In a note he adds these observations:--"Aristobulus, no unworthy companion of Alexander in his expedition, bears testimony, according to Plutarch, that the whole military chest did not contain seventy talents of coin. For the preparation of so arduous an undertaking, however, the same person says, that two hundred talents ought to have been taken for mutual exchange. I remember also to have read in Eustathius's commentary on Homer, a very learned disquisition on the scarcity of money amongst the Macedonians, at the time of Alexander's expedition; but I cannot lay my hands upon the passage."
I must confess that I am not influenced by this annotation, nor does the whole of this controversy appear to me to have been properly conducted. For the greatest doubt prevails as to the number of talents which Alexander is said to have paid to Aristotle, to help him in his task; and the report only rests on the authority of a writer who lived centuries after the death of Alexander. To refute this is useless labour, both because its origin is obscure, and also because a sum of money set down in figures might be easily corrupted by transcribers.
But the testimony of Aristobulus will give little or no assistance to the opinion of the learned, if we adopt that which is most probable, namely, that Philip, or his son Alexander, gave large sums of money to Aristotle, to enable him to pursue his studies in Natural History, while he lived in Macedon, and was employed in the education of Alexander. The question about the date when Aristotle arranged and published the materials and notes he had collected is quite distinct, and I do not think that it can be precisely ascertained at the present time. The conjecture I have hazarded (light enough, I must confess) does not say much in favour of the story of abundant treasures supplied by Philip, or Alexander, to our philosopher, for the composition of his Natural History. But these persons form a very poor estimate of the study and labour bestowed by Aristotle upon the History of Animals, who imagine that our philosopher had only access to such books as now remain, forgetting those of which time has robbed us.
Most of all we must regret his Ζωϊκὰ, which appears to have given a more accurate description of animals, and his ἀνατομικὰ, which further contained notices of their internal structure, and was illustrated by drawings to which he often refers in his Natural History, as well as in his works on the parts and the generation of animals. It will scarcely be possible to fix with any accuracy on the number of books he employed, after the great carelessness of librarians, and the many facilities for error in copyists, arising from the method of notation by letters. Antigonus Carystius, in his sixty-sixth chapter, increases the number of volumes given by Pliny, for he writes seventy; and if the titles of the books, as they are given by Diogenes Laertius and Athenæus, are compared with those published, the number of books relating to Animal History to which he may have had access are readily estimated, even should every book of every work be reckoned as a separate book, and the list compared with the number given by Pliny.
In the memory of our fathers and grandfathers (for, alas! at the present time few trouble themselves with the works of the ancients) there were many who blamed Aristotle for these works, both for his manner of treating the subjects and his narratives of the lives and habits of animals, and vexed them with questions and disputations.
These objections will be better answered, when we come to those passages of the History. It may, however, be of some general avail to put a stop to these objections, which were urged against his manner of teaching; and I hope to be able to point out some peculiar sources from which Aristotle appears to have derived the more difficult parts of his History, and those which were obnoxious to dispute.
Amongst other foolish and trifling questions with which some Grammarian, in the Deipnosophistæ of Athenæus, (viii. p. 352,) has endeavoured not only to impugn, but even destroy our philosopher's credibility, is the following:--"I do not much admire the diligence of Aristotle, though others praise him so highly. At what time, I should like to know, or from what Proteus or Nereus ascending from the deep, to give him information, did he learn what the fishes were doing there, and in what manner they slept and took their food; for he writes things of this kind, which are only 'the miracles of fools,' as the comic poet says."
I will not follow the rest of his argument, which relates to terrestrial and winged animals; for the aquatic, and especially the marine creatures, seem to offer the greatest opportunity for questioning the fidelity of his narrative. In the first place, then, we may observe, that of all mankind the Greeks were amongst the greatest eaters of fish, at least after the heroic and Homeric ages; for Homer is never found to mention fish at the suppers and festivals of his heroes. So that I should not wonder if the frequent and repeated industry and observation of fishermen, following their labours both in rivers and seas, to adorn the tables of their fellow citizens, supplied ample and varied information to learned men who were engaged in the investigation of natural objects. By the same means they might learn from hunters the haunts and dispositions of wild beasts, and those of domesticated animals from husbandmen. The whole life and labour of such men was devoted to the uses, advantages, and food of man; and their observations would be particularly directed to those animals which could assist in sharing the labours of mankind, or whose flesh or other parts were required for food or medicine. Their parturition and its proper time, the number of their young, the manner of bringing them up, their nutriment, the pastures and food of the parents, and the proper time for hunting them, were observed with the greatest accuracy. And if any diseases arising from the weather, their food, or their drink impended over them, and threatened their production or the life of the wild cattle, or if a peculiar or common enemy laid in wait for the life of one or all, it could not easily escape their observation; and from these circumstances we may manifestly derive the origin of those fables and narratives in which the opinions of animals are compared with the life and manner of human beings, such as the simple minds of hunters, fishers, and rustics could comprehend. In these books of natural history we find traces of many stories of this kind which it is unnecessary here to point out.
