Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/586

Rh ANIMALS 520 ANIMALS in which it is most destructive. Boar, Wild. — The only alhision to this animal is found Ps. Ixxix (Hebr.. Ixxx), 14; however, the -n-ild boar was un- doubtedly always, as it is now, common in Palestine, ha^^ng its lair "in the woods, and most destructive to vineyards. Bruchus. — Though it occurs once (Lev., xi, 22) as an equivalent for Hebrew, '6rbch (probably the Incusta niigratoria), the word bruchus is the repular interpretation for ydeq, "licker". The Biblical bruchus may be fairly identified with the beetle, or some insect akin to it. Anyway the ydeq of Jer., h, 14, 27, should have been rendered in the .same manner as everywhere else. Bdb.vle, antilope hubalix, or alcephatus bubalis, which should not be confounded with the bubale, bos bubalus, is probably signified by the Hebrew, lhe'6. interpreted by the Douay translators, wild goat, in Deut., xiv, 5, and wild ox. Is., li, 20. It still exists in Palestine, but was formerly much more common than now. Buffalo {bos bubalus). — So does the D.V. translate the Hebrew, yahmur, III K., iv, 23 (Hebr., I K., v, 3). Being a denizen of marshy and swampy lands, the buiTalo must have been scarcely known by the Hebrews. Moreover, its coarse, unpleasant smeUing flesh seems to exclude the identification with the animal referred to in the above mentioned passage, where we should probably read roebuck. Buffle. — . other word for buiTalo, D.V., Deut., xiv, 5. Ac- cording to good authorities, the oryx, or white ante- lope, might be here intended, the Hebrew word ytthmilr possibly meaning, as its Arabic equivalent does, both the roebuck and the oryx. Bull. — A symbol of fierce and relentless adversaries [Ps. xxi (Hebr., xxii), 13]. Bullock. — The bullock, as yet unaccustomed to the yoke, is an image of Israel's insubordinate mind before he was subdued by the captivity (Jer., xxxi, 18). Buzzard (Hebr., ra'ah). — Probably the ringtail of D.V. and the glede of A.V. (Deut., xiv, 13); possibly, through a scribe's error, might be identified with the kite, da'ah, of Lev., xi, 14. The buzzard, three species of which exist in Palestine, has always been common there. Calf, one of the most popidar representations of the deity among the Chauaanites. The calf is, in Bibhcal poetry, a figure for vexing and pitiless foes [Ps., xxi (Hebr., xxii), 13]. The fatted calf was a necessary feature, so to say, of a feast dinner. Camel, a prominent domestic animal of the East without the existence of which fife in the Arabian deserts would be impossible. It was perhaps the first beast of burden applied to the service of man; anyway it is mentioned as such in the Biblical records as early as the time of Abraham. It constituted a great element in the riches of the early patriarchs. There are two species of camel: the one-humped camel (camelus dromcdarius), and the two-humped camel (camelus bactrianus). The camel is used for riding as well as for carrying loads; its furniture is a large frame placed on the humps, to which cradles or packs are attached. In this manner was all the merchandise of Assyria and Egypt transported. But the camel is appreciated for other reasons: it may be hitched to a wagon or to a plough, and in fact is not unfrequently yoked together with the ass or the ox; the female supphes abundantly her master with a good milk; camel's hair is woven into a rough dotli wherewith tents and cloaks are made; finally its flesh, albeit coar.se and dry, may be eaten. With the .lews, however, the camel was reckoned among the unclean animals. Camelop.rdalu.s, occurs only once in the D.V. (Deut., xiv, 5), as a translation of zf-mir. The word, a mere transcription of the Latin and the Greek, is a combination of the names of the camel and the leopard, and indicates the giraffe. But this translation, as well as that of the A.V. (chamois). Is doubtless erroneous; neither the giraffe nor the chamois ever lived in Palestine. The wild sheep, or mouflon, which still lingers in Cyprus and Arabia Petrala, is very hkely intended C.NKERWORM. the locust in its larva state, in which it is most voracious. So does A.V. render the Hebrew, gazHm; the word palmerworm, given by the D.V. seems better. C.T. — Mention of this animal occurs only once in the Bible, namely Bar., vi, 21. The original text of Baruch being lost, we possess no indication as to what the Hebrew name of the cat may have been. Possibly there was not any; for although the cat was very familiar to the Egj'ptians, it seems to have been altogether unknown to the Jews, as well as to the Assyrians and Babylonians, even to the Greeks and Romans before the conquest of Egypt. These and other reasons have led some commentators to believe that the word cat, in the above cited place of Baruch, might not unlikely stand for another name now impossible to restore. C.VTTLE. — Very early in the liistory of mankind, animals were tamed and domesticated, to be used in agriculture, for milk, for their flesh, and especially for sacrifices. Many words in Hebrew expressed the different ages and sexes of cattle. West of the Jordan the cattle were generally stall-fed; in the plains and hills south and east they roamed in a half-wild state; such were the most famous "bulls of Basan". Cer.stes (Hebr., shephtphon) should be substituted in D.V. for the colourless "serpent", Gen., xhx, 17. The identification of the shephtphon with the deadly horned cerastes (cerastes hassel- quistii or vipera cerastes) is evidenced by the Arabic name of the latter (shufjon), and its customs in per- fect agreement with the indications of the Bible. The cerastes, one of the most venomous of snakes, is in the habit of coiling itself in little depressions such as camels' footmarks, and suddenly darting on any passing animal. Chameleon (Hebr., kMt.). — Men- tioned Lev., xi, 30, with the mole (Hebr., tinshcmcih). In spite of the authority of the ancient translations, it is now generally admitted that the tinsht-mith is the chameleon, very common in Palestine; whereas the kMh is a kind of large hzard, perhaps the land monitor {psammosaurus scincus). Ch.mois {anti- lope rupicapra) is now totally unknown in western Asia, where it very probably never existed. The opinion of those who see it in the Hebrew zemir (Deut., xiv, 5) should consequently be entirely dis- carded (see Camelopardalus). Ch.radrion (Hebr., 'inaphah, Lev., xi, 19; Deut., xiv, 18) would be the plover; but it rather stands here for the heron, all the species of which (this is the sense of the expression "according to its kind"), numerous in Palestine, should be deemed unclean. Cherogrillus (Lev., xi, 5; Deut., xiv, 7), a mere transliteration of the Greek name of the porcupine, corresponds to the Hebrew shaphan, translated, Ps. ciii (Hebr., civ), 18, by irchin, and Prov., xxx, 26, by rabbit. As St. Jerome noticed it, the shaphan is not the porcupine, but a very peculiar animal of about the same size, dweUing among the rocks, and in holes, and called in Palestine "bear-rat", on account of some re- romblance with these two quadrupeds. We call it coney, or daman {hyrax syriacus). Its habit of lingering among the rocks is alluded to, Ps. ciii, 18; its wisdom and defencclessness, Prov., xxx, 24-26. " It cannot burrow, for it has no claws, only nails half developed; but it hes in holes in the rocks, and feeds only at dawn and dusk, always having sentries posted, at the slightest squeak from which the whole party instantly ili.sappears. The coney is not a ruminant (cf. Lev., xi, 5), but it sits working its jaws as if re-cliewing. It is found sparingly in most of the rocky districts, and is common about Sinai" (Tristram). Corua {naja aspk). most hkely the deadly snake called ptihrn by the Hebrews, found in Palestine and Egj'pt and used by serpent-cliarmcrs. Cochineal {coccus iticis). — A hemiptera homoptera