[1848] This supposed noxious quality is entirely without foundation.—B.
[1849] This probably refers more particularly to the mode in which the bear descends from trees or poles, in the supine posture, not, as is the case in most other animals, with the head downwards.—B.
[1850] 18th September.
[1851] It appears, from the remarks of Cuvier, to be still doubtful whether the bear be really a native of Africa; see Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 457; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 466.—B.
[1852] It is supposed that the white mouse of Pontus, mentioned also by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17, is the ermine, or else the marten; but, as Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 457, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 467, the ermine does not hibernate.—B.
[1853] Cuvier, ubi supra, conceives that the Alpine mouse is the marmot; but he remarks, that it is inferior in size to the badger.—B.
[1854] Cuvier, ubi supra, conceives the Egyptian mouse to be the jerboa, the Mus jaculus of Linnæus; but it is much smaller than the marmot. Pliny, in B. x. c. 85, says, that the Egyptian mouse walks on two feet, as does the mouse of the Alps. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 37, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xv. c. 26, refer to the mouse of Egypt.—B. Probably the Mus cahirinus.
[1855] The faculty which these and other animals possess of foreseeing the weather and the future direction of the wind, is mentioned by Plutarch, and as existing especially in the hedgehog. It is also mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6; but it is not confined, as Pliny states, to its change in one direction only. It has been suggested by some commentators, that, by a slight alteration in the text, the statement may be extended to a change of the wind in either direction, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 468.—B.
[1856] The teasel, or carding thistle, is now used for this purpose; as also iron wires, crooked and sharpened at the point. Not a single quill, probably of the hedgehog, is now used in the manufacture of cloth.
[1857] Dalechamps suggests that these complaints were probably to the effect that thistles and thorns were employed instead of the quills of the hedgehog; that the skin of the hedgehog was brought to market in a bad state; and again, that the rich merchants were in the habit of buying them up, and forestalling the market. Hardouin quotes an edict of the Emperor Zeno against monopolies of hedgehogs and carding materials, if, indeed, that is the meaning of the word “pectinum.”