A similar state of torpor exists also in snails. These animals again become dormant during the summer, adhering very powerfully to stones; and even, when turned up and pulled away from the stones, they will not leave their shells. In the Balearic isles, the snails which are known as the cave-snail,[1868] do not leave their holes in the ground, nor do they feed upon any green thing, but adhere to each other like so many grapes. There is another less common species also, which is closed by an operculum that adheres to the shell.[1869] These animals always burrow under the earth, and were formerly never found, except in the environs of the Maritime Alps: they have, however, of late been dug up in the territory of Liternum;[1870] the most valued, however, of all, are those of the island of Astypalæa.[1871] CHAP. 60.—LIZARDS.[1872] It is said, that the lizard, the greatest enemy of all to the snail, never prolongs its life beyond six months. The lizards of Arabia are a cubit in length,[1873] while those upon Nysa,[1874] a mountain of India, are twenty-four feet long, their colour being either yellow, purple, or azure blue. CHAP. 61. (40.)—THE QUALITIES OF THE DOG; EXAMPLES OF ITS ATTACHMENT TO ITS MASTER; NATIONS WHICH HAVE KEPT DOGS FOR THE PURPOSES OF WAR. Among the animals, also, that are domesticated with mankind, there are many circumstances that are far from undeserving of being known: among these, there are more particularly that most faithful friend of man, the dog, and the horse. We have an account of a dog that fought against a band of robbers, in defending its master; and although it was pierced with wounds, still it would not leave the body, from which it drove away all birds and beasts. Another dog, again, in Epirus, recognized the murderer of its master, in the midst of an assemblage of people, and, by biting and barking at him, extorted from him a confession of his crime. A king of the Garamantes also was brought back from exile by two hundred dogs, which maintained the combat against all his opponents. The people of Colophon[1875] and Castabala[1876] kept troops of dogs, for the purposes of war; and these used to fight in the front rank, and never retreat; they were the most faithful of auxiliaries, and yet required no pay. After the defeat of the Cimbri, their dogs defended their moveable houses, which were carried upon waggons. Jason, the Lycian, having been slain, his dog refused to take food, and died of famine. A dog, to which Darius gives the name of Hyrcanus, upon the funeral pile of King Lysimachus being lighted, threw itself into the flames,[1877] and the dog of King Hiero did the same. Philistus also gives a similar account of Pyrrhus, the dog of the tyrant Gelon: and it is said, also, that the dog of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, tore Consingis,[1878] the wife of that king, in consequence of her wanton behaviour, when toying with her husband.