NOTES. 147 



in many works of art. But to return to the 

 echini. Each part of the mouthpiece of the 

 Acropolis bit has httle spines on it ; but these 

 spines are rounded and not sharp. Further, to 

 judge from Lechat's description, they rise directly 

 from the mouthpiece itself, and not from a cylin- 

 der put on about the mouthpiece. But we know 

 that the echini were not always actually part of 

 the mouthpiece ; we might infer that they were 

 not, from Xenophon's remark about "all the 

 parts put on round the joints ; " and this infer- 

 ence is made certain by the construction of 

 another ancient bit (cut on p. 60). This bit, 

 also described by Lechat, is in the Carapanos 

 collection of bronzes ; but unfortunately its coun- 

 try of origin and its age are unknown. Like 

 the other, it is jointed ; but each half of the mouth- 

 piece forms an axis about which play an echinus 

 and a large disc, the latter being biconvex like a 

 lens. The spines of the echini are very sharp. 

 The discs are evidently what Xenophon calls the 

 rpoxoL. But in this bit we have a combination 

 which he does not recommend ; that is, we have 

 "good-sized" discs, whereas he says that with 

 sharp echini the discs should be heavy, but not 

 so high as they are when used on the smooth bits. 

 It is inconceivable, however, that the discs should 

 ever have been higher than these. This bit was 

 attached to the cheek-pieces by the small rings on 



