ZEEB (ZNZ), the name of a fierce rapacious animal (Gen. xlix. 27; Is. xi. 6 ; lxv. 25 ; Jer. v. 6, etc. ; Tv'Kor, Matt. vii. 15; x. 16 ; Luke x. 3 ; John x. 12; Acts xx. 29 ; Ecclus. xiii. 17). By this term there is no doubt the wolf is intended, though the identity of the species in Palestine is by no means established, for no professed zoologist has obtained the animal in Syria, while other tra vellers only pretend to have seen it. Unquestion ably a true wolf, or a wild canine with very similar manners, was not infrequent in that country during the earlier ages of the world, and even down to the commencement of our era. The prophets, as well as the Messiah, allude to it in explicit lan guage. At this day- the true wolf is still abundant in Asia Minor, as well as in the gorges of Cilicia, and from the travelling disposition of the species, wolves may be expected to reside in the forests of Libanus ; yet, except we rely on mere rumours, wild and contradictory aEsertfons, or decided mis. takes as to the species, none are at present found in the Holy Land. Hernprich and Ehrenberg, the most explicit of the naturalists who have visited that region, notice the dib or zeb 0, under the de nomination of Canis hepaster, and also, it seems, of lupis Syriacus : they describe it as resembling the wolf, but smaller, with a white tip on the tail, etc. ; and give for its synonym Canis anthus, and the wolf of Egypt, that is the ?dams of Aristotle, and noes anglus of Ham. Smith. This species, found in tbe mummy state at Lycopolis, though high in proportion to its bulk, measures only eighteen inches at the shoulder, and in weig-ht is scarcely more than one-third of that of a true wolf, whose stature rises to thirty and thirty-two inches.
It is not gregarious, does not howl, cannot carry off alamb or sheep, nor kill men,nor make the shep herd flee ; in short, it is not the true wolf of Europe or Asia Minor, and is not possessed of the qualities ascribed to the species in the Bible. The next in Hemprich and Ehrenberg's description bears the same Arabic name; it is scientifically called Cani.c sacer, and is the piseonch of the Copts. This species is, however, still smaller, and thus cannot be the wolf in question. It may be, as there are no forests to the south of Libanus, that these ravenous beasts, who never willingly range at a distance from cover, have forsaken the more open country ; or else, that the derbonn, now Only indis dinctly known as a species of black wolf in Arabia and southern Syria, is the species or variety which anciently represented the wolf in Syria : an appel lation fully deserved, if it be the same as the black species of the Pyrenees, which, though surmised to be a wild dog, is even more fierce than tbe common wolf, and is equally powerful. The Arabs are said to eat the derbonn as game, though it must be rare, since no European traveller has described a specimen from personal observation. Therefore, either the true wolf, or the derbonn, was anciently more abundant in Palestine, or the ravenous powers of those animals, equally belong-,ing to the hyaena and to a great wild dog, caused several species to be included in the name [KELEa].—C. H. S.