The Pleiades are mentioned by Ovid. According to the ancient poets they were supposed to represent the children of Atlas and Hesperus, and on this account they were called Atlantids or Hesperides. From the resemblance in sound to the word πλειας, a pigeon, they were sometimes called "the doves," and for the same reason the word πλειν, to navigate, led to their being called the "shipping stars." The word πλειας was also applied to the priestesses of the god Zeus (Jupiter) at Dordona, in the groves of which temple there were a number of pigeons. This is, perhaps, what Aratus refers to in the last line of the extract quoted above. According to Neapolitan legends, the name of Virgil's mother was Maia. The mother of Buddha, the Hindoo _avatar_, was also named Maia. In Italy the Pleiades were called _Gallinata_, and in France _poussinière_, both of which mean the hen and chickens, a term also given to them by Al-Sufi. The old Blackfoot Indians called them "The Seven Perfect Ones." The Crees and Ojibway Indians called them the "Fisher Stars." The Adipones of Brazil and some other nations claimed that they sprang from the Pleiades! The Wyandot Indians called them "The Singing Maidens." Photographs show that the brighter stars of the Pleiades are involved in nebulosity. That surrounding Maia seems to be of a spiral form. Now, there is a Sanscrit myth which represents Maia as "weaving the palpable universe," for which reason she was "typified as a spider." This seems very appropriate, considering the web of nebulous light which surrounds the stars of the group. Maia was also considered as a type of the universe, which again seems appropriate, as probably most of the stars were evolved from spiral nebulæ. The name Hyades is supposed to be derived from the Greek word ὑειν, to rain, because in ancient times they rose at the rainy season. In ancient Egypt, Aldebaran was called _ary_; and the Pleiades _chooa_, a word which means "thousands." The name Aldebaran seems to have been originally applied to the whole of the Hyades group. Aldebaran was also called by the Arabians _al-fanik_, the great Camel, and the Hyades _al-kilas_, the young Camels. The two close stars υ and κ Tauri were called _al-kalbaïn_, the dogs of Aldebaran. La Condamine states that the Indians of the Amazon saw in the Hyades the head of a bull.