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ARISTOTLE'S
HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
IN TEN BOOKS.
TRANSLATED BY
RICHARD CRESSWELL, M.A.,
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
1887.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE.
The following Translation of Aristotle's History of Animals has been
made from the text of Schneider. In a work of considerable difficulty
it is hardly possible entirely to avoid errors; but it is hoped that
those which have escaped are neither numerous nor important. The
notes of Schneider have been consulted throughout; and in places of
difficulty the English translation by Taylor, the French of Camus, and
the German of Strack, have been severally referred to.
The work itself is the most ancient and celebrated contribution to
science which has come down to us; and it is hardly possible, when we
consider the means of observation which were accessible at the time,
to imagine a work of more accurate observation. From the numerous
quotations in which our author avails himself of the experience of his
predecessors in the same field, as well as corrects their errors, there
can be no doubt that Aristotle had the advantage of many works which
have perished in the lapse of ages. In the Appendix to the present
Translation will be found the Essay of Schneider on the sources whence
Aristotle derived his knowledge of the animals he describes; and these
sources, together with his own accurate observations, are probably
sufficient to account for the correct knowledge of the history of
animals displayed throughout the work.
It is right, perhaps, to observe in this place, that Dr. Smith, in
his Dictionary of Biography, speaks of the 'History of Animals' as
partly the result of the royal liberality of Alexander; and doubtless
Aristotle would gladly have introduced into his work any fresh
materials which might have been made available to him either during
his residence at the Macedonian court, or by the subsequent victories
of Alexander in the East, if the information so obtained had reached
Athens in sufficient time to be incorporated. But in the first instance
he would naturally use the materials ready to his hand in the works of
his predecessors, and these were not few. The animals also which he
describes are principally those of Greece and of the countries with
which the enterprising Greeks had frequent and commercial intercourse.
He says little of the animals of the interior of Asia and of India,
and speaks very cautiously of such as he does mention; and one who
quotes his authorities so freely would hardly have failed to notice the
sources of his information.
The study, or at least the knowledge of the classification of animals
appears to have been carefully pursued in the earliest period of man's
history. The oldest records that we possess contain abundant notices
of the peculiarities of animals. The Mosaic law abounds in them, in
its distinctions between the clean and the unclean, a distinction
not then first established, but of the most remote antiquity. Indeed
it could hardly be otherwise than that men engaged in the pursuits
of agriculture and the chase should study the habits of the animals
that were valuable to them, as well as those which were injurious. A
study thus commenced by necessity, would eventually be pursued for
its own sake; and not a few would be found who would investigate, and,
as far as they could, record the various phenomena they observed. The
paintings of Egypt and the sculptures of Assyria are our witnesses of
the skill with which animals and plants were drawn, and of the minute
perception of their external forms; and the knowledge thus gained in
the ancient centres of civilization would be sure to circulate and
increase when the intercourse with foreign nations spread the knowledge
and philosophy so acquired.
In the writings of Homer we find that the knowledge of the anatomy
of the human body had already made considerable progress; and the
inspection of the animals offered in sacrifice cannot fail to have
added much to the general knowledge of their history. A century
later, we have the poems of Hesiod, devoted to the encouragement of
agriculture and rural pursuits. Pythagoras, in the seventh century
B.C., may perhaps have left no writings, but we know that he was an
eminent student and exponent of natural phenomena. His contemporary,
Alcmæon of Crotona, is especially mentioned by Aristotle; and he is
eminent among natural philosophers as the first who is said to have
recommended to his followers the practice of dissection. Empedocles
of Agrigentum left a work on the phenomena of nature, of which a few
fragments still remain, and there were also others who, if they did not
enter into the details of what we now call natural history, treated
generally of the nature of things, and opened the field to those who
would study the subject in its particular parts. The empire of Persia
was still the dominant power, and was carrying the civilization of the
East to every part of the known world when Ctesias wrote his great
works, of which, unhappily, only a few fragments remain. He described
not only the history of his own time, but also the natural history
of Persia and of India, and that probably with more accuracy than has
been usually attributed to him. India he had not visited personally,
so that he could only describe it from the information of others; but
this implies that he was not alone in the studies which he devoted to
natural objects. With such predecessors and aided by his own acute
observations, we need not wonder that Aristotle produced a work which
has ever been admired by naturalists, and must continue to rise in
their estimation the longer it is in their hands.
The Index to the present volume has been formed on the basis of that
of Schneider, and considerable pains have been taken to add as many
names as possible from other sources, especially the Index of Strack,
and Külb's recent translation of the History of Animals, both of which
contain identifications of a great many animals. A few identifications
have also been added from Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, as well as from
Professor Bell's Catalogue of Animals in Captain Spratt's work on
Lycia; and the cephalopods are named from Professor Owen's article on
that class, in the Cyclopædia of Anatomy. It is hoped, therefore, that
the Index will be found to contain a greater number of suggestions for
the identification of the animals mentioned by Aristotle than have been
hitherto published collectively. It is also right to add, that it has
been compiled after the translation was completed; and, therefore, in
any differences which may be found between the identifications at the
foot of the page and those given in the Index, the reader will rather
prefer the latter, as the result of later research in works which were
not accessible when the translation was made.
April 30, 1862. R. C.
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
BOOK I.--The work commences with a general review of the animal
kingdom, and several suggestions for a natural arrangement of animals
in groups, according to their external form or their mode of life, a
comparison of animals among themselves, and a description of some of
their habits. Aristotle then introduces the human form, the best known
to man, as the standard of comparison to which he refers the rest of
the animal kingdom. The concluding chapters of this book are occupied
with a description of the several parts of the human body, both
internal and external.
BOOK II.--In the second book the different parts of animals are
described. The animals are arranged in various groups, viviparous and
oviparous quadrupeds, fish, serpents, birds. The only animals described
are those with red blood: the description of the rest being reserved
for the fourth book. Their internal organs are also described; and
in the course of the book a few animals, as the ape, elephant, and
chameleon, are especially noticed.
BOOK III.--The third book commences with a description of the internal
organs, beginning with the generative system. A considerable portion
of the book is devoted to the course of the veins; and Aristotle
quotes from other writers, as well as states the result of his own
observations. He then describes the nature of other constituent parts
of the body, sinews, fibres, bone, marrow, cartilage, nails, hoofs,
claws, horns, and beaks of birds, hair, scales, membranes, flesh, fat,
blood, marrow, milk, and the spermatic fluid.
BOOK IV.--Animals without blood, and first, the cephalopods, are
described; then the crustaceans, testacea, echinidæ, ascidians,
actiniæ, hermit crabs, insects. In the eighth chapter the organs of
sense are considered, and afterwards, the voice, sleep, age, and
differences of the sexes in animals are described.
BOOK V.--In the former books animals are for the most part described
with reference to their several parts. In the fifth book they
are treated as entire, and especially with regard to their mode
of reproduction. First of all, our author treats of spontaneous
reproduction, and then of those animals which spring from a union of
the sexes; and from this he proceeds to some detail with respect to
different groups of animals, testacea, crustacea, insects. The book
concludes with a long description of bees and their habits.
