has made bears of the Arkadians, whose name, like that of the
Lykians, merely signified that they were "children of light";
and the metamorphosis of Kallisto, mother of Arkas, into a
bear, and of Lykaon into a wolf, rests apparently upon no
other foundation than an erroneous etymology. Originally
Lykaon was neither man nor wolf; he was but another form of
Phoibos Lykegenes, the light-born sun, and, as Mr. Cox has
shown, his legend is but a variation of that of Tantalos, who
in time of drought offers to Zeus the flesh of his own
offspring, the withered fruits, and is punished for his
impiety.

It seems to me, however, that this explanation, though valid
as far as it goes, is inadequate to explain all the features
of the werewolf superstition, or to account for its presence
in all Aryan countries and among many peoples who are not of
Aryan origin. There can be no doubt that the myth-makers
transformed Lykaon into a wolf because of his unlucky name;
because what really meant "bright man" seemed to them to mean
"wolf-man"; but it has by no means been proved that a similar
equivocation occurred in the case of all the primitive Aryan
werewolves, nor has it been shown to be probable that among
each people the being with the uncanny name got thus
accidentally confounded with the particular beast most dreaded
by that people. Etymology alone does not explain the fact that
while Gaul has been the favourite haunt of the man-wolf,
Scandinavia has been preferred by the man-bear, and Hindustan
by the man-tiger. To account for such a widespread phenomenon
we must seek a more general cause.