Curious Creatures in Zoology. With 130 Illustrations. By John Ashton.
(Nimmo.)—Mr. Ashton has earned some reputation as a compiler, and in this beautifully got-up volume has achieved an interesting piece of work. Fabulous animals abound in literature and have figured in history, and in these pages they are brought together from all quarters to form a show for the amusement of the reader. Here, by the help of such writers as Pliny, Claus Magnus, Aldrovandus, Topsell, and Sir John Mandeville, we may read of mythical monsters that lived through long ages of ignorance; of "the Anthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow. beneath their shoulders ;" of Gryphons, Harpies, and Sirens ; of Satyrs, Mantichoras, and Lamle; of Gorgons and Werewolves, and of the Barnacle Goose, which from the eleventh to the seventeenth century was said by naturalists to be generated on trees, and dropped alive into the water. In these pages there are portraits of the Moon-Woman, who lays eggs and hatches giants ; of the Elephant-headed Man; of a fearful-looking beast, called the Su, that has never been taken alive; and of the real Merman, who assuredly would never allure any woman to his sea-cave. Mermen and mermaids seem to have lived on to comparatively modern times, for Peter the Great was promised one that had been. captured, and there is an authentic case, belonging to an earlier period, of a mermaid who was not only caught but civilised, and after living for many years, died in the Roman Catholic faith. Of well-known birds, beasts, and reptiles wonderful stories are related by the old naturalists which the compiler has collected for our amusement, and it is interesting to remember that many of
, the strangest of these tales were treated as facts for many ' centuries by the most accomplished naturalists. By the help of ample quotations, and the reproduction of curious engravings, Mr. Ashton has produced an entertaining volume.
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