bestiary

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

bestiary
    n 1: a medieval book (usually illustrated) with allegorical and
         amusing descriptions of real and fabled animals

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Bestiary \Bes"ti*a*ry\, n. [LL. bestiarium, fr. L. bestiarius
   pert. to beasts, fr. bestia beast: cf. F. bestiaire.]
   A treatise on beasts; esp., one of the moralizing or
   allegorical beast tales written in the Middle Ages.
   [1913 Webster]

         A bestiary . . . in itself one of the numerous
         medi[ae]val renderings of the fantastic mystical
         Zoology.                                 --Saintsbury.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]