BOOK VIII. Lxxxii. 223-LXxxiii. 226 



from banquets just as they did shell-fish or birds 

 imported from other parts of the world. The shrew- 

 mouse itself also is a half-wild animal, and keeping it 

 ahve in jars was originated by the same person as 

 started keeping wild pigs." In this connexion it has 

 been noticed that shrew-mice do not associate unless 

 they are natives of the same forest, and if foreigners 

 separated by a river or mountain are introduced they 

 die fighting one another. They feed their parents 

 when exhausted by old age with remarkable affection. 

 Their old age comes to its end during the winter 

 repose *— for these creatures also hibernate, and 

 renew their youth at the coming of summer. Dormice 

 hibernate similarly. 



LXXXIII. In this connexion it is surprising that Locaidistri- 

 Nature has not only assigned different animals to ^f°i^°; 

 different countries, but has also denied certain 

 animals to some places in the same region, In the 

 Mesian forest •= in Italy dormice of which we are now 

 speaking are only found in one part. In Lycia the 

 gazelles do not cross the mountains near the Sexi, 

 nor the wild asses the boundary dividing Cappadocia 

 from Cilicia. The stags on the Hellespont do not 

 migrate into unfamihar districts, and those in the 

 neighbourhood of Arginusa do not go beyond Mount 

 Elaphus, even those on the mountain having cleft 

 ears.'* In the island of Pordoselene * weasels do not 

 cross a road. Similarly in Boeotia moles that under- 

 mine the whole of the fields in Orchomenus near by, 

 when imported into Lebadea are shy of the very soil. 

 We have seen counterpanes for beds made out of 

 their skins : so powerless is even superstition to 

 protect the miraculous against luxury. In Ithaca 

 imported hares die on the very edge of the shore, as 



157 