In the aquatic and marine orders of animals there is, besides these sources of information, the diligent investigation instituted by certain writers throughout the seas and rivers of Greece, at a time when every useful fish, and marine and river animals of this class, mollusca, shell fish, and worms formed part of their food. The time and manner of their coition, parturition, pregnancy, and life, the nature of their food, places and manner of taking fish, the times in which they were not accessible, the faults and diseases of aquatic animals, were minutely described. The twentieth chapter of the eighth book of our History is on this subject, where the food and diseases of aquatic animals are described, and particular notice is taken of their use as food, besides the observations on the manners of quadrupeds.
It is very evident that the life of one man would hardly suffice for the observation of all these facts even in a single class of animals; but, as I have said, there were writers before the time of Aristotle who provided for the tastes and tables of these fish-eating Greeks a most exquisite apparatus from the rivers and seas of Greece, especially in Sicily, which has been remarkable for its wealth ever since the reigns of Gelo and Hiero, and had surpassed the rest of Greece not only in its knowledge of nature, but in the art of poetry.
There is a passage in Plato's "Gorgias," (sect. 156, p. 246, ed.
Heind.) where mention is made of "Mithæcus, the author of a work on Sicilian cookery, and Sarambus, the publican. One furnished the best of food, the other the best of wine." That the art of choosing and preparing food for the table was treated of in this book we may conclude from the use of the word ὁψοποιΐα, which the Greeks especially used to signify the kinds of fish used for food. A passage from this book on the manner of cooking the fish called tenia is quoted by Athenæus, who makes the title of this book ὀψαρτυτικὸν, vii. p. 282, and xii. p. 506.
We cannot accurately ascertain the age of Mithæcus. The most ancient author of such a book that we can call to mind is Epicharmus, a Sicilian poet and physician, from whose fragments, collected by Athenæus, we may certainly conclude he was acquainted with the nature of aquatic animals.
To this class we may, in the first place, refer those passages which are extracted from the drama called the Marriage of Hebe, or the Muses, and not only teach us the nature of fishes, but also the manner of procuring and cooking them. A learned writer in the "Literary Ephemeris" of Jena, 1810, (Nos. 156, 157,) attempted to collect all these and reduce them to order. There remain, however, many more passages which the conjectures of the most learned could hardly amend or explain, from the corruption of the text by librarians and the variety of Sicilian names. And before the time of Epicharmus, Ananius, an Iambic poet, nearly contemporary with Hipponactus, an Ionian poet, composed, among other poems, a similar work on cooking fish, as we learn from a passage extracted by Athenæus, (vii. p. 282.) After Epicharmus there was Terpsion, a Sicilian, who was the first to write a gastrology, in which he taught his disciples from what kind of food they ought to abstain. He is mentioned by Clearchus Solensis, a disciple of Aristotle, in his work de Paræmiis, in "Athenæus," (viii.
p. 337.)
Clearchus also mentions Archestratus, the Sicilian, the pupil of Terpsion, who, after having travelled through the whole of Greece, wrote a work in heroic verse on the nature of fishes, those especially which were fit for the table, and on the manner of cooking and preparing them. We learn that his book was called Ἡδυπάθεια, not only from the testimony of Athenæus, but from an imitation by Ennius. For Ennius, who died A.U.C. 584, one hundred and fifty-two years after the death of Aristotle, translated and in part imitated the poem of Archestratus, and called his work "Carmina Hedypathetica," as Apulegius tells us in his "Apologia." We have good reason for supposing that Archestratus was either contemporary with Aristotle, or a little older.
