Mrs. Loudon's Entertaining Naturalist / Being popular descriptions, tales, and anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals.

The Arimaspians were Asiatic wizards, who, by magic, used to obtain a knowledge of the places where treasures lay hidden. Their incessant wranglings with the Gryphons about gold-mines are mentioned by Herodotus and Pliny. Lucan says that they inhabited Scythia, and adorned their hair with gold; that they had but one eye in the middle of the forehead, and lived on the banks of the gold-sanded river Arimaspes.

Virgil, in his eighth Pastoral, mentions this animal as if really existing, but does not give us any description of it; and Claudian, in his Epistle to Serena, alludes to the supposed fact of their keeping watch over masses of gold in the bosom of northern mountains.

THE PHŒNIX.

THE MERMAID, OR SIREN.

The existence of this animal, half a woman and half a fish, has long been talked of, believed, disbelieved, and doubted. Homer is the first who speaks of such beings, which he styles Sirens; but we do not find that he gives any description of their shape; however, it was soon asserted that the Sirens were, as Horace, in his “Art of Poetry,” describes them:

The Sirens were three sisters, whose voice was so delightfully harmonious and enticing, that no resistance could be made against its powerful charms; but “ ’twas death to hear,” for they led the navigators and their ships to certain destruction among the rocks that bordered the dangerous coasts which they inhabited, near the shores of Italy.

The belief in the existence of Mermaids has been current at different periods; indeed, some years ago, several persons made depositions before a magistrate, that they had seen Mermaids come out of the sea and play on the rocks, but that they sprang into their element before they were able to secure them.

A creature, said to be a dried Mermaid, was exhibited in London about the year 1828; but it was afterwards discovered to be the body of a monkey artfully attached to the dried tail of a salmon.

THE KRAKEN.

This creature is another fabulous inhabitant of the sea. It is said to be three or four miles in breadth, and to live generally at the bottom of the sea, on the Norway coast. When it moves the commotion of the sea is so violent that it upsets boats and even small ships; and when it comes to the surface, it is generally mistaken for an island.

This is the Dolphin of heraldry, and as fabulous an animal as any here mentioned, as may be seen by comparing it with the figure of the real Dolphin, given with the description in a former part of this work. This fish was said to curl up his back to carry his favourites over the seas without wetting them; and to assume the most brilliant colours in dying, changing from a bright blue to as bright a yellow, and then to red and green, &c. &c.

This is another offspring of the lively and fruitful fancy of man. It is represented as a compound of the horse and stag, the head and body belong to the former, and the hoofs to the latter, while the horn, the tufts, and the tail are anomalies. This animal holds a high rank in heraldry, and is one of the supporters of the royal arms of England.

The Unicorn is often mentioned in the Scriptures, and by many commentators is supposed to be the rhinoceros. From the book of Job we learn that it was not only an animal of considerable strength, but also of a very fierce and intractable disposition—“Will the Unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the Unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys for thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?” Ch. xxxix. ver. 9—11. In the book of Psalms, xcii. ver. 10. “My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a Unicorn.”

THE PEGASUS.

Another liberty has been taken with the horse. Mythology has added wings to its elegant figure, and called it Pegasus. This animal, it is said, sprang from the blood of Medusa, when Perseus had cut off her head; and immediately afterwards flew upwards towards heaven, but stopped short, and alighted on Mount Helicon, where he struck the ground with his foot, and instantly the fountain Hippocrene burst from the ground. During his residence on Mount Helicon, Pegasus became a great favourite with the Muses, who resided occasionally on that lofty mountain; and still, when any one attempts extravagant flights of poetry, he is said to have mounted on his Pegasus, as it was difficult to approach the Muses when raised so high. On the contrary, the Castalian fountain on Mount Parnassus was more accessible, and inspired poetry of a gentler nature. But to return to Pegasus; he was at length tamed by Neptune, or Minerva, and lent by the latter to Bellerophon, to enable him to conquer the horrid monster called the Chimera, which was always shifting its place, and vomiting forth flames and smoke. After the victory was achieved, Bellerophon attempted to fly up to heaven; but Pegasus threw his rider, and flying up to heaven without him, was changed into the constellation of stars which still bears his name. Pegasus is sometimes confounded with the Hippogriph, or Ippogrifo of Ariosto, which is often seen in coats of arms.

THE CENTAUR.

THE SATYR.

Although the Satyr of the ancient poets can hardly be termed an animal, as the human form predominates, he may be introduced here as our final example of fabulous creatures. Satyrs and Fauns are represented as men with goats’ legs and horns, and were supposed to be the attendants of Bacchus, with whose worship they are generally connected. The idea of such beings was probably derived from some of the larger species of apes. They are described as inhabiting woods and forests, of which they were regarded as the protecting deities. Probably they were partly personifications, intended to express the debasing influence of animal propensities and sensual indulgence: and as nothing tends more than intoxication to reduce man to a level with the brutes, since it deprives reason of all control over the passions, the form of the Satyr may have been ingeniously intended as a visible representation of the degraded state of those who surrender up the noblest prerogative of man. Whether such was really or not the idea of those who first feigned the existence of such creatures, we may very rationally adopt this explanation, and thereby deduce an important moral lesson from what is in itself an extravagant fiction.

INDEX.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z