as is reflected by its use as an alternate title, the "ē' hoiē"-formula was one of the poem's most recognizable features. it may have belonged originally to a genre of poetry that simply listed notable heroines, but in the "catalogue" the formula is used as a structuring tool that allows the poet to resume a broken branch of a family tree, or to jump horizontally across genealogies to a new figure and line of descent. a characteristic example is found in the introduction of the daughters of porthaon at "cat". 26.5–9: