312 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
5. Tue Kroxorras, or KynotyKos (Kpoxotras, KuvdXvkos). 
Hyena crocuta.—The Spotted Hyzena. 
Ktesias, according to Photios,” describes the above animal as fol- 
lows :—‘‘ There is in Ethiopia an animal called properly the Kro- 
kottas, but vulgarly the Kynolykos. It is of prodigious strength, 
and is said to imitate the human voice, and by night to call out men 
by their names, and when they come to fall upon them and devour them. 
This animal has the courage of the lion, the speed of the horse, and 
the strength of the bull, and cannot be successfully encountered with 
weapons of steel.” 
This I am disposed to identify (as from the references given 
by him in a foot-note, so also does Mr. M‘Crindle) with the spotted 
hyzena (H. crocuta) of Africa—a very powerful animal—which, like 
its Indian relative (Z. striata), has a hideous cry at night. It is, I 
believe, not conspicuous for courage ; but according to some accounts 
the lion is less courageous in reality than is gener ally supposed. That 
however is a small matter. I cannot but think that Lassen” is wrong 
in identifying, on philological grounds, this animal with the jackal, 
the Sanscrit name for the latter being Kottharakatrom Kroshtuka. This 
involves his saying, first, that the above were ‘“‘fabulous attributes 
given to the jackal, an animal which frequently appears in Indian 
fables;”’ and, second, that the Ethiopia of Ktesias meant India. Cf 
Appendix, p. 346. 
6. Tue GrypHon, or Grirrrn (I'pty). 
Canis domesticus, var. Tibetanus.—Thibetan Mastifts. 
According to Ktesias, as related by Photios,” gold was obtained in 
certain ‘‘ high towering mountains which are inhabited by the griffins, 
a race of four-footed birds, about as large as wolves, having legs and 
claws like those of the lion, and covered all over the body with black 
feathers, except only on the breast, where they are red. On account 
of these birds the gold, with which the mountains abound, is difficult 
to be got.” Atlian’s account of the same animals adds some probably 
spurious particulars—such as that the wings are white, the neck va- 
riegated with blue feathers, the beak like an eagle’s, and that, aecord- 
ing to the Baktrians, they built their nests of the gold which they 
dug out of the soil, but that the Indians deny this. He states that 
the auriferous region which the griffins inhabited was a frightful 
desert. 
*0 Kcloga in Photii, Bibl. Ixxii. Cf. Ancient India, by J. W. M‘Crindle, pp. 32, 33. 
21 Ancient India, p. 75. 
22 Ecloga in Vhotii, Bibl. lxxii. 
