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The manuscript 3314/15 of the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek at Darmstadt (originally from Seligenstadt) contains a fragment of a mid-twelfth-century tonary that is essentially identical to interpolations in the tonary of Theoger of Metz transmitted in the manuscript Kassel, 4o Mss. Math. 1. The Seligenstadt tonary is of especial interest, inasmuch as it is one of the first sources to cite differentiae peregrinae in addition to the ordinary differentiae for the psalm tones in each of the ecclesiastical modes. These irregular differentiae were designated ‘peregrinae’ for the first time by Berno. Differentiae peregrinae are occasionally mentioned in the south German cultural sphere during the twelfth century, but by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they were being discussed frequently. It is precisely at this time that the fourth differentia of the eighth ecclesiastical mode came to be known as the ‘tonus peregrinus’.

Shelly fossils from the basal Middle Cambrian, near the peak of Tizi n'Tichka in the central High Atlas, Morocco, include the new hyolithids Oboedalites peregrinus new species, Emarites decorissimus new genus and species, Patholites insolitus new genus and species, Rodentilites cricetus new genus and species, Slapylites afer new species, Tajinella mosei new genus and species, and Tizilites creber new genus and species. New orthothecid hyoliths are Gracilitheca destombesi new species, Contitheca chrosniaki new species, Sysoievia exilis new genus and species and an indeterminate species of Circotheca. The presence of Obeodalites, Slapylites, and Contitheca suggests a strong affinity to other Mediterranean and to Avalonian faunas. Their occurrence in Morocco extends their geographic ranges from Europe, and further reenforces their usefulness as indicators of Middle Cambrian age.

Neosymydobius neomexicanus sp.nov., N. peregrinus sp.nov., N. acutipilosus sp.nov., N. rumorosensis sp.nov., and N. paucisetosus sp.nov. are described and their relationship with other species is discussed. A lectotype of N. agrifoliae (Essig) was chosen from Essig’s type specimens. The taxonomic position of Neosymydobius is evaluated and a key for the identification of the presently known species is presented.

Justin and the other second-century Christian apologists endeavour to present their beliefs and life-style as a ‘ philosophy’ best compared with that of Plato, and Christians as a philosophical sect. This was a ‘quite implausible’ suggestion according to R. L. Wilken, commenting on Justin. Yet a number of outsiders in the second century do seem to have seen the Christians in such terms, although not as intellectually respectable as the apologists would have liked.‘What distinguished them from wandering Cynic philosophers?’, asks Stephen Benko, and replies, ‘Outwardly, probably nothing’. The evidence for these preliminary assertions will be sketched at the end of this discussion. But if this is a plausible reading of the reaction to Christians of such outsiders as Aristides, Galen, Celsus, and Crescens, and of Lucian's Peregrinus, it provides a context in which better sense may be made of the charges widely evidenced at least from Justin's time onwards and levelled against the early Christians, of indulging in Oedipoean intercourse and Thyestean feasts.. Accused of incest and cannibalism the Christians are thought to be practising a Cynic philosophical ‘naturalism’ that deliberately flouts mere social conventions. This affords a more plausible explanation for the indictment than that generally offered, namely the suspicions thought likely to have been aroused by any secretive religious group, a suggestion for which the evidence profferred is far from convincing.

From Republican times Romans, unlike any other people known to them, had three names, praenomen, nomen (gentilicium) and cognomen. In the first and second centuries A.D. Roman writers assumed that the possession of tria nomina distinguished the civis Romanus from the peregrinus.Roman practice in the late Republican period was not always in accordance with the above. Cognomina were not adopted in official inscriptions by the Roman state as a constituent of the nomenclature of a senator or an eques until the end of the second century B.C. even though the use of cognomina by patrician families dates from the second half of the fourth century B.C. Despite this official recognition some families such as those of Marius and the Antonii never used cognomina. There were also many individuals who used an additional cognomen (or agnomen) which resulted from a military honour, adoption or the need to mark separate identity from other branches of a family. The practice of employing tria nomina, therefore, was never universal among the upper classes during the late Republic. The aim of this paper is to present a statistical analysis of the nomenclature patterns by which all individuals who can confidently be considered of senatorial or equestrian status are known to us. In the case of women, the study is restricted to those from the senatorial class.

1. The male of Pseudococcus is co-equal in importance with the female for the propagation of the species. Virgin females of P. citri, Risso (both aerial and root forms), P. maritimus, Ehr., P. gahani, Green, P. longispinus, Targ., and T. peregrinus, Green, are incapable of producing offspring. No form of parthenogenesis occurs in these five species. Only fertilised eggs develop.2. The relative abundance of the male sex varies greatly from species to species. The specific sex ratio of citri is 101·62± 1·54 ♂♂ per 100 ♀♀, estimated from 11,413 progeny from 47 females; that of maritimus is 59·65± 9·39 ♂♂ per 100 ♀♀, estimated from 4,630 progeny from 42 females; that of gahani is 43·025± 2·28 ♂♂ per 100 ♀♀ estimated from 12,092 progeny from 61 females; that of longispinus (for bisexual families only) is 19·28± 2·27 ♂♂ per 100 ♀♀, estimated from 4,084 progeny from 19 females; and that of peregrinus 37·01± 7·906 ♂♂ per 100 ♀♀, estimated from 3,946 progeny from 24 females.

It was a trial and a torment to sailors when it was brought home to them that the magnetic needle did not point truly to the north, but ‘northeasted and northwested’ as they described it. ‘El nordeaster de las agujas pone alos mareantes en muches dudas’, wrote one of them, and many flatly refused to believe it, putting discrepancies down to the use of a faulty lodestone or to bad workmanship on the part of the compass-maker. In the far-off days when the use of ‘needle and stone’ to recover lost bearings was first discovered, they believed that by some magic or divine sympathy the needle turned and pointed to their star, which they called the Shipman's Star, or Stella Maris, the only one that never moved. But Peter Peregrinus, writing the first scientific treatise on magnetism in 1269, remarked that they were wrong. The needle pointed to the celestial pole, round which the Pole Star circled like any other. And three centuries later Peter in his turn was faulted by the Elizabethan mathematician John Dee, who scribbled a note in the margin of the medieval writer's book to the effect that it was neither the star nor the pole which was the centre of attraction, but a spot on the Earth—the magnetic pole.