Natural-Historical Collections. 287 



Aristotle then considers animals under the relation of the distribution of hair. 

 Amongst those which carry a mane, he cites the bonasiis, which is the aurochs, 

 (^Bos urtis,) and then three animals of India, the hippelaphus, the hippardium, 

 and the buffalo. The hippelaphus, or horse-stag, has been recently found by MM. 

 Diard and Duvaucel ; the hippardium, or hunting leopard, has also been unknown 

 till within these few years. It was in the Royal flienagerie, but BufFon never 

 saw it. As to the buffalo, we know that it was only introduced into Europe at 

 the time of the Crusades. Aristotle describes it in such a manner that we can- 

 not mistake it ; he speaks of its colour, of the direction of its horns ; he says that 

 it differs as much from the common bull as the wild boar differs from the pig. 

 In speaking of the camel, he already designates the two species, the one proper 

 to Arabia, the other to Bactriana : the last could only be known to the Greeks by 

 the conquest of Alexander. 



After having terminated all that relates to the hair, he speaks of the horns, and, 

 on this subject, he lays down general principles whose accuracy has been confirm- 

 ed by all succeeding observations. Let us instance the following : — 



No animal has horns which has the foot undivided ; but the inverse rule does 

 not hold ; and thus the camel, which has a divided foot, bears no horns. 



Those animals which have divided feet, horns, and no teeth in the upper jaw, 

 all ruminate ; and, reciprocally, there is not a single ruminant which has not all 

 those three characters. 



Horns are hollow or solid : the former are persistent, the latter caducous, and 

 renewed every year. 



Our author next speaks of the teeth, — of the manner in which they are re- 

 newed in man and in animals, — of the different forms which they have in the dif- 

 ferent species, according to the nature of their food, being sharp and pointed in 

 the camivora, flat and grinding in the herbivora. In some animals certain teeth 

 protrude, and form tusks ; but no animal is armed at the same time with tusks 

 and horns. In the elephant, the tusks of the female are small, and directed to- 

 wards the ground. Here again is one of the propositions wherein we would have 

 thought that Aristotle was wrong. The Indian elephants, indeed, do not exhi- 

 bit any difference in this respect indicative of sex ; but the African elephant, 

 which is that described by our philosopher, has really the peculiarity mentioned. 



There comes then a description of the hippopotamus, which accords very ill 

 with the rest of the book. It is very probably by Herodotus, written at first on 

 the margin by one of the early possessors of the work, and afterwards inserted in 

 the text by a less intelligent copyist. We have many examples of similar inter, 

 polations. 



Before terminating what relates to viviparous quadrupeds, Aristotle speaks of 

 the apes, which he considers as intermediate between animals and man. He points 

 out very dearly the principal characters of their organization, the structure of 

 their hands, and designates many species, some of which have a tail, others which 

 do not possess one. He passes then to oviparous quadrupeds, gives the charac- 

 ters which are common to all, speaks of the nature of their integuments, and on 

 this occasion describes the crocodile of Egypt, remarking the hardness of its 

 scales, the length of its teeth and their form, the disposition of the organ of hear- 

 ing, and lastly, noticing the principal habits of the animal. 



The classification which Aristotle establishes for birds, is very good in the 

 principal divisions : it is exactly Brisson's. He determines the analogy between 

 their wings and the anterior extremities of quadrupeds. He speaks then of the 

 form of their feet, and of the differences which we observe in them, — of the third 

 eyelid, — of the faculty possessed by many of these animals, especiaUy by those 

 whose tongue is fleshy, of articulating some words. He remarks that no bird is 

 armed, at the same time, with spurs and with claws. This again is one of those 

 general propositions which one is astonished to find in the science almost at its 

 birth. 



Arittptle cotnes at U^t ta the fishes, and there he is truly admirable, giving 



