848 
AN OLD MYTH. 
ARGUS PHEASAKT. 
already boast of quite as many 
this fable in his " Prometheus," 
Spectre of the Many-Eyed : — 
that it is impossible to get near 
him ; and his sober colours and rich 
eye-like spots, which are so orna- 
mental when seen in a museum, 
must harmonize well with the dead 
leaves among which he dwells, and 
render him very inconspicuous. 
The tail of the Argus pheasant 
resembles in character that of the 
peacock. It consists of twelve 
feathers, of which the two middle ones 
i n the male are considerably elongated, 
and, as well as the secondaries of the 
wings, are covered with eye-like mark- 
ings. The distinctive name of the 
genus alludes to a classical myth. 
Argus, or Panoptes, the " all-seeing," 
was endowed with a hundred eyes, 
and as some of these were always 
awake, it was not easy to surprise him. 
Hera therefore appointed him guardian 
of the cow into which her jealousy had 
metamorphosed lo. Hermes being 
commissioned by Zeus to carry off this 
cow, succeeded in the difficult task by 
lulling Argus to sleep with his ex- 
quisite flute-playing, and then cut- 
ting off his head. Whereupon Hera 
transferred the hundred eyes to the 
tail of her favourite bird, the pea- 
cock ; evidently not knowing that 
the pheasant we speak of could 
! iEschylus makes considerable use of 
in which lo appears, followed by the 
