260 AEISTOTLE'S ENAIMA, 



food in or about ponds and rivers, and it also bites men and, 

 from information given to him, does not let go until it hears 

 the crunching of the bone.* Pliny, in a passage taken to 

 some extent from Aristotle, seems to refer, by the name 

 Lutra, to the same animal as Aristotle's EnydrisA It should 

 be mentioned, however, that Pliny, when repeating the part 

 of Aristotle's statement about the hard biting, applies it not 

 to Lutra but to the beaver. The statement would apply to 

 either, for both the beaver and the otter bite very hard. 



Among wild animals which obtain their food in or about 

 lakes and rivers Aristotle mentions Latax, which goes out 

 by night and cuts the aspens with its strong teeth ; he also 

 says that its body is broader than that of Enydris, and that 

 its hair is harsh, being intermediate between that of a deer 

 and that of a seal.t This is the only important passage, 

 mentioning Latax, which I can find, but it contains sufficient 

 information to show that, probably, the beaver is meant. 

 The reference to the aspens is important, for the bark of 

 these trees is said to be the favourite food of the beaver. 



The elephant is referred to by Aristotle in many passages, 

 some of which have been discussed in Chapters x., xi., and 

 xiii. The question of the period of gestation, in the case of 

 the elephant, does not seem to have been settled in Aristotle's 

 time, for he says that, according to some people, it is eighteen 

 months, but, according to others, it is as much as three 

 years. § Aristotle does not give his own view, but the first- 

 mentioned estimate is substantially true, the normal period 

 for the Indian elephant being nineteen months. 



Aristotle says that the elephant throws over or tilts palm 

 trees with its forehead, and then tramples upon them and 

 throws them down,i| but, in another passage, he says that it 

 uproots trees by means of its trunk. IT By means of their 

 trunks elephants can uproot small trees, but several writers, 

 like Sir J. Emerson Tennent and Mr. G. P. Sanderson, 

 agree that elephants are by no means in the habit of trying 

 their strength in this way. The trunk of an elephant is 

 very sensitive, and it is well known how carefully the animal 

 usually protects it from injury. The African elephant 

 *' Alice " once met with an accident involving the tearing 

 away of the extremity of her trunk and the late Superin- 

 tendent of the London Zoological Gardens, Mr. A. D. 



=•• H. A. viii. c. 7, s. 5. f Nat. Hist. viii. 47. 



I H. A. viii. c. 7, s. 5. § Ibid. vi. c. 25, s. 2. 



II Ibid. ix. c. 2, s. 11. 11 Ibid. ii. c. 1, s. 2. 



