Note 284 — Chapter III · HARVEST FESTIVALS. The Thargelia, Kallynteria, Plynteria.
Reading edition
The scholiast is (so far as I know) the only authority who gives the female form. It is possible that the sacrifice may have been primarily to an earth-goddess and hence the animals are female. The curious ceremonial of the Chthonia (P. II. 35. 3) was a similar butchery of cows in honour of Chthonia and presided over by old women who did the actual slaughter, and no man native or foreigner was allowed to see it.