knight: etymology of azeca and assiminea of leach. 273 



Thracia : a name taken from the ancient Roman province of 

 Thrace, rather than, as Jeffreys suggests (B.C., vol. 3, p. 33) from 

 Thracia, 'a sea-nymph.' 



Mysia (Diplodonta) : the province in Asia Minor, mentioned in 

 Acts xvi., 7. 



Bithynia : Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill informs me that Leach described 

 a mollusc Bithynia in 182 1, which Gray in the same year called 

 Bithinia. Jeffreys (B.C., vol. 1, p. 59) spells the genus Bythinia, 

 and has the following note : — "Although the derivation of the word 

 Bythinia [inhabiting deep water] would imply that these molluscs 

 inhabit deeper water than others of the same family, such is not the 

 case. They generally frequent small streams, canals, shallow ponds, 

 and ditches." Is it likely that Leach in such a flagrant manner would 

 thus violate the rule he had laid down for his own guidance, and spell 

 the word in such a way as to lead others to suppose that the mollusc 

 inhabited waters the very reverse in actual condition to what was the 

 truth? Leach himself in his 'Synopsis' (p. 209) spelled the word 

 Bithynia, rightly deriving it from the well-known province of Asia 

 Minor (Acts xvi., 7 ; 1 Peter i., 1) which is fliQwia not f3v0iVLa. 

 Jeffreys came to see this, and in his Supplement (B.C., vol. 5, p. 151) 

 adopts the latter geographical derivation. The Conchological Society's 

 List in 1892 spells the word Bythinia, and the genus is attributed to 

 Gray. 



Thyatira (Axinus) : the city of Lydia (Acts xvi., 14) and one of 

 the seven churches of Asia (Rev. ii., 18). 



Lasaea : Jeffreys (B.C., vol. 2, p. 217) says of this name "a mean- 

 ingless name, possibly a corrupt derivation from Xaio-tjiov a little 

 shield." He remarks on this 'meaningless' name again on p. 218, 

 but in the Supplement (vol. 5, p. 179) he retracts, and derives the 

 term, as it certainly should be, from " Lascea, a town in Crete, men- 

 tioned in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts xxvii., 8, Aacrata). 



Dipsas : a river of Cilicia, flowing from Mount Taurus. 



Pharus (Ceratisolen) : the famous island off Alexandria, on which 

 the first lighthouse was built by Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, and on 

 which, according to the tradition, the Hebrew Scriptures were trans- 

 lated by the ' Seventy.' 



Magdala {Lyonsia) : the town on the Lake of Galilee (Matt, 

 xxviii., 1). 



Barnea (Pholas) : a name derived from Kadesh-Barnea, the great 

 centre of the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert (Numb, xxxii. 

 8, xxxiv. 4). 



Azor (Solecurtus) : very possibly taken from Hazor which occurs 



R 