BOOK VI.--In this book the same subject is continued through the
several classes of birds, fish, and quadrupeds. This account of the
reproduction of animals includes also the consideration of the seasons,
climates, and ages of animals, and how far these influence their
reproduction.
BOOK VII.--The seventh book is almost entirely devoted to the
consideration of the reproduction of man, and an account of man from
his birth to his death. This book ends abruptly, and is probably
imperfect.
BOOK VIII.--In the eighth book Aristotle passes on to the most
interesting part of his work, the character and habits of the whole
animal world, as it was known to him. The amount of detail which he has
collected and arranged on this subject is most interesting. He treats,
first of all, of the food of animals, of their migrations, their health
and diseases, and the influence of climate upon them.
BOOK IX.--The subject of the eighth book is continued, with an account
of the relations in which animals stand to each other, and especially
the friendship and hostility of different species; and these are for
the most part referred to the nature of their food, and their mode
of procuring it. The notices of fish are not so numerous as those of
other groups: this would necessarily arise from the difficulty of
observation. At the conclusion of the book, an essay on bees and their
congeners is given at considerable length.
BOOK X.--This book, in all probability erroneously ascribed to
Aristotle, is occupied with a treatise on the causes of barrenness
in the human species. It appears to be rather a continuation of the
seventh book, which ends abruptly; but it is well placed at the end, as
no genuine work of our author.
THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
BOOK THE FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
1. Some parts of animals are simple, and these can be divided into like
parts, as flesh into pieces of flesh; others are compound, and cannot
be divided into like parts, as the hand cannot be divided into hands,
nor the face into faces. Of these some are not only called parts, but
members, such as those which, though entire in themselves, are made up
of other parts, as the head and the leg, the hand and the entire arm,
or the trunk; for these parts are both entire in themselves, and made
up of other parts.
2. All the compound parts also are made up of simple parts, the hand,
for example, of flesh, and sinew, and bone. Some animals have all these
parts the same, in others they are different from each other. Some of
the parts are the same in form, as the nose and eye of one man is the
same as the nose and eye of another man, and flesh is the same with
flesh, and bone with bone. In like manner we may compare the parts of
the horse, and of other animals, those parts, that is, which are the
same in species, for the whole bears the same relation to the whole as
the parts do to each other. And in animals belonging to the same class,
the parts are the same, only they differ in excess or defect. By class,
I mean such as bird or fish, for all these differ if either compared
with their own class or with another, and there are many forms of birds
and fishes.
3. Nearly all their parts differ in them according to the opposition
of their external qualities, such as colour or shape, in that some are
more, others are less affected, or sometimes in number more or less,
or in size greater and smaller, or in any quality which can be included
in excess or defect. For some animals have a soft skin, in others the
skin is shelly; some have a long bill, as cranes, others a short one;
some have many feathers, others very few; some also have parts which
are wanting in others, for some species have spurs, others have none;
some have a crest, others have not. But, so to say, their principal
parts and those which form the bulk of their body, are either the same,
or vary only in their opposites, and in excess and defect.
4. By excess and defect I mean the greater and the less. But some
animals agree with each other in their parts neither in form, nor in
excess and defect, but have only an analogous likeness, such as a bone
bears to a spine, a nail to a hoof, a hand to a crab's claw, the scale
of a fish to the feather of a bird, for that which is a feather in
the birds is a scale in the fish. With regard then to the parts which
each class of animal possesses, they agree and differ in this manner,
and also in the position of the parts. For many animals have the same
parts, but not in the same position, as the mammæ which are either
pectoral or abdominal. But of the simple parts some are soft and moist,
others hard and dry.
5. The soft parts are either entirely so, or so long as they are in a
natural condition, as blood, serum, fat, tallow, marrow, semen, gall,
milk (in those animals which give milk), flesh, and other analogous
parts of the body. In another manner also the excretions of the body
belong to this class, as phlegm, and the excrements of the abdomen and
bladder; the hard and dry parts are sinew, skin, vein, hair, bone,
cartilage, nail, horn, for that part bears the same name, and on
the whole is called horn, and the other parts of the body which are
analogous to these.
6. Animals also differ in their manner of life, in their actions and
dispositions, and in their parts. We will first of all speak generally
of these differences, and afterwards consider each species separately.
The following are the points in which they vary in manner of life, in
their actions and dispositions. Some animals are aquatic, others live
on the land; and the aquatic may again be divided into two classes, for
some entirely exist and procure their food in the water, and take in
and give out water, and cannot live without it; this is the nature of
most fishes. But there are others which, though they live and feed in
the water, do not take in water but air, and produce their young out of
the water. Many of these animals are furnished with feet, as the otter
and the latax[1] and the crocodile, or with wings, as the seagull and
diver, and others are without feet, as the water-serpent. Some procure
their food from the water, and cannot live out of the water, but
neither inhale air nor water, as the acalephe[2] and the oyster.
[1] Beaver, Castor fiber.
[2] Medusa, or perhaps Actinia, or both.
7. Different aquatic animals are found in the sea, in rivers, in lakes,
and in marshes, as the frog and newt, and of marine animals some are
pelagic, some littoral, and some saxatile. Some land animals take in
and give out air, and this is called inhaling and exhaling; such are
man, and all other land animals which are furnished with lungs; some,
however, which procure their food from the earth, do not inhale air, as
the wasp, the bee, and all other insects.[3] By insects I mean those
animals which have divisions in their bodies, whether in the lower part
only, or both in the upper and lower. Many land animals, as I have
already observed, procure their food from the water, but there are no
aquatic or marine animals which find their food on land. There are some
animals which at first inhabit the water, but afterwards change into a
different form, and live out of the water; this happens to the gnat in
the rivers, and ...[4] which afterwards becomes an œstrum.[5]
[3] Under the class ἔντομα are probably included all annulose animals.
[4] Some words appear to be lost in this place.
[5] Tabanus, gad-fly.
8. Again, there are some creatures which are stationary, while others
are locomotive; the fixed animals are aquatic, but this is not the
case with any of the inhabitants of the land. Many aquatic animals
also grow upon each other; this is the case with several genera of
shell-fish: the sponge also exhibits some signs of sensation, for they
say that it is drawn up with some difficulty, unless the attempt to
remove it is made stealthily. Other animals also there are which are
alternately fixed together or free, this is the case with a certain
kind of acalephe; some of these become separated during the night, and
emigrate. Many animals are separate from each other, but incapable of
voluntary movement, as oysters, and the animal called holothuria.[6]
Some aquatic animals are swimmers, as fish, and the mollusca,[7] and
the malacostraca, as the crabs. Others creep on the bottom, as the
crab, for this, though an aquatic animal, naturally creeps.
[6] Perhaps some species of Zoophyte.
[7] Cephalopods.
