If our theory of the evolution of gods is correct, we may expect to find in the myths of Indra traces of a theriomorphic character. As the point in the ear of man is thought or fabled to be a relic of his arboreal ancestry, so in the shape of Indra there should, if gods were developed out of divine beasts, be traces of fur and feather. They are not very numerous nor very distinct, but we give them for what they may be worth. The myth of Yehl, the Thlinkeet raven-god, will not have been forgotten. In his raven gear Yehl stole the sacred water, as Odin, also in bird form, stole the mead of Suttung. We find a similar feat connected with Indra. Gubernatis says:*** * Sacred Books of the East, vol. iv. p. lxxxviii. ** The etymology of Vritra is usually derived from vn, to "cover," "hinder," "restrain," then "what is to be hindered," then "enemy," "fiend". *** Zoological Mythology, ii. 182. "In the _Rig-Veda_ Indra often appears as a hawk. While the hawk carries the ambrosia through the air, he trembles for fear of the archer Kricanus, who, in fact, shot off one of his claws, of which the hedgehog was born, according to the _Aitareya Brahmana_, and according to the Vedic hymn, one of his feathers, which, falling on the earth, afterwards became a tree."* Indra's very peculiar relations with rams are also referred to by Gubernatis.** They resemble a certain repulsive myth of Zeus, Demeter and the ram referred to by the early Christian fathers. In the _Satapatha Brahmana_*** Indra is called "ram of Medhatithi," wife of Vrishanasva. Indra, like Loki, had taken the part of a woman.**** In the shape of a ram he carried off Medhatithi, an exploit like that of Zeus with Ganymede.***** In the Vedas, however, all the passages which connect Indra with animals will doubtless be explained away as metaphorical, though it is admitted that, like Zeus, he could assume whatever form he pleased.****** Vedic poets, probably of a late period, made Indra as anthropomorphic as the Homeric Zeus. His domestic life in the society of his consort Indrani is described.******* When he is starting for the war, Indrani calls him back, and gives him a stirrup-cup of soma. He and she quarrel very naturally about his pet monkey.******** In this brief sketch, which is not even a summary, we have shown how much of the irrational element, how much, too, of the humorous element, there is in the myths about Indra. He is a drunkard, who gulps down cask, spigot and all.********* * Compare Rig-Veda, iv. 271. ** Zool. Myth., i. 414. *** ii. 81. **** Rig- Veda, i. 51, 13. ***** Ibid., viii. 2, 40. ****** Ibid., ****** Ibid., iii. 48, 4. ******* Ibid, 53, 4-6; vii. 18, 2. ******** Ibid., x. 86. ********* Ibid. 116.