OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 255 



One hundred and fourteenth generation. Jan. 1st, 500, mostly beyond youth : queen Esther 

 (Munk. p. 471) : the Greek poets, Timocreon of Rhodes, Praxilla, and Cleobuline ; the comic poets, 

 Phormis, Dinolochus, Euetes, Euxenides, Mylus, and Magnes ; the tragic poet, Phrynichus ; the phi- 

 losophers, Heracleitus, and Parmenides ; the historians, Dionysius of Miletus, Charon of Lampsacus, 

 and Hippys of Rhegium ; the sculptors, Ptolichus, and Calamis. 



In this year (= " 70th olymp." of Suidas . . . . ) at Athens, satyric drama invented and first 

 exhibited by Pratinas. 



" In or about this year" (Leps. eg. and sin. 442), the canal from the Nile to the Bitter Lakes, 

 extended to the Red Sea by Darius, and the connexion first completed. The canal is represented 

 by Lepsius as narrow and not intended for large ships : but the Persian ruins near Suez with cuneiform 

 inscriptions and the name and statue of Darius, are described as all in " red granite ; " a material 

 that probably came through the canal from Syene. The signet ring of Darius, containing "his name 

 and title in cuneiform characters in three languages, Persian, Median, and Babylonian " — has been 

 found at Suez (Birch). 



" 499 B. C." (Clint. . . . ), revolt of the Ionians ; who after burning the city of Sardis, were pur- 

 sued and defeated near Ephesus. The Athenians now withdrew from the confederacy (Herodot. v. 

 99 to 102). The affair — led eventually to the invasion of Greece by the Persians. 



Mago the Carthaginian military commander and agricultural writer, from being termed the father 

 of Agriculture (Columell. i. 1. 13) seems to have at least preceded Democritus. (See Plin. xviii. 5). 



Cladium mariscus of Europe and the adjoining portion of Asia. Called in Britain twig rush, 

 from its tough twiggy branching growth (Prior) ; and the " junco " called by Mago " mariscon," to 

 be cut for weaving mats from June to the middle of July — (Plin. xxi. 69), is referred here by writers : 

 C. mariscus is described by Valerius Cordus (Spreng.), and Morison viii. pi. 11 ; is termed " scirpus 

 palustris altissimus foliis et carina serratis " by Tournefort inst 528 ; is known to grow through- 

 out middle Europe as far as Sweden (flor. Suec. p. 35, Engl. bot. pi. 950, and Pers.). Eastward, 

 was observed by Sibthorp, and Chaubard, in the marshes of Southern Greece. (Compare Juncus 

 spinosus). 



Juncus acutus of the seashore along the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. A species of rush 

 called in France "jonc maritime " (Fe"e), in Germany " strandbinse " (Fraas), in Greece " vourla'' 

 or " vourl6 " (Sibth ) : the " alterum genus juncorum " of Mago, — maritime according to Pliny xxi. 

 69 and the " oxyschoenon " of the Greeks, may be compared : the " oxushoinos " is mentioned in the 

 Batrachomyomachia 164, Aristophanes ach. 230, as sharp-pointed by Dioscorides iv. 52 ; and the 

 " shoinos oxus " is one of the three kinds distinguished by Theophrastus iv. 12 : J. acutus is described 

 by Anguillara 264 (Spreng.), and Barrelier pi. 203; is termed "j. acutus capitulis sorghi " by Tourne- 

 fort inst. 246 ; was observed by Sibthorp, Chaubard, and Fraas, abounding on the seashore of Greece 

 and Crete, and used for basket-work (Walp. p. 243) ; by Forskal, and Delile, on the Mediterranean 

 shore of Egypt; and is known to grow along the sea from Italy and Barbary to Portugal and Britain 

 (Savi, Desf., Brot, Dec, and Engl. bot. pi. 1614). Farther West, is known to grow on Madeira (herb. 

 Schw.), and as far as our Atlantic seashore from New Jersey to Carolina and Florida (Pursh, Muhl., 

 Ell., A. Gray, and Chapm ) 



Iris pseudacorus of Europe and the adjoining portion of Asia. The yellow iris is called in 

 Italy "acoro adulterino " or "iride gialla " (Lenz), in Greece " nSrokrinos " or by the Turks "aiak 

 ingivi " (Sibth.) ; and a yellow-flowered kind is included in the " iris " identified in Syn. Diosc. with 

 the " glathidlon " of the Romans: the "gladiolum alterum " called " cypiron " should according to 

 Mago be cut to the root in July, and for three successive days carried under cover before sunset, 

 nocturnal dew injuring cut marsh-plants — (Plin. xxi. 68) : I. pseudacorus is described by C. Bauhin 

 pin. 34; is termed '' i. palustris lutea " by Tournefort inst. 360 ; was observed by Lenz frequent in 

 Italy ; and is known to grow throughout middle Europe as far as Denmark (fl. Dan. pi. 494, Curt. lond. 

 iii. pi. 4, and Pers.). Eastward, the " cypiron " of Apollodorus is identified by Pliny with the " gladiolus " 

 growing on Crete and Naxos as well as in Phoenicia and Egypt ; and an " iris " having yellow flowers 

 is expressly mentioned by Dioscorides: I. pseudacorus was observed by Sibthorp, Chaubard, and 

 Fraas, frequent in marshy situations from the Peloponnesus to Constantinople. 



Triglochin palustre of Northern climates. Called in Britain arrow-grass (Prior) ; the " sagittam " 

 of the Romans called "pistanam" by the Greeks, to be peeled and dried according to Mago from the 

 Ides of May to the end of October — (Plin. xxi. 68), may be compared : T. palustre was observed by 

 Desfontaines in Barbary ; is known to grow in Portugal, and throughout middle and Northern 

 Europe as far as Lapland and Iceland (Brot., fl. Dan. pi. 490, Hook., and Wats.). Eastward is 

 known to grow in Tauria and throughout Siberia in both fresh-water and saline marshes (Gmel., and 

 Bieb.) : and farther East, in Alaska, and throughout Canada in fresh-water and saline marshes, to 

 Ohio, Onondaga, and Lat. 49 in Newfoundland (Wats., Pursh, La Pylaie, and A. Gray). " T. 

 bulhosum," figured by Barrelier pi. 271 and perhaps not distinct, was observed by Bory in the 

 Peloponnesus. 



