BOOK VIII. Lxxix. 214-LXXX1. 217 



we receive from the Alps, the latter from placea 

 across the sea. 



LXXX. The kinds of apes also which are closest to varietie» of 

 the human shape are distinguished from each other "^' 

 by the tails. They are marvellously cunning : 

 people say that they use bird-lime as ointment, 

 and that they put on the nooses set to snare them as 

 if they were shoes, in imitation of the hunters ; 

 according to Mucianus the tailed species have even 

 been known to play at draughts, are able to dis- 

 tinguish at a glance sham nuts made of wax, and 

 are depressed by the moon waning and worship the 

 new moon with dehght : and it is a fact that the other 

 four-footed animals also are frightened by echpses. 

 The genus ape has a remarkable affection for its 

 young. Tame monkeys kept in the house who bear 

 young ones carry them about and show them to 

 everybody, and dehght in having them stroked, 

 looking as if they understood that they are being 

 congratulated ; and as a consequence in a consider- 

 able number of cases they kill their babies by hugging 

 them. The baboon is of a fiercer nature, just as 

 the satyrus " is extremely gentle. The pretty- 

 haired ape ^ is almost entirely different in appear- 

 ance : it has a bearded face and a tail flattened out 

 wide at the base. This animal is said to be unable 

 to Uve in any other climate but that of its native 

 country, Ethiopia. 



LXXXI. There are also several kinds of hare. Thehareand 

 In the Alps thei-e are white hares, which are beheved "^ '■"*'"'• 

 to eat snow for their fodder in the winter months — 

 at all events they turn a reddish colour every year 

 when the snow melts — and in other ways the animal 

 is a nursehng of the intolerable cold. The animals in 



151 



