256 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



Bear is the result of tongue-twisting from the 

 Latin fera, a wild beast. 



Ape is from the Sanskrit kapi; leap in the same 

 language means tremble ; but the connection is not 

 clear. Lemur, the name given to that low family 

 of monkeys, is from the plural Latin word 

 lemures, meaning ghost or spectre. This has 

 reference to the nocturnal habits, stealthy gait, 

 and weird expression of these large-eyed crea- 

 tures. Antelope is probably of Grecian origin, 

 and was originally applied to a half -mythical ani- 

 mal, located on the banks of the Euphrates, and 

 described as "very savage and fleet, and having 

 long, saw-like horns with which it could cut down 

 trees. It figures largely in the peculiar fauna of 

 heraldry." 



Deer is of obscure origin, but may have been 

 an adjective meaning wild. Elk is derived from 

 the same root as eland, and the history of the lat- 

 ter word is an interesting one. It meant a 

 sufferer, and was applied by the Teutons to the 

 elk of the Old World on account of the awkward 

 gait and stiff movements of this ungainly animal. 

 But in later years the Dutch carried the same 

 word, eland, to South Africa, and there gave it 

 to the largest of the tribe of antelopes, in which 

 sense it is used by zoologists to-day, 



Porcupine has arisen from two Latin words, 

 porcus, a hog, and spina, a spine; hence, appro- 

 priately, a spiny-hog. Buffalo may once have 



