Quadrupeds. 2901 



Moreover, in the African* species there are but three toes on the hind 

 foot. The coin, to which I have adverted, measures only 7 finest in 

 diameter, — twelve of them making an inch. Of these the figure of the 

 elephant occupies in height not more than 3|. And jet, when exa- 

 mined through a glass, and even by the naked eye, it is seen that in 

 this figure, small as it is, the distinguishing characteristics of the Afri- 

 can species, — the flat head — the immense flap of the ear— and the 

 three toes on the hind foot, — have all met with due attention on the 

 part of the artist. They are minutely and accurately given, showing 

 that he must have faithfully copied from the life. And from this cir- 

 cumstance I should be inclined to infer, that, when executed during 

 the best ages of art, portraits, from Greek and Roman mints, of natu- 

 ral objects, as to the accuracy of which we may not ourselves be so 

 capable of judging as in the case of the elephant, are, neverthe- 

 less, well entitled to our respectful consideration, from what we 

 have experienced in other instances of the general character of 

 the artists. 



While thinking of the use which may arise to natural science from 

 the coins of Greece and Rome, the mind will likely advert at the same 

 time to the probable importance in this respect of those coloured 

 paintings in the tombs of the ancient Pharaohs, which, after being 

 buried for ages in the sand have once more been brought to light ; 

 and by which we, who are still alive, are now enabled to mingle, as it 

 were, amid the daily occupations of those dusky beings, who, although 

 of the same nature with ourselves, have ceased for thousands of years 

 to exist on the earth. In reference to these, and in connection with 

 the purple colour of the ancients (Zool. 2506), will you allow me to 

 take notice, which I omitted to do in my communication on that sub- 

 ject, of a learned and interesting work by Mr. Osburn, entitled 

 ' Ancient Egypt; her Testimony to the Truth of the Bible.' (London : 

 Bagster, 1846) ? In his account of the various tribes of Canaan, Mr. 



* We are informed by Pliny (Hist. Nat. Lib. 8, cap. 2), that a century or two lie- 

 fore his time (he perished in an eruption of Vesuvius, a. d. 79), ivory was so abundant 

 in Africa, that in some places on the confines of .Ethiopia, the fields were fenced in 

 with elephants' tusks ; and that the inhabitants constructed their door-posts of those 

 materials,— in the same way as, in the present day, we sometimes see, in this part of 

 the countiy, the posts of a park-gate composed of the jaws, united at the top, of the 

 common Greenland whale {Balcena mysticetus). 



■ t A useful engraving, called a step-ladder (stufenleiter), for ascertaining the actual 

 and relative size of coins, will be found in vol. 2, part I, p. 598, of the ' Catalogue of 

 Coins belonging to Heir Von Wellenheim.' Vienna, 1844. 



