24 History of Nature. [BooK VIII. 



tear her Belly with their Claws for their exit. Aristotle 

 writeth otherwise: a Man whom I cannot name but with 

 great Honour, and whom in these matters I mean for the 

 most part to follow. King Alexander the Great, having an 

 ardent desire to know the Nature of all living Creatures, 

 assigned this Charge to Aristotle, a Man accomplished in all 

 kind of Science and Learning, and to this effect commanded 

 some Thousands of Men through all the Extent of Asia and 

 Greece to give their Attendance, including all Hunters, 

 Fowlers, and Fishers, that lived by those Professions. Also 

 all Foresters, Park-keepers, and Warreners ; all such as 

 had the keeping of Herds and Flocks ; of Bee- hives, Fish- 

 ponds, and Fowls, so that he should not be ignorant of any- 

 thing in any Nation. 1 By his Conference with them he com- 

 piled almost fifty excellent Books, " De Animalibus," (of 

 Living Creatures). Which being collected by me in a nar- 

 row Room, with the addition of some Things which he never 

 knew, I beseech the Readers to take in good part ; and for 

 the Knowledge of all Nature's Works, which that most noble 

 of all Kings desired so earnestly, to make a short Excursion 

 under my care. That Philosopher reporteth that the Lioness 

 at her first Litter bringeth forth five Whelps, and every Year 

 after fewer by one ; and when she bringeth but one she be- 

 cometh Barren. Her Whelps at the first are without Shape 

 and very Small, like Lumps of Flesh, no bigger than Weasels. 

 When they are six Months old they can hardly go, and for 

 the two first they cannot move. There are also Lions in 

 Europe, 2 but only between the Rivers Achelous and Nestus, 



1 Aristotle is by far the most illustrious naturalist of antiquity, and 

 he will not suffer by comparison with the moderns. His great work, 

 written under such favourable circumstances, continues to this day, and 

 is remarkable for that in which other ancient writers are exceedingly 

 deficient, a philosophical digest of his subject. Wern. Club. 



5 Lions are at present confined to Asia and Africa, but that they were 

 once found in Europe there can be no doubt. Thus it is recorded by 

 Herodotus ("Polym." vii. 124) that the baggage camels of the army of 

 Xerxes were attacked by lions in the territory of Paeonia and Crestonia, 

 in Thracia. The same authority, as well as that of Aristotle (" Hist. 



