now known. However, at the beginning of section 23, where the differences in stones used for seals are mentioned in a general way, it is possible that something is missing that was contained in the original form of the treatise. For this reason Schneider proposed an emendation in section 23, which is listed in the critical notes on the text.
31. And it is the same with the varieties of the lyngourion, for the female is more transparent and yellow than the other. Also, one kind of kyanos is called male and the other female, and the male is the darker of the two. The curious ancient distinction of sex in precious stones, which is mentioned in other early works, was apparently not connected with theories about the origin of stones, or even with the belief that certain stones had the power to generate others. A possible exception may be the supposed connection between the properties of the lyngourion and the sex of the animals alleged to produce the two varieties (sec. 28); Theophrastus is perhaps referring to this again in the present section. However, this connection should probably be regarded as accidental; for it was explained in the notes on section 28 that in all likelihood lyngourion was not an inorganic substance but either amber in general or a special variety of amber. It seems significant that similar modes of origin are not given for any true precious stone. It is likely that the concept of sex in stones was current long before the invention of the story about the lyngourion and was actually one of the sources from which it originated. In general, this concept was used to distinguish varieties of the same precious stone on the basis of their color, their relative brilliancy, or some other distinctive property. Thus, as he shows by his statements in this and the preceding section, Theophrastus relates sex in stones to transparency or color, assigning the male sex to the kind that are darker in color and the female sex to the ones that are paler. Pliny relates sex in stones both to color and to the relative brilliance of varieties of the same stone. For example, he describes the kinds of carbunculus in this way: Praeterea in omni genere masculi appellantur acriores et feminae languidius refulgentes?"
2"XXXVII, 92.
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