102 THE CLASSICAL PLANTS OF SICILY. 
cent, Larkspur.— 7. Grec. vol. vi. t. 504. AeApinov érsgov, 
Diosc. lib. iii. cap. 85., where it is stated that it was called 
also ùáxnðos, and by the Romans fx». Now named in 
Zacynthus, Aygo Awagw rou Bow). ——( Sibth.).— The plant, so 
beautifully figured in the Flora Greca, represents, accord- 
ing to Sir James E. Smith, a luxuriant variety of D. Con- 
solida, which Professor De Candolle (Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 343.) 
considers a distinct species. He also supposes Delphinium 
Ajacis to be the Hyacinthus of Theocritus and Ovid; of 
which he says,—** Petala alba inter se coalita notata sunt ad 
latus superius lineis nonnullis atro-purpureis, quæ Ajacis lit- 
teras primas Greece scriptas olim in Poetarum mentem 
revocaverunt. "Videtur ergo hæc species Hyacinthus The- 
ocriti, et Ovidii, de quibus Ovidius :— 
** [pse suos gemitus folius inscribit et AI AI 
Flos habet inscriptum funestaque littera ducta est :"— 
Et Theocritus (Moschus?) interprete  Eobano Basso;— 
** Nune Hyacinthe sonet tua littera scilicet AI AL'"— 
Hab. in Taurià (Pall); nunc ex hortis indigena in Hel- 
vetid ( Hall.) facta." —p. 342. 
Since the Delphinium Ajacis is not indigenous in Greece, 
Sicily, or Italy, this species (D. pubescens) which is not un- 
frequent in all those parts of Europe, may with more proba- 
bility be identified with the ancient and poetical Hyacinthus. 
—The figures b. B. of tab. 504, Fl. Greca, show the dark 
marks on the nectary of D. pubescens, both in their natural 
size, and magnified; they are thus described, — * Nectarii 
labium superius intus ad basin litteris tribus nigris notatum, 
ut feré in Delphinio Ajacis." — 
These letter-like lines in some degree resemble the Greek 
AI AI, alas! alas! and a part of the word AIA3, or as it may 
be written AIA[, Ajax.—Hence Moschus, Zdyi. iii. v. 6,— 
Nov tends AQA Ta oh yodmpara, xc) matov AI AI 
BéwPars oig rercdroir, nards rédvane weduxrdg.— 