For Archestratus mentions Diodorus Aspendius, the Pythagorean, as his contemporary, to whom Timæus, the historian, tells us that the Epistle of Stratonicus was written ("Athenæus," iv. p. 136). Therefore Archestratus, Diodorus, Aspendius, and Stratonicus, an eminent harpist, were contemporaries, and so they were with Aristotle and Demosthenes; and this conjecture is confirmed by many passages in Athenæus, where Stratonicus is reported to have been alive with those persons whom Demosthenes mentions in his orations. Aristotle, therefore, may have used this work of Archestratus in that part of his Natural History which treats of the nature of fishes.[230] [230] To the end of this Essay are appended fragments of Archestratus, on the fishes of Sicily, amounting to 270 lines of heroic verse, together with notes, by the author of the Essay.
The writings of physicians who prescribed the food, both of sick and well, have handed down similar and much more extensive observations on the animals and fishes which were brought to the tables of the Greeks. Of this kind Athenæus has given many passages from Dorio, and Diphilus of Siphnus. Oribasius has made a long extract from the work of Xenocrates, on the aquatic animals used in food, which I purpose some day to publish with Xenocrates, if my life should be spared long enough.
INDEX.
Α.
Ἄγνος, Vitex agnus castus, a tree like a willow, the branches of which the matrons strewed on their beds at the Thesmophoria, 266.
Ἀδριανικαὶ ἀλεκτορίδες, a small kind of domestic fowl, 138.
Ἀείσκωψ, a kind of owl. Stryx aluco, _Strack_, 249. Brown Owl. There is also another migratory kind mentioned, 249, which does not hoot.
Ἀέροψ, the Bœotian name of the Merops, M. apiaster, 138.
Ἀετὸς, or αἰετὸς, Eagle, hence the Latin avis, 9, 61; its eggs and young, 146; two species, the Pygargus haliætus, and the black eagle, Aquila anataria or Falco nævius, _ib._; several species, 201, 250; used in augury, 217; eats serpents, 231; food and manners, 251; true eagles, Falco chrysaetos, _ib._; the eagle kills the heron, 233; it fights with the vulture and the swan, _ib._; a kind of eagle in Scythia, 252.
Ἀηδῶν, nightingale, Sylvia luscinia, its song, 95, 96; reproduction, 108; its tongue, 246; changes its song and colour, 276.
Ἀθερίνη, Atherina presbyter, _Spratt's Lycia_, or A. vera, in modern Greek atherno, 159; its reproduction, 160, 234.
Αἰγίθαλος, Parus, Tit or Titmouse, eats worms, 202; three species, _ib._; lays many eggs, 246; an enemy to bees, 265; σπιξίτης, parus major, _Strack_. ὀρεινὸς, Parus ater, _Strack_, or P. caudatus. ἐλάχιστος, Parus cœruleus.
Αἴγιθος, Bunting, Emberiza, _Strack_, or hedge sparrow or Parus cœruleus, dislikes the ass, builds in hedges, 232; hostile to the anthus and acanthis, 233; its food and young, 246.
Αἰγοθήλας, goat sucker, Caprimulgus Europæus, 250.
Αἰγοκέφαλος, Stryx otus, _Strack_, 39.
Αἰγυπιὸς, the Vulture, it is hostile to the Æsalon (small hawk), 9, 23; and fights with the eagle, _ib._ Αἴγυπτος, Egypt, the Egyptians batch eggs in manure, 139; two kinds of Egyptian mice, one with stiff hair (Hierax, or Aulacodus Swinderianus), another with long hind legs (Jerboa, or Cavia), 178; the care of animals among the Egyptians, 231; a large kind of oxen in Egypt, 226; asp and ichneumon, 238; white and black ibis, 242.
Αἰγώλιος, a night bird of prey, Stryx passerina, _Strack_, or S.
flammea. _Camus._ La chouette, little owl, 201; kills the calaris, 232; its habit and mode of life, 247; in p. 139 this bird is called αἰτώλιος.
Αἰετὸς, a cartilaginous fish, one of the class selache, Raia aquila, 104.
Αἰθιοπία, Æthiopia, winged serpents in Æthiopia, probably Draco volans, 9; Æthiopian sheep, 165.
Αἰθίοψ, Æthiopian, teeth, 60; semen, 72, 188.
Αἴθυια, a large waterbird, Larus parasiticus, or L. Marinus, _Strack_, or L. argentatus, 2; its reproduction, 108; food, 203.
Αἴλουρος, cat, Felis cattus, copulation, 103; its young, food, and mode of life, 177; kills birds, 239.
Αἱμοῤῥοΐς, or ἀποῤῥαΐς, a kind of shell fish, perhaps Murex, 85, 86.
