ACONTIAS

ACONTIAS, a Name used by some Authors, for a sort of Comet, or Meteor, whose Head appears round or oblong, and its Tail very long and slender, resembling a Javelin.See COMET, and METEOR.It takes its Denomination from a Serpent thus called, frequent in Calabria and Sicily; where it is also named Saetrene, by reason of its flying at Passengers like an Arrow; in order to which, it winds itself up a Tree, to spring thence with the greater Violence. For the like Reason, the Greeks call it Acontias, of ἄκων (akon), a Dart, or Arrow.

ACONTIAS