THEORY OF THE EARTH. 93 



was first imported into Greece, nothing probably was 

 known respecting the animal to which it belong- 

 ed ; and accordingly it was not known to Aristotle. 

 Agatharcides is the first author by whom it is men- 

 tioned. In the same mariner, ivory was known to 

 the ancients long before the animal from which it 

 is procured ; and perhaps some of their travellers 

 may have given to the rhinoceros the name of In- 

 dian ass, with as much propriety as the Romans de- 

 nominated the elephant the bull of Lucania. Every 

 thing which they relate of the strength, size, and 

 ferocity of their wild ass of India, corresponds suf- 

 ficiently with the rhinoceros. In succeeding times, 

 when the rhinoceros came to be better known to 

 naturalists, finding that former authors mentioned 

 a single-horned animal under the name of Indian 

 ass, they concluded, without any examination, that 

 it must be quite a distinct creature, having solid 

 hoofs. We have remaining a detailed description 

 of the Indian ass, written by Ctesias;* but, as we 

 have already seen that this must have been taken 

 from the ruins of Persepolis, it should go for no- 

 thing in the real history of the animal. 



When there afterwards appeared more exact 

 descriptions of an animal having several toes or 

 hoofs on each foot, the ancients conceived it to be 

 a third species of one-horned animals, to which 

 they gave the name of monoceros. The^e double, 



*JElian.Anim. IV. 32. 



