[1858] These statements are from the treatise De Mirab. Ausc., but, as Cuvier remarks, are fabulous, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 470; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458.—B.
[1859] Λεοντοφονὸς, the “lion-killer.”
[1860] See c. [30] of this Book.
[1861] This fable is referred to by Ovid, Metam. B. xv. l. 414, and by Theophrastus in his Treatise on Stones.
[1862] See B. xxxvii. c. 11.
[1863] It is not unusual for animals to cover their excrements with earth, probably from the fact of their being annoyed by the unpleasant odour.—B.
[1864] This statement respecting the “meles,” or badger, as well as what is said of the prescience of the squirrel, is without foundation. There has been some difference of opinion respecting the identity of the animal, which Pliny calls “meles;” by some it has been supposed to be the polecat, or else the weasel.—B.
[1865] This bears reference to what is said of bears in c. 54, and of Alpine mice and hedgehogs.
[1866] This statement is contrary to the account given by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 15; he says, that while other serpents conceal themselves in holes in the earth, vipers conceal themselves under rocks.—B.
[1867] Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 473, that nothing is more striking, either to the vulgar or to the man of science, than the long abstinence from food which serpents are capable of enduring.—B.