The debunking of many of Plutarch’s stories, if such a task is necessary, has been pleasantly done in the leisurely course of Bergen Evans’ The Natural History of Nonsense (New York, 1946). It should be added, however, that modern scientific speculation is approaching somewhat closer to one of Plutarch’s main tenets, if one may judge from such a work as W. C. Allee’s Coöperation Among Animals (New York, 1951: a revision of his earlier The Social Life of Animals); and on the thesis of animal intelligence see Evans himself, p. 173, and the authorities cited there, note 1.
Both the translation and the notes of this and the following essays have benefited immeasurably from an exhaustive criticism generously given them by Professor Alfred C. Andrews of the University of Miami, Florida. He has in fact supplied a number of valuable notes and also the Appendix, a classified zoological index. It must be understood, however, that any errors remaining are to be attributed solely to the editor.Since our text was formed and our translation and notes composed a year or more before the appearance of the new Teubner edition, almost no new references have been added which are not purely textual. The curious reader is referred to Hubert’s wealth of illustration to supplement our contributions.
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