It is said that the Blemmyes have no heads, and that their mouth and eyes are put in their chests…
Pliny the Elder, Natural History.
(Images from Animalia Exstinta, an Argentinian bestiary. Via The Animalarium.)
The peridexion tree grows in India. Doves gather in the tree because they like the sweet fruit, and because there they are safe from the dragon. The dragon hates the doves and would harm them if it could, but it fears the shadow of the peridexion tree and stays on the unshaded side of it. The doves that stay in the shadow are safe, but any who leave it are caught and eaten by the dragon.