he crocodile--likewise a
sacred animal to the Egyptians--frequented both the Nile and the Indus.
Monitors, which are a sort of diminutive crocodiles, were of two kinds:
one, the _Lacerta Nilotica_, was a water animal, and was probably found
only in Egypt; the other, _Lacerta scincus_, frequented dry and sandy
spots, and abounded in North Africa and Syria, as well as in the Nile
valley. The two-humped camel belonged to Bactria, where he was probably
indigenous, but was widely spread over the Empire, on account of his
great strength and powers of endurance.

The Angora goat is, perhaps, scarcely a distinct species. If not
identical with the ordinary wild goat of Persia and Mesopotamia (_Capra
cegagrus_), he is at any rate closely allied to it; and it is possible
that all his peculiar characteristics may be the effect of climate. He
has a soft, white, silky fleece, very long, divided down the back by
a strong line of separation, and falling on either side in beautiful
spiral ringlets; his fleece weighs from two to four pounds. It is
of nearly uniform, length, and averages from five to five and a half
inches.

The elk is said to inhabit Armenia, Affghanistan, and the lower part of
the valley of the Indus; but it is perhaps not certain that he is really
to be found in the two latter regions. Monkeys abound in Eastern Oabul
and the adjoining parts of India. They may have also existed formerly
in Upper Egypt. The spotted hyena, _Felis chaus_ (_Canis crocuta_ of
Linnaeus), is an Egyptian animal, inhabiting principally the hills on
the western side of the Nile. In appearance it is like a large cat,
with a tuft of long black hair at the extremities of its ears--a feature
which it has in common with the lynx.

Among the rarer birds of the Empire may be mentioned the ostrich, which
occurred in Mesopotamia; parrots, which were found in Cabul and the
Punjab; ibises, which abounded in Egypt, and in the Delta of the Indus,
the great vulture (Vultur cinereus), which inhabited the Taurus, the
Indian owl (_Athena Indica_), the spoonbill (_Platalea nudifrons_); the
benno (_Ardea bubulcus_), and the sicsac (_Charadrius melanocephalus_).

The most valuable of the fish belonging to the Persian seas and rivers
were the pearl oyster of the Gulf, and the murex of the Mediterranean,
which furnished the famous purple dye of Tyre. After these may be placed
the sturgeon and sterlet of the Caspian, the silurus of the Sea of Aral,
the Aleppo eel,