A friend of mine asked at the weekend whether I know of 'operas based on Pandora's box'. Dismissing my suggestion of _Lulu_, he explained further that he was trying to identify a French 18th-century opera based on the Pandora myth; this opera is referred to by a Russian writer and its composer's name in Russian transliteration comes out as 'Ronye' or 'Ranye'. I wondered if this was a garbled form of 'Rameau', but none of his operas look like plausible candidates. Any suggestions? Virginia Knight, Institute for Learning and Research Technology [log in to unmask] http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/~ggvhk/virginia.html