Compared to certain prestigious monsters, such as the unicorn, the mermaid or the phoenix, whose history is made up -- at least partially -- the catoblepas is a poor relation. Cuvier decided once and for all that it was the wildebeest, which seems to close his zoological history -- in the absence of new identifications; but its poetic history is to be done, a task all the more interesting since certain appearances of this monster in contemporary literature suggest a non-negligible evolution of the classic traits of the bat. I now propose only a certain number of elements, essential milestones for the writing of this history, without any claim to exhaustiveness. - [Author]

Language: French