The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 2 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 2 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
It is a remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned different
countries to different animals, but that even in the same country,
it has denied certain species to peculiar localities.[2119] In Italy
the dormouse is found in one part only, the Messian forest.[2120]
In Lycia the gazelle never passes beyond the mountains which border
upon Syria;[2121] nor does the wild ass in that vicinity pass over
those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. On the banks of the
Hellespont, the stags never pass into a strange territory, and about
Arginussa[2122] they never go beyond Mount Elaphus; those upon that
mountain, too, have cloven ears. In the island of Poroselene,[2123]
the weasels will not so much as cross a certain road. In Bœotia, the
moles, which were introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very soil of
that country, while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the very same
animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for beds made
of the skins of these creatures, so that our sense of religion does
not prevent us from employing these ominous animals for the purposes
of luxury. When hares have been brought to Ithaca, they die as soon
as ever they touch the shore, and the same is the case with rabbits,
on the shores of the island of Ebusus;[2124] while they abound in the
vicinity, Spain namely, and the Balearic isles. In Cyrene, the frogs
were formerly dumb, and this species still exists, although croaking
ones were carried over there from the continent. At the present day,
even, the frogs in the island of Seriphos are dumb; but when they are
carried to other places, they croak; the same thing is also said to
have taken place at Sicandrus, a lake of Thessaly.[2125] In Italy, the
bite of the shrew-mouse[2126] is venomous; an animal which is not to
be found in any region beyond the Apennines. In whatever country it
exists, it always dies immediately if it goes across the rut made by
a wheel. Upon Olympus, a mountain of Macedonia, there are no wolves,
nor yet in the isle of Crete.[2127] In this island there are neither
foxes, nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of baneful animal,[2128] with
the exception of the phalangium, a species of spider, of which I
shall speak in its appropriate place.[2129] It is a thing still more
remarkable, that in this island there are no stags, except in the
district of Cydon;[2130] the same is the case with the wild boar, the
woodcock,[2131] and the hedgehog. In Africa, there are neither wild
boars, stags, deer, nor bears.
CHAP. 84. (59.)—ANIMALS WHICH INJURE STRANGERS ONLY, AS ALSO ANIMALS
WHICH INJURE THE NATIVES OF THE COUNTRY ONLY, AND WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.
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