BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 99 



many Years old he is ; and certainly some have more than 

 others. The same Writer says, that every Hare is in posses- 

 sion of a double Faculty, and can breed without the Buck. 

 Herein Nature hath showed her Bounty, that so harmless an 

 Animal, and so good to eat, should produce so abundantly. 

 The Hare is naturally exposed to be a Prey to all ; it is the 

 only Creature, except the Dasypus, 1 which superfoetates ; so 

 that she hath one sucking her ; another within her, covered 

 with Hair ; another is naked ; and another scarcely well- 

 shaped : all in the Womb together. An Attempt has been 

 made to make Cloth of Hare's Fur ; but to the Touch they 

 are not so soft as upon the Skin ; and the Hair is soon shed, 

 because of its shortness. 



CHAPTER LVI. 

 Of Beasts half tame. 



HARES are seldom rendered tame ; and yet they cannot 

 rightly be called wild. For many other Creatures there are 

 that are neither wild nor gentle, but of a middle Nature be- 

 tween both. Such is among Birds, Swallows, Bees; and in 

 the Sea, Dolphins. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

 Of Mice* and Dormice. 



IN the Class of those which are neither tame nor wild, 

 many have arranged the Mice that haunt our Houses : a 

 Creature not to be despised in considering public Prodigies. 

 By gnawing the silver Shields 3 at Lavinium, they portended 

 the Marsian War. To Carlo the Imperator, by eating the 

 Bandages which he used in fastening his Shoes, at Clusium, 



1 It is not possible to determine what animal Pliny intended by the 

 term Dasypus: some have supposed the word to be no more than an 

 epithet for a species of Lepus, all of which are soft-footed. See B. x. c. 62. 

 -Wern. Club. 



8 Mm musculus. LINN. The common Mouse. Wern. Club. 



3 Cicero mentions this circumstance, "De Divin." Lib. i. and Lib. ii. 

 Wern. Club. 