9. Of land animals some are furnished with wings, as birds and bees,
and these differ in other respects from each other; others have feet,
and of this class some species walk, others crawl, and others creep
in the mud. There is no animal which has only wings as fish have only
fins, for those animals whose wings are formed by an expansion of the
skin can walk, and the bat has feet, the seal has imperfect feet. Among
birds there are some with very imperfect feet, which are therefore
called apodes; they are, however, provided with very strong wings, and
almost all birds that are similar to this one have strong wings and
imperfect feet, as the swallow and drepanis;[8] for all this class of
birds is alike both in habits and in the structure of their wings, and
their whole appearance is very similar. The apos[9] is seen at all
times of the year, but the drepanis can only be taken in rainy weather
during the summer, and on the whole is a rare bird.
[8] Perhaps Sand martin.
[9] Swift.
10. Many animals, however, can both walk and swim. The following are
the differences exhibited by animals in their habits and their actions.
Some of them are gregarious, and others solitary, both in the classes
which are furnished with feet, and those which have wings, or fins.
Some partake of both characters, and of those that are gregarious, as
well as those that are solitary, some unite in societies and some are
scattered. Gregarious birds are such as the pigeon, stork, swan, but no
bird with hooked claws is gregarious. Among swimming animals some fish
are gregarious, as the dromas,[10] tunny, pelamis,[11] amia.[12]
[10] Some migratory fish.
[11] A kind of tunny, still called palamyde at Marseilles.
[12] A kind of tunny, Les Bonitons (Camus.)
11. But man partakes of both qualities. Those which have a common
employment are called social, but that is not the case with all
gregarious animals. Man, and the bee, the wasp, and the ant, and the
stork belong to this class. Some of these obey a leader, others are
anarchical; the stork and the bee are of the former class, the ant and
many others belong to the latter. Some animals, both in the gregarious
and solitary class, are limited to one locality, others are migratory.
There are also carnivorous animals, herbivorous, omnivorous, and
others which eat peculiar food, as the bee and the spider; the former
eats only honey and a few other sweet things, while spiders prey upon
flies and there are other animals which feed entirely on fish. Some
animals hunt for their food, and some make a store, which others do
not. There are also animals which make habitations for themselves, and
others which do not. The mole, the mouse, the ant, and the bee, make
habitations, but many kinds both of insects and quadrupeds make no
dwelling.
12. With regard to situation, some are troglodite, as lizards and
serpents, others, as the horse and dog, live upon the surface of the
earth. Some kinds of animals burrow in the ground, others do not; some
animals are nocturnal, as the owl and the bat, others use the hours of
daylight. There are tame animals and wild animals. Man and the mule
are always tame, the leopard and the wolf are invariably wild, and
others, as the elephant, are easily tamed. We may, however, view them
in another way, for all the genera that have been tamed are found wild
also, as horses, oxen, swine, sheep, goats, and dogs.
13. Some animals utter a loud cry, some are silent, and others have a
voice, which in some cases may be expressed by a word, in others it
cannot. There are also noisy animals and silent animals, musical and
unmusical kinds, but they are mostly noisy about the breeding season.
Some, as the dove, frequent fields, others, as the hoopoe, live on
the mountains; some attach themselves to man, as the pigeon. Some are
lascivious, as the partridge and domestic fowl, and others are chaste,
as the raven, which rarely cohabits.
14. Again, there are classes of animals furnished with weapons of
offence, others with weapons of defence; in the former I include those
which are capable of inflicting an injury, or of defending themselves
when they are attacked; in the latter those which are provided with
some natural protection against injury.
15. Animals also exhibit many differences of disposition. Some are
gentle, peaceful, and not violent, as the ox. Some are violent,
passionate, and intractable, as the wild boar. Some are prudent and
fearful, as the stag and the hare. Serpents are illiberal and crafty.
Others, as the lion, are liberal, noble, and generous. Others are
brave, wild, and crafty, like the wolf. For there is this difference
between the generous and the brave--the former means that which comes
of a noble race, the latter that which does not easily depart from its
own nature.
16. Some animals are cunning and evil-disposed, as the fox; others, as
the dog, are fierce, friendly, and fawning. Some are gentle and easily
tamed, as the elephant; some are susceptible of shame, and watchful, as
the goose. Some are jealous, and fond of ornament, as the peacock. But
man is the only animal capable of reasoning, though many others possess
the faculty of memory and instruction in common with him. No other
animal but man has the power of recollection. In another place we will
treat more accurately of the disposition and manner of life in each
class.
CHAPTER II.
1. All animals possess in common those parts by which they take in
food, and into which they receive it. But these parts agree or differ
in the same way as all the other parts of bodies, that is, either in
shape or size, or proportion or position; and besides these, almost
all animals possess many other parts in common, such as those by which
they reject their excrements, (and the part by which they take their
food,)[13] though this does not exist in all. The part by which the
food is taken in is called the mouth, that which receives the food from
the mouth is called the stomach. The part by which they reject the
excrement has many names.
[13] The words in brackets should probably be excluded from the text.
2. The excrement being of two kinds, the animals which possess
receptacles for the fluid excrement have also receptacles for the dry;
but those which have the latter are not always furnished with the
former. Wherefore all animals which have a bladder have a belly also,
but not all that have a belly have a bladder; for the part appropriated
to the reception of the liquid excrement is called the bladder, and
that for the reception of the dry is called the belly.
3. Many animals possess both these parts, and that also by which the
semen is emitted. Among animals that have the power of generation,
some emit the semen into themselves, and some inject it into others.
The former are called female, the latter male. In some animals there
is neither male nor female, and there is a diversity in the form of
the parts appropriated to this office. For some animals have a uterus,
others have only something analogous to the uterus. These are the most
essential organs; some of which exist in all animals, others in the
majority only.
CHAPTER III.
1. There is only one sense, that of touch, which is common to all
animals; so that no exact name can be given to the part in which this
sense resides, for in some animals it is the same, in others only
analogous.
2. Every living creature is furnished with moisture, and must die, if
deprived of this moisture either in the course of nature or by force.
But in what part of the body this moisture resides is another question.
In some animals it is found in the blood and veins, in others the
situation is only analogous, but these are imperfect, as fibres and
serum.[14] The sense of touch resides in the simple parts, as in the
flesh and in similar places, and generally in those parts which contain
blood, at least in those animals which have blood; in others it resides
in the analogous parts, but in all animals in the simple parts.
[14] Fibres and serum, as compared with veins and blood, refer to the
circulation in animals without red blood.
3. The capacity of action resides in the compound parts, as the
preparation of food in the mouth, and the power of locomotion in
the feet or wings, or the analogous parts. Again, some animals are
sanguineous, as man, the horse, and all perfect animals, whether
apodous, bipeds, or quadrupeds; and some animals are without blood,
as the bee and the wasp, and such marine animals as the sepia and the
carabus,[15] and all animals with more than four legs.
[15] Palinurus, Spiny Lobster.
CHAPTER IV.
