110 THE KEY. F. A. WALKEi;^ ON HERODOTUS AS A BOTANIST. 



The Author. — I tliink most probably tliat Iciki is the gom-d of 

 Jonah. 



With regard to the Lotus-eaters, the shrub that produces the 

 lotus, there is an ancient belief that it occasioned complete lethe 

 or forgetfulness of all past life. (Lib. ix, 83-102.) Tennyson 

 follows the old idea evidently, from the 9fcli Book of Homer's 

 Odyssey, though he made such a strange combination of different 

 kinds of plants and the scenery of various countries. In reference 

 to the passage from Homer's Odyssey as quoted in this paper 

 concerning the people, u it ilvOivov elhap ecovaiv, Herodotus (iv, 177) 

 mentions these same Lotophagi as occupying the coast that 

 projects to the sea in front of the Gindanes. They subsist only on 

 the fruit of the lotus, and the fruit of the lotus is equal in size to 

 the mastic berry, and in sweetness it resembles the fruit of the 

 palm tree. I do not know of any author who has alluded to the 

 fruit of the lotus being the produce of either the date or the dom 

 palm. 1 thiak it is generally regarded as having been the 

 fruit of a plant, not that of a full-sized tree. He speaks of 

 another jieople, the Machlyes, adjoining the Lotophagi on the sea 

 coast, who also feed on the lotus, but to a smaller extent than 

 those already mentioned. 



The Meeting Avas then adjourned. 



