470 ' THIRSK NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. [June, 



THISTLES AND THOENS. 



" And some fell among thorns, and the thorns spi'ang up with it and choked 

 it," — Luke viii. V. 



In the ' Phytologist' for October last you have referred to the 

 prevalence of Thistles in the Holy Land, and it appears to me 

 that the word above rendered "thorns'' may more properly refer 

 to Thistles. I find in 2 Kings xiv. 9, the following : — " The 

 thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Le- 

 banon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife : and there 

 passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down 

 the thistle." And the marginal note to ' thistle' is as follows : — 

 " Choach, which is rendered here, and in Chronicles and Job, 

 'thistle,' — in 1st Samuel, 'thicket,' and Isaiah, 'bramble' and in 

 Chronicles, Proverbs, Canticles, and Hosea, ' thorn,' — is probably 

 the black-thorn or sloe-tree, the Prunus sjjinosa of Linnaeus." 



Although I believe that Thistle is the plant referred to, I wish 

 to know whether the Prunus spinosa grows in Palestine. 



The following, which refers to Thistles, is in Turner's Her- 

 bal : — " Acantha in Greek, and spina in Latin, signify a thistle, 

 and not thorn, as our schoolmasters' translators use to English 

 it nowadays. The same word, acantha, doth St. Luke use in 

 the Parable of the Sower, in the eighth chapter, and all the trans- 

 lators have acantha, spinosa ; but the translators of Latin into 

 English, not without a great error, turn 'spinosa' into a 'thorn' 

 whereas spina betokeneth not a ' thorn,' but a ' thistle.' " 



A Reader of the Word. 



THIRSK NATUEAL HISTOEY SOCIETY. 

 Botanical Exchange Club. 



The monthly meeting of the Thirsk Natural History Society 

 was held on the evening of Tuesday, May 12. Miss E. Burton, 

 of Bowdon, Cheshire, and Mr. W. Mudd, of Great Ay ton, were 

 elected corresponding members. 



Mr. J, G. Baker announced that the list of desiderata for the 

 season had been printed and circulated, and that copies might be 

 had upon application. 



