OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 243 



" minthe " of Hipponax, — and Theophrastus : the " agrion ethuosmon " is described by Dioscorides 

 iii. 36 as larger every way than the "sisumvriou " with the leaves more hairy and a ranker odour: 

 M. rotundifolia was observed by Sibthorp, and Chaubard, frequent in abandoned gardens and among 

 ruins from Crete and the Peloponnesus to the Bithynian Olympus ; is enumerated by Clot-Bey and 

 Figari as only recently introduced into Egypt. Westward, is termed " m. sylvestris rotundiore folio " 

 by Tournefort inst. 189; was observed by Forskal near Marseilles; and is known to grow in wet 

 places and along roadsides as far as Britain (Engl. bot. pi. 446, Lam. fl. fr., and Pers.). Is one of 

 the species enumerated by Lindley as having " been in repute as stomachics and emmenagogues." 

 (See M. arvensis, and M. aquatica). 



" 538 B. C." ( . . . Blair, and Clint), capture of Babylon by the Medes and Persians under 

 Cyrus ; and Babylonian independence overthrown. (The same date, probably marking the same 

 event, occurs in the Egyptian Chronicle = 715 — " 177 years; " and nearly the same, in the Afr.- 

 Maneth. table, 1072 y. 2 mo. — " 130 — 120 — 89 — 6 — 40 — 7 — 6 — 8 — 54 — 6 — 6 — 19 

 — 44 " = 537 y. 2 mo. = 339 -f "4 -f 3 -f 2 + 38 -f 20 y. 4 mo. -f 6 -f 124 y. 4 mo. + o y. 6 

 months "). 



Euphorbia antiquorum of Tropical Arabia and Hindustan. Cactiform, called by the Arabs 

 "shrfth" (Spreng.), in Yemen "kerf" or "kaelah" or "gholak" (Forsk.), in Hindustanee " seyard " 

 or "narashij," in Bengalee " narsij," in Telinga " bonta-jammoodoo," in Tamil " shadray kullie " 

 (Drur.) ; and the A H S *r srphth of the later Isaian prophecies lv. 15 — is referred here by Sprengel : 

 also the " kaulos " with stout spines and copious fig-like juice observed by Aristobulus (Arr. exp. vi. 

 22), or leafless "akanthan " growing in Gedrosia according to Theophrastus iv. 4. 13 ; the " snuh " 

 or"snuhi"or "sud'ha" or " vajrakantaka " or " mahavriksha " milk prescribed by Susrutas sutr. 

 36 to chikits. I, is referred here by Hessler : E. antiquorum was observed by Rheede ii. pi. 42 in 

 Malabar, the bark of the root bruised and taken as purgative; by Graham, "in gardens Bombay" 

 and "wild in the jungles about the falls of Gockauk, Southern Mahratta country ; " by Buchanan, 

 and Roxburgh, and Royle, in other parts of Hindustan ; by Drury, " common in waste places in the 

 peninsula," and the juice employed by the natives for various medicinal purposes. Westward, was 

 observed by Forskal p. 93 in Tropical Arabia, cooked in pits and given to camels ; and as appears 

 from Persoon is known even in Egypt. 



"537 B. C. = 8th year of King-wang" (Chinese chron. table), beginning of the Thirty-sixth 

 cycle. 



" 536 B. C." ( . . . and C. Mull, geogr. min. i. p. xx), the island of Corsica abandoned by the 

 Phocaean Greeks ; yielding naval dominion over the Western portion of the Mediterranean to the 

 Carthaginians. 



Scilla marilima of Egypt and the Mediterranean countries. The squill is called in Greece 

 "skilla" or."v6lkikos" (Sibth.), in Egypt "basal el-far" or " askyl " (Del.) ; in which we recognize 

 SKI AAA of Theognis 537, — Pythagoras, Cratinus, Diphilus, Theophrastus i. 6, Theocritus, Dioscor- 

 ides, and Clemens Alexandrinus ; and the "iskil" of Avicenna: S. maritima was observed by Sib- 

 thorp, Chaubard, and Fraas, abounding in Greece and on the Greek islands ; by Delile, on the 

 Mediterranean border of Egypt. Westward, the "scilla" or "scylla" or " squilla " is mentioned by 

 Varro, Virgil, Celsus, Columella, Ausonius, Apuleius 42, and by Pliny xix. 30 as growing also on 

 the Balearic Islands and in Spain ; S. maritima is described by Anguillara p. 120, and Tournefort 

 inst. 381 ; was observed by Desfontaines i. p. 297 in Barbary ; and is known to grow in Sicily, Spain, 

 and Portugal (Pers., and Spreng.). Preparations from the bulbous root continue to be much used 

 medicinally. 



Spartium (Calycotome) villosum of the Mediterranean countries. Called in Greece "xulag- 

 katha" (Fraas) or " aspalatos " or " aspalathgia " (Sibth.); and the ASPAAAOOI : TATHeiA' of 

 Theognis — maybe compared: " aspalathous '' are mentioned by Pherecrates (Athen. xv. p. 685), 

 and Theocritus iv. 57: the " mfilaina riza" of 2 Mul. morb. 660 is identified by Galen with the 

 " aspalathon ardmatikon : " the " aspalathos " is described by Dioscorides as a woody and thorny 

 shrub, growing in Syria as well as on Nisyrus, Rhodes, and other Greek islands, and employed for 

 thickening ointment ; and in the added Synonyms, the " aspalathos " or " grusiskeptron " or " sphag- 

 non" or "phasganon" is identified with the "thiaxulon" of the Syrians: S. villosum is termed 

 " cytisus spinosus creticus siliqua villis densissimis longissimis et incanis obducta" by Tournefort 

 cor. 44 ; was observed by Sibthorp, Chaubard, and Fraas, from the Peloponnesus throughout Greece 

 and the Greek islands. Westward, the account by Pliny xxiv. 69 of the " frutex humilior " growing 

 on Nisyrus and Rhodes, and called " erysisceptrum " or " adipsatheon " or " diacheton," seems in 

 great part taken from Dioscorides: S. villosum was observed by Desfontaines ii. 135 in Barbary 

 (Pers.), and was received by Sprengel from Corsica and the vicinity of Naples. (See Myrica 

 sapida). 



Genista horrida of the Mediterranean countries. Also called in Greece "xulagkatha" (Fraas) ; 