1. There are also viviparous, oviparous, and vermiparous animals. The
viviparous, are such as man, and the horse, the seal, and others which
have hair, and among marine animals the cetacea, as the dolphin and
those which are called selache.[16] Some of these are furnished with a
blow-hole, but have no gills, as the dolphin and the whale. The dolphin
has its blow-hole on the back, the whale in its forehead; others have
open gills, as the selache, the galeus,[17] and the batus.[18] That
is called the egg of the perfect fœtus, from which the future animal
is produced, from a part at first, while the remainder serves for its
food. The worm is that from the whole of which the future animal is
produced, and the fœtus afterwards acquires parts and increases in size.
[16] Cartilaginous fishes.
[17] Squalus galeus.
[18] Raia batos.
2. Some viviparous animals are internally oviparous, as the selache;
others are internally viviparous, as mankind and the horse. In
different animals the fœtus assumes a different form, when first
brought into the world, and is either a living creature, an egg, or
a worm. The eggs of some animals, as birds, are hard-shelled, and
are of two colours. Those of the selache and some other animals are
soft-skinned, and have only one colour. Some species of the vermiform
fœtus are capable of motion, others are not. But in another place, when
we treat of generation, we will dwell more accurately on these subjects.
CHAPTER V.
1. Some animals have feet, others have none; of the former some have
two feet, as mankind and birds only; others have four, as the lizard
and the dog; others, as the scolopendra and bee, have many feet; but
all have their feet in pairs.
2. And among apodous swimming animals some have fins, as fish; and of
these some have two fins in the upper and two in the lower part of
their bodies, as the chrysophys[19] and labrax;[20] others, which are
very long and smooth, have only two fins, as the eel and conger; others
have none at all, as the lamprey and others, which live in the sea as
serpents do on land, and in like manner swim in moist places; and some
of the genus selache, as those which are flat and have tails, as the
batos and trygon, have no fins; these fish swim by means of their flat
surfaces; but the batrachus[21] has fins, and so have all those fish
which are not very thin in proportion to their width.
[19] Sparus auratus.
[20] Perca labrax.
[21] Lophius piscatorius and also L. barbatus.
3. But the animals which have apparent feet, as the cephalopods, swim
both with their feet and fins, and move quickly upon the hollow parts
of their bodies, as the sepia, teuthis, and polypus: but none of them
can walk except the polypus. Those animals which have hard skins, as
the carabus, swim with their hinder parts, and move very quickly upon
their tail, with the fins which are upon it, and the newt both with its
feet and tail, and (to compare small things with great) it has a tail
like the glanis.[22]
[22] Silurus glanis, L. (Strack).
4. Some winged animals, as the eagle and the hawk, are feathered;
others, as the cockchafer and the bee, membranaceous wings; and others,
as the alopex[23] and the bat, have wings formed of skin. Both the
feathered and leather-winged tribes have blood; but the insects,
which have naked wings, have no blood. Again, the feathered and
leather-winged animals are all either bipeds or apodous, for they say
that there are winged serpents in Ethiopia.[24]
[23] Probably some kind of flying squirrel.
[24] Herodotus, ii. 76; "the form of this serpent is similar to that of
the water-snake; its wings are not feathered, but like those of bats:"
the _draco volans_ may have given rise to this story.
5. The feathered tribe of animals is called birds; the other two
tribes have no exact names. Among winged creatures without blood
some are coleopterous, for they have elytra over their wings, as the
cockchafer and the beetles, and others are without elytra. The animals
of this class have either two or four wings. Those with four wings are
distinguished by their greater size or a caudal sting. The diptera are
either such as are small, or have a sting in their head. The coleoptera
have no sting at all; the diptera have a sting in their head, as the
fly, horse-fly, gad-fly, and gnat.
6. All bloodless animals, except a few marine species of the
cephalopoda, are smaller than those which have blood. These animals
are the largest in warm waters, and more so in the sea than on the
land, and in fresh water. All creatures that are capable of motion are
moved by four or more limbs. Those with blood have four limbs only,
as man has two hands and two feet. Birds have two wings and two feet;
quadrupeds and fishes have four feet or four fins. But those animals
which have two wings or none at all, as the serpent, are nevertheless
moved by four limbs; for the bendings of their body are four in number,
or two when they have two wings.
7. Those bloodless animals which have more than four feet, whether
furnished with feet or wings, always have more than four organs of
locomotion, as the ephemera, which has four feet and four wings; and in
this it not only agrees with its peculiar manner of life, from which
also it derives its name, but also that it is winged and four-footed;
and all creatures, whether they have four feet or many feet, move in
the same direction, for they all move in the long way of their bodies.
All other animals have two leading feet, the crab alone has four.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The following are the principal classes which include other
animals--birds, fishes, cetacea. All these have red blood. There is
another class of animals covered with a shell, and called shell fish,
and an anonymous class of soft-shelled animals (malacostraca), which
includes carabi, carcini, and astaci; and another of mollusca, such as
teuthis, teuthos, and sepia; and another class of annulose animals.
All these are without blood, and the species with feet have many feet.
There are no large classes of other animals; for there are many forms
which are not included under a single form, but either stand alone,
having no specific difference, as man, or have specific differences,
but the classes are anonymous.
2. All animals with four feet and no wings have blood. Some of these
are viviparous, others oviparous. The viviparous are not all covered
with hair, but the oviparous have scales. The scale of a reptile is
similar in situation to the scale of a fish. The class of serpents,
sanguineous land animals, is naturally without feet. Though some have
feet, this class is also covered with scales. All serpents, except the
viper, are oviparous. The viper alone is viviparous, so that not all
viviparous animals have hair; for some fishes also are viviparous. All
animals, however, that have hair are viviparous; for we may consider
the prickles of the hedgehog and porcupine as analogous to the hair of
animals; for they answer the purpose of hair, and not, as in marine
animals that are so covered, of feet.[25]
[25] The Echinidæ.
3. There are also many classes of viviparous quadrupeds, but they have
never received names. Each kind must, therefore, be taken separately,
as man, as we speak of lion, stag, horse, dog, and of others in like
manner. There is, however, one class of those that have a mane called
lophuri,[26] as the horse, ass, mule, ginnus,[27] hinnus, and those
which in Syria are called mules,[28] from their resemblance, though
not quite of the same form. They copulate and produce young from each
other, so that it is necessary to consider well the nature of each of
them separately.
[26] Animals with long hair on their tails.
[27] Ginnus is the offspring of a mule and mare. Book vi. 24, 1.
[28] Hemionus, perhaps the foal of a horse and wild ass, and so
distinct from oreus, the foal of the he-ass and mare.
4. We have now treated of these things in an outline, for the sake of
giving a taste of what we are afterwards to consider, and of how many.
Hereafter we will speak of them more accurately, in order that we may
first of all examine into their points of difference and agreement;
and afterwards we will endeavour to inquire into the causes of these
things, but it will be a more natural arrangement to do so when we
treat of the history of each. For it is evident from these things what
they are, and what we have to demonstrate.
