168 On the Animals represented 



contribute to distinguish them. The natural result of this ob- 

 servation, has led them to represent these different parts with 

 the greatest possible accuracy. Sometimes their attention was 

 directed to parts less essential ; and thus, for example, they 

 have not forgotten faithfully to depict the tails of certain ani- 

 mals. Thus, when they have represented the pachydermata of the 

 boar kind, they have invariably characterized them by a tail 

 bent back, and turned upon itself. In the representations they 

 have left of their hunting exploits, exhibitions which present a 

 great number of different animals, among which we mention 

 lions, tigers, leopards, boars, hippopotamuses, deers, elks, hares, 

 rabbits, bulls, horses, and dogs of different races, whether point- 

 ers, mastiffs, or greyhounds, we can especially convince ourselves 

 of the care they took to give to each kind, as to each race, its 

 characteristic peculiarities. 



We have already said, that the ancients carried this accuracy 

 not only into the representation of real beings ; it also directed 

 them in the composition of fantastic and allegorical beings. 



The sirens and harpies, monsters half women and half birds, 

 are another proof of it. The former, occupied without ceasing 

 in slaying the unfortunate individuals who had been attracted 

 by the sweetness of their song, of course required to be orga- 

 nized in such a manner as to satisfy their cruel instinct. The 

 painters and statuaries, then, in representing them with a wo- 

 man's head, have given them the body and the feet of a bird, 

 and of a bird of prey. Some artists, however, have depicted 

 the sirens with a woman's head and chest, with wings at the 

 shoulders, and the inferior part of the body terminating as does 

 that of the marine mammiferae. It is thus that, on the medals 

 of Cumae, the siren Parthenope is represented. Still, as the 

 sirens thus formed might have been very easily confounded with 

 the naiades, few of the statuaries and painters have adopted this 

 mode of conformation. 



The artists of antiquity have likewise represented the harpies 

 with the countenance of a woman and the feet of a bird. The 

 feet terminate in crooked claws, like the vultures, so expressing 

 a ravenous disposition, the distinguishing characteristic of the 

 harpies. Others, in depicting them with the human head, hands, 

 and feet, have always preserved the vulture"'s wings, adding at 



