352 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTOKY. [Book VIII. 



end to by their winter's rest, when they conceal themselves 

 and sleep ; they are young again by the summer. The field- 

 mouse 61 also enjoys a similar repose. 



CHAP. 83. (58.) PLACES IN WHICH CERTAIN ANIMALS AEE NOT 



TO BE FOUND. 



It is a remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned 

 different countries to different animals, but that even in the 

 same country, it has denied certain species to peculiar localities. 52 

 In Italy the dormouse is found in one part only, the Messian 

 forest. 53 In Lycia the gazelle never passes beyond the moun- 

 tains which border upon Syria ; 54 nor does the wild ass in that 

 vicinity pass over those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. 

 On the banks of the Hellespont, the stags never pass into a 

 strange territory, and about Arginussa 55 they never go beyond 

 Mount Elaphus ; those upon that mountain, too, have cloven 

 ears. In the island of Poroselene, 56 the weasels will not so 

 much as cross a certain road. In Bceotia, the moles, which were 

 introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very soil of that country, 

 while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the very same 

 animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for 

 beds made of the skins of these creatures, so that our sense of 

 religion does not prevent us from employing these ominous 

 animals for the purposes of luxury. When hares have been 

 brought to Ithaca, they die as soon as ever they touch the 

 shore, and the same is the case with rabbits, on the shores of 

 the island of Ebusus; 57 while they abound in the vicinity, 



51 "Nitelis." See B. xvi. c. 69. Probably the animal now known as 

 the Myoxus nitela of Linnaeus. 



52 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 33. B. 



53 According to Hardouin, this forest is termed, in modern times, Bosco 

 di Baccano ; it is nine miles S.W. of Borne. 



54 Cuvier informs us, that " Le dorcas des Grecs n'est le daim, comme 

 le dit Hardouin, mais le chevreuil ; car Aristote (De Partib. Anim. 1. iii. 

 c. 2) dit que c'est le plus petit des animaux a comes que nous connaissions 

 (sans doute en Gre.ce) ; et le dorcas Libyca, tres-bien decrit par JElien 

 (1. xiv. c. 4), est certainement la gazelle commune, * antelope dorcas/ " 

 Ajasson, vol, vi. pp. 467, 468 ; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 565. Respecting the 

 localities here mentioned, it has been proposed to substitute Cilicia for Syria, 

 Syria and Lycia being at a considerable distance from each other. B. 



65 See B. v. c. 39. 56 See B. v. c.. 38. 



57 See B. iii. c. 11, and the Note to the passage. See also c. 81 of this 

 Book. 



