This paper presents some developments related to the idea of covariance in elasticity. The geometric point of view in continuum mechanics is briefly reviewed. Building on this, regarding the reference configuration and the ambient space as Riemannian manifolds with their own metrics, a Lagrangian field theory of elastic bodies with evolving reference configurations is developed. It is shown that even in this general setting, the Euler-Lagrange equations resulting from horizontal (referential) variations are equivalent to those resulting from vertical (spatial) variations. The classical Green-Naghdi-Rivilin theorem is revisited and a material version of it is discussed. It is shown that energy balance, in general, cannot be invariant under isometries of the reference configuration, which in this case is identified with a subset of R^3. Transformation properties of balance of energy under rigid translations and rotations of the reference configuration is obtained. The spatial covariant theory of elasticity is also revisited. The transformation of balance of energy under an arbitrary diffeomorphism of the reference configuration is obtained and it is shown that some nonstandard terms appear in the transformed balance of energy. Then conditions under which energy balance is materially covariant are obtained. It is seen that material covariance of energy balance is equivalent to conservation of mass, isotropy, material Doyle-Ericksen formula and an extra condition that we call ‘configurational inviscidity’. In the last part of the paper, the connection between Noether’s theorem and covariance is investigated. It is shown that the Doyle-Ericksen formula can be obtained as a consequence of spatial covariance of Lagrangian density. Similarly, it is shown that the material Doyle-Ericksen formula can be obtained from material covariance of Lagrangian density.