Αἴξ, goat, male and female, Ibex or wild goat, _Spratt's Lycia_, Caper the she goats of Œta, 70; the he goat in Lemnos, _ib._; it is mentioned with the chimæra or domestic goat in 71; dreams, 97; infested with ticks, 134; discharges of the female, 163, 164; gestation, 165; food, drink, &c., 207; the wild goat, 225; Syrian Caper hircus Mambricus and Lycian goat, C. Angorensis, _ib._; Egyptian, 226; its mode of life, 235; wild goats in Crete, 238; rumination, 278.
Αἴξ, a water bird, probably Tantalus arquatus, _Strack_, Scolopax Gallinago, 208.
Αἰσάλων, a small hawk, perhaps sparrow-hawk or merlin, Falco Æsalon, 253.
Αἰτώλιος, see Αἰγώλιος.
Ἀκαλήφη, Medusa, and probably also some species of Actinia, 2, 3; fixed and locomotive kinds, 87, 88; small and edible species, others large and hard, 88; a fleshy kind, 195; a large kind, its food, mouth, and anus, 198.
Ἀκανθίας, a kind of shark, Squalus Acanthias, _Strack_, 256.
Ἀκανθὶς, thistle finch or gold finch, Fringilla carduelis, or Fringilla cannabina, _Strack_, or F. spinus, brown linnet, 202; hates the ass, lives on worms, 233; a foe to the anthus and ægithus, 234; its food, colour, song, 247.
Ἀκανθυλλὶς, Parus pendulinus, or caudatus, _Strack_, 202; its nest, 245.
Ἄκαρι, mite, Dermestes fatidicus, or perhaps Bostrichus, _Strack_, 135.
Ἀκρὶς, locust, Tetigonia, _Strack_. Acridium, 89, 95; its birth, 123; reproduction, 132; changes its skin, 216; it is said to contend with serpents, 238; the Spex lacerticida corresponds with this description, _Schneider_.
Ἀκύλος, the acorn of the evergreen oak, used for fattening pigs, 206.
Ἀλεκτορὶς, the domestic hen, Phasianus gallus, different kinds, 111, 138; sometimes produces soft eggs, 139; chickens, 140, 141; barren eggs, and times of laying, _ib._; growth of the chick in the egg, 142; twin eggs, 144; the hen sometimes takes the form of the cock, 215; rolls in the dust, 277.
Ἀλεκτρυὼν, domestic fowl, male, also used of the class, 5; his comb, 36; crop, 45; appendages to intestines, _ib._; crowing, 96; manner of coition, 102; appearances like ova when cut open, 139; testicles, 148; habits in temples, 241; sometimes they assume the form and habits of hens, 275; method of castration, 277.
Ἁλιαίετος, sea-eagle, different from the osprey, perhaps Aquila albicilla or Falco haliœtus, 203, 251, 253.
Ἀλκυὼν, Alcedo, kingfisher, or perhaps Turdus arundinaceus, two species described, 203; materials and form of its nest, 246.
It is doubtful whether either of the species is our kingfisher.
_Schneider._ Ἁλοσάχη, probably a species of Zoophyte Alcyonia, 246.
Ἀλώπηξ, fox, Canis vulpes, 6, 29; it breeds with the Laconian dogs, 227; attacks the heron, 233; is friendly with the crow, _ib._; a troglodyte, _ib._ Ἀλώπηξ, Vampire, Vespertilio caninus, _Strack_, V. dinops or Sciurus volans, 9; reproduction, 177; it hunts mice, 178.
Ἀλώπηξ, a cartilaginous fish, reproduction, 149; represents a class, 151; Egyptian species, 226; stratagems, 255.
Ἀμία, a kind of tunny, mackerel, Scomber, _Strack_, 4, 40, 91; its rapid growth, 160, 199, 200; lives in bays, 211; and enters rivers, 218; its teeth and mode of defence, 255.
Ἀμυγδαλή, Amygdala communis, almond tree, 268; almonds, 242.
Ἀνθίας, a migratory sea fish, also called αὐλωπίας, Scomber ala longa, 159; gregarious, 234; also called sacred, 255.
Ἄνθος, yellow bunting, Emberiza citrinella, _Strack_, Motacilla barula, 202; feeds in meadows, imitates the neighing of the horse, 233; hostile to the acanthis and ægithus, _ib._; it lives by the side of rivers, 244.
