solar bark. From the egg of the Abṭu there rises the great Cat, the Sun. It is, as M. Loret has proved, the _Tortoise_ of the Nile. As ⁂⁂⁂ _ȧbṭu_, ‘the _month_,’ is phonetically homonymous with ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _ȧbṭu_, the Tortoise, and that the latter is characterised by ⁂, ⁂, ‘its rotation, revolving or turning,’ the word _ȧbṭu_, whether applied to ‘month’ or ‘tortoise’ clearly signifies ‘the revolving one.’ Our modern words Tortoise, Tortue, Tortuga, rather express the turning or twisting of the creature’s feet. In some texts, _e.g._, the inscriptions of Amenhotep, the son of Hapu, Mariette, _Karnak_, pl. 36, line 22, and at the beginning of the Ani Papyrus, the word is written ⁂⁂⁂ _abtu_. In the later part of the Ani Papyrus it is written with the initial ⁂⁂.