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 previously pointed out, "it is a curious fact that the larvæ, 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 'Athenæum' 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 χαλκύδραι, 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, 'Religion
