in Ancient Geography, not far from Argos, on the confines of Laconia; supposed to be a town of Laconia, but on the borders of Argolis; the position Pausanias allots to it, near Temesium, on the sea; without adding whether it is a town, river, or lake. According to Strabo, it is a lake, situated between the territories of Argos and Mycene, in contradiction to Pausanias. If there was a town of this name, it seems Lerna seems to have stood towards the sea, but the lake to have been more inland. Mela calls it a well known town on the Sinus Argolicus; and Statius by Lerna seems to mean something more than a lake. This, however, is the lake in which, as Strabo says, was the fabled Hydra of Hercules: therefore called *Lerna Anguifera* (Statius). The lake runs in a river or stream to the sea, and perhaps arises from a river (Virgil). From the lake the proverb, *Lerna Malorum*, took its rise; because, according to Strabo, religious purgations were performed in it; or, according to Hesychius, because the Argives threw all their filth into it.