Chap. 24.] 0>*TX. 



is like wax in colour, 80 or else like cornel, with a circle also of 

 white around it. In some of these stones, too, thTe is a play 

 of colours like those of the rainbow, while the surface is redder 

 even than the shell of the sea-locust. 81 



Those stones which are like honey in appearance, or of a 

 fcDculent w colour taeh being the name given to one defect in 

 them are generally disapproved of. They are rejected also 

 when the white zone blends itself with the other colours, and 

 its limits arc not definitely marked ; or if, in like manner, it is 

 irregularly intersected by any other colour; it being looked 

 upon as an imperfection if the regularity of any one of the 

 colours is interrupted by the interposition of another. The 

 sardonyx of Armenia is held in some esteem, but the zone* 

 round it is of a pallid hue. 



CHAP. 2-1. ONYX: THE SEVKJUL VAIUKTIKS OF IT. 



"\Ve must give some account also of onyx, w because of 

 the name which it partly shares in common with sardonyx. 

 This name, though in some places 81 given to a marble", is 

 here used to signify a precious stone. Sudines says, that in this 

 stone there is a white, portion which resembles the white of 

 the human-fingernail, in addition to the colours of chrysolithos, 

 sarda, and iaspis. According to Zenothemis, there are numerous 

 varieties of the Indian onyx, the liery-colourcd, the black, and 

 the cornel, with white veins encircling them, like an eye as it 

 were, and in some cases running across them obliquely/* 

 Sotaeus mentions an Arabian onyx, which differs lioin the rest ; 

 that of India, according to him, presenting small flames,** each 

 surrounded by one or more white zones ; in a manner altogether 

 different from the Indian sardonyx, which presents a series of 

 white specks, while in this case it is one continuous circle. 

 The Arabian onyx, on the other hand, is black, he says, with a 

 white zone encircling it. 



Satyrus says, than there is an .onyx in India of a flesh 



* A variety, probably, of common Chalcedony. 



M See 15. ix. to. 74, bH, and 15. xxxii. c. a3. 



b2 '* Fiuculfiifcu," of the colour of wine-lees. 



* 3 So called iVoni crv, a " finger-nail." It is a variety of the Chal- 

 cedony, resembling Ai^ate, but the colours are arranged In llat horizontal 

 planes. h * .See tt. xxxiv. c. '22, and J5. xxxvi. c. 12. 



w It is pretty clear that the Onyx of J'liny included not only our Onyx, 

 but bevuui other varieties of the Chalcedony. ** " Jguiculos." 



1. L 2 



