278 
pliny's natural history. 
[Book ^^111. 
was first exhibited ; an animal called rufius by tbe Gauls ; 
having the figure of a wolf, with the spots of the pard. There 
were also exhibited some animals from Ethiopia, which they 
called by the Greek name, ^tSto/,^^ the hinder extremities of 
which resembled the human feet aud legs, while the fore-feet 
were like hands. These animals have not been seen at Eome 
since that time. 
CHAP- 29. (20.) THE RHII^OCEROS. 
At the same games the rhinoceros was also exhibited, an 
animal which has a single horn projecting from the nose it has 
been frequently seen since then. This too is another natural- 
born enemy of the elephant.^* It prepares itself for the com- 
bat by sharpening its horn against the rocks ; and in fighting 
directs it chiefly against the belly of its adversary, which it 
knows to be the softest part. The two animals are of equal 
length, but the legs of the rhinoceros are much the shorter : 
its skin is the colour of box- wood. 
CHAP. 30. (21.) — THE LYNX, THE SPHINX, THE CROCOTTA, AND 
THE MONKEY. 
^Ethiopia produces the lynx^^ in abundance, and the sphinx, 
animal known to exist in that country. — B. It is generally supposed to 
have been a species of lynx. 
*2 No doubt this description refers to some species of the monkey tribe, 
but it is uncertain to what one in particular. Its having been seen only 
once at Eome, shows that it was not of the most common kind ; Cuvier, 
liowever, thinks it probable, that Pliny may have been incorrect in this ; 
he supposes that it was the " Simia sphinx" of Linnseus, Lem. vol. iii. p. 395. 
According to Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 8, icrf^og is merely a monkey 
with a tail ; see also the account of ^lian, Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c. 8. — B. 
Cuvier says, that this was the single-horned rhinoceros of India. 
The commentators have been at a loss to reconcile this description with 
the Epigram of Martial, Spect. Ep. xxii., where he speaks of the rhino- 
ceros exhibited by Domitian, as having two horns. It has been proved 
that this latter was of the two-horned species, by the medals of that em- 
peror, now in existence. Martial, Spect. Ep. ix., seems also to have been 
acquainted with the single-horned species. That with two horns is men- 
tioned by Pausanias as the Ethiopian bull. We learn from modern natu- 
ralists, that the two-horned species is a native of the southern parts of 
Africa, while that with one horn is from Asia. — B. 
The other enemy is the dragon, as described in c. 11 and 12 of the 
present Book. — B. 
*5 According to Cuvier, the lynx of Pliny is the Felis caracal of Lin- 
