Manticora

Scar. In plainer Enargy, what are they? speake; But. Mantichoras, monstrous beastes, enemies to mankinde, that ha double rowes of teeth in their mouthes.

An inscribed example of the manticora occurs on the remarkable sculptured twelfth century bestiary at Souvigny in France, illustrated by De Caumont in his Abécdaire d' Archéologie, p. 273. Here the manticora wears a Phrygian cap, like the Magi and Three Children in the Fiery Furnace, in all cases to show their Eastern origin.

On the south transept there are some manticoras - creatures with the bodies of lions and the heads of men. Some of these are even more grotesque than the manticoras of the bestiaries.

The implication that the gargoyles are the same beast means that they are not intended to be manticoras, since the triple rows of teeth and scorpion's tail are not present in the androcephalous lion.

There was surely another creature standing guard inside, in lieu of the manticora Bink had known: the one at the Anniversary party.

“A tuberous manticora!” he exclaimed. The insect began to move again, and as it crawled down to the entrance of the nostrils the tickling sensation became too much for endurance, and Benedict sneezed.

There still are many questions concerning manticoras' behaviour and biology, nevertheless the facts already observed permit to form a basic picture.

These rare and eclectic curiosities were just part of an expansive collection of exotic rarities that ranged from a dried Manticora beetle to a comet fragment bought at a rest stop in the Mojave Desert, all from his father's side of the family, who for generations had produced sailors, explorers, and scientists, that traveled to remote corners of the world, seemingly driven by an unquenched thirst for adventure.