CHAP. 45.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF HORNS. ANIMALS IN WHICH
THEY ARE MOVEABLE.
Horns, too, of various forms have been granted to many
animals of the aquatic, marine, and reptile kind, but those
which are more properly understood under that name belong
to the quadrupeds only; for I look upon the tales of Actæon
and of Cippus even, in Latin story, as nothing more nor less than
fables.
1 And, indeed, in no department of her works has
Nature displayed a greater capriciousness. In providing animals with these weapons, she has made merry at their expense; for some she has spread them out in branches, the
stag, for instance; to others she has given them in a more
simple form, as in the " subulo," so called from the resemblance of its horns to a " subula,"
2 or shoemaker's awl. In
others, again, she has flattened them in the shape of a man's
hand, with the fingers extended, from which circumstance the
animal has received the name of " platyceros.
3 To the roebuck she has given branching horns, but small, and has made
them so as not to fall off and be cast each year; while to the
ram she has given them of a contorted and spiral form, as
though she were providing it with a cæstus for offence. The
horns of the bull, again, are upright and threatening. In this
last kind, the females, too, are provided with them, while in
most it is only the males. The chamois has them, curving
backwards; while in the fallow deer
4 they bend forward.
The strepsiceros,
5 which in Africa bears the name of addax, has
horns erect and spiral, grooved and tapering to a sharp point,
so much so, that you would almost take them to be the sides
of a lyre.
6 In the oxen of Phrygia, the horns are moveable,
7
like the ears; and among the cattle of the Troglodytæ, they
are pointed downwards to the ground, for which reason it is
that they are obliged to feed with the head on one side.
Other animals, again, have a single horn, and that situate in
the middle of the head, or else on the nose, as already
stated.
8
Then, again, in some animals the horns are adapted for
butting, and in others for goring; with some they are curved
inwards, with others outwards, and with others, again, they
are fitted for tossing: all which objects are effected in various ways, the horns either lying backwards, turning from, or
else towards each other, and in all cases running to a sharp
point. In one kind, also, the horns are used for the purpose
of scratching the body, instead of hands.
In snails the horns are fleshy, and are thus adapted for the
purpose of feeling the way, which is also the case with the ce-
rastes;
9 some reptiles, again, have only one horn, though the
snail has always two, suited for protruding and withdrawing.
The barbarous nations of the north drink from the horns of the
urus,
10 a pair of which will hold a couple of urnæ:
11 other
tribes, again, point their spears with them. With us they are
cut into laminæ, upon which they become transparent; indeed,
the rays of a light placed within them may be seen to a much
greater distance than without. They are used also for various
appliances of luxury, either coloured or varnished, or else
for those kinds of paintings which are known as " cestrota,"
12
or horn-pictures. The horns of all animals are hollow within,
it being only at the tip that they are solid: the only exception is the stag, the horn of which is solid throughout, and
is cast every year. When the hoofs of oxen are worn to the
quick, the husbandmen have a method of curing them, by
anointing the horns of the animal with grease. The substance
of the horns is so ductile, that even while upon the body of
the living animal, they can be bent by being steeped in boiling wax, and if they are split down when they are first shooting, they may be twisted different ways, and so appear to be
four in number upon one head. In females the horns are generally thinner than in the males, as is the case, also, with most
kinds of wool-bearing animals.
No individuals, however, among sheep, or hinds, nor yet
any that have the feet divided into toes, or that have solid
hoofs, are furnished with horns; with the sole exception of
the Indian ass,
13 which is armed with a single horn. To the
beasts that are cloven-footed Nature has granted two horns,
but to those that have fore-teeth in the upper jaw, she has
given none. Those persons who entertain the notion that the
substance of these teeth is expended in the formation of the
horns, are easily to be refuted, if we only consider the case of
the hind, which has no more teeth than the male, and yet
is without horns altogether. In the stag the horn is only
imbedded in the skin, but in the other
14 animals it adheres to
the bone.