304 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
I believe it probable that Dr. Schiern would be willing to accept this 
in preference to his own suggestion, namely, that the horns were taken 
from the skins which are worn as garments by the Thibetans. Per- 
haps it 1s as well to add here further, for the benefit of those who. 
may not be aware of the origin of the connexion between ants and gold, 
that independently that part of the myth was cleared up some years 
ago, first by Dr. Wilson,‘ who pointed out that the Sanskrit name for 
the small fr agments of alluvial gold (gold dust) was paippilaka, meaning 
‘‘ ant-gold,”’ in reference to the size and form; but the characteristics 
of the “ants” were always supposed, up to the year 1867, to have 
been wholly imaginative. Then, however, it was found, as related 
above, that these characteristics were in the most minute particulars 
identical with those of Thibetan miners. The whole is an example of 
what has occurred in reference to other subjects also, namely, the 
too literal acceptance by the Greeks of the signification of Oriental 
words, the merely symbolical meaning not having been understood 
as such. This is, for instance, notably the case with reference to 
the “Indian Reed”: cf. p. 336. 
It may be here noted that in the foot-notes to various editions of 
Ktesias, Megasthenes, Herodotus, lian, and Strabo, 7. e. the authors 
who furnish the principal part of the ‘statements with which this 
Paper deals, commentators have not unfrequently suggested altera- 
tions in the accepted text to suit their preconceived notions of what 
is possible. With regard to several cases of this kind, I believe the 
explanations offered in the following pages will show that the 
text would lose the meanings intended were such changes adopted. 
Again, there are cases where commentators have suggested deriva- 
tions for Greek words from Sanskrit or Persian names, which will, I 
think, be shown to be incorrect. 
Many of the identifications of animals and plants suggested by com- 
mentators exhibit a sublime indifference on their part to the laws 
which govern and the facts observed with reference to the geographical 
distribution of animals. Such looseness is akin to the custom common 
enough among Englishmen in India of talking about animals by names 
strictly applicable to species not found in the Oriental Region. Thus 
you will hear, at the present day, sportsmen speaking of panthers, 
bison, elk, armadillos, alligators, toucans, canvas-back-ducks, and 
humming-birds as being commonly shot by them in India, though as 
a matter of fact none of the animals to which these names are correctly 
applicable are ever found beyond the limits of the American Continent. 
As an example of how statements about animals sometimes re- 
quire strict investigation, I remember on one occasion an Englishman 
assuring me very positively that sulphur-crested cockatoos were to be 
found in large numbers in a particular jungle in the Central Provinces 
of India. On my pointing out the impossibility of such being the case, 
+ Asiatic Researches. 