Ἀνθρήνη, wild bee, Apis terrestris, or Vespa crabro, 88; the larvæ, 124; reproduction, 130; a diligent insect, 258; makes honey, 260; its manners and habits, 270.
Ἄπιος, the pear tree, 126.
Ἀποῤῥαΐς, various reading for αἱμοῤῥοΐς, Murex, or Natica.
Ἄπους, swift, Hirundo apus, 4; also called κύψελλος, 271.
its web, reproduction, 123, 131, 132; is driven away by its young, 131; it sucks its prey, 213; is eaten by the lizard, 232; four kinds, 258, 259.
Ψύλλα, Salticus scenicus--The smaller kind Dolomedes mirabilis--the larger Lycosa ruricola, another Dolomedes fimbriatus.
Ἄρκτος, bear, Ursus Arctus, 25, 27, 29, 42; coition, 102; at this time it becomes fierce, 161; period of gestation, imperfect young, 175; mode of drinking, 205; hybernation, 215; eats the arum, _ib._; the females courageous, 230; its habits, 237.
Ἄρκτος, a crustacean, perhaps Cancer spinosissimus, _Strack_, Scyllaris arctus, reproduction, 121; its food and manner of seizing it, 205.
Ἅρπη, a bird of prey, falcon, lives near the sea, and attacks the gull and brenthus, 232; the piphinx and ictinus are friendly to it, 234; its mode of life, attacks the eyes of its prey, 247.
Ἀρχάνος, a fish, see Ἀχάρνας.
Ἀσκαλαβώτης, lizard, Lacerta Gecko, Stellio veterum, 160; it lives in holes, 213; changes its skin, 216; its bite poisonous in some parts of Italy, 227; it eats spiders, 232; it can walk in an inverted position, 242.
Ἀσκάλαφος, probably some kind of owl, Stryx ulula, 45.
Ἀσκαλώπας, Scolopax gallinago, snipe, _Strack_, (Schneider disapproves of this identification), S. phæopus, 249.
See σκολόπαξ.
Ἀσκαρίδες, ascaris, intestinal worm, 124.
Ἀσκαρὶς, the larva of the empis (gnat), 125.
Ἀσπάλαξ, mole, Talpa vulgaris, lives in holes, 5; its eyes, 13, 90; there are many in Bœotia, none in Lebadia, 225.
Ἀσπὶς, Coluber aspis, asp, from which a poison is made in Lybia, 227; in Egypt it is attacked by the ichneumon, 238.
Ἀστακὸς, lobster, Cancer Gammarus, and Astacus, 138; compared with the spiny lobster, 77, 78, 79; a small fresh-water species, Astacus fluviatilis, crayfish, 86; its reproduction, 106, 121; changes its shell, 217.
Ἀσταφὶς, a raisin used for feeding cattle, 206.
Ἀστερίας, a cartilaginous fish, 109, 151.
Squalus asterias.
Ἀστερίας, Ardea stellaris, bittern, 233.
Ἀστὴρ, star-fish, Uraster rubens, 118.
Ἀσφόδελος, a plant, asphodel, A. ramosus, 260.
Ἀτρακτυλλὶς, a plant of the thistle tribe, Carthamus creticus.
Ἀτταγὴν, grouse, Tetrao bonasia, or T. attagen, 249; it lives on the ground, 276.
Ἀττέλαβος, a kind of locust, Gryllus, 123; reproduction and death, 133.
Αὐλωπίας, the same as ἀνθίας, 159.
Αὐξὶς, the young tunny, 160.
Ἀφάκη, plant, a kind of vetch, 208.
Ἄφρος, fish spawn, 157.
Ἀφύη, anchovy or sardine, Melanurus juvenculus, 157, its origin, _ib._; other kinds, _ib._; in modern Greek ἀφροψαρο.
Ἀχαΐνης ἔλαφος, a variety of large stag with a strong mane, _Strack_; a brocket, or two-year old stag, from his single-pointed horns, Ἀχάρνας, a sea fish, Anarrhicas rufus, 200; does not bear heat, 218.
Ἀχέτας, the male grasshopper, Cicada Orni, 89.
Ἀχρὰς, a kind of wild pear, Pyrus communis, 206, 268.
Β Βάλαγρος, a fresh-water fish, Cobitis barbus, 98.
Βάλανος, Balanus, Cirripede, acorn shell, 94, 117.
Βάλανος, acorn, 221.
