Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/174

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. xn. AUG. 29, isoa

formation to provide a term in -ia, analogous to Reptilia, Sauria, Crocodilia, &c. (it can hardly represent Gr. o^tSta, plural of o$i'Sioi>, ophidium)" The latter was regarded as the probable etymology by the etymologist of the ' Century Dictionary.' It is more likely that Brongniart, the author of the name, assumed that o^ts was declined like ACTT/S (perhaps misled by a knowledge of ophidian), that its oblique and plural cases consequently were ophid-, and therefore gave the remark- able name now so generally used, but which is really unnecessary.

Orator under 2 is indicated as obsolete (t), the last quotation being from " Blackstone, Chancery or Equity practice in some parts of the United States the word is still used in the same manner.
 * Cornm.' Ill, xxvii. 442," and dated 1768. In

Orbitolite is denned as " a. The fossil shell of a Foraminifer of the genus Orbitolites" and " b. A fossil coral of the genus Orbitolites or Chtetites," and a quotation of 1865 is the only one given. The former is the only definition (of the two) admissible in an English dictionary. The latter is factitious ; the genus in question was named (by Eich- wald) Orbitulites, and was later supplanted by his name Orbipora ; it has been to some extent confounded with Chsetetes (so spelt by palaeontologists), but is now generally referred to the Bryozoans. The history is quite complicated, but, any way, definition b is entirely out of place and misleading in an English dictionary. Not onlv a later use (1879) of orbitolite (a) is to be found in the 4 Encyclopedia Britannica' (ix. 377), but examples of use as an adjective and for " attrib. and comb." purposes (orbitolite-discs) may also be seen. There also the words orbiculine and orbuline (not in ' Dictionary ') occur.

Ornithodelphia is referred to "mod. L. (De Blamyille, 18)." The exact date of its introduction appears to be universally unknown ; it was first published in 1834.

Ortolan, " applied in America and the West Indies, is exemplified by two quotations only, 1666 and 1793. Shortly before and during every September the name is repeated by hundreds of sportsmen, and occurs in numerous periodicals in the United states. In the 'Baltimore Sun Almanac,

XJ3, p. 29, the essentials of a protective law are given under the caption 'Sora, Water Kail or Ortolan.'

Cosmos Club, Washington, U.8.

HOMERIC HORSES FED ON WHEAT. Dr Johnson remarks that the corn given to horses, at any rate in England, generally

consists of oats, and this is probably the experience of most of us, either abroad or at home. But it would seem that the Homeric heroes sometimes fed their horses on wheat, a grain usually reserved for men. I should like to point out an erroneous reference to this matter in Liddell and Scott, that infallible authority in the opinion of schoolboys who learn Greek. Under Trvpos we read " given to horses, ' Od.' xix. 536." That line occurs in Penelope's relation of her dream, and runs thus :

fJLOi Kara OLKOV eetKOtrt irvpov eS

so that geese, not horses, are here said to be fed with the wheat.

But in the tenth book of the 'Iliad,' in which Diomed and Ulysses break at night into the camp of the Trojans and carry off the Thracian horses of .Rhesus, these animals are given a feed of wheat, as related in v. 569, which runs

, /xe/Xt^Sea Trvpov e'Soi/res, where Pope is careful to render u wheat," though in the above place in the ' Odyssey ' his translation has " golden grain."

W. T. LYNN. Blackheath.

GERYON. MR. EDWARD BENSLY'S note on Crashaw (ante, p. 86) includes a reference to that disputable being the monster Geryon, who has weighed upon my mind for some time. I have found him described as a giant king in Spain, slain by Hercules, also as a triple-headed being who fed his oxen on human flesh. The picture Dante gives of the demon of this name is entirely different. Plutus, discussed some years ago, menaces the two travellers ; the Malebolge demons are a mob of brutal, vulgar roughs ; but Geryon ('Inferno,' xvii.) seems to be the most com- plaisant of the infernal ministers, whereas Charon, Flegias, and the other demons are hostile. Virgil describes him

Ecco la fiera con la coda aguzza, Che passa i monti, e rompe muri ed armi ; E'JCO colei che tutto il monclo appuzza. And Dante exclaims

E quella sozza imagine di froda Sen venne, ed arrive la testa e '1 busto Ma in sulla riva non trasse la coda.

La faccia sua era faccia d' uom giusto, lanto benigna avea di fuor la pelle E d' un serpente tutto 1' altro f usto. I do not know whence Dante drew this figure, who apparently represents the genius ot traud. Milton's "snaky sorceress" Sin, portress of hell-gate, who sprang Minerva- like from Satan's head, bears a fair woman's form terminating in serpent folds. Carlyle