A valuable study of classical natural history in Roman and Greek times - sections on dogs, cats, pygmies, elephants, horses, gardens, hunting, Virgil as an Ornithologist, roses, wolves, fish lore, mythical animals etc.

"These chapters, on a few of the curiosities connected with the natural history of the ancients, are in some respects a faithful reflection of that knowledge. They are fragmentary, and greatly indebted to the labours of previous workers. But they have not been put together without much trouble and not a little honest, diligent research; my object being to collect some of the more inreseting facts bearing upon ten or a dozen different subjects, rather than to write a complete natural history of the ancients. I have generally traced these curious beliefs through their medieval modifications; partly that the reader might be led to contrast them with the exacter knowledge of the present day, partly in order to shew their growth from, in some cases, pre-historic and geological times." - Watkins

258 pp.

Language: English