278 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book V1I1. 



was first exhibited ; an animal called runus by the Gauls ; 

 having the figure of a wolf, with the spots of the pard. There 

 were also exhibited some animals from Ethiopia, which they 

 called by the Greek name, x?i<T6/, 42 the hinder extremities of 

 which resembled the human feet and legs, while the fore-feet 

 were like hands. These animals have not been seen at Rome 

 since that time. 



CHAP. 29. (20.) THE RHINOCEROS. 



At the same games the rhinoceros was also exhibited, an 

 animal which has a single horn projecting from the nose ; 43 it has 

 been frequently seen since then. This too is another natural- 

 born enemy of the elephant. 44 It prepares itself for the com- 

 bat by sharpening its horn against the rocks ; and in fighting 

 directs it chiefly against the belly of its adversary, which it 

 knows to be the softest part. The two animals are of equal 

 length, but the legs of the rhinoceros are much the shorter : 

 its skin is the colour of box- wood. 



CHAP. 30. (21.) THE LYNX, THE SPHINX, THE CROCOTTA, AND 

 THE MONKEY. 



^Ethiopia produces the lynx 45 in abundance, and the sphinx, 



animal known to exist in that country. B. It is generally supposed to 

 have been a species of lynx. 



42 No doubt this description refers to some species of the monkey tribe, 

 but it is uncertain to what one in particular. Its having been seen only 

 once at Rome, shows that it was not of the most common kind ; Cuvier, 

 however, thinks it probable, that Pliny may have been incorrect in this ; 

 he supposes that it was the " Simia sphinx" of Linnaeus, Lem. vol. iii. p. 395. 

 According to Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 8, KTJ^OQ is merely a monkey 

 with a tail ; see also the account of JElian, Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c. 8. B. 



43 Cuvier says, that this was the single-horned rhinoceros of India. 

 The commentators have been at a loss to reconcile this description with 

 the Epigram of Martial, Spect. Ep. xxii., where he speaks of the rhino- 

 ceros exhibited by Domitian, as having two horns. It has been proved 

 that this latter was of the two-horned species, by the medals of that em- 

 peror, now in existence. Martial, Spect. Ep. ix., seems also to have been 

 acquainted with the single-horned species. That with two horns is men- 

 tioned by Pausanias as the ^Ethiopian bull. We learn from modern natu- 

 ralists, that the two-horned species is a native of the southern parts of 

 Africa, while that with one horn is from Asia. B. 



44 The other enemy is the dragon, as described in c. 11 and 12 of the 

 present Book. B. 



45 According to Cuvier, the lynx of Pliny is the Felis caracal of Lin- 



