On Animals depicted on Antique Monuments. 79 



opinion of M. Schweighauser be adopted, they will mount up 

 to six. 



These six species may be distributed so as to present, 1*^, 

 Two pachyderms, the native country of one of which, viz. that 

 known by the name of H(^<t, according to Kircher, is known ; 2c?, 

 A variety of the SoHdungula, intermediate between the dzhiggtai 

 and the quagga ; and 3d, Two Ruminantia,the one of which is 

 the great Irish elk, and the other the nabum of the Ethiopians, 

 designated in the mosaic of Palestrina under the name of r»/2ovi ; 

 4tth, The last would be the goat or antelope, figured in the Ga- 

 lerie Mythologique of Miliin. 



Nor are the terrestrial mammalia the only animals of which 

 certain species have been lost since the times of historical re- 

 cord ; for we know that M. Geoffroy St Hilaire discovered in 

 the catacombs of Egypt two races of crocodile, which have not 

 been found elsewhere, and which at present appear lost. It 

 may be said, without doubt, that it is of these races, as it is 

 with the crocodile, the snout of which is furnished with a kind 

 of horn, which iElian had described, and which he said he 

 saw in the Ganges. For a long time it was regarded fabulous, 

 and the more so because the specimens which were found in 

 the Ganges did not present that horn which iEhan had given 

 them. Within these few years, however. Messieurs Diard 

 and Duvaucelle have afresh discovered this horned crocodile of 

 ^Elian, and which the individuals that had been previously seen 

 had accidentally wanted. 



And if there are thus reptiles, of which species have been lost 

 within the period of historical record, still more must there be 

 birds and fishes which have become extinct since the same epoch. 

 Regarding fislies, there are a great number of varieties described 

 by naturalists, for example, by Opian, of which we know no- 

 thing. In particular, we are ignorant of his anthins, which was 

 used to catch the fish called barbie, and which consequently was 

 of very small dimensions. This fish is not therefore, as has 

 been long supposed, the red-dory fish of the Mediterranean. 

 As to birds, there is an equally great number of them depicted 

 on antique monuments ; and as the greater part appear to have 

 been designed after nature, we can already state, that, among 

 these species, there are many which have been lost. This, then, 

 is a branch of the subject to which wc may return at another 



