History of Monsters 619

...gave birth to a numerous litter, including a one-headed, two-bodied, eight-legged kitten of both sexes. Their bodies were joined at a single head so that they looked like two individuals kissing; many people saw this monster’s birth as an omen of health and harmony.

We now present an illustration of a one-headed, two-bodied cat. Like the first, it has eight legs, but it differs because the two bodies are fused not just at the head but also at the chest, as shown in Image IV. It is depicted from both sides alongside wild mint, which herbalists call "cat’s balsam."

Indeed, we offer the reader another monstrous cat for inspection that came into our hands. This was a white domestic kitten with eight legs, one head at its upper parts, and two bodies at its lower parts with two tails, as shown in Image V, alongside Great Valerian.

What we have stated about kittens also happens occasionally among puppies. We have obtained images representing monstrous dogs of this kind. First, we show a monstrous dog with one head and two bodies. It differs from the cats described above because while they had eight legs, this dog has only six, lacking its two front legs. This can be seen in Image VI, where the monster is shown from both sides alongside Psyllium, a plant botanists call *cynomia* or *cynoides*.

Similarly, we present another canine monster of this type. It is one-headed and two-bodied, fused at the head, chest, and belly, but it has eight legs, distinguishing it from the one described just above, as seen from both sides in Image VII.

Among the bird family, such one-headed, two-bodied monsters are often observed. According to the historian Lycosthenes, in the year 1538, in the town of Colmar in noble Upper Alsace (part of the Roman Empire), a chick hatched from an egg in the house of Thomas Eberlin on the Thursday before Easter (which was April 18th). It had one head, two necks, and two fused bodies, equipped with four legs and four wings, as seen in Image VIII.

Men of great learning conjectured that this was an omen of the unity that the Christian faithful should always profess. Since this monster was born on the day the Mystic Supper of Christ is celebrated in memory of his passion—when all the faithful are joined through the Sacrament of Communion—they form one body of the Church under Christ as the single head.

Furthermore, they proclaimed that this chick, born in those regions as a prodigy with four wings and four legs under one head, was significant because the four Gospel writers were unanimous in describing the Mystic Supper, which must be preserved in the Church without dissent. Indeed, just as this prodigious chick stood on four legs, so the Church of Christ, resting on the four Evangelists as firm foundations, can never fall while ruled by its single head, Christ.

Additionally, according to Lycosthenes, in France in the year 1551, a twin-bodied, one-headed chick also hatched from a hen’s egg. Although it had four legs and four wings under one head, it differed from the one described above in its neck; that one had two distinct necks, while this one had its necks fused under a single head, as shown in Image IX.

Similarly, a similar monster was once seen among geese, specifically in the year 1268, if Lycosthenes’ account is true. At that time, a gosling emerged from an egg with one head, a double neck, and a double body, as appears in Image X. Albertus Magnus admits to having seen such a one-headed gosling with a double neck, four legs, and four wings.

Therefore, our common teacher Aristotle taught most excellently that monsters with many mem