of the Pagan deities, was represented as the son of Aurora, and the lover of the nymph Chloris, according to the Greeks, or of Flora according to the Romans; and as presiding over the growth of fruits and flowers. He is described as giving a refreshing coolness to the air by his soft and agreeable breath, and as moderating the heat of summer by fanning the air with his silken wings. He is depicted under the form of a youth, with a very tender air, with wings resembling those of the butterfly, and with his head crowned with a variety of flowers. As the poets of Greece and Rome lived in a warm climate, they are lavish in their praise of this beneficent deity, and under his name describe the pleasure and advantage they received from the western breezes.

Zerda. See Canis, Sp. xiv.