288 THE HISTOET OF ANIMALS. [fl. IX. 



vmedies, for they say that the wild goats in Crete, when 

 struck with an arrow, seek out the dittany, for this plant 

 assists in working the arrow from their body. 



2. And dogs, when they are ill, provide themselves with 

 an emetic from a certain kind of grass. The panther, when 

 it has eaten the poison called pardalianches, 1 seeks for human 

 ordure, for this relieves it. This poison also will kill lions, 

 the hunters, therefore, suspend ordure in a vessel from the 

 trees, in order that the animal may not wander far from 

 them ; for the panther jumps at it and attempts to seize it, 

 and dies before it can reach it. They say that the panther 

 is aware that its peculiar scent is grateful to other wild 

 animals, and that it preys upon them in concealment, and 

 when deer approach near, it catches hinds. 



3. The Egyptian ichneumons, when they see the serpent 

 called the asp, do not attack it until they have invited others 

 to assist. They roll themselves in mud as a protection 

 against its blows and wounds ; they first bathe in water and 

 then roll themselves on the ground. When the crocodile 

 gapes, the trochilus flies into its mouth, to cleanse its teeth ; 

 in this process the trochilus procures food, and the other per 

 ceives it, and does not injure it ; when the crocodile wishes the 

 trochilus to leave, it moves its neck that it may not bite the 

 bird. When the tortoise has eaten a viper, it afterwards eats 

 origanum ; this has been observed. A person who had often 

 seen this done, and had observed that when the tortoise had 

 tasted the origanum it went back to the viper, gathered all 

 the origanum, and when this was done, the tortoise died. 



4. The weasel eats the herb rue before it attacks a 

 serpent, for the smell of this herb is obnoxious to serpents. 

 When the draco has eaten much fruit, it sucks the juice of 

 the bitter lettuce ; it has been seen to do this. AVhen dogs are 

 troubled with worms, they eat the green tops of corn. When 

 the pelargus or any other bird has been wounded in flight, 

 they feed upon marjoram, and many persons have seen the 

 locust 2 settle upon the neck of serpents with which it was 

 contending. The weasel also appears prudent in the wav in 

 which it attacks birds, for it kills them in the same manner 

 as wolves kill sheep ; it will fight also with serpents, and 

 especially with those that hunt mice ; for the weasel pursues 

 the same animals. 



1 Perhaps Aconite. z Spax lacerticida. Schneubr. 



