_Germani._ Dacia.[260] _Palmyreni._ Africa,[261] Dacia,[262] and probably Britain.[263] _Mauri._ Dacia (as a vexillatio from Mauretania Caesariensis).[264] Frequently also in the two Mauretanias. _Raeti Gaesati_ (i.e. Raetians armed with the _gaesum_, a kind of heavy spear). Britain.[265] _Syri._ Dacia,[266] Mauretania,[267] Moesia Inferior,[268] and possibly Britain.[269] The titles show that these _numeri_ are closely connected with the five _nationes_, Cantabri, Gaesati,[270] Palmyreni, Daci, and Brittones, who form part of the army described by Hyginus, and are distinguished from the cohorts and alae of the regular auxilia. In fact the term _numerus_ is not invariably found on inscriptions, and for a corps which simply described itself as ‘Syri sagittarii,’[271] _natio_ may easily have seemed a convenient term. It is also clear from Hyginus that what distinguished the _numeri_ from the older formations was their looser organization and more barbarous character, and their titles show that they were drawn from the outermost borders of the Empire, or the most uncivilized districts within it. Evidence about the character of these troops is scanty; being the least civilized part of the army they were not very prone to indulge in inscriptions. We do not even know the size of a _numerus_, or, indeed, if these regiments had any definite size at all. The _nationes_ of Hyginus range from 500 to 900,[272] but the low rank of the _praepositus numeri_ below the _praefectus cohortis_,[273] and the smallness of the accommodation arranged for these regiments in German forts, suggest 200 to 300 as a more probable figure. Smaller they can hardly have been, since they are divided into centuries and _turmae_.[274] As regards recruiting, the Palmyrenes, at any rate, obtained fresh drafts, not from the province in which they were stationed, but from their native home. The numerus Palmyrenorum, which was stationed at El-Kantara in Africa, has left inscriptions covering the whole period from the middle of the second to the middle of the third century, which show clearly what pains were taken to preserve the original character of the regiment.[275] Similar inscriptions of a numerus Palmyrenorum in Dacia give evidence of the same principle.[276] Unfortunately, we cannot tell whether this was the case with all the _numeri_, or whether the Palmyreni occupied in this respect the same peculiar position as the oriental regiments among the regular auxilia.[277]