94 
we could hardly fail in recognising them, if they were 
described at all like those which have been enumerated as 
the produce of India or its islands. The others, being 
produced only in more southern tropical islands, were 
probably in those days but imperfectly, if at all known 
in India : or the supply might not, in addition to their 
own demands, be sufficient for export; or this might not 
be desirable, when they had so many indigenous products, 
suited to the wants of those who visited or traded with 
the Peninsula of India. 
The animals mentioned by Dioscorides not being 
exclusively confined to India, do not afford the same 
kind of argument that we have derived from plants ; 
especially as the want of precision in the identity of the species 
described, and those existing in India, as well as the 
extent of distribution of the latter have not yet been 
ascertained ; yet we may obtain some corroboration of the 
inferences deduced from plants. Thus, though the African 
Elephant may have yielded its spoils to form the ivory 
of the ancients, Peacocks could have been procured from 
India only. The Cantharides, described by Dioscorides, 
are species of Mylabris, and M. Cichorei is that now most 
commonly employed in India. The Scincus, stated to be 
a native of both Egypt and India, is considered to be 
Scincus officinalis ; a similar species is employed in medi- 
cine in the north of India in the present day. From the 
descriptions of E%i3v»i;, viperce, it may be inferred that some 
of those of southern latitudes were known to the ancients. 
The Asiatic kind, mentioned by Nicander and Galen, is 
supposed to be Coluber cegyptius (Spreng.) Castor, the 
joondbeduster of the Arabs, being called xaoTopo; by the 
Greeks, it is curious to find the name kustooree applied 
to the musk animal in the Himalayas, where this is 
abundant, and constantly hunted for its valuable musk- 
