92 PLINY THE ELDER. 



commences indeed with the largest, and ends with 

 mice, which are among the smallest bred on land ; 

 but in this catalogue he includes mammalia, croco- 

 diles, lizards, serpents, and snails. It may be said 

 generally, that in his descriptions at least three- 

 fourths of each article are erroneous, false, or fabu- 

 lous ; and that he scarcely anywhere attempts to 

 elicit general principles, or to discover the circum- 

 stances in which animals agree or differ. It were 

 therefore vain for the student of nature to look into 

 this book for any information on which he could 

 place reliance, with respect to their organization or 

 habits. Some particulars respecting the exhibition 

 at Rome of elephants, lions, panthers, crocodiles, 

 and other ferocious creatures, with the combats of 

 which the emperors and great men amused the peo- 

 ple, and a few facts relating to the geographical dis- 

 tribution of the more interesting species, are all that 

 the reader finds to recompense him for the labour 

 of examination. 



The ninth book treats of fishes, crabs, sea-urchins, 

 mollusca, and other marine animals, including not 

 only turtles and cetacea, but also mermaids, tri- 

 tons, and other fabulous creatures. These he ar- 

 ranges in no definite order, although he proposes 

 a kind of classification founded on the covering 

 or skin; some, as seals and hippopotami, having 

 a skin and hair; others skin only, as the dol- 

 phin ; while the tortoises are covered with a sub- 

 stance resembling bark ; oysters and other shells 

 with a substance as hard as flint ; echini with crusts 

 and prickles ; fishes with scales ; sharks with a 

 rough skin fit for polishing wood ; lampreys with 

 a soft skin ; and polypi with none at all. 