5. Our first subject of consideration must be the parts of which
animals are made up, for these constitute the chief and the whole
difference among them; either because they have them or are without
them, or these parts vary in position or arrangement, or in any of the
differences mentioned before, in form, size, proportion, and difference
of accidents. First of all, then, we will consider the parts of the
human body; for, as every one can best understand the standard of
money with which he is most familiar, so it is in other things. And of
necessity, man must be the best known to us of all animals. The parts
of the body are, indeed, plain enough to every one's common sense; but,
that we may not forsake our arrangement, and may have reason as well as
perception, we will speak, first of all, of the organic, and afterwards
of the simple, parts.
CHAPTER VII.
1. These are the principal parts into which the whole body is divided.
The head, neck, trunk, two arms, and two legs. The whole cavity, from
the neck to the pudenda, is called the trunk. That part of the head
which is covered with hair is called the cranium, the fore part of this
is called the sinciput. This is the last formed, being the last bone
in the body which becomes hard; the hinder part is the occiput, and
between the occiput and sinciput is the crown of the head. The brain is
placed beneath the sinciput, and the occiput is empty;[29] the cranium
is a thin spherical bone covered with a skin without flesh. The skull
has sutures: in women there is but one placed in a circle; men have
generally three joined in one, and a man's skull has been seen without
any sutures at all. The middle and smooth part of the hair is called
the crown of the head; in some persons this is double, for there are
some people double-crowned, not from any formation of the bone, but
only from the division of the hair.
[29] This mistake is again repeated in Ch. xiii.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. The part immediately beneath the cranium is called the face in
mankind alone, for we do not speak of the face of a fish or of an ox;
the part immediately beneath the sinciput and between the eyes is
called the forehead. Those in whom this feature is large are tardy;
those who have a small forehead are easily excited; a broad forehead
belongs to those who are liable to be carried away by their feelings; a
round forehead is a sign of a passionate disposition.
2. Under the forehead are two eyebrows; if they are straight, it is a
mark of a gentle disposition; the eyebrows bent down to the nose are
an evidence of an austere temper; if they incline towards the temples,
of a mocker and scoffer; if they are drawn down, it is a sign of an
envious person. Beneath these are the eyes, which by nature are two in
number: the parts of each eye are, first, the upper and under eyelid,
the edges of which are furnished with hair. Within the eye, the moist
part with which we see is called the pupil; round this is the iris,
and this is surrounded by the white. Two corners of the eye are formed
at the junction of the eyelids, one in the direction of the nose, the
other towards the temple. If these corners are large, they are a sign
of an evil disposition; if those near the nose are fleshy, and have a
swollen appearance, they are an evidence of wickedness.
3. All other classes of animals have eyes, except shell-fish, and some
other imperfect creatures, and all viviparous animals except moles have
eyes. A person might, however, conclude from the following observation,
that it has eyes, though it is quite without them, for it certainly
does not see at all, nor has it any external eyes; but, when the skin
is taken off, there is a place for the eyes, and the iris of the eye is
in the place which it would naturally occupy on the outside, as if they
had been wounded in their birth, and the skin had grown over the place.
4. The white of the eye is generally the same in all animals, but the
iris is very different. In some it is black, in others decidedly grey,
in others dark grey, and in some it is the colour of the goat's eye,
and this is a sign of the best disposition, and is most to be prized
for acuteness of vision. Man is almost the only animal which exhibits a
variety of colouring in the eye; there are, however, some horses with
grey eyes.
5. The eyes of some persons are large, others small, and others of
a moderate size--the last-mentioned are the best. And some eyes are
projecting, some deep-set, and some moderate, and those which are
deep-set have the most acute vision in all animals; the middle position
is a sign of the best disposition. Some people have an eye which is
perpetually opening and closing, others have an eye always intent, and
others a moderately-intent eye: this last is the best disposed; of the
others, the one is impudent, and the other a sign of infirmity.
CHAPTER IX.
1. The part of the head by which we hear, but do not breathe, is the
ear; for Alcmæon is mistaken when he says that goats breathe through
their ears. One part of the ear has not received any name, the other
part is called the lobe. The whole ear is made up of cartilage and
flesh. Internally, the ear has the nature of a shell, and the last bone
is similar to the ear itself. The sound reaches this part last, as it
were in a chamber. There is no passage from the ear into the brain, but
there is to the roof of the mouth; and a vein extends from the brain to
each ear.[30] The eyes also are connected with the brain, and each eye
is placed upon a vein.
[30] Eustachian tube.
2. Man is the only animal with ears that cannot move them. Among
animals which have the faculty of hearing; some have ears, and others,
as winged and scaly creatures, have no ear, but an open orifice in the
head; all viviparous animals, except the seal, and the dolphin, and
other cetacea, have ears; the selache also are viviparous. The seal has
open orifices by which it hears; the dolphin can hear, though it has
no ears; all other animals can move their ears, but man alone does not
move them.
3. The ears (of man) lie in the same circle with his eyes, and not
above them, as in some quadrupeds. The ears are either smooth, hairy,
or moderate. These last are the best for hearing, but they do not in
any way indicate the disposition. They are large, or small or middling,
or they are erect, or not at all, or only moderately erect. The
moderately erect are a sign of the best disposition; large and erect
ears are an evidence of foolish talking and loquacity. The part of the
head between the eye and the ear is called the temple.
4. In the middle of the face is the nose, the passage for the breath,
for through this animals inhale and exhale, and through it also they
sneeze; this is the expulsion of a concentrated breath, and is the
only kind of breathing which is esteemed ominous or sacred: moreover,
inhaling and exhaling is into the chest, and without the nostrils it
is impossible to inhale or exhale, for inhaling and exhaling is from
the breast by the windpipe, and not from any part of the head. But it
is possible to live without this respiration through the nostrils.
The smell also resides in this part; this is the sense of odour. The
nostril is very moveable, and not naturally immoveable like the ear.
5. One part of the nose, namely, the division between the nostrils, is
cartilaginous, but the passage is empty, for the nose is formed of two
divisions. In the elephant, the nostril is very large and strong, and
it answers to the purpose of a hand, for the animal can extend it, and
with it take its food, and convey it to its mouth, whether the food is
moist or dry. This is the only animal that can do so.
6. There are also two jaws, the upper and the under. All animals move
the lower jaw, except the river-crocodile, and this moves the upper jaw
only. Below the nose are two lips, the flesh of which is very moveable.
The mouth is the centre of the jaws and the lips. The upper part is
called the roof of the mouth, the lower, the pharynx. The tongue is the
organ of taste. This sense resides in the tip, and, if food is placed
on the broad part of the tongue, the taste is less acute. The tongue
partakes of all the other sensations, as harshness, heat, and cold, as
well as that of taste, in common with the rest of the flesh.
