346 
plot's ^^atfeal histoet. 
[Book VIII. 
cclour of copper, tlie others are black. ]^o species whatever 
of the swine is found in Arabia. 
CHAP. 79. (53.) ANIMALS m A HALF-WILD STATE. 
In no species is the union with the wild animal so easy as 
in that of the swine ; the produce of such unions was called 
by the ancients hybrid/^ or half savage ; which appellation 
has also been transferred to the human race, as it was to C. 
Antonius, the colleague of Cicero in his consulship. 'Not 
only, however, with respect to the hog, but all other animals 
as well, wherever there is a tame species, there is a correspond- 
ing wild one as well ; a fact which is equally true with refer- 
ence to man himself, as is proved by the many races of wild 
men of which we have already spoken.^''' There is no kind of 
animal, however, that is divided into a greater number of va- 
rieties than the goat. There are the caprsea,^^ the rupicapra 
or rock-goat, and the ibex, an animal of wonderful swiftness, 
although its head is loaded with immense horns, which bear a 
strong resemblance to the sheath of a sword. Ey means of 
these horns the animal balances itself, when it darts along 
the rocks, as though it had been hurled from a sling more 
especially when it wishes to leap from one eminence to ano- 
ther. There are the oryges also,^^ which are said to be the 
16 There has been some difference of opinion respecting: the derivation 
of this word, but it is generally used to express a " mongrel," i. e. an ani- 
mal whose parents are of different natures, or, when applied to the human 
species, of different countries. — B. 
" See B. vii. c. 2. 
1^ It is not easy to determine what animals Pliny intendecl to designate. 
Cuvier employs the terms " chevreuils, chamois, and bouquetins," as the 
corresponding words in the French. In English we have no names to 
express these varieties ; we may, however, regard them generally, as dif- 
ferent species of wild goats. Cuvier conceives that the Linna^an names of 
the animals mentioned were, probably, Cervus capreolus, Antelope rupicapra, 
and Capra ibex. — B. 
19 The resemblance may be supposed to consist in the horns being hol- 
low, and tapering to a point. — B. 
20 There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the correct reading, 
or the exact meaning which the writer intended to convey by the words 
employed. — B. 
~i There is some difficulty in determining the nature of the variety 
which Pliny terms " oryges Hardouin has collected the opinions of natu- 
ralists, and we have some remarks by Cuvier ; he refers to Buffon's 
account of the Antelope oryx, as agreeing, in the essential points, with the 
description given by Pliny; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 554. See B. xi. c. 106. 
