Rev. W. Haughton on the Unicorn of the Ancients. 367 



of their various animals, which were doubtless often mixed with 

 fable. Aristotle regarded Ctesias as a man utterly unworthy of 

 credit* — rather a harsh judgment, it is true, but probably not 

 very far from the mark. However, under the name of ovot 

 aypLoi (wild asses) Ctesias describes his Unicorns. He says, 

 " They are as large as horses, and even larger, with white bodies, 

 red heads, blue eyes, and have each on their foreheads a horn a 

 cubit and a half long, the base of which is white, the upper part 

 red, the middle part black. Drinking-cups are formed of these 

 horns ; and those who drink out of them are said to be subject 

 neither to spasm nor epilepsy, nor to the effects of poison. 

 Other asses have no astragalus ; but these have one, as well as 

 a gall-bladder. The astragalus I have seen myself : it is beau- 

 tifully formed, in shape like that of an ox, and very heavy and 

 red throughout. The animal is so swift that no horse can over- 

 take it, and so strong and fierce that it is with difficulty destroyed 

 by arrows and javelins. It begins its running slowly, but 

 gradually increases its speed ; it shows great attachment to its 

 young, which it defends against its pursuers, fighting with horn, 

 teeth, and heels. The flesh is so bitter that it is not eaten ; but 

 men set a high value on the horns and astragali.'' 



Aristotle t simply mentions this Unicorn under the name of 

 6V09 IvBiKo^ (Indian Ass). "We have never seen," he says, 

 " a solidungulous animal with two horns ; and there are only a 

 few solidungulous animals with one horn, such as the Indian Ass 

 and the Oryx {opv^). Of all animals with a solid hoof the In- 

 dian Ass alone possesses an astragalus.'' 



Pliny's account of the Indian Ass is much the same as Aris- 

 totle's. " It is the only solidungulous animal that has an astra- 

 galus : the Oryx is one-horned, but it is cloven-footed" J. Pliny, 

 it will be seen, here differs from Aristotle, who represents the 

 Oryx as solidungulous. Here, then, it is evident we have two 

 Unicorns — the solidungulous Indian Ass with an astragalus, 

 and the Oryx. But it appears there is still another one-horned 

 animal, viz. the Monoceros. " The Orsseau Indians," says the 

 Roman natm*alist§, " hunt a very fierce animal, called the Mono- 

 ceros, which has the body of a horse, the head of a stag, the feet 

 of an elephant, and the tail of a wild boar ; it utters a deep 

 lowing noise, and has a single horn, two cubits long, projecting 

 from the middle of its forehead. They say this animal cannot 

 be taken alive." 



iElian ||, who lived long subsequently to any of the above- 

 named writers, mentions the ovoi dypoot (the description of 



* ovK iiv d^LOTVKTTos, Hist. An. viii. 27. § 3. 



t Hist. Anim. ii. 2. § 8. 



X N. H. xi. 46. § N. H. viii. 21. || Nat. An. xvi. 20. 



