518 
Again, he inquires, in what way the life of amphibious creatures, as 
lutri (otters) and vituli marini (seals) was preserved, whose nature as- 
signed the water to hunt in, but required dry land for the purposes of 
sleep, nourishment, and rest. When discussing, as he does at some 
length, the question whence the waters of the Deluge came, and whither 
they returned, he incidentally makes mention of Ireland, and furnishes 
us with the earliest known record of the wild animals of the island :— 
“‘Nec contra naturam terre est, superpositos humores semper consumere ; 
presertim cum hee Deus in potestate etiam sanctis suis tribuit, quem- 
admodum Heliz et Heliszo dedit in nubecula. Maria quoque extra 
terminos antiquos crescere consuescunt, et terrarum spatia diminuunt 
atque prescindunt, sicut et senes nostro adhuc tempore viventes, vidisse 
se confirmant. Unde etiam insulas que ab initio conditi orbis, ut multi 
affirmant, non fuerant, processu temporis faciunt, dum propinqua pro- 
montoria marinis finibus a continenti terra dividunt. Per quod intel- 
ligit, quod ille ferse que insularum orbibus includuntur: non humana 
diligentia devectee, sed in illa divisione insularum a continenti terra re- 
perte esse probantur. Quis enim, verbi gratia, lupos, cervos, et sylvaticos 
porcos, et vulpes, taxones, et lepusculos, et sesquivolos in Hiberniam deve- 
heret? Vel qualiter tunc domesticam manum portantes ita effugerant, 
ut omnia genera hee per silvas nunc oberrare videantur?”’ Thus, 
wolves,* deer, wild boars, foxes, badgers, hares, and rabbits, or weasels, t 
are stated to have been the wild animals of Ireland in the middle of the 
seventh century. 
Our author further observes that the question of the eruption and 
retirement of the waters of the Deluge is continually suggested by the 
daily flowing and ebbing of the tide : —‘‘ Quemadmodum hance imunda- 
tionem unde venit, aut quo recedit nescimus; ita etiam recessum diltivii 
ignoramus. Hec namque quotidiana inundatio bis in die a tempore ad 
tempus, per horas viginti-quatuor semper peragitur, et per alternas heb- 
domadas Ledonis et Maline vicissitudo comitatur. Sed Ledo§ sex horas 
inundationis, et totidem recessus habet: Malina vero grandis per quin- 
que horas ebullit, et per septem horas littorum dorsa retegit. Quee tan- 
* Erasmus observes in his censwra: ‘quum hoc genus animantis nec in Hibernia 
dicitur inveniri, nec in Anglia.” To which is appended, in Ussher’s copy of the Paris 
edition, 1555, a MS. note by Baron Hilton :—‘' Falso, ut cetera tenet Erasmus, in Hy- 
bernia non esse lupos; experientia contrarium convincitur,” fol. 159 da¢ (Libr. Trin. Coll. 
Dubl. BB. dd. 2). 
T Sesquivoli is the word in the original, of whose occurrence this is the only known 
instance. Ducange gives the word, but refers to this passage for it, not venturing on 
further explanation than ‘‘animal quadrupes!” We find Squirolus denoting a ‘ squirrel;’ 
but it is doubtful whether the term is ancient, and whether squirrels were indigenous to 
Treland. 
t There is no mention of bears, although some remains of them have been found in 
Ireland. See Proceedings, vol. iv., pp. 416, 418; vol. vii., p. 192. 
§ Zedo denotes the neap-tide; mala, the spring-tide. These words are first found 
in Marcellus Empiricus, who flourished in the fourth century. See Ussher’s Brit. Ec, Ant., 
cap. 15 (Works, vol. vi., pp. 214-216). 
ee 
