184	NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE.
though this did not exclude its use as a drinking-cup. In connection with the former, the kantharos, we may probably refer this, also, to Aristaeus in his quality as the favourite of Dionysos, taught of the god, and even sharing—as at Syracuse—in the honours of his temple. Had the patera been intended to suggest here, as in so many cases, a sacrifice to the deity in whose hand it appears, the sacrificial altar would more probably have been added. These types are extremely rare. No. 5 (Berlin) seems all but unique, the second known example at Naples being in indifferent preservation. Of No. 4 only the specimen of the cabinet at Naples and that of my own collection are in tolerable condition. The third—in the collection of the British Museum—is unfortunately in poor state. The type receives an additional interest from the adjunct which accompanies the lion's mask on the reverse (see PL VIII.), for to the right of it there appears the bare of Messana in diminutive size running upwards. The type may thus indicate a—probably brief—renewal of former political ties. Carelli has thrown doubts on this type. I would take the occasion to state that the specimens in the British Museum and in my own collection are of unquestionable authenticity. Nor is there any reason to doubt the coin in the Naples cabinet, of which I have a cast. Carelli has partly distorted the legend.
In approaching the question whether the adjunct symbols can be shown to have a direct bearing on, and are to be rationally connected with, the nature and functions of Aristaeus, I would, in the first place, recall to the reader Head's opinion, viz., that such birds and beasts as appear below or beside his seat indicate that the figure represents an agrestic deity. This is, at least under one main aspect, the core of the matter, though not of the