Βάλλερος, a fresh-water fish, Cyprinus blicca, 156, 219; βάλερος, βαλῖνος, βαρῖνος, are various readings.
Βασιλεὺς, also called trochilus, and presbys, lives in holes, 244; has a bright crest, 202; probably Regulus Cristatus, golden-crested wren, or Sylvia troglodytes.
Βατὶς, a bird that frequents bushes, Sylvia rubicola, eats worms, 202; mentioned with finch and sparrow.
Βατὶς, a fish, the prickly roach, _Liddell and Scott_, 149, 152.
Βάτος, ray, Raia batos, not the skate, which is perhaps leiobatos, 8, 37; its manner of coition, 104; it does not receive its young into itself, 150, 151; it lives in holes, 214; its manner of taking its prey, 255.
Βάτραχος, frog, Rana esculenta and R. temporaria, 3, 39, 87; croaks, 96; the female larger than the male, 100; coition, 103; tadpole, 154; its united spawn, 155; spoken of as a class, 196; no croaking frogs in Cyrene, 225; marsh frogs are foes to bees, 261.
Βάτραχος, a cartilaginous fish, Lophius piscatorius and L.
among the selache, 104; it produces many young, 159.
Βελόνη, fish, Syngnathus acus, 40; gregarious, 234; the Halcyon builds its nest with the bones of this fish.
Βολίταινα, cephalopod, Eledone moschites, _Leach_, 76; also called ὄζολις; it does not exist in the Euripus, 256.
Βομβύκια, Apis cementaria, or also Megachile muraria, and Bombus terrestris, forms an angular cell of mud, 131.
Βομβυλιὸς, larva of silk worm, 124; the humble bee, 260, 271.
Βόμβυξ, silkworm.
Βόνασσος, Antelope bonassus, or Bos Urus, Bison, 26, 28; its country, form, habits, hunting, 273.
Βοσκὰς, Anas boscas, or A. Crecca, 203.
Βόστρυχος, insect, Lampyris noctiluca, _Strack_, 125.
Βουβαλὶς, Antilope Gnou, 58.
milk, 69; dreams, 97; lowing of the bull, 100, 112; coition, 103; tormented with lice, 135; sexual desires, 161, 162; discharges and urine of the cow, 163; reproductive powers of bull, 168; the castrated animal is taught to lead the herd, _ib._; teeth, milk, and habits, _ib._; veins in the embryo, 190; mode of drinking, 205; care of the ox, 206; red cattle of Epirus, 207; diseases, 219, 222; the ox drinks pure water, 224; Egyptian oxen, 226; habits, 236; wild oxen, B. Bubalus, 26; one species of ox has a bone in its heart, 39; oxen in Phrygia which can move their horns, 61; small oxen in Phasis, 71; oxen in Epirus, _ib._; in Tortona, 72; the cow brings forth at a year old, 113; Syrian oxen, 226; castration of the young, 278; rumination, _ib._ Βοῦς, a cartilaginous fish, Raia cornuta, 104, 152.
Βρένθος, a sea-bird, Anas tadorna, hostile to the larus and harpa, 232; makes its nest in hills and woody places, 244.
Βρύας, a large owl, Stryx bubo, 201.
Βρύον, algæ, both fresh-water and marine, 155, 200, 220.
Βρύσσος, an echinite, Scutella, 102.
Βωμολόχος, Corvus monedula, 248 Βὼξ, a gregarious fish, Sparus boops, 234; contracted from Βόαξ, from the sound it makes.
Γ Γαλας, a kind of smooth shell-fish, mya pictorum, 82.
Γαλεὸς, a cartilaginous fish, Squalus galeus and charachias, _Strack_, uterus and ova, 150; receives its young into itself, _ib._; not found in the Pyrrhæan Euripus, 256.
Γαλεώδη, fish of the shark kind, 37, 40, 41; placed under the selache, 104, 149; the males have appendages, 104; the uterus, 149; galei and galeodes, 151.
Γαλῆ, weasel, martin, polecat, Mustela Faro, M. Erminea, M.
vulgaris, 20; the wild kind hunts mice, 178; hostile to the crow, 232; it attacks serpents, 233; in Poroselene, 225; it fights with serpents, especially with those called myotheræ, 238; its form compared with the ictis, 239; eats birds' eggs, 232; mode of attacking its prey, 238.