7. The flat part of the tongue is either narrow or moderate in size,
the moderate is the best, and most apt for clear elocution. The
tongue may be either too loose, or tied down, as in stammerers and
inarticulate speakers. The flesh of the tongue is porous and spongy.
The epiglottis is a portion of the tongue, the double part of the mouth
is the tonsils; that in many divisions the gums, they are fleshy, and
in them are fixed the bony teeth. Within the mouth there is another
part, the uvula, a pillar filled with blood. If this part is swelled
with relaxation, it is called a grape, and chokes.
CHAPTER X.
1. The neck is the part between the head and the trunk; the front
part is called the larynx, behind this is the œsophagus. The voice
and the breath pass through the front part, the trachea, which is
cartilaginous, but the œsophagus is fleshy, and placed farther in, near
the vertebra of the neck. The back of the neck is called the epomis.
These are the parts as far as the thorax. The parts of the thorax are
some before and some behind. First of all, below the neck is the breast
with two mammæ; on these are two nipples, through which the milk of the
female passes. The mamma is porous. There is also milk in the breasts
of men. The flesh of the mamma in men is thick, in women it is spongy
and full of pores.
2. The part below the thorax, in front, is the belly, and of this the
navel is the centre. Beneath this centre, the part on each side is
called the iliac region; the part in the centre, beneath the navel, is
called the hypogastric region; the lowest part of this is called pubes;
above the navel is the epigastric region; the lumbar region is situated
between the epigastric and iliac regions.
3. Of the hinder parts the loin forms the division of the body, whence
also its name is derived (ὀσφύς quasi ἰσοφύς). The part of the central
region which is like a seat is the buttock; that on which the thigh
turns, the cotyledon. The peculiar part of women is the uterus; of men
the penis, it is external, at the extremity of the trunk in two parts;
the upper part is fleshy and smooth, and is called glans; this is
covered with an anonymous skin, which, if it is cut asunder, does not
unite again, neither does the cheek nor the eyelid.
4. Common to this and the glans is the prepuce, the remaining part is
cartilaginous, readily increases in size, and it is drawn in and out,
contrary to that of the class of animals called lophuri. Beneath the
penis are two testicles, surrounded by a skin called the scrotum; the
testicles are not of the same nature as flesh, nor are they made of
flesh. In another place we shall treat of the nature of all these parts
more accurately.
5. The pudendum muliebre is contrary to that of the male, for it is
hollow under the pubes, not projecting like that of the male, and the
urethra is outside the womb, for the passage of the semen of the male,
and for the fluid excrement of both. The part of the body which joins
the neck and the breast is called the jugulum; that which unites the
side, the arm, and the shoulder is the arm-pit. The region between the
thigh and the hypogastric region is called the groin; the part common
to the thigh and the buttock on the inside is the perineum, that of the
thigh and buttock on the outside is called hypoglutis.
6. We have previously treated of the trunk. The hinder part of the
breast is called the back: the parts of the back are two shoulder
blades and the back-bone; below the thorax, and opposite the stomach,
are the loins; the ribs belong both to the back and the front of the
trunk, and are eight on each side, for we have never heard anything
worthy of credit concerning the Ligyes, who are said to have seven ribs.
CHAPTER XI.
1. Man has upper and lower side, the front and the back, and right and
left side. The right and the left are nearly alike in their parts and
in every particular, except that the left side is the weaker; but the
back parts are not like the front; nor the lower parts to the upper,
except in this particular, that the parts below the hypogastric region
are full-fleshed or lean in proportion to the face, and the arms also
answer to the proportion of the legs. Those persons who have a short
humerus have also generally a short thigh: those who have small feet
have also small hands.
2. One of the double parts of the body is the arm. The parts of the arm
are the shoulder, humerus, elbow, cubitus, and the hand; the parts of
the hand are the palm and five fingers; the jointed part of the finger
is the condyle, the unjointed part the phalanx. The thumb has but one
joint, all the rest have two. The bending of the arm and finger is
always inwards. The arm is also bent at the elbow: the inner part of
the hand is called the palm; it is fleshy, and divided by strong lines.
Long-lived persons have one or two lines which extend through the whole
hand; short-lived persons have two lines not extending through the
whole hand. The joint of the hand and arm is the wrist. The outside of
the hand is sinewy, and has not received any name.
3. The other double part of the body is the leg. The double-headed
part of the leg is called the thigh, the moveable part is called the
patella, that which has two bones the tibia; the front of this part
is the shin, the hind part the calf of the leg. The flesh is full of
sinews and veins; in those persons who have large hips, the flesh is
drawn upwards towards the hollow part under the knee, in those who
have not it is drawn down. The lowest part of the shin is the ankle,
and this is double in each leg. The part of the leg with many bones is
called the foot, the hind part of which is the heel. The front part is
divided into five toes; the under part, which is fleshy, is called the
sole of the foot; the upper part, (the instep,) is sinewy, and has not
received any name. One part of the toe is the nail, the other is the
joint; the nail is on the extremity of the toe, and the toes are bent
inwards. Those who have the sole of the foot thick, and not hollow, but
walk upon the whole of the foot, are knavish. The common joint of the
thigh and the leg is the knee.
CHAPTER XII.
1. These parts are possessed in common by the male and female; the
position of the external parts, whether above or below, before or
behind, on the right side or the left, will appear on mere inspection.
It is necessary, however, to enumerate them, for the reasons which I
have mentioned before, that its proper place being assigned to each
part, any difference in their arrangement in man and other animals may
be less likely to escape our notice.
2. In man, the parts of the body are more naturally divided into upper
and lower than in any other animal, for all the upper and lower parts
of his body are arranged according to the order of nature above and
below; in the same way, also, the fore and hind parts, and those on
the right and left, are placed naturally. But in other animals some
of these parts are either not at all so placed, or they are much more
confused than in man. The head is placed above the body in all animals,
but in man alone, as we have said, is this part corresponding to the
order of all things.
3. Next to the head is the neck, then the breast and the back, the
one before and the other behind; and each of them in the following
order:--the stomach, loins, pudenda, haunch, then the thigh and leg,
and, last of all, the foot. The legs have the joint bent forwards, in
which direction also is their manner of walking, and the more moveable
part of the legs as well as the joint is bent forward: the heel is
behind. Each of the ankles is like an ear. From the right and left side
come arms, having the joint bent inwards, so that the flexures both of
the legs and arms are towards each other, especially in man.
4. The senses and the organs of sense, the eyes, nostril, and tongue
are in the same position, and in the anterior part of the body; but
the hearing, and its organ, and the ears are at the side, and upon the
same circumference as the eyes. Man has the eyes closer together, in
proportion to his size, than other animals. The sense of touch is the
most accurate of the human senses, and next to this the taste. In the
rest of his senses he is far surpassed by other animals.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. The external parts of the body are arranged in this manner; and, as
I have said, are for the most part named and known from habit. But the
internal parts are not so well known, and those of the human body are
the least known. So that in order to explain them we must compare them
with the same parts of those animals which are most nearly allied.
