302 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTOEY. [Book VIII. 



fights with the serpent : it traces out the serpent's hole, and 

 draws it forth by the breath of its nostrils, 54 and hence it is 

 that the smell of burnt stags' horn has the remarkable power 

 of driving away serpents. The very best remedy for the bite 

 of a serpent is the rennet of a fawn that has been killed in the 

 womb of its mother. 



The stag is generally admitted to be very long lived ; some 

 were captured at the end of one hundred years with the golden 

 collars which Alexander the Great had put upon them, and 

 which were quite concealed by the folds of the skin, in conse- 

 quence of the accumulation of fat. 55 This animal is not sub- 

 ject to fever, and, indeed, it is a preservative against that com- 

 plaint. "We know that of late some women of princely rank 

 have been in the habit of eating the flesh of the stag every 

 morning, and that they have arrived at an extreme old age, 

 free from all fevers. It is, however, generally supposed that 

 the animal must be killed by a single wound to make sure of 

 it possessing this virtue. 



(33.) Of the same species is an animal, which only differs 

 from the stag in having a beard and long hair about the 

 shoulders : it is called tragelaphus, 56 and is produced nowhere 

 except on the banks of the Phasis. 67 



CHAP. 51. THE CHAMELEON. 



Africa is almost the only country that does not produce 58 



Diana, who, through it, held converse with him, and instructed him how 

 to act. Plutarch, Frontinus, and Valerius Maximus, also relate the story. 



54 This story, which is obviously incorrect, is mentioned by .^Elian, 

 Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 9 ; and is again referred to in B. xxviii. c. 42. B. 



55 Graguinus, Hist. Franc. B. ix. c. 3, relates a still more wonderful 

 anecdote of a similar nature ; but, as Buffon remarks, such tales are with- 

 out foundation, the life of the stag not being more than thirty or forty 

 years. Cuvier. also, says that its life does not exceed thirty- six or forty 

 years. B. 



56 The real nature of the tragelaphus of Pliny, and the hippelaphus, 

 or horse-stag of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1, which appear to be the 

 same animal, had long remained a disputed question among naturalists, 

 when, as Cuvier states, the point was decided bj Alphonse Duvaucel, who 

 ascertained that it was a species of stag, which inhabited the mountains of 

 the north of Hindostan. B. 



57 And in Arabia as well, according to Diodorus Siculus, B. ii. 



58 This fact is confirmed by Cuvier, who observes, that it is the more 

 remarkable that Africa should be without stags, as it abounds in gazelles of 

 all forms and colours. He supposes that those travellers, who affirm that 