Γέρανος, crane, Ardea grus, 2, 4, 64; coition, 102; migrations of the male bird, 209; they migrate after the quails, _ib._; the fable of the stone they are said to carry, 210; gregarious, _ib._; migrations, leaders, prudence, 243; they fight with each other, the number of their eggs, 245.
Γίννος, the offspring of a mule with a mare or she ass, 11; see ἵννος.
conjoined spawn, 155: two species, the greater and the smaller, the male watches the spawn, _ib._; size of the ova, 156; diseases, 219; unfit to eat when in spawn, the female better than the male, 229; the male watches the young, breaks the hook with its teeth, 256.
Γλάνος, Hyæna striata, 204.
Γλαῦκος, a fish of a grey colour, Gobius Gozo, _Strack_, 44; marine, 211; it lives in holes during the summer, 214; when good for food, 228.
Γλαυκώδεις, birds of the owl kind, 36.
Γλαῦξ, owl, 39, 45; has crooked claws, 201; how it may be taken, 210; lives in holes, 215; hostile to the crow and orchilus, 232; is pecked by smaller birds, used in hawking, _ib._; the time for taking the owl, 252.
Γλωττὶς, a bird, Rallus crex, _Strack_, Scolopax glottis, see κύγχραμος and ὀρτυγόμητρα its tongue and migrations, 210.
Γνάφαλος, probably some Indian bird, its form and food, Ampelis garrulus, 246.
Γνήσιοι ἀετοὶ, true eagles, Aquila Chrysaetos, 251.
its ova and fat, 160; it is destroyed by the spiny lobster, but destroys the polypus, 198; its food, 199; black and white kinds, 211; lives in holes, 213; it is attacked by the muræna, 235; compared with the sea serpent, 255.
Γραῦς, a crustacean, Dromia lanosa, 217.
Γυπαίετος, or ὑπαίετος, Vultur barbatus, see ὀρειπέλαργος, 251.
Γυρῖνος, tadpole, 154.
Γύψ, vulture, Vultur cinereus, or V. fulvus, eggs and nest, 145, 243; its food, two kinds of vulture, 201.
Δ Δάσκιλλος, a fish, sciæna umbra, 199.
coition, 102; superfetation, 108; in Ithaca, 225; smaller in Egypt, 226; another species near Lake Bolba, 41.
69, 91, 92, 93, 95; its sleep, 98; the fish called φθείρα follows the dolphin, 135; it breathes air, 196; food, 200; throws itself on its back to take its prey, _ib._; dolphin in the Pontus, 212; gentle habits, 274; its speed, it sometimes throws itself on the shore, 275.
Δίκταμνον, plant, dittany, 238; origanum Dictammum, _Lin._ Δορκὰς, Antelope dorcas, 26.
Δράκων, a sea fish, Trachinus draco, lives near the shore, 211.
Δράκων, a species of serpent in fresh water, attacks the glanis, 219; is hostile to the eagle, 231; sucks the juice of the herb picris, 238.
Δρεπανὶς, perhaps the sand Martin, Hirundo riparia, 4.
Δρομάδες, migratory fish, perhaps some species of tunny, 4, 155.
Δρυοκολάπτης, woodpecker, 202; three kinds, Picus varius, P. viridis, P. martius, 242; habits, _ib._ Ε Ἐγκρασίχολος, the parent of the Apua, Clupea encrasicolus, _Strack_, 157.
is neither male nor female, 99; the so-called male and female are different species, 97; migrates to the sea to spawn, 156; its origin, 158; description and habits, 200, 201; those called female are better for food, 229.
Ἐλαίας ἄνθος, the flower of the olive, 127, 133, 216, 242.
Ἔλαφος, stag, Cervus Elaphus, 5, 26, 27, 28; those called Achaïnæ, 39, 237; blood, 58, 67; the female, 100; coition, 103, 174; voice, 112; habits, 236, 237; the castrated animal, 278; rumination, _ib._ Ἐλέα, Emberiza arundinacea, or Turdus arundinaceus, _Strack_, or E.
schœnilus, 246.
Ἐλεγῖνος, a migratory fish, 234.
Ἐλεδώνη, Eledone cirhosa, _Leach_, (Owen, in Cyclopædia of Anatomy), 76.
Ἐλειὸς, dormouse, Myoxus Avellanarius; or perhaps squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris, lives in holes in trees, 216.
Ἔλειοι, a kind of hawk, 253; probably an incorrect reading.