2. First of all, the brain is placed in the fore-part of the head, and
it occupies the same position in all animals that have this part, which
belongs to all sanguineous and cephalopodous animals. In proportion to
his size, man has the largest brain of all animals, and the moistest.
Two membranes enclose the brain: that outside the skull is the
strongest; the inner membrane is slighter than the outer one. In all
animals the brain is in two portions. The cerebellum is placed upon the
brain at its lowest extremity. It is different from the brain both to
the touch and in appearance.
3. The back of the head is empty and hollow in all animals in
proportion to their size, for some have a large head, but the part
lying under the face is less in those animals which have round faces;
others have a small head and large jaws, as the whole tribe of Lophuri.
In all animals the brain is without blood, nor does it contain any
veins, and it is naturally cold to the touch. The greater number of
animals have a small cavity in the centre of the brain. And round this
a membrane filled with veins: this membrane is like skin, and encloses
the brain. Above the brain is the smoothest and weakest bone in the
head--it is called sinciput.
4. Three passages lead from the eye to the brain; the largest and the
middle-sized to the cerebellum, the least to the brain itself. The
least is that which is nearest the nostril; the greater are parallel,
and do not meet; but the middle-sized passages meet: this is most
evident in fishes, and these passages are nearer to the brain than the
larger, but the least separate from each other, and do not meet.
5. Within the neck is the œsophagus, which also derives its additional
name, the isthmus, from its length and narrowness, and the trachea. The
trachea lies in front of the œsophagus in all animals which possess
this part, that is, all animals which breathe from the lungs. The
trachea is cartilaginous in its nature, and contains but little blood:
it is surrounded with many smooth rings of cartilage, and it lies
upon the upper part towards the mouth, opposite the passage from the
nostril to the mouth, wherefore, also, if any liquid is drawn into it
in drinking, it passes out of the mouth through the nostrils.
6. Between the passages is the epiglottis, which can be folded over the
passage which extends from the trachea to the mouth; by the epiglottis
the passage of the tongue is closed, at the other extremity the trachea
reaches to the middle of the lungs, and afterwards divides to each
side of the lungs. For the lung is double in all animals which possess
this part, though the division is not so marked in viviparous animals,
and least of all in man. The human lungs are anomalous, neither being
divided into many lobes, as in other animals, nor being smooth.
7. In oviparous animals, such as birds and the oviparous quadrupeds,
the parts are very widely separated, so that they appear to have two
lungs; they are, however, only two divisions of the trachea extending
to each side of the lungs; the trachea is also united with the great
vein and with the part called the aorta. When the trachea is filled
with air, it distributes the breath into the cavities of the lungs,
which have cartilaginous interstices ending in a point; the passages
of these interstices go through the whole lungs, always dividing from
greater into less.
8. The heart is connected with the trachea by fatty and cartilaginous
muscular bands. There is a cavity near the junction, and in some
animals, when the trachea is filled with breath, this cavity is not
always distinguishable, but in larger animals it is evident that the
breath enters it. This then is the form of the trachea, which only
inhales and exhales breath, and nothing else either dry or moist, or it
suffers pain till that which has passed down is coughed up.
9. The œsophagus is joined to the mouth from above, near the trachea,
being united both to the spine and the trachea by membranaceous
ligaments. It passes through the diaphragm into the cavity of the
stomach, is fleshy in its nature, and is extensible both in length and
breadth. The human stomach is like that of a dog, not a great deal
larger than the entrail, but like a wide bowel; after this there is an
entrail simply rolled together, then an entrail of moderate width. The
lower part of the abdomen is like that of a hog, for it is wide, and
from this to the seat it is short and thick.
10. The omentum is united to the abdomen in the middle, and is in its
nature a fatty membrane, as in other animals with a single stomach
and teeth in both jaws. The mesenterium is over the bowels; it is
membranaceous, broad, and fat; it is united to the great vein and the
aorta: through it extend many numerous veins at its junction with the
intestines, reaching from above downwards. This is the nature of the
œsophagus, trachea, and the parts of the abdominal cavity.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. The heart has three cavities: it lies above the lungs, near the
division of the trachea. It has a fat and thick membrane, by which it
is united to the great vein and the aorta, and it lies upon the aorta
near the apex; and the apex is placed in the same situation in all
animals which have a chest; and in all animals, whether they have or
have not a chest, the apex of the heart is forwards, though it often
escapes notice by the change of position in the parts when dissected.
The gibbous portion of the heart is upwards; its apex is generally
fleshy and thick, and there is a sinew in the cavities.
2. In all other animals which have a chest the heart is placed in
the centre; in man it is rather on the left side, inclining a little
from the division of the mammæ towards the left breast in the upper
part of the chest; it is not large; its whole form is not long, but
rather round, except that the extremity ends in a point. It has three
cavities, as I have said. The greatest is that on the right, the least
on the left, the middle one is of intermediate size. They are all
perforated towards the lungs. It has both the two smaller, and all of
them perforated towards the lungs, and this is evident in one of the
cavities downwards from its point of attachment.
3. Near the principal cavity it is attached to the great vein to which
also the mesenterium is united, and in the middle it is attached to the
aorta. Passages lead from the lungs to the heart, and they are divided
in the same way as the trachea, following the passages from the trachea
throughout the whole lungs, and the passages leading from the heart are
on the upper part. There is no passage which is common to them both,
but by their union they receive the breath and transmit it through the
heart; for one of the passages leads to the right cavity, and the other
to the left. We will hereafter speak of the great vein and the aorta in
the portion of our work which treats of these parts.
4. In all animals which have lungs and are viviparous, either
internally or externally, the lung has more blood than all the other
parts; for the whole lung is spongy, and through each perforation
branches of the great vein proceed. Those persons are deceived who
say that the lungs are empty, drawing their conclusion from dissected
animals, from which all the blood has escaped. Of all the viscera the
heart alone contains blood, and in the lungs the blood is not in the
lungs themselves, but in the veins by which they are perforated. But in
the heart itself the blood is in each of the cavities, but the thinnest
blood is in the middle cavity.
5. Beneath the lungs is that division of the trunk which is called the
diaphragm. It is united to the ribs, the hypochondriac region, and the
spine. In the centre is a smooth membranous part, and there are veins
extending through it. The human veins are thick in proportion to the
size of the body. Under the diaphragm, on the right side is the liver,
on the left the spleen, alike in all animals which are furnished with
these parts in their natural form and without monstrosity, for already
there has been observed an altered order in some quadrupeds. They are
joined to the abdomen near the omentum.
6. The appearance of the human spleen is narrow and long, like that
of the hog. Generally speaking, and in most animals, the liver is not
furnished with a gall, though this is found in some animals. The human
liver is round, like that of the ox. This is the case also in animals
offered for sacrifice, as in the district of Chalcis, in Eubœa, where
the sheep have no gall, and in Naxos it is so large in nearly all the
animals, that strangers who come to sacrifice are surprised, and think
that it is ominous, and not at all natural. The liver is united with
the great vein, but has no part in common with the aorta. For a vein
branches off from the great vein through the liver, at the place where
the gates of the liver, as they are called, are situated. The spleen
also is only connected with the great vein, for a vein extends from
this to the spleen.
