iii. 2. 6i 



also as a defensive one. There are horns also in all animals that 

 have not been provided by nature with some other means of 

 security ; such means for instance as speed, which has been 

 given to horses ; or excessive bulk of body, which is sufficient 

 in itself to protect an animal from being destroyed by others 

 and which has been given to camels, and in a still greater measure 

 to elephants. Other animals again are protected by the possession 

 of tusks ; and among these are the swine, though they have a 

 cloven hoof.* 



All animals again whose horns are but useless appendages have 

 been provided by nature with some additional means of security. 

 Thus deer are endowed with speed ; for the large size and great 

 branching of their horns makes these a source of detriment rather 

 than of profit to their possessors.-'' Similarly endowed are the 

 Bubalus ^ and gazelle -p for though these animals will stand up 

 against some enemies and defend themselves with their horns, 

 yet they run away from such as are fierce and valiant. The 

 Bonasus again, whose horns curve inwards towards each other 

 [and are therefore of no use as weapons], is provided with a 

 means of protection in the discharge of its excrement ; and of 

 this it avails itself when frightened. There are some other 

 animals besides the Bonasus that have a similar mode of defence.^ 

 In no case however does nature ever give more than one adequate 

 means of protection to one and the same animal.^ 



Most of the animals that have horns are cloven-hoofed ; but 

 the Indian ass, as they call it, is also reported to be horned, though 

 its hoof is solid. ^'^ 



Again as the body, so far as regards its organs of motion,^^ 

 consists of two distinct parts, the right and the left, so also and 

 for like reasons the horns of animals are, in the great majority of 

 cases, two in number. Still there are some that have but a single 

 horn ; the Oryx '^ for instance, and the so-called Indian ass ; in the 

 former of which the hoof is cloven, while in the latter it is solid. 

 In such animals the horn is set in the centre of the head ; for as 

 the middle belongs equally to both extremes, this arrangement is 

 the one that comes nearest to each side having its own horn. 



Again, it would appear consistent with reason that the single 



horn should go with the solid rather than with the cloven hoof 



For hoof, as also claw, is of the same nature as horn ; so that 



the two naturally undergo division simultaneously and in the 



663 a. 