Ἐλεὸς, an owl, Stryx Aluco, _Strack_, see Ἀείσκοψ, 201.
voice, 96; food, 207; life and diseases, 222, 224; strength, 234; capture, _ib._; habits, docility, 274.
Ἔλλοψ, a fish with four simple branchia, sword fish or sturgeon, _Liddell and Scott_, Centriscus scolopax, _Strack_, Accipenser stellatus, 37; ἔλοψ, 40.
Ἕλμινς, worms, especially intestinal worms, tænia and lumbricus, some exist in sponges, 119; origin, 123; three kinds, flat worms, round worms, ascarides, 124; worms in snow, Podura nivalis, 126; some insect larvæ are described as worms, 135; small worms in eels, 158; worms in dogs, Tænia sevrata, 238.
Ἐμπὶς, gnat, larger than κώνωψ, Tabanus, or Phryganea, Εμὺς, Testudo coriacea, fresh-water tortoise, Emys lutraria, 39; reproduction, 136; habits, 194, 216.
Ἔντελις or ἔτελις, probably sea bream, Sparus, _Strack_, Sparus Rayi, 153.
Ἔντερα γῆς, the decomposing matter in which eels have their origin, 158.
Ἐνυδρίς, otter, Lutra vulgaris, 2; its food, 205.
Ἐπιλαΐς or ὑπολαΐς, Sylvia curruca, _Strack_, or perhaps hedge sparrow, 202.
Ἔποψ, hoopoe, Upupa Epops, 1; its nest, 138; lives in woods and mountains, 244; changes its colour, 246, 276.
Ἐρέβινθος, a plant, leguminous seeds, Ervum sativum, 221.
Ἐρίθακη, bee bread, 267.
Ἐρίθακος, Sylvia erithacus, or S. Phœnicurus, _Strack_, Redstart, 202; in its summer plumage called Phœnicurus, 276.
Ἐρινεὸς, wild fig tree, 136.
Ἕρπυλλος, Thymus serpyllum, wild thyme, 261.
Ἐρυθρῖνος, a red kind of mullet, Perea marina, Sparus Erythrymus, _Strack_, Perea scriba, all have roes, there are no males, 99, 153, 211.
Ἐρωδιὸς, heron, Ardea major, 203; a foe to the woodpecker, 212; three kinds, ὁ πέλλος, the black, Ardea cinerea, ὁ λευκος, the a friend of the crow, 323.
Εὐλαὶ, maggots in flesh.
Ἐφήμερον, ephemera, insect, 10, 126.
Ἐχενηΐς, probably Goby or Blenny, _Forbes in Spratt's Lycia_, not the Remora, which was unknown to the ancients. Echeneis remora, _Strack_, 38.
Ἔχιδνα, viper, Coluber vivipara, C. verus, 10; hides under stones, 213.
Ἐχινομήτρα, Echinus Esculentus, _Forbes in Spratt's Lycia_, 86.
Ἐχῖνος, sea urchin, Echinus lividus; another species, with hard spines, is Cidaris hystrix, also a long species, Amphidetus eatable kinds, 86; small species, E. saxatilis; white species at Torone, E.
at what season they are full of ova, 110.
Ἐχῖνος, hedgehog, Erinaceus Europæus, 10, 46, 61, 81; coition, 102; changes the entrance of its hole when the wind changes, 239.
Ἔχις, a serpent, Coluber vivipara, Vipera Reedii, viviparous, 49; reproduction, 137; how captured, 204; changes its skin, 216; becomes more poisonous by eating scorpions, 227.
Ἑψητὸς, a small fish, Atherina Hepsetus, _Strack_, 156.
Ζ Ζύγαινα, a shark, Squalus Zygæna, _Strack_, 40.
Ζυγνὶς, a lizard, see χαλκὶς, 223.
Ζωδάρια, several small animals, 135.
1. Tinea pellionella.
2. T. sarcitella.
3. Psorus pulsatorius.
4. T. graminella.
Ζῶον, several unnamed animals.
1. A small crustacean in shell fish, perhaps Pinnotheres, 86.
2. marine creatures like small pieces of wood, Veretillum, 89.
3. marine creatures like shields, Alcyonium, 89.
4. marine creatures like αἰδοῖον ἀνδρὸς, Pennatula, 89.
5. winged creatures produced from maggots in pulse, Bruchus, 126.
Η Ἡμίονος, mule, offspring of horse and wild ass, the female larger and more long lived, 99, 170; the so-called mules of Syria, Equus hemionus, 11, 172, 177.