zLD IvIerriam on the '■Cones Check List and Lexicon.' [January 



'tramp' (as we should say now), and therefore exactly answer- 

 ing to Swainson's explanation of his inolothrus^ it has been sup- 

 posed by Cabanis that Swainson meant to say molobrus^ and the 

 word has consequently been changed. Though this is veiy true, 

 it is also to be observed that Swainson wrote molothriis more 

 than once, showing it not to be a misprint or other mistake, and 

 that, further, it is quite possible to construct the word molothi-us 

 from [xuj\os and GpaJa-KO) (Gopciv, Gopu, 6tjw), and answer all the condi- 

 tions of Swainson's definition ; moluthrtis being, in this case, a 

 bird which takes uninvited possession of other birds' nests, and 

 there leaves an alien o.^^ in mockery of the rightful owners. We 

 therefore see no necessity to replace molothriis by molobrtis. 

 The first o is marked long as being Gr. w, the second as length- 

 ened by position." 



If any one will take the trouble to consult the Greek 'Thesaurus' 

 of Stephanus, edition of 1822, he will find there in its proper place 

 the following : — "|jio\oOpo's, qui non vocatus alieitas aedes intrat" 

 The word is introduced into the 'Thesaurus' on the authority of Sui- 

 das who gives it without explanation, and of Apollonius who cites 

 the feminine fjioXoGpT] in his Homeric Lexicon as an explanation of the 

 Homeric px.co9pt]. Editors of Suidas now incline to read p.oXo'8ovpos, 

 a plant, for |xo\o0po's, and in the later edition of the 'Thesaurus' 

 Dindorf conceives (loXoGpri, to be an invention of the Grammarians. 

 Swainson, however, had the authority of the great lexicon of the 

 day for his word and its meaning, whatever may have been its 

 real status in the language, and was quite justified in his use of it. 

 The fault, if anywhere, rests with the lexicographers, and Swain- 

 son's word should stand as he gave it. 



Aix (719) has been written as a dissyllable, notwithstanding 

 some misgivings on the part of the author. Though the earliest 

 application of the word may be in doubt, it certainly has been re- 

 garded both by tradition and by the commentators on Aristotle as a 

 monosyllable. There is no hint of any other view in the MSS. 

 of that writer, and Gaza translates by capella^ "the little 

 goat." Gaza, it will be remembered, was a learned Greek who 

 fled from Constantinople upon its capture by the Turks, and took 

 up his abode in Italy, where he devoted himself to the difilision 

 of a more accurate knowledge of his native tongue, and especially 

 to the translation of Aristotle into Latin. Bringing with him the 

 traditions of the schools as they had been handed down from an- 



