I might be excused from mentioning their dogs, which abound in the streets without any owner, were it not that I think it worth observing, that though they live upon the most putrid substances, have but little water, and in so excessive hot a climate as this is in the summer, yet no instance has been known of any of them running mad. Their wolves however seem to be subject to madness; for the rusticks talk much of an animal called a _sheeb_, which they imagine to be generated between a wolf and a dog; but, from their description of it, _viz._ that it is so like a wolf as not to be distinguished from it; that it attacks every person or animal that comes in its way, all of whom die raving mad, _&c._ I think it would appear that this animal is no other than a mad wolf. Their greyhounds are of a very light, slender make, and remarkably fleet. Their ears are longer than ours in _Britain_, and, as well as their tail, covered with a long, soft hair, which adds very much to their beauty. Though _Mount Taurus_, near to _Maraash_, gives shelter to the ounce, and some few tygers are found in most of the high mountains, the lion on the _Euphrates_ between _Bagdad_ and _Bussorah_, and the jerboa on the desart, and perhaps on examination many other animals in the same places; yet my present purpose only comprehending the parts adjacent to _Aleppo_, what I have already said on this subject may perhaps be thought sufficient. As to reptiles, insects, _&c._ time would not permit me to be minute; so that I shall just mention such as are hurtful or of use to the inhabitants, and a few of those that are most commonly met with. Of the first sort are the serpents of various kinds, with which the country abounds, many of them of the most venomous nature; but as they all fly from man, and the barrenness of the fields in summer, the only season in which they are abroad, prevents either their being surprised, or people’s treading upon them undesignedly, no great number of accidents happen. In the houses there are often found large white snakes; but I never knew any one bit by them. The scolopendra and scorpion however very often sting the natives in their houses, causing pain for several hours, but attended with no farther bad consequences. Of the noxious kind may well be reckoned the locust, which sometimes arrive in such incredible multitudes, that it would appear fabulous to relate, destroying the whole of the verdure where-ever they pass: but though there are always in the spring and summer some of two or three different species to be met with about _Aleppo_, yet none of these destructive flights of them appeared during my stay there. It may not be amiss to mention that the _Arabs_ eat this insect when fresh, and also salt them up as a delicacy.