B. VIII.] THE IIISTOEY OF ANIMALS. 205 



down ; it hunts dogs also by vomiting like men ; it also 

 breaks open graves for the sake of this kind of food. 



3. The bear is also omnivorous, for it eats fruit, and on 

 account of the softness of its body it can climb trees ; it 

 eats leguminous seeds also ; it also overturns hives and eats 

 the honey, and it feeds upon crabs and ants, and is car- 

 nivorous, for its strength enables it to attack not only deer, 

 but wild hogs, if it can fall upon them secretly, and oxen. 

 For when it meets the bull face to face, it falls upon its back, 

 and when the bull attempts to throw it, seizes its horns 

 with its fore-legs, and biting upon the shoulder of the bull, 

 throws it down. For a short time it can walk upright on 

 its hind legs. It eats flesh after it has become putrid. 



4. The lion, like all other wild animals with pointed teeth, 

 is carnivorous ; it devours its food greedily, and swallows 

 large pieces without dividing them ; it can afterwards, from 

 its repletion, remain two or three days without food. It 

 drinks very little. Its excrement is small, and is not made 

 more than once in three days or thereabouts, and it is dry 

 and hard like that of a dog. The wind from its bowels has 

 an acrid smell, and its urine is powerfully scented, for which 

 reason dogs smell to trees, for the lion, like the dog, lifts its 

 leg to make water. It produces also a strong smell when 

 it breathes upon its food, and when its bowels are laid open 

 they emit a strong scent. 



5. Some quadrupeds and wild animals seek their food in 

 the neighbourhood of ponds and rivers, but none of them 

 except the seal live near the sea ; of this class are the crea- 

 ture called beaver, and the satherium, the satyrium, the 

 otter, and that which is called latax. This creature is 

 broader than the enydris, and has strong teeth, for it often 

 goes out in the night and with its teeth gnaws off the osiers. 

 The enydris also will bite men, and they say will not leave 

 its hold till it hears the noise of its teeth against the bone- 

 The latax has rough hair, the nature of which is between 

 that of the seal and that of the deer. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



1. ANIMALS with pointed teeth drink by lapping, and some 

 that have not pointed teeth, as mice. Those which have an 

 even surface to their teeth draw in the water as horses and 



