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Hey, remember long ago when Ferrebeekeeper was obsessed with the many-eyed Greek mythological monster Argus? We need to get back to some dark mythology this winter…but before we do that, lets take a look at the creature which reminded me of Hera’s loyal monster (one of many, actually, but this guy somehow escaped my first post about speckled animals named for the dead guardian). This is Mangina Argus aka “the crotalaria podborer” (blech! since when are common names even harder to say then scientific nomenclature?), a hungry moth which lives from the South China Sea all the way through the Himalayas and down into Southern India. The crotalaria podborer is known for, um, boring into crotalaria pods which make it a minor agricultural pest, since a few species of crotalaria (a sort of legume) are used as green manure to fix nitrogen into overextended croplands. We aren’t really here to talk about the moth though, but instead to admire its pinkish vermilion wings and beguiling spots! What a beautiful little lepidopteran!
Pursuant to yesterday’s post about the many-eyed giant Argus, here are some animals which have “argus” in their names (I have counted both common names and proper binomial scientific names). What a magnificent gallery of variegated creatures! I guess biologists and taxonomists also find the story of argus compelling (or maybe they get tired of describing lovely stippled and variegated creatures with the pedestrian word “spotted”).
- Bodhadschia argus is a sea cucumber. When threatened or irritated it ejects sticky toxic threads called Cuvierian tubules from…the rear orifice of its digestive system.
Caribbean Spiny Lobster (Panulirus argus)
The chocolate argus (Junonia hedonia) a butterfly of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Australia.
The Argus moray (Muraena argus) is apparently covered with white spots, but this charismatic facial portrait by Scott McGee was the best I could find.
A handsome Argus monitor (Varanus panoptes). It looks like he is ready for bathtime!
The Northern Snakehead (Channa argus) aka "the Frankenfish" is a vicious and succesful fish from China, Siberia, and the Koreas. I should probably feature it as an invasive animal which is "on-the-make" around the world.
I mentioned the great argus (Argusianus argus) yesterday. Here a female bird checks out a male's display.
Cyprae argus is a beautiful member of the cowry family from the waters of southeast Africa.The Blue-spotted Grouper (Cephalopholis argus) is a splendid lurking fish from coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific.
The spotted scat (Scatophagus argus) is a pugnacious little fish from brackish waters of Japan, New Guinea and Southeastern Australia. Don't pet them! Those spines are toxic!
Paphiopedilum argus is a lovely lady-slipper orchid from high limestone ridges of the Philippines.
- The Brown argus butterfly (Aricia agestis) is gradually moving its habitat northwards in Great Britain.
The list keeps going! There are too many arguses in nature. I’m going to call it quits and enjoy my weekend….
In Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes was a giant with a hundred eyes. He was a perfect guard because, even when some of his eyes drifted off to sleep, others would open up and continue his vigil. According to the poems of Apollodorus, Argus slew Echidna, the fearsome half-woman, half-snake, who gave birth to most of the monsters in the Greek pantheon (although more eminent writers have described Echidna as an eternal being). Whatever his status as a monster-slayer, Argus was singularly unfortunate in that he served Hera, whose henchmen always got bumped off horribly (like the villain’s dim-witted flunkies in a James Bond movie).
Argus’ end was singularly pathetic. Hera assigned him to guard a beautiful heifer. This comely cow was in reality Io, once a lovely priestess to Hera. Zeus had “fallen in love with” Io, but, just as the king of the gods had begun his courtship in earnest, the couple was accosted by Hera. To disguise what he was up to, Zeus transformed Io into a heifer (and himself into a cloud). Hera was not fooled and she tethered Io to a sacred olive tree in her grove and set Argus as a guard.
Hermes and Argus. Painting by Jan Both and Nikolaus Knüpfer (ca 1640s)
Guarding a cow was dull work for the giant. After a while, the trickster Hermes came into the grove. Hermes told long dull circular stories until Argus was completely enervated, then the messenger god pulled out his pipes and began to play a repetitive lullaby. One by one, Argus’ eyes were lulled to sleep by the magically soporific music. When Argus’ every eye was shut, Hermes murdered the sleeping shepherd with a rock and freed Io (from the tether, not from being a cow). Hera sent a gadfly to pursue the bovine Io, whose desperate attempt to escape the cruel insect took her eventually to Egypt and to other adventures.
The Argus Pheasant or Great Argus (Argusianus argus)
Hera regretted losing Argus, however to make sure he was not forgotten, she set his eyes on the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock. Thus ends the tale of a hapless lackey, casually crushed by the capricious affairs of his betters. Even his end was bad–he was essentially bored to death. I can never help think of the poor giant on days at the office when there just isn’t enough coffee. Fortunately the peacocks and allied members of the pheasant family are spectacular. Beyond the familiar Indian peafowl, there is even an Argus pheasant (or “great argus”), whose color is less spectacular, but whose feather “eyes” are even more beautiful. Hopefully everyone out there, being lured to sleep (and crushed) by the stupid affairs of our superiors can take some comfort in this splendid fowl as well as in the peacock at the top of the post. For additional visual interest here is a very splendid painting by Jacopo Amigoni which shows Hermes helping Hera to pull the eyes from Argus’ dead head in order to set them in the peacock’s tail.
Juno Receiving the Head of Argos by Jacopo Amigoni (painted 1730-32)
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