NOTES 343

by Dioscurides II. 66 «kopo«6ö8«&^os xepcæat?os, land erocodile'. Pliny
XXVIII. 119 says the scincus is a crocodilus ferrestris used in medi—
cine, found in Egypt and Arabia.  Meunier translates (salamandre",
but the salamander is described separately by Dioscurides and Pliny.
ï95(OQniscus Asellus, (both words mean (little ass' and the Greek
and Latin synonyms are . used together), Armadillo officinalis, is the
common wood—louse or cellar—worm, in shape a long oval, ash—colored,
many legs.  On£scus in Pliny XXIX. 136 has as synonyms milipeda
or centipeda, and he says elsewhere that it should be taken in wine.
Pozzo of Venice in his Maleria Medica, 1834, in a long discussion
of this 'porcellino di terra', says that it is given for dropsy, though
a& dropsical patient of his "*took 100 living onisci night and morning,
with no resultant diuretic action such as was ascribed to them by
all the ancient writers'; he adds that chemical analysis has proved
them to be useless. However, I find that they are still taken in
England as & popular remedy for epilepsy, colic etc.; tincture of the
live animal, or alive in wine. A fine powder was also made of them
for diuretic pills. Meunier!s translation '^des merlus qui vivent
sous les roches", i. e. *codfish that live under rocks', is certainly
wrong. FosseUs ^"Asseln, die unter Krügen leben," is correct.

:»* Asphallitis, the &co&Nvrir of Dioscurides III. 109, and Pliny
XXI. 54, is classed by both these writers as a trefoil. It was said
to be so called because it had the odor of asphalt; found in Sicily but
not in Italy.

ï98 This clause could be translated: "this will, of course, be not
unreasonable.?*