The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History

In the finest tradition of the bestiaries of old, Bondeson (A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities) presents tales of amazing animals. Some were very real, like Marocco the Dancing Horse, renowned throughout Europe at the beginning of the 16th century; the Learned Pig, a supposed porcine genius with a similar following 50 years later; and Chunee, an irascible elephant executed in London in 1826 after a stage and menagerie career. Others, like numerous mermaids, the basilisk (a reptilian-like creature reputedly so powerful that ""all living creatures that met its gaze expired instantaneously""), lambs made of vegetables and geese growing on trees, were a good deal more fanciful or fully fabricated, even though they each had a wide following for centuries. Bondeson also discusses a host of other animal oddities, including a locust placed on trial for destroying crops, populations of frogs and worms raining from the sky, live toads encased in rock supposedly for centuries and able to hop away when freed, and termites who, upon hearing a judge's proclamation, lined up and, in neat order, marched to their new homes. In each of his 10 chapters, Bondeson successfully couples a wealth of historical material with the latest biological information. In doing so, he demonstrates winsomely that science has solved some long-standing mysteries, but that others remain beyond its reach. 63 b&w photos, eight drawings. (Apr.)