7. Next to these are the kidneys, which lie close to the spine. In
their nature they are like the kidneys of oxen. In all animals that
have kidneys the right kidney lies higher than the left, and is covered
with less fat, and is more dry than the left. This is the same in all
animals. Passages lead from them to the great vein and to the aorta,
but not to the cavity; for all animals, except the seal, have a cavity
in their kidneys, though it is greater in some than in others. The
human kidneys; though similar to those of oxen, are more solid than in
other animals, and the passages that lead to them end in the body of
the kidney; and this is a proof that they do not pass through them,
that they contain no blood in the living animal, nor is it coagulated
in them when dead; but they have a small cavity, as I said before. From
the cavity of the kidneys two strong passages lead to the bladder, and
two others, strong and continuous, lead to the aorta.
8. A hollow, sinewy vein is attached to the middle of each kidney,
which extends from the spine through small branches, and disappears
towards the hip, though it afterwards appears again upon the hip. The
branches of these veins reach to the bladder; for the bladder is placed
lowest of all, being united to the passages which proceed from the
kidneys by the neck which reaches to the urethra; and nearly all round
its circumference it is united by smooth and muscular membranes, very
similar in form to those upon the diaphragm of the chest.
9. The human bladder is moderately large in size, and the pudendum is
united to the neck of the bladder, having a strong passage above and
a small one below. One of these passages leads to the testicles; the
other, which is sinewy and cartilaginous, to the bladder. From this are
appended the testicles of the male, concerning which we will treat in
the part devoted to their consideration. These parts are the same in
the female, who differs in none of the internal parts except the womb,
the appearance of which may be learned from the drawings in the books
on anatomy. Its position is upon the entrails. The bladder is above
the uterus. In a future book we will speak of the nature of the uterus
generally; for it is not alike, nor has it the same nature in them all.
These are the internal and external parts of the human body, and this
is their nature and their manner.
BOOK THE SECOND.
CHAPTER I.
1. Of the parts of other animals some are common to them all, as I have
said before, and some belong to particular classes, and they agree and
differ in the manner often before mentioned. For almost all animals
which differ in kind, have also their parts different in form, and
there are some which have only a proportionate resemblance, but differ
in kind, and others agree in kind, but not in form, and many parts
belong to some which others have not. Viviparous quadrupeds have a head
and neck, and all the parts of the head, but they differ from each
other in their forms. The lion has one bone in the neck, but has no
vertebræ, and when laid open its internal parts are like those of a dog.
2. Viviparous quadrupeds have fore-legs instead of arms, and in all
quadrupeds, especially those which have the fore-feet much divided,
they are analogous to hands, for they use them as hands, and the left
legs are less at liberty than in men, except in the elephant, and this
animal has the toes less perfectly jointed, and its fore-legs much
larger than the hind ones; it has five toes, and short ankles to its
hind legs. It has a trunk of such a nature and length as to be able to
use it for a hand, and it drinks and eats by stretching this into its
mouth; this also it lifts up to its driver, and pulls up trees with
it; with this organ it breathes as it walks through the water. The
extremity of the proboscis is curved, but without joints, for it is
cartilaginous.
3. Man is the only ambidextrous animal. All animals have their chest
analogous to man, but not similar to his, for he has a wide chest, and
theirs is narrow: no animal but man has pectoral mammæ; the elephant
has two mammæ, but not on the breast, though they are in that direction.
4. All animals, excepting the elephant, bend both their fore and hind
legs in contrary directions, and also contrary to the way in which
a man's limbs are bent. For in viviparous quadrupeds, except the
elephant, the joints of the fore-legs are bent forwards, and those
of the hind-legs backwards, and they have the hollow part of their
circumference opposite to each other: the elephant is not constructed
as some have said, but is able to sit down, and bend his legs, but,
from his great weight, is unable to bend them on both sides at once,
but leans either to the right side or the left, and sleeps in this
position, but its hind legs are bent like a man's.
5. In oviparous quadrupeds, as the crocodile, lizard, and such like,
both the fore and hind legs are bent forwards, inclining a little to
the side, and likewise also in other animals with more than four feet,
except that the middle joint of their last pair of legs is always
doubtful, and is rather bent towards the side. And man also has both
the flexures of his limbs in the same direction, and those of his arms
and legs contrary to each other, for he bends the arm backwards, except
that the external part of the arm is a little inclined inwards, towards
the side; the legs bend forwards.
6. No animal bends the joints both of its fore and hind legs backwards.
The flexure of the cubitus and fore-leg is in a contrary direction to
the flexure of the shoulder in all animals, and the flexure of the knee
is contrary to that of the hip; so that since man bends his joints in
the contrary direction to many animals, those which have such joints
as man's also bend them in a contrary direction to many animals. Birds
bend their limbs in a direction similar to that of quadrupeds, for
being bipeds, they bend their legs backwards, and have wings instead of
arms, or fore-legs, and these bend forwards.
7. The seal is like a maimed quadruped, for immediately beneath the
scapula it has feet like hands, as are also those of the bear, for
they are five-fingered, and each of the fingers has three joints, and
a small claw: the hind feet are five-fingered, and each of the fingers
has joints and claws like those upon the fore-feet; in shape they are
very like the tail of a fish.
8. The movements of animals, whether they have four feet or more, are
in the direction of the longer diameter of their bodies, and thus also
they stand, the commencement of motion is always on the right side of
their bodies. The lion and the camel, both the Arabian and Bactrian,
walk with the hind-foot following the fore-foot on the same side, and
this means that the right foot is not put before the left, but follows
it.
CHAPTER II.
1. Whatever parts a man has before, a quadruped has beneath: those that
are behind in man, form the quadruped's back; most animals have a tail,
the seal has a small one, like that of a stag; hereafter we shall speak
of apelike animals. All viviparous quadrupeds are, so to say, rough,
with hair, and not like man, who, except on his head, has not much hair
on his body, and what there is, is very fine; but his head is more
massy than that of other animals.
2. And all creatures that have their upper part rough with hair, are
quite smooth, or only slightly rough beneath; but man is contrary to
this: and again, each eyelid in man is furnished, with lashes, and he
has hair on the cheek, and pubes; other animals are not so furnished,
having no hair on the lower eyelid, or only a few hairs under the
eyelid.
3. But some hairy quadrupeds are rough all over, as the hog, the bear,
and the dog; the neck of others is the roughest part, as in those which
have a mane, like the lion; in others which have a mane, the back of
the neck from the head to the point of the shoulder is hairy, as the
horse and the mule, and among wild animals with horns, the bonassus.
The hipellaphus,[31] as it is called, has a mane upon the point of its
shoulder, and so has the pardium,[32] though both these have a thin
mane