Introduction*. xi 



by Diofcorides. Paufanias, A.D. 160, touches on 

 much that is of phyfkal and economical intereft 

 in his " Itinerary of Greece." The " Onomafticon " 

 of Pollux, a Greek fophift and grammarian, A.D. 

 183, treats in ten books of the meals, hunting, 

 animals, etc., of the ancients. Oppian and ^Elian, 

 in the beginning of the third Chriftian century, are 

 of confiderable intereft to the ftudent of natural 

 hiftory. The former is the author of a long poem 

 on " Fifti and Fifhing," and another on " Hunting 

 and Dogs," both of which difplay the charadteriftic 

 want of accuracy of the ancient zoological writers. 

 Among other works, ^Elian wrote feventeen books 

 " De Animalium Natura." Thefe have come down 

 to us. They are feemingly thrown together with- 

 out any definite arrangement, and abound in 

 hearfay and marvellous anecdotes. Of Stobasus, 

 beyond the fact that he was born at Stobi, in 

 Macedonia, little is known. Even the time at 

 which he lived is uncertain. He and Photius, 

 however, have refcued for us numerous interesting 

 details of Greek life and many extracts from earlier 

 writers. Among thefe authors, then, the ftudent 

 of Greek natural hiftory has to quarry. 



In the century before our Lord, Caefar and 

 Varro among Latin authors claim attention. The 

 former contains much that is valuable, efpecially 

 in relation to Gaul and Britain ; the latter, of 

 large and varied erudition, wrote no fewer than 

 490 books. His three books " De Re Ruftica " 

 are the moft important treatifes extant upon 

 ancient agriculture. Book I. treats of farms and 



