Chap. 53.] MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH ANIMALS. 469 

 CHAP. 52. PECULIARITIES RELATIVE TO CERTAIN ANIMALS. 



In addition to these, there are some other peculiar properties 

 attributed to certain animals, which require to be mentioned in 

 the present Book. Some authors state that there is a bird in 

 Sardinia, resembling the crane and called the " gromphena ;" 81 

 but it is no longer known even by the people of that country, 

 in my opinion. In the same province, too, there is the ophion, 

 an animal which resembles the deer in the hair only, and to be 

 found 52 nowhere else. The same authors have spoken also of 

 the " subjugus," 83 but have omitted to state what animal it is, 

 or where it is to be found. That it did formerly exist, however, 

 I have no doubt, as certain remedies are described as being 

 derived from it. M. Cicero speaks of animals called "biuri," 84 

 which gnaw the vines in Campania. 



CHAP. 53. (16.) OTHER MARVELLOUS FACTS CONNECTED WITH 



ANIMALS. 



There are still vsome other marvellous facts related, with 

 reference to the animals which we have mentioned. A dog 

 will not bark at a person who has any part of the secundines 

 of a bitch about him, or a hare's duDg or fur. The kind of 

 gnats called " muliones," 85 do not live more than a single day. 

 Persons when taking honey from the hives, will never be 

 touched by the bees if they carry the beak of a wood-pecker 86 

 about them. Swine will be sure to follow the person who has 

 given them a raven's brains, made up into a bolus. The dust 

 in which a she-mule has wallowed, sprinkled upon the body,| 

 will allay the flames of desire. Eats may be put to flight byl 

 castrating a male rat, and setting it at liberty. If a snake's 

 slough is beaten up with some spelt, salt, and wild thyme, and 

 introduced into the throat of oxen, with wine, at the time 

 that grapes are ripening, they will be in perfect health for a 

 whole year to come : the same, too, if three young swallows are 

 given to them, made up into three boluses. The dust gathered 

 from the track of a snake, sprinkled among bees, will make 



81 Possibly a kind of crane. 



82 See B, viii. c. 75, and B. xxviii. c. 42. 



83 It has not been identified. 



84 Hardouin thinks that the worm called c by the Greeks is meant. 

 Ovid speaks in his Fasti, B. i. 11. 354- 360, of the goat, as being very fond 

 of gnawing the vine. B5 See B. xi. c. 19. 6 See B. x. c. 20. 



