THE SEVENTH BOOK 



HISTORY OF NATURE, 



WRITTEN BY 



C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS. 



THE PREFACE. 



US we have in the former Books treated of 

 the World, and of the Lands, Nations, Seas, 

 Islands, and remarkable Cities therein con- 

 tained. It remainetli now to discourse of the 

 Nature of the Living Creatures comprised within 

 the same : a point which would require as deep 

 a Contemplation as any other Part whatsoever, if the Mind 

 of Man were able to comprehend all the Things. By right 

 the chief place is assigned to Man, for whose sake it appears 

 that Nature produced all other Creatures ; though this great 

 favour of hers is severe as set against all her other Gifts : so 

 that it is hard to judge whether she is a kinder Parent to 

 Man, or a cruel Step-mother. For, in preference to all other 

 Living Creatures, the one she hath clothed with the Riches of 

 others : to the rest she hath assigned a variety of Coverings : 

 as Shells, Barks, Hard Hides, Spines, Shag, Bristles, Hair, 

 Feathers, Quills, Scales, and Fleeces. The Trunks and 



