140 ORIGINAL AETICLES. 



part of the animals Aristotle describes, which have come under his 

 own observation, were inhabitants of no veiy distant lands. 



Schneider {Epimetr. i.) says on this subject, " I do not remember 

 " to ha^'e discovered any trace in the History of Animals which could 

 " induce me to believe that Aristotle was acquainted with any of the 

 " animals from the interior of Asia and of India, which are supposed 

 " to have been made known to him by those who accompanied Alex- 

 " ander in his expedition." (See also the arguments of Schulz quoted 

 by Schneider. Epemetr. i. p. xlv.) Of course a question of this 

 kind is of great importance, because its satisfactory solution wovdd 

 seem to determine to some extent the countries, portions of whose 

 Fauna Aristotle describes. 



Hence, as was observed, the translator will often be much per- 

 plexed in his attempts to identify very many names ; and it appears 

 to me that where he is not certain of his identification, it is desirable 

 to put the Greek word in Roman letters, and to leave the note to 

 supply other information. Another caution to be observed should 

 be mentioned. The translator should be extremely careful not to 

 over interpret his author ; not to use sentences or terms which mo- 

 dern science has stamped with some definite technical meaning, as 

 the equivalents of the Greek, imless it can fairly be demonstrated 

 that the expressions or terms are strictly identical in signification. 

 The use of a modern scientific term wiU often be found to convey a 

 wrong impression, if applied for the purpose of translation. 



But in order to render the proposed work of real utility to the 

 Natviralist, the translator must be able to ensure the cordial co-ojie- 

 ration of Zoologists — the various branches of Zoology which require 

 elucidation in the notes can hardly be ever expected to receive this 

 adequately from one man, unless he can depend on assistance from 

 those who have paid particular attention to the diflerent departments. 

 Again, the work must be done by degrees ; the translation should 

 fi.rst be made, then carefully corrected after a patient study of all 

 that Aristotle has written on the subject of animals ; for it is quite 

 unreasonable to suppose that even a small portion of the ' History of 

 Animals ' can be fully understood and accurately interpreted until 

 all that Aristotle has written which bears on the subject has been 

 thoughtfully digested ; the notes should be the last thing to be done. 



The following translation of the first chapter of the History of 

 Animals must therefore be regarded as provisional, and this is 

 especially the case with respect to the notes, because there can be 

 little doubt that a competent knowledge of the other treatises which 

 bear on Zoology would serve to make clearer many of the names 

 which are therein considered. The text of Schneider has been fol- 

 lowed.* 



* Aristotelis de Anivudihus Ilistorice, Libri x. Ed. Jo. G. Schneider. 4 vols. 8vo. 

 Lips. 1811, This is far the best edition of this work. Schneider studied Zoology, 

 and has pidilished some papers on the Reptilia. 



