Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/50

SPHINX 24 SPIDER Eige of the 4th dynasty, or contemporary with the pyramids. Besides the Great Sphinx, avenues of sphinxes have been discovered at Sak- kara, forming an approach to the Sera- peum of Memphis, and elsewhere. SPHINX Sphinxes of the time of the Shepherd dynasty have been found at Tanis, and another of the same age is in the Louvre ; while a granite sphinx, found behind the "vocal Memnon," and inscribed with the name of Amenophis III., is at Petro- grad. An avenue of criosphinxes, each about 17 feet long, is still seen at Karnak, and belongs to the time of Horus, one of the last monarchs of the 18th dynasty. Various small sphinxes are in the different collections of Europe, but seldom are of any very great an- tiquity. The Theban sphinx of Greek legend, v/hose myth first appears in Hesiod, is described as having a lion's body, female head, bird's wings, and serpent's tail, ideas probably derived from Phoenician sources. She was said to be the issue of Orthros, the two-headed dog of Geryon, by Chimsera, or of Typhon and Echidna, and was sent from Ethiopa to Thebes by Hera to punish the transgression of Laius, or according to other accounts, by Dionysus or Ares. The sphinx was a favorite subject of ancient art, and appears in reliefs, on coins of Chios and others towns, and often as a decoration of arms and furniture. In Assyria and Babylonia representations of sphinxes have been found, and the same are not uncommon on Phoenician works of art, SPHINX BABOON, the Cynocephalus sphinx, a large species from the west of Africa, They are good-tempered and playful when young, but become morose and fierce as they grow older. They bear confinement well, and are common in menageries. SPHINX MOTH (Sphinx Convolmdi) , a species of moth belonging to the family Sphingidae, and deriving its popular name from a supposed resemblance which its caterpillars present when they raise the fore part of their bodies to the "sphinx" of Egyptian celebrity. The sphinx moth is common in some parts of the United States. SPICE ISLANDS. See Moluccas, SPICES, aromatic and pungent vege- table substances used as condiments and for flavoring food. They are almost ex- clusively the productions of tropical countries. In ancient times and through- out the Middle Ages all the spices known in Europe were brought from the East; and Arabia was regarded as the land of spices, but rather because they came through it or were brought by its mer- chants than because they were produced in it, for they were really derived from farther E. They owe their aroma and pungency chiefly to essential oils which they contain. They are yielded by dif- ferent parts of plants; some, as pepper, cayenne pepper, pimento, nutmeg, mace, and vanilla, being the fruit or particular parts of the fruit; while some, as ginger, are the root stock; and others, as cinna- mon and cassia, are the bark. Tropical America produces some of the spices, being the native region of cayenne pep- per, pimento, and vanilla; but the greater number are from the East. SPIDER, in zoology, the popular name of any individual of Huxley's AraTieina-. The species are very numerous and uni- versally distributed, the largest being found in the tropics. The abdomen is BIRD SPIDER without; distinct divisions, and is gen- erally soft and tumid; the legs are eight in number, seven-jointed, the last joint armed with two hooks usually toothed like a comb. The distal joint of the falces is folded dovm on the next, like the blade of a pocket knife on the handle, and the duct of a poison gland in the cephalothorax opens at the summit of the terminal joint. There are two or four pulmonary sacs and a tracheal sys-