BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 67 



the small one Leontophonos ; l and it is bred in no Country 

 but where the Lion is produced ; and such is its Violence, 

 that the Lion, before whom all other Creatures tremble, 

 dieth immediately if he taste of it. And therefore they that 

 chase wild Beasts burn the Body of this Animal, and sprin- 

 kle the Powder on the Pieces of other Flesh, as Flour is 

 dusted over Meat in cooking, by way of Bait ; and thus with 

 the Ashes of his Enemy they kill him, so adverse to his 

 Nature is this Pest ! No Wonder, therefore, if the Lion 

 hate it, and so soon as he spieth it he crusheth it, and so 

 killeth it without setting Tooth to its Body. The Leon- 

 tophonos, for its part, is also prepared to sprinkle him with 

 its Urine, knowing that this is a deadly Poison to the 

 Lion. 



In those Countries where the Lynxes breed, 2 their Mois- 

 ture, after it is made, congealeth and hardeneth into precious 

 Stones resembling Carbuncles, shining of the Colour of Fire, 

 and called Lyncurium. 3 And on this Account many have 

 written, that Amber is formed after the same Manner. The 

 Lynxes know thus much, and for Envy understand to cover 

 their Urine with Earth ; and so it hardeneth the more 

 quickly. 



1 The Leontophonos is a name invented by Pliny himself, and the 

 creature meant by it altogether unknown. Wern. Club. 



2 Lib. viii. 19. 



3 Lib. xxxvii. 2, 3, 10. TheLyncuria have been thought to be fossil 

 Belenmites. The ancients had a legend that these substances came from 

 the Lynx, and they called them Lapides Lyncis, as well as Lyncuria. 

 Those which were found in Mount Ida were called Idcei dactyli, or Idaean 

 fingers, from their supposed resemblance to those members. It is, how- 

 ever, by no means clear, that the ancients intended to describe Belemnites 

 under these appellations. Ovid, Met. xv. 413, says : 



" India when conquer'd, on the conquering god 

 For planted vines the sharp-eyed lynx bestow'd, 

 Whose moisture, shed before it touches earth, 

 Congeals in air, and gives the gems their birth." 



The different accounts of Pliny, indeed, are by no means uniform, 

 and seem rather to refer to several kinds of gems. Theophrastus also 

 describes them as gems of a very solid texture, on which seals were 

 engraved. Wern. Club. 



