ABSTRACT
The simplest approach to natural history is the word-portrait of an animal in a form that has persisted from Biblical days to the present, sometimes recognizable even to details. Natural history as a science began with the Greeks—as what, indeed, did not? But it died almost as soon as it was born, and tor at least a millennium and a half men eagerly devoured in innumerable versions what were known as "bestiaries." The word 'beasts' should properly be used about lions, leopards, tigers, wolves, foxes, dogs, monkeys and others which rage about with tooth and claw—with the exception of snakes. A lion, proud in the strength of his own nature, knows not how to mingle his ferocity with all and sundry, but, like the king he is, disdains to have a lot of different wives.
