ON THE ICTIS OF DIODORUS sicuLuUs. 315 
in Cornish, Lethas; by the English Seven- 
stones; and the Cornish call that place within 
the stones Tregva, i.e. a dwelling; where it has 
been reported that windows, and other stuff, have 
been taken up with hooks, (for that is the best 
place of fishing. )” 
It would seem, that most of the islands on this 
coast received their names from some fancied 
resemblance, which they bore to different animals. 
Thus Lethas, (or Lethowstow) mentioned by 
Gibson in the passage just quoted, denotes The 
Lioness. A few miles south-west of the Land’s- 
End there is still a rocky island, called The Wolf, 
which doubtless owes its preservation to the cir- 
cumstance of its being composed of limestone, a 
species of rock better adapted to resist atmo- 
spherical changes than many kinds of granite; 
and near the Lizard, which probably derives its 
name from the elongated form which it exhibits, 
resembling that of a lizard, there is a cluster, 
known by the name of The Stags. Ictis itself, 
which may have been a translation from some old 
British word, is the Greek for An Otter ;* and 
* The meaning assigned by Scapula to the word Ixzts, is 
“mustela sylvestris.” He adds, “ Sunt qui viverram interpr.” 
But Aristophanes, according to Brunck, uses it neither for a 
