[Illustration: Figs. 63-65]
This animal, like the dog, appears as a lightning-beast (see Dr. 40b,
middle). Its hieroglyph is Figs. 63, 64. This sign also is connected with
the numeral 4, which occurs so often with animals (but not alone with
quadrupeds) as to be worthy of attention. The sign of the tortoise
without the numeral is seen in Cort. 17a, where the tortoise itself is
also represented. It must have reference to the 17th month of the Maya
year, for the month Kayab (and apparently also Pop) contains the head of
the tortoise (compare Fig. 65). It occurs several times in the
Cortesianus, thus on pp. 13, 19, 37, 38; on p. 19 with the hieroglyph (on
the top of the lower half of the page, 1st line and at the right of the
margin). In Dr. 69 (at the top) we see the sign of the tortoise with the
Kin-sign as its eye and the numeral 12; under this group B, with a black
body, is seated on the serpent; on the same page the sign occurs again;
each time, moreover, apparently as a month-hieroglyph.
According to Förstemann the tortoise is the symbol of the summer
solstice, as the _snail_, which occurs only as a head ornament in the
manuscripts and not independently, is the symbol of the winter solstice;
both, as the animals of slowest motion, represent the apparent standstill
of the sun at the periods specified. This explains why the month Kayab,
in which the summer solstice falls, should be represented by the head of
a tortoise, which has for its eye the sun-sign Kin (Förstemann, Zur
Entzifferung der Mayahandschriften III, Schildkröte und Schnecke in der
Mayaliteratur, Dresden 1892).
According to Förstemann its day is Cauac.
* * * * *
Finally the _owl_ and the _ape_ (or monkey) must be mentioned as animals
of mythologic significance, of which we have already spoken in connection
with gods A and C. The _scorpion_ also seems to have an important
mythologic significance, and appears in the manuscripts in connection
with figures of gods, as, for example, in Cort. 7a and Tro. 31*a,
33*a, 34*a (god M with a scorpion's tail). In addition to those
discussed in this paper, there are a few animals in the manuscripts,
which probably also have a partial mythologic significance, but which
have been omitted because they are represented in a naturalistic manner,
thus, for example, the deer on Tro. 8, et seq., while idealization (with
human bodies, with torches, hieroglyphic character on the head, etc.)
should be considered as an unmistakable sign of mythologic meaning.
A mythologic significance also seems to belong to the _bee_ which plays so
prominent a part of the Codex Troano. Probably the section in question of
the Madrid manuscript (1* et seq.) treats of bee-keeping, but incidentally
it certainly has to do also with the mythologic conceptions connected with
the culture of bees.
The _bat_ which is found as a mythological figure on pottery vessels and
inscriptions from the Maya region (compare Seler, Zeitschrift für
Ethnologie, 1894, p. 577) does not occur in the manuscripts. It is true,
however, that hieroglyphic signs, which seem to relate to the head of the
bat, occur in isolated cases in the manuscripts.