A chimerical creature of mediæval invention, having the body of an
heraldic tiger with mane, and the head of an old man with long spiral
horns. Some heraldic authorities make the horns more like those of an ox,
and the feet like a dragon's.
_The Satyral_ is apparently identical with the man-tiger.
The belief that certain persons have the power of assuming the shape of
the tiger is common in India, and the Khonds say that a man-killing tiger
is either an incarnation of the Earth's goddess or a transfigured man. It
is thus with the Lavas of Birma, supposed to be the broken-down remains
of a cultured race and dreaded as man-tigers.[27]
Two satyrals supported the arms of the Lords Stawell.
The supporters of the arms of the Earl of Huntingdon are mantigers, but
are represented without horns.
[Illustration: Manticora. From ancient Bestiaria.]
From a mediæval "Bestiaria" we have a description and illustration of a
gruesome creature of this name (manticora), evolved no doubt from some
traveller's marvellous tale. We are told that it is "bred among the
Indians," has a triple row of teeth, in bigness and roughness like a
lion's, face and ears like a man's, a tail like a scorpion's "with a sting
and sharp-pointed quills," and that "his voice is like a small trumpet,"
and that he is "very wild," and that after having his tail bruised, he can
be tamed without danger.
There are several other fictitious creatures, which, if we may believe
certain old writers, excited the minds of our credulous wonder-loving
forefathers. Of these little need be said, as they rarely, if ever, appear
in modern works on heraldry, and may therefore be classed as extinct
monsters.