[Illustration: Lamia. From old Bestiary.]
A curious creature of the imagination is the lamia, of which we are told
many fictitious stories. It is said to be "the swiftest of all four-footed
creatures, that it is very treacherous and cruel to men. It is stated to
be bred in Lybia, and sometimes devours its own young." It is represented
in an ancient "Bestiaria" as having the head and breasts of a woman, and
the body of a four-footed animal with flowing tail, the hind feet having
divided hoofs. It is "thought to be the creature mentioned in Isaiah
xxxiv., called in Hebrew _Lilith_, as also the same which is mentioned in
Lamentations iv."
In Dr. Brewer's "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," LAMIA is "a female
phantom whose name was used by the Greeks and Romans as a bugbear to
children, from the classic fable of a Lybian Queen beloved by Jupiter, but
robbed of her children by Juno; and in consequence she vowed vengeance
against all children, whom she delighted to entice and murder." They are
again described as spectres of Africa, who attracted strangers and then
devoured them. In the story of "Machatës and Philemon," a young man is
represented as marrying an Empusa, who sucks his blood at night. Goethe
borrowed his ballad of the "Bride of Corinth" from this tale.
Beyond casual mention this mythical creature does not appear in heraldry.