04 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
was Churrus, a resinous product of Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa). 
It cannot have been opium, as it was not introduced into India till a 
later period. 
I remember when in the valley of the Indus being very much 
struck with the rapidity with which these scarabeei formed pellets from 
cattle droppings and rolled them across the sand to suitable spots for 
burying. The pellets are often larger than the beetles themselves, 
and the method of rolling them is curious, as the beetle goes back- 
wards, guiding the ball with his long hind legs and walking on the 
two pairs of fore-legs. 
The foregoing illustration, for which I am indebted to Messrs. 
Cassell & Co., though not representing this attitude, will aid the reader 
towards understanding the origin of this myth. 
It would not be difficult to give examples of almost as extravagant 
ideas of the origin of many of our drugs which were till recently 
accepted. There are some even to the present day the true source of 
which is unknown. 
The above may be compared with the suggestion on page 328, that 
the oil of the skolex was in reality rock oil or petroleum from the 
Punjab. 
PLANTS. 
It would be going beyond the special limits of this Paper to attempt 
any discussion as to the identity of plants mentioned by our authors, 
but not belonging to India. I should not possess in such an analysis 
the qualification which has been of so much aid to me with reference to 
the productions of India, namely, a, so to speak, personal acquaintance 
with them as they appear, and are regarded by the natives in. the 
country itself. 
1. Rice ("Opvgéa). 
Oriza sativa, Linn.—Rice.—(Sansk. Viriht). 
In the Periplus, we are told that oriza, which all agree was rice, 
was produced in Oraia and Araiké, and was exported from Barugaza 
to the Barbarine markets and the Island of Diskorides, 7. e. Socotra. 
2. Honzy rrom Canes catrep Suear (MéAu 76 kadapuvov 7d Aeyopevov 
waxap). 
Saccharum officinarum, Linn.—Sugar Cane, its product called Sarkara 
in Sanskrit, and Sukkar by the Arabs. 
According to the Periplus it was exported from Barugaza (@. e. 
Bharoch), to the markets of Barbaria. 
Mr. M‘Crindle’s’® resumé of the writings of the ancients with regard 
to this substance is of such interest that I quote it verbatim here: 
7S Periplus of the Erythraan Sea, by J. W. M‘Crindle, p. 238. 
