130 
of Lanzi, inhis Saggio di Lingua Etrusca, both of which, 
he stated, were unsatisfactory, far-fetched, and absurd. 
Mr. Samuel Ferguson read the first part ofa paper “ on 
the Antiquity of the Kiliee, or Boomerang,” the object of 
which was to show, that the peculiar characteristics of that 
instrument belonged to the cateta and aclys of the Latin 
classic writers, the latter being, most probably, identical with 
the ancyle of the Greeks. 
The chief proofs in the case of the cateia turned, Ist, on 
the epithet panda applied to it by Silius Italicus, (Punic. 
]. iii. v. 278,) and, 2nd, on the description of it given by 
Isidore, a writer of the end of the sixth and beginning of 
the seventh century, who states concerning it, “Si ab artifice 
mittatur rursim redit ad eum qui misit.” (Origin. 1. xviii. 
c. 7.) 
The chief proofs in the case of the aclys, rested, Ist, on 
the identification of the aclys and cateia, by Servius (in 
7Bneid. 1. vii. v. 730, 741); 2nd, on an inference of its semi- 
lunar shape, drawn from Valerius Flaccus, (Argonaut. 1. vi. 
v. 99); and 8rd, on the statement of Sidonius Appollinaris, 
a writer of the fifth century, who, referring, as it would ap- 
pear, to these weapons, describes them as missiles, “ que 
feriant bis missa semel.” (Carm. V. v. 402.) 
The identity of the aclys and ancyle was inferred from 
their apparent etymological relation, and from the statement 
of the Scholiast on Euripides—ayxvAa ra axovtia, aro Tov 
exnykvAcacOat, (Euripid. Orest. v. 1479), 
An investigation of the radical meanings of these names 
confirmed the testimonies adduced, by showing that each 
was properly descriptive of a curved instrument. 
The statement of Isidore, that the cateza and club of 
Hercules were the same, was, in like manner, confirmed by 
an investigation of the radical meaning of the word clava, and 
by the exhibition of drawings of curved clave (almost identi- 
