the Elder Pliny

The salamander, an animal like a lizard in shape, and with a body starred all over, never comes out except during heavy showers, and disappears the moment it becomes fine. This animal is so intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way as ice does. It spits forth a milky matter from its mouth; and from whatever part of the human body is touched with this, all the hair falls off, and the part assumes the appearance of leprosy.

GIGANTIC SALAMANDER—Sieboldia Maxima.

Man excels most in his sense of touch, and next in that sense of taste. In other respects, he is surpassed by many of the animals. Eagles can see more clearly than any other animals, while vultures have the better smell; moles hear more distinctly than others, although buried in the earth, so dense and sluggish an element as it is; and though every sound has a tendency upwards, they can hear the words that are spoken; and, it is said, that if you talk about them, they will take to flight immediately. Among men, a person who has not enjoyed the sense of hearing in his infancy, is deprived of the powers of speech as well. Among the marine animals, it is not probable that oysters enjoy the sense of hearing, but it is said that the instant a noise is made the solen will sink to the bottom; for this reason silence is observed by persons while fishing at sea.

Fish have neither organs of hearing, nor the exterior orifice. And yet, it is quite certain that they do hear; for it is a well-known fact, that in some fish-ponds they are in the habit of being assembled to be fed by the clapping of the hands. In the fish-ponds, too, that belong to the Emperor, the fish are in the habit of coming, each kind as it hears its name. So the mullet, the wolf-fish, the salpa, and the chromis, have a very exquisite sense of hearing, and for this reason they frequent shallow water.

It is quite manifest that fish have also the sense of smell; for they are not all to be taken with the same bait, and are seen to smell at it before they seize it. Some, too, that are concealed in the bottom of holes, are driven out by the fisherman, by the aid of the smell of salted fish; with this he rubs the entrance of their retreat in the rock, immediately upon which they take to flight from the spot, as though they had recognized the dead carcasses of those of their kind. Then they will rise to the surface at the smell of certain odors, such, for instance, as roasted sÆpia and polypus; these baits are placed in the osier kipes used for taking fish. They immediately take to flight upon smelling the bilge water in a ship’s hold, and especially upon scenting the blood of fish.

The polypus cannot possibly be torn away from the rock to which it clings; but, apply the herb cunila, and the instant it smells it the fish quits its hold. Purples also are taken by means of fetid substances. As to the other kinds of animals, who is there that can feel any doubt that they possess the sense of smell? Serpents are driven away by the smell of harts’ horns, and ants are killed by the odors of origanum, lime, or sulphur. Gnats are attracted by acids, but not by anything sweet.

All animals have the sense of touch, even those which have no other sense; in the oyster and the worm, this sense is found.

I am strongly inclined to believe, too, that the sense of taste exists in all animals; for why else should one seek one kind of food, and another another? In this is to be seen the wondrous power of Nature, the framer of all things. Some animals seize their prey with their teeth, others with their claws; some tear it to pieces with their hooked beak; others, that have a broad bill, wabble in their food; others, with a sharp nib, work holes into it; others suck at their food, lick it, sup it in, chew it, or bolt it whole. And no less a diversity is there in the uses they make of their feet, for the purpose of carrying, tearing asunder, holding, squeezing, suspending their bodies, or incessantly scratching the ground.

Serpents will feed on eggs, and the address displayed by the dragon is quite remarkable. For it will either swallow the egg whole, if its jaws will allow of it, and roll over and over so as to break it within, and then by coughing eject the shells: or else, if it is too young to be able to do so, it will gradually encircle the egg with its coils, and hold it so tight as to break it at the end, just, in fact, as though a piece had been cut out with a knife; then holding the remaining part in its folds, it will suck the contents.

Scorpions live on earth. Serpents, when an opportunity presents itself, show an especial liking for wine, although in other respects they need but very little drink. These animals, when kept shut up, require but little aliment, hardly any at all, in fact. The same is the case also with spiders, which at other times live by suction. No venomous animal will die of hunger or thirst. The sphingium and the satyr stow away food in the pouches of their cheeks, after which they will take it out piece by piece with their hands and eat it; thus they do for a day or an hour what the ant usually does for the whole year.