The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-01-24
ANcIENTs AND ANIMALS.
Fantastic Natural History of tho
 Greeks and Romans.

Greeks and Romans.
 The knowledge of animals and their habits which existed among the an- cient Greeks and Romans was most fantastic.
 Among other snakes described in the ancient natural histories, for example, was the basilisk, which Pliny called the king of serpentsN According to the description, it was six feet long, wore a white crest on its head and had aa skin spotted with white. Such was the abundance of its venom, according to these reports, that it made the body shine all over. The air was poisoned where this vile reptile passed, and great plants were envenomed with it's subtle and luminous fluid, while the birds In turn fell before the odor ex- haled by the trees But this monster was an easy prey to the weasel. The dragon was the largest of serpents and inhabited especially Ethiopia and Egypt. When he flew out of his cav ern he furrowed the air with such vio- lence that 1t gleamed with fire. His mouth was small, and it was not the wounds which it inflicted which made him so formidable but the strangling power of his tail, which was capable of destroying even elephants.
 It is interesting to notice that the mythical dragon was already evolving toward the boa constructor The real siren lived in Arabia and was a sort of white serpent which ran so marvel ously that most men say it flew"
 Most of the facts which are record ed concerning birds are more accur- ate, for the sport of falconry only made men observers of their habits. Still there are few strange myths concerning the eagle. He was said to seize his young in his talons and [ make them fix their eyes on the burn ing rays of the sun. Those alone that could gaze without flinching were kept and nourished as worthy of life This is not cruelty says the simple writer, but Judgement" The eagle and the power of renewing youth. Mounting higher and higher till his plumes were burned by the sun, he fell into a fountain, where he bathed three times and was thoroughly rejuvenated
 The habits of the ostrich, an old book said, were regulated by a star named Virgil When the star began to rise the astute bird laid it's eggs, cov- cred them with sand and left their matching to the sun. Another remark able thing was the influence which the chanticleer exercised over the king of beasts His shrill crow put him in full fiight-even Pliny says so-but to do this his plumage had to be pure white.
 It would not be doing justice to the middle ages if the account of the uni- corn was withheld. It was the size of a horse, though it's legs were shorter, and it's hide had generally tanned color. There were three kinds. The magnificent white unicorn had a pur- pie head and blue eyes. The horn was a cubit in length, white in the lower part, ebony in the middle and red at the end. It had the head of a stag and the tail of a boar The egilisserion was like a gigantic deer and had a very sharp horn. The monoceros was like an OK The ordinary unicorn of the middle ages had a horn three feet in length and so sharp and hard that nothing could resist it, When he pre- pared to fight the elephant, the anil nal he hated most of all, he sharpen ed is horn against a stone and when the day of battle came dealt the ene- my a fatal blow in the patch, This noble animal fell an easy prey to the Vaccinations of innocence and virtue In India, especially among the dwell- CTS of the Ganges, when it was desir- ed to tame unicorn a young and vir- tuous girl was chosen and led to his cave. The animal at once appeared and did homage to the damsel and was easily caught and tanned by the engaging wiles of the maiden.