62 On Animals depicted on Antique Monuments. 



sented, but still more on account of the several productions 

 which we find there, such as the crocodile, the hippopotamus, 

 the lotus, and the peculiar kinds of reeds. The upper part of 

 the pavement, that which lies towards the south, is intended to re- 

 present the wild and mountainous districts of Ethiopia, infested 

 with savage animals which are more or less dangerous. Amongst 

 these there are many which, according to Montfaucon, are un- 

 known, as well by the names which are attached to them, as by 

 their shapes ; they are unknown both to historians and natura- 

 lists. There is so much truth in this proposition, that we have 

 been astonished to find it made by this great antiquarian, who, 

 but slightly occupied with the natural sciences, could not be ex- 

 pected, as we supposed, to announce a proposition so profound 

 and so true. However, as the remark has been made, it 

 proves to us that animals, whose names are found in different 

 writings, must have really existed. If, since that time, there- 

 fore, they have disappeared from off the surface of the earth, 

 their races, Hke those of many other species, must have dimi- 

 nished and become extinct. Respecting the Greek names at- 

 tached to the animals, there are some that hold their particu- 

 lar situation only because they have been displaced in the re- 

 moval which the mosaic has undergone*. Thus the animals 

 which are designated tf««vTes, which may now be seen on the side 

 of the upper part of the mosaic, formerly constituting a part of 

 the same group with the animal Heioy-iVTctv^a, which is now to be 

 Ibund on the opposite side. This derangement implies others ; 

 and we can easily understand how sometimes the names traced 

 upon the half destroyed margins of a fragment, might be so al- 

 tered as to correspond to other animals when the different parts 

 of the mosaic were removed or reunited. It thus happens, that 

 many of these names are more likely to mislead than to instruct 

 us. It is with the greatest caution, therefore, that we shall at- 

 tempt the interpretation of those Greek names that are placed in 

 juxtaposition to some of the animals. That we may furnish the 

 clearest apprehension, we shall describe them according to the 

 order established in natural history. 



• See upon tliis subject the work of Josephus Furetius a Secretis de 

 Mussaic, publislied at Rome in 1752. 



