class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">Pl. 2, figs. 1-6, 9) represent the god of the bees and to him offerings of food and incense are being made. Pl. 2, fig. 11, shows the war god (M) with his eagle head-dress offering a mass of honey in the comb to the god of the bees.

Curiously enough the bee does not seem to be represented in the Dresden Codex. Förstemann’s identification of the head-dress of the goddess in Dresden 9a as a bee does not seem to us to be correct.

In addition to the bees, there occurs in the Nuttall Codex 4 (Pl. 3, fig. 4) a curious representation of an insect with a pointed beak-like structure and a spine at the posterior extremity of its human-like body. It is engaged in apparent conflict with a man and may represent a hornet.

Blow-fly (Sarcophaga). Two figures in the Tro-Cortesianus (Pl. 3, figs. 1, 2) are of special interest since they appear to have been frequently regarded as picturing snakes attacking men. These are thick-bodied sinuous creatures distinguished by the curious conformation of the mouth and by a lateral row of dots that may represent the metameric spiracles or, as commonly, a demarcation between dorsal and ventral surfaces. That these are maggots of a blow-fly (Sarcophaga) there can be little doubt, not only on account of their mouth parts which are similar to those of the agave maggot (see later) but also because of their relation to God F whom they are devouring. The latter in fig. 1 is doubtless dead as shown by the closed eye and it is the habit of the blow-fly to deposit its eggs in the nasal cavity of dead animals as well as elsewhere on the body. The fact that in each case a maggot is attacking the god’s nose may indicate that this habit was known to the artist who, consequently, shows the larvae in this position. In Pl. 3, fig. 2, the god’s eye is not closed but his passive attitude while the maggot devours his hand and nose does not indicate that he is in full possession of his strength. In addition to the blow-fly, a screw-fly (Chrysomyia) lays its eggs on the bodies of animals, often on persons sleeping, and these may hatch almost at once into small maggots that penetrate the skin. It may be, therefore, that the larvae here considered belong to this genus.

In addition to god F, in Tro-Cortesianus 24d, there is another representation of the same god being attacked by a vulture. This bird is evidently eating his nose. In this case the god is shown with the closed eye as in 27d. In Tro-Cortesianus 25d the fly seems to be attacking the mouth of god F. From the fact that no other god is ever found in this connection it may be suggested that there may be some relation between god F as a god of human sacrifice and the fact that his dead body is being eaten by blow-flies and vultures. A portion of the body of the person sacrificed was usually eaten by those taking part in the ceremony.

Lepidopterous Insects. In Tro-Cortesianus 28c (Pl. 3, fig. 3) is shown a second insect larva with curiously formed mouth parts. It is represented as attacking agave which is springing from the ground as shown by the Caban signs in the codex. Hough (1908, p. 591) has shown this to be the larva of Acentrocneme kollari Felder, “called by the Mexicans guson, and in Nahuatl mescuillin.” This grub, he says, is white, about an inch long, and tunnels the fleshy leaves of the agave. It is greatly prized as an article of food for “gusones to this day are collected in April, boiled, wrapped in the epidermis of the agave, sold on the streets of Mexico, and are eaten with avidity. To all appearances they are nourishing and palatable, and it is said that connoisseurs prefer them to oysters or swallows’ nests.” Hough believes “that the discovery of the sap-yielding quality of the agave was through search for these larvae.”

In the Nuttall Codex occur numerous representations of insects, some of which appear to represent butterflies or moths (Pl. 3, figs. 5-8) but these are quite unidentifiable. That shown in fig. 6 is colored blue in the original, while the others are of various colors. Possibly the round markings on the wings in figs. 5, 8, represent the ocelli on the wings of certain species of moths. In this connection, too, it is interesting to compare the conventionalized butterfly with its single eye and pointed antennae from the Aubin manuscript (Pl. 3, fig. 9) with one drawn on the same plan from the Nuttall Codex (Pl. 3, fig. 8).

MYRIAPODA

Representations of a centipede (probably a species of Scolopendra) occur in the Dresden Codex and in several others examined. That shown in Pl. 5, fig. 1, from the Vaticanus 3773, is perhaps the least conventionalized.303-* This figure appears partly to encircle a temple, behind which the major portion of its length is hidden and hence is not here shown. The bipartite structure coming from the animal’s head doubtless represents the mouthparts, and at its base on either side arise antennae. The first pair only of legs is shown with a pinching claw, possibly intended as a conventionalized hand, while the rest are simple. The plumes decorating the posterior extremity are of course extraneous and represent the tail of the quetzal or trogon.

In the Dresden Codex, god D constantly appears in connection with a head-dress from which depends a centipede, greatly reduced and conventionalized. Two forms of this centipede are shown in Pl. 3, figs. 15, 18. The body appears to consist of four or five segments each with its pair of ambulatory appendages (though there may not always be the same number of each) terminated by a circular segment with a conventionalized three-knobbed structure, apparently corresponding to the portion that bears the quetzal plume in Pl. 5, fig. 1. The outline of the head in Pl. 3, fig. 15, is shown in dotted line but by solid line in fig. 18. One of the antennae appears to be