in fabulous history, king of Phrygia and Paphlagonia, was the son of Jupiter and the nymph Plota. He one day entertained the gods at his table; when, to prove their divinity, he served up his son Pelops cut in pieces. All the deities, except Ceres, perceived his cruelty and impiety, and would not touch his provisions. That goddess, whose thoughts were solely employed about her daughter Proserpine, inadvertently ate a part of his left shoulder. Pelops, however, was restored to life; and an ivory shoulder given him in the room of that which had been eaten; while Tantalus was thrown into Tartarus, where he was punished with perpetual hunger and thirst. He was chained in a lake; the water of which reached up to his chin, but retired when he attempted to drink. The branch of a tree loaded with fruit hung down even to his lips, but on his attempting to pluck the fruit the branch sprung upwards. Tantalus, in ornithology, a genus of birds belonging to the order of grallae. The bill is long, subulated, and somewhat crooked; the face naked; the tongue short; and the feet have four toes palmated on the under part. There are, according to Dr Latham, 23 species; of which the most remarkable is the ibis, the bird so much valued by the ancient Egyptians.

The ibis was formerly held in great veneration in Egypt, on account of its utility in freeing the country from serpents. Serpents must therefore have been numerous, or they could not have been very offensive; and the ibis must have been numerous, or they could not have been useful. Yet we are assured by Mr Bruce, that the ibis is at present unknown in Egypt, and serpents are no nuisance; and he thinks it impossible that a country, covered with water for five months of the year as Egypt is, could ever have abounded with serpents. He endeavours, however, to reconcile the accounts of ancient historians with the state of Egypt.

In former times, when Egypt was in its flourishing state, the inhabited country extended much farther than it does at present; reaching even a considerable way into the sandy desert of Libya, where serpents have their abode. These parts were supplied with water by immense lakes, dug by the magnificent princes of those times, and filled by the annual inundation of the Nile. These frontier districts would naturally be infested with vipers from the Libyan desert, and the vast lakes would as naturally be supplied by numbers of water-fowl, of which the ibis is a species. This bird being likewise an enemy to serpents, the inhabitants would soon become acquainted with his use, and their superstition would soon reward him. In after ages, however, when the ancient improvements were lost, and those vast lakes dried up which brought the ibis thither, the serpents ceased to give any offence, because there were none of the human species there whom they could annoy; and in consequence of the want of water, the birds ceased to annoy them, retiring to their native place Ethiopia, where they continue to frequent the great stagnant pools which are common in that country.

Mr Bruce found a bird in Abyssinia, which, after comparing it with the description of the ancient writers, and the embalmed ibis of Egypt, he concludes is the same with the Egyptian ibis. It is called abou Hannes, signifying "father John;" from its appearing annually on St John's day.

This bird is minutely described by Mr Bruce. It has a beak shaped like that of a curlew, two-thirds straight, and the remaining third crooked; the upper part of a green horny substance, and the lower part black. It measures four inches and an half from the occiput to the place where it joins the beak. The leg, from the lower joint of the thigh to the foot, is six inches; the bone round and very strong; and from the lower joint of the thigh to where it joins the body, is five inches and a half. The height of the body from the sole to the middle of the back is 19 inches; the aperture of the eye one inch; the feet and legs black; three toes before armed with sharp and straight claws; and a toe behind. The head is brown, and the plumage of the same colour down to the back, or the place where the neck and back are joined. The throat is white, as well as the back, breast, and thighs; the largest feathers of the wing are of a deep black for 13 inches from the tail; and six inches up the back from the extremity of the tail is black likewise.

Tantalus's Cup. See Hydrostatics, n° 44.

Tanzy, or Tansy, in botany. See Tanacetum.