[Footnote 2:  Machlis (said to be derived from a, priv., and [Greek:  klino], cubo, quod non cubat).  “Moreover in the island of Scandinavia there is a beast called Machlis, that hath neither ioynt in the hough, nor pasternes in his hind legs, and therefore he never lieth down, but sleepeth leaning to a tree, wherefore the hunters that lie in wait for these beasts cut downe the trees while they are asleepe, and so take them; otherwise they should never be taken, they are so swift of foot that it is wonderful.”—­PLINY, Natur.  Hist. Transl.  Philemon Holland, book viii. ch. xv. p. 200.]

[Footnote 3:  “Sunt item quae appellantur Alces.  Harum est consimilis capreis figura, et varietas pellium; sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt, mutilaeque sunt cornibus, et crura sine nodis articulisque habent; neque quietis causa procumbunt; neque, si quo afflictae casu considerunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt.  His sunt arbores pro cubilibus; ad eas sese applicant, atque ita, paulum modo reclinatae, quietem capiunt, quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus, quo se recipere consueverint, omnes eo loco, aut a radicibus subruunt aut accidunt arbores tantum, ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur.  Huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverint, infirmas arbores pondere affligunt, atque una ipsae concidunt.”—­CAESAR, De Bello Gall. lib. vi. ch. xxvii.

The same fiction was extended by the early Arabian travellers to the rhinoceros, and in the MS. of the voyages of the “Two Mahometans” it is stated that the rhinoceros of Sumatra “n’a point d’articulation au genou ni a la main.”—­Relations des Voyages, &c., Paris, 1845, vol. i. p. 29.]

[Footnote 4:  When an animal moves progressively an hypothenuse is produced, which is equal in power to the magnitude that is quiescent, and to that which is intermediate.  But since the members are equal, it is necessary that the member which is quiescent should be inflected either in the knee or in the incurvation, if the animal that walks is without knees.  It is possible, however, for the leg to be moved, when not inflected, in the same manner as infants creep; and there is an ancient report of this kind about elephants, which is not true, for such animals as these, are moved in consequence of an inflection taking place either in their shoulders or hips.”—­ARISTOTLE, De Ingressu Anim., ch. ix.  Taylor’s Transl.]

[Footnote 5:  ARISTOTLE, De Animal., lib. ii. ch. i.  It is curious that Taylor, in his translation of this passage, was so strongly imbued with the “grey-headed errour,” that in order to elucidate the somewhat obscure meaning of Aristotle, he has actually interpolated the text with the exploded fallacy of Ctesias, and after the word reclining to sleep, has inserted the words “leaning against some wall or tree,” which are not to be found in the original.]