INTRODUCTION. 



[HESE chapters, on a few of the curio- 

 fities connected with the natural 

 hiftory of the ancients, are in fome 

 refpects a faithful reflection of that 

 knowledge. They are fragmentary, and greatly 

 indebted to the labours of previous workers. But 

 they have not been put together without much 

 trouble and not a little honeft, diligent refearch ; 

 my object being to collect fome of the more inte- 

 refting facts bearing upon ten or a dozen different 

 fubjects, rather than to write a complete natural 

 hiftory of the ancients. I have generally traced 

 thefe curious beliefs through their mediaeval modi- 

 fications ; partly that the reader might be led to 

 contraft them with the exacter knowledge of the 

 prefent day, partly in order to mew their growth 

 from, in fome cafes, pre-hiftoric and geological 

 times. 



No one is more aware of the incompletenefs of 

 thefe EfTays, yet I venture to hope that fome may 



