Then [Dynasty XV.] viii demigod kings [the Mestræans of Eusebius and Africanus] reigned [as viii generations but one dynasty], years 217 And after them xv generations _of the Cynic cycle_ were registered in years 443 Then Dynasty XVI. of Tanites, generations viii, years 190 Then Dynasty XVII. of Memphites, generations iv, years of the same generations 103 After whom there followed-- Dynasty XVIII. of Memphites, generations xiv, years of the same generations 348 Then Dynasty XIX. of Diospolites, generations v, years 194 Then Dynasty XX. of Diospolites, generations viii, years of the same generations 228 Then Dynasty XXI. of Tanites, generations vi, years 121 Then Dynasty XXII. of Tanites, generations iii, years 48 Then Dynasty XXIII. of Diospolites, generations ii, years of the same generations 19 Then Dynasty XXIV. of Saites, generations iii, years 44 Besides whom is to be reckoned-- Dynasty XXV. of Ethiopians, generations iii, years of the same generations 44 After whom again there followed-- Dynasty XXVI. of Memphites, generations vii, years of the same generations 177 And then after-- Dynasty XXVII. [Here the designation, generations, and years are purposely omitted; but the years are implied by the sum total, which follows below, to be certainly 184] Dynasty XXVIII. of Persians, generations v, years of the same generations 124 Then Dynasty XXIX. of Tanites, generations , years 39 And, lastly, after all the above-- Dynasty XXX. of one Tanite king, years ------ Generations cxiii, years 36,525 Sum of all the years of the XXX. Dynasties, three myriads, six thousand five hundred and twenty-five (Kings 1881 years)." These 36,525 years, when divided by 1461, the Sothic cycle (as noted by Syncellus), give the quotient xxv. We need not digress into the conjectural reasons why twenty-five such periods were taken, rather than any other number. We will be content at starting to see in its relation to the cycle evidence of the purely fictitious character of its myriads of years, and a clue to the significance of the indication, "after them xv generations of the Cynic cycle," &c. Mr Palmer (i. xxiii.) says, that the question which first suggested itself to him was--