 
crushed before the moth. All through Job are allusions to moth- 
eaten garments. Isaiah combines two words, the latter surely 
predecessor of the Greek word: “For the ash shall eat them up 
like a garment, and the sas (rendered worm) shall eat them like 
wool.” It is to be doubted whether any reason exists for trying 
to separate some wool-eating Tinea from the rest of the garment- 
eaters. 
The word bak occurs several times in various Hebrew works 
and seems to be equivalent to the Greek conops. Its interest here 
comes from the comment of Bochart on Matthew XXIII. 24, 
