4 
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
EEPTILES. 
The Skolex (^kwXt^^). 
Crocodilus liporcatus, vel Garialis gangeticus. — The Crocodile,^ or the 
Garial. (The Gavial of authors.) 
When I made the suggestion that as in other cases Ktesias had, 
with reference to crocodile oil, combined information about what were 
in reality two quite different subjects, I was unaware that the same 
explanation had already been made by a previous writer. In his valu- 
able essay on " Early Asiatic Fire Weapons," General Maclagan, K.E., 
has pointed out^ that to crocodile oil — a recognized Indian medicine — 
Ktesias had apparently attached the attributes which properly belong 
to the Punjab petroleum, thus explaining the inflammability of the oil 
and its use in warfare, as the material for fireballs for setting cities 
on fire. I do not doubt, therefore, that this explanation will find a 
ready acceptance, and I venture to hope that similar acceptance will 
be given to many of the other suggested identifications, when the 
evidence upon which they are based has been fairly weighed. 
In the present communication I give another example of a com- 
bined story in the case of the par el on tree, having been enabled to 
trace the origin of the properties attributed to its juice to the well- 
known characteristics of a distinct plant. 
INSECTS. 
Honey (MeAt). 
Apis dorsata. — Bee. Bhaunra, Hin. 
When explaining Ktesias's mention of " a certain river flowing with 
honey out of a rock, like the one we have in our own country," by the 
fact that wild bees are found in the rocky gorges of some Indian rivers, 
and that their honey is much sought after by the natives, I omitted 
to mention that the same explanation would apply to the words of the 
Psalmist : " He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, 
and with honey out of the stony roch would I have satisfied thee." 
5 It has been urged as an objection to this identification, that Skolex, Hterally 
translated, means ' worm.' To this I reply that the same zoological classification 
has sometimes also been applied to poor humanity. 
^ Jour. Asiat. Society, Bengal, xlv., pp. 50-51. 
