66 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



Even the White Bear had been seen in Egypt 

 while under the Ptolemies *. 



Lions and Panthers were common at Rome, 

 where they were presented by hundreds in the 

 games of the Circus. Even several Tigers were 

 exhibited there, as well as the Striped Hyena 

 and the Crocodile of the Nile. In the ancient 

 mosaics preserved at Rome, there are excellent 

 representations of the rarest of these animals. 

 Among others, the striped hyena is seen repre- 

 sented with accuracy in a fragment preserved in 

 the Museum of the Vatican ; and, while I was at 

 Rome in 1809, a mosaic pavement, composed of 

 natural stones, arranged in the Florentine man- 

 ner, was discovered in a garden beside the tri- 

 umphal arch of Galienus, which represented four 

 Bengal tigers executed in a superior manner. 



In the Museum of the Vatican, there is depo- 

 sited the figure of a crocodile in basalt, which is 

 almost a perfect representation of that animal f. 



printed editions of Gaston were so faulty, that it was diffi- 

 cult to make out, with certainty, what the author had in- 

 tended to say ; but having had recourse to his original ma- 

 nuscript, which is preserved in the Royal Library, I have 

 ascertained that it was in Xueden and Nourvegue, (Sweden 

 and Norway), that he relates having seen and hunted the 

 rein- deer. 



* Athenseis, lib. v. 



t The only error committed, is that of giving it a claw 



