29G 



AN AN^ALYSIS OF THE 



a rhinoceros. The animals are jilaced in most amusing attitudes. The elephant 

 with tusks pointing upward as in the above figure of the walrus, advances with 

 lowering head, using his proboscis as a weapon of otFense. 



The description and figure of the opossum* (as we interpret it) given by the 



Fio;. 22. 



Didelphian JMammal from Incaii.in design. 



same writer, is worth mentioning in this connection. The absurdity of the elaborate 

 figure of Gesner, from whom Pare quotes, is only equaled by the fidelity to the 

 idea preserved in the rude and unembellished outline (Fig. 22), of the opposum-like 

 animal drawn by a native artist. One of the most curious of all mal-constructions 

 is found in Aldrovandus.f It is the figure of a saw-fish, given as a cetacean, with 

 the saw in the position of a horn projecting forward from the middle of the head 

 (Fig. 23). It is an easy task to explain these absurdities. They are all dependent 



Fig. 23. ■ 



Figure of Saw-Fish, after Aldrovaiidus. 



upon attempts either to i-econstruct an entire figure from a fragment, — oi- in endow- 



* ICingsborougli Coll., IV, (Dupaix), (Incarian box-lid.) 

 •|- Aldrovandns, Pisces, p. 095. 



