Instances of this widespread belief—found among the Tamils of Ceylon as well as in Europe—are quoted from various authors by Bloch, Beiträge zur Ætiologie der Psychopathia Sexualis, Teil II, p. 278, and Moll, Untersuchungen über die Libido Sexualis, bd. i, p. 700. On the frequency of bestiality, from one cause or another, in the East, see, e.g., Stern, Medizin und Geschlechtsleben in der Türkei, bd. ii, p. 219.
Sometimes (as among the Aleuts) the animal pantomime dances of savages may represent the transformation of a captive bird into a lovely woman who falls exhausted into the arms of the hunter. (H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific, vol. i, p. 93.) A system of beliefs which accepts the possibility that a human being may be latent in an animal obviously favors the practice of bestiality.
For an example of the primitive confusion between the intercourse of women with animals and with men see, e.g., Boas, "Sagen aus British-Columbia," Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, heft V, p. 558.
Herodotus, Book II, Chapter 46.