1. Greek MSS. — The most complete study of the whole mass of Greek MSS is that of von Soden in his Schriften des Neuen Testaments (Berlin, 1902-10). As his grouping of the MSS is almost entirely independent of his theories as to tlie early history of the text, and represents facts which cannot be overlooked, it is best to give the main outlines of his classification, dividing the MSS into H, K, and /recensions, and following his numeration ; in the brackets are given the numbers of these MSS in Gregory's Prolegomena to Tischen- dorf's Editio Major octava. It has not seemed necessary to give also Gregory's new numeration, as this is not any better known than von Soden's, and does not belong (and apparently will not belong in the immediate future) to a full critical edition.
(1) fl.— This is represented by 61 (B), 62 (N), 63 (C), 64 (A), 66 (i//), 648 (13), 74 (389), 1008 (Pap. Amh. 8. saiC. v.-vi.), 103 (25), 162 (61), 257 (33). Of these MSS 61 and 62 represent a common archetype 51-2, which is much the best authority for H. 61 is better than 62, which is, however, somewhat better in Acts, apart from scribal errors, than it is in the Gospels. 74 and 162 are specially good representatives of H, but no single witness is free from K or 1 contamination. There is a special nexus be- tween 648 and 257, but 648 is considerably the better of the two.
(2) K. — It is impossible to give here the full list of K MSS ; roughly speaking, 90 per cent of the later MSS belong to this type. Two groups may be distinguished from the purer K MSS : — K', a mediaeval revision of K for lectionary purposes, critically quite valueless ; and K'', a text with enough sporadic / readings to raise the question whether it be not an 1 text which has been almost wholly corrected to a, K standard ; it is called A'l; because MSS of this type seem to be represented in the Complutensian edition.
(3) I. — The / recension is found in three forms : /» 1^ I". !<>■ Is best represented bj- 55 (D = Codex Bezae*), 1001 (E = Codex Laudianus t) ; by three pairs of connected MSS, 7 (Apl. 261)-264 (233), 200 (83)-382 (231), 70 (505>-101 (40) ; and by a few other MSS which have suffered more or less severely from E con- tamination. It is also well represented in the text of the com- mentary of Andreas (A'^P). /b is found in two branches, /bi and /b2. The best representatives of /w are 62 (498), 6602 (200), 365 (214 = as<='")and a few other minuscules ; the best representa- tives of ib2 are the pair 78 ('von der Goltz's MS') and 171 (7) which are almost doublets, and 157 (29). I'^ is also found in two branches 7=1 and /c2. The best representatives of 7 i^i are 208 (307), 370 (353), 116(-), 551 (216) ; the best representatives of Vc^ are 364 (137) X and a series of other MSS contaminated in varying degrees by K.
2. The Latin Versions. — The Old Latin or ante- Hieronymian text is not well represented. As in the Gospels, it may be divided into two main branches, African and European.
(1) The African is represented by Codex Floriacensis (h), now at Paris, formerly at Fleury, containing a text which is almost identical with that of Cyprian ; it is in a very fragmentary condition, but fortunately the quotations of Cyprian and Augustine (who uses an African text in Acts, though he follows the Vulgate in the Gospels) enable much of the text to be reconstructed. (The best edition of h is by E. S. Buchanan, Old Latin Biblical Texts, v. [Oxford, 1907].) Accord- ing to Wordsworth and White, a later form of the African text can be found in the pseudo-Augustinian de Divinis Scripturis sive Speculum (CSEL xii. 287-700), but the character of this text is still somewhat doubtful.
(2) The European text is best represented by g (Gigas) at Stockholm, which can be supplemented and corrected by the quotations in Ambrosiaster and Lucifer of Cagliari (see esp. A. Souter, ' A Study of Ambrosiaster,' ?'&' vii. 4 [1905]). A branch of the European text of a Spanish or Provengal type is found in p, a I'aris MS from Perpignan, and in w, a Bohemian MS now in Wernigerode, but in both MSS there is much Vulgate contamination. Other primarily European mixed MSS are 8, a Bobbio palimpsest (saec. v.-vi.) at Vienna, x in Oxford, and g2 in Milan.
A Spanish lectionary of perhaps the 7th cent, known as the Liber Comious, which has many early readings, has been edited by G. Morin from a Paris MS of the 11th cent, and is quoted by Wordsworth and White as t.
(3) Besides these purely Latin MSS, we have the Latin sides of the Gr»co-Latin MS 85 (D) or d (Codex Bezae), and of the Latino-Greek MS 1001 (E) or e. The latter of these agrees in the main with the European text as established b3' g-Ambro- siaster-Lucifer, but the text of d is in many ways unique, and may possibly have been made for the private use of the owner of 65, or perhaps of the archetype of 65.