ON INTRODUCED ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 29 



place : for if Egypt derived its Oriental name of Mussera from Ramessu 

 or Ramses, this will limit the antiquity both of the Mizraim of the 

 Hebrews, and of the Ernies or Hermes of the Greeks. 



Smiths working iron, are represented on the monuments (Rosselini, 

 II. PL 50) : and I found the triangular bow figured on the Rames- 

 seum, or the great temple built by Ramses II. at Thebes. — The 

 triangular bow is again figured on the temple at Medinet-Habu : and 

 according to our English Version, metallic bows are mentioned in 

 Job xx. 24, and in 2 Samuel xxii. 35. Iron, according to Gesenius, 

 is mentioned in Genesis iv. 22, Deuteronomy xxvii. 5, Psalm cv. 18, 

 Isaiah xlviii. 4, and in other portions of the Hebrew Scriptures. 

 Hesiod (Op. and Di. 151) refers to a traditional period when the use 

 of iron was unknown. 



The plant figured in the great cave-temple at Abu Simbel (Cham- 

 pollion, PI. 5), and also on other monuments (Rosselini, III. PL 5, 

 I. PL 19, and Champollion, PL 273), is perhaps the scammony, Convol- 

 vulus scammonia. — The drug scammony is mentioned by Antiphanes, 

 Theophrastus, Gato, and Athenseus ; and the living C. scammonia was 

 seen by Sibthorp in Rhodes, and by Hasselquist at Damietta. The 

 C. Siculus, which in some respects agrees better with the above figures, 

 was seen by Delile, growing spontaneously at Alexandria. 



The hieroglyphic word "sschin" (Champollion, Diet. 392), may be 

 compared with the "shshn" of 1 Kings vii. 19, 2 Chronicles iv. 5, 

 Solomon's Song, and Hosea xiv. 18, and with "susann" the current 

 Egyptian name of Pancratium Illyricum. — This plant was seen by 

 Forskal (p. 209) in gardens at Alexandria : and the P. maritimum, 

 usually regarded as a distinct species, was found indigenous in that 

 vicinity by Delile. 



The hieroglyphic word "tat" (Salvolini) may be compared with 

 " tut," the current Egyptian name of the black mulberry (Morus 

 nigra). — The "moron" of JEschylus (in Phrygibus) is referred by 

 Athenaaus to the "sykaminos" of Eubulus, Amphis, Theophrastus, 

 Pythermus, and Hegesander, admitted to be the M. nigra. This tree 

 was seen by Bory de St. Vincent, cultivated in Greece ; and by Forskal 

 and others, in the gardens of Egypt. 



The name of Meneptha II., the fourth king of the Nineteenth Dy- 

 nasty, has been found in various parts of Egypt ; at Silsilis ; at San, 

 or Zoan ; on some of the temples at Thebes ; and in his own tomb at 

 Bab-el-Meluk. I met with this king's name in an excavated chamber 



