288 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



have totally disappeared, while the distinctive ones seem still entirely 

 absent. It lacks all traces of pigment." The authors consider that these 

 characteristics are sufficient " to convince anyone of the reality of the 

 metamorphoses discovered by us." As Mr. J. T. Cunningham has pre- 

 viously pointed out, " it is a curious fact that the larvae, now identified as 

 those of the Eel, are found in greatest abundance in the stomach of the 

 Sun-fish, Orthagoriscus mola, which Grassi believes to be a deep-sea species. 

 In the Straits of Messina this fish rarely appears, except in the months 

 from February to September, and the occurrence of L. brevirostris is 

 limited to that period." 



In the 'Athenaeum' for May 29th Canon T. K. Cheyne has contributed 

 a most interesting communication on "Mythic Singing Crocodiles": — 

 " Reading Dr. James's introduction to his • Apocrypha Inedita,' ii., in the 

 Cambridge 'Texts and Studies,' vol. v., No. 1, I was interested to see that 

 he illustrates the strange flying creatures called Chalkadri, with the feet 

 and tails of lions and the heads of crocodiles and wings like those of angels 

 (a description which also applies to the phoenixes), by Vishnu's bird Garuda. 

 Long ago this same mythical bird was introduced into discussions on the 

 Hebrew cherub, on which Jehovah is said to ride (Ps. xviii. 10), since it is 

 Garuda's chief function to act as the animated chariot of Vishnu. It was 

 new to me that Garuda is also said to have carried Aruna (Vishnu's charioteer) 

 on his back and placed him in front of the sun to prevent it from consuming 

 the world by heat. This gives an interesting parallel to the use of the 

 wings of the phoenix and the Chalkadri, but suggests that Aruna, and not 

 Garuda, is a parallel to these two mythic birds. Garuda still seems to me 

 a distant relative of the cherub. As to the name Chalkadri, I cannot agree 

 with my friend Mr. Charles that it is a transliteration of ^aXx'J^ai, brazen 

 hydras or serpents. The serpents of Num. xxi. 6 have no solar connection 

 whatever: neither did the old writers attribute any to the brazen serpent. 

 It seems to me that one of the two French scholars to whom Dr. James's 

 volume is dedicated has given the most reasonable view of the name 

 Chalkadri. I will not take up space with recapitulating M. Berger's interesting 

 analogies and arguments, for which see a recent number of the French 

 journal of folk-lore called ' Melusine.' His conclusion is that Chalkadri is a 

 corruption of ■ Crocodile,' the letters being mixed up, as so often happens 

 in corruptions. I know that the description only speaks of the head as 

 being that of a crocodile. But the name preceded this description. The 

 only thing which M. Berger has not cleared up is the combination of the 

 phoenix and (ex hyp.) the crocodile as attendants on the sun. Can this 

 arise from the fact that the sun-god was identified (among other symbolic 

 animals) with the bennu or phoenix and the crocodile (see Brugsch, ' Religiou 



