The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 123 
who says that the male frogs, at the season when they 
croaked, were called ololygones. (See also Aristot., "Hist. 
Anim./' IV, 9, 6, rr]u oXoXvyova iroiel.) The passage about 
" vibrating its tongue " is not clear ; but it may refer to a 
belief in the modus operandi in croaking. Pliny says that 
the frog sinks the lower lip to the surface of the water, takes 
a small quantity into the mouth (" libramentum modicse 
aquas"), and then by quavering with the tongue ("palpitante 
lingua "), produces the croaking sound. 
There seems to be much similarity in these two passages 
between the Assyrian tablets and some Greek and Latin 
authors. Now, Pliny specially mentions the Magi as having 
discoursed about frogs ("Nat. Hist.," XXXII, 18), and we 
know that Pliny borrowed considerably from Democritus, 
who himself visited Babylonia. It is probable that a good 
deal of the popular beliefs among the Greeks and Romans on 
matters relating to animals and plants or other subjects, found 
its way to Greece and Rome from this source. Democritus 
had been a great traveller, and occupied himself much in 
natural history and philosophical speculations; nay, according 
to Diogenes Laertius, he had been a pupil of some of the 
Magi and Chaldeans, from whom he learned the principles 
of astronomy and theology. It is a great pity that his works 
have not been preserved to us. 
Postscript. 
The chief difficulty which still makes me hesitate in 
not accepting the explanation so well advocated by Dr. 
Lotz (Die Inschriften Tiglathpileser } s I, Leipsig, 1880), that 
the animal denoted by the Accadian name of amti is 
none other than the elephant, lies in the fact that the 
skins (*^^yy §u) of the amsi are sometimes mentioned, 
together with the teeth, as articles of value, even as tribute 
offerings among such things as precious stones, gold, silver, 
&c. See Senacherib, Smith's " History," p. 64, where we read 
of "su (skins) of amsi, ca (teeth or horns) of amSi" as forming 
