Discovered 1879 Mar. 21 by C. H. F. Peters at Clinton.

Named for the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, and wife of Tereus, king of Thrace. She sent her husband to Athens to bring her sister Philomela {see planet (196)}, to whom she was attached, to Thrace. Tereus became enamored of Philomela and she was carried of to a castle and her tongue removed; reporting back, Tereus claimed she had died. When the infamy became known Prokne served her son Itys to her husband at a feast. Upon this disclosure he drew his sword but was changed into a hoopoe; Philomela, also present, into a nightingale, and Prokne into a swallow. The discoverer stated: “Prokne, found on the day of the vernal equinox, was suggested by the swallow coming with spring; in May followed Philomela, the nightingale.” (H 24; AN 96, 336 (1880))