41 



of these classes some marine objects belong." "There are 

 some animals which at first inhabit the water, but after- 

 wards change into a different form and live out of the 

 water." "There is no animal which has only wings as fish 

 have only fins." " Every living animal is furnished with 

 moisture, and must die if deprived of it." " Almost all 

 insects become torpid except those which dwell in the 

 habitations of men or those that perish or do not survive 

 for a year." "Insects cast their skins." "Ants are both 

 winged and apterous, and so is the glow-worm." " A spinning 

 worm destroys the wax (of bees) and produces a creature 

 like the moth that flies round the lamp." " Kite and swallow 

 migrate to warmer climates." " Small birds do not utter 

 the same notes as their parents if they are brought up away 

 from them, and have only heard other singing birds." 



All these facts are now well known, but Aristotle knew 

 them over 2000 years ago. When writing of the kingfisher 

 he relates the beautiful myth of the Halcyon-days, and he 

 also says "that people have met swans in the sea singing a 

 mournful song and afterwards dying." He states that if a 

 poisonous serpent swallows a scorpion it is rendered more 

 deadly. However, he did not believe all the wonderful tales 

 about the enormous speed of the dolphin, and how it leaped 

 over the sails of ships. For he says, " some incredible 

 things are told of the dolphin's swiftness." With him, man, 

 the lord of creation, takes his place among the other animals, 

 for he says " Man and the mule are always tame, leopard 

 and wolf invariably wild, elephant easily tamed." 



It may be said without exaggeration that Aristotle's 

 treatises on natural history remained the standard work on 

 that subject for 2000 years. It was not till the invention 

 of the microscope brought a new power to bear on the sub- 

 ject, and until men began to study especial groups of animals 

 that any real advance was made. In the first century a.d. 

 the elder Pliny wrote a large work entitled " Naturalis 

 Historia," which, though not restricted to our meaning of 

 natural history, contained an abundance of observations and 

 statements concerning animals and plants, but nothing of 

 the deep thought of Aristotle. Nevertheless, the work pro- 

 vides us with a mine of information concerning the know- 

 ledge and ideas of Pliny's time. In Book I, where Pliny 

 enumerates the authors whose works he consulted, he 

 mentions Aristotle. 



It seems evident that by this time the nature and habits 

 of animals had begun to attract man's attention for their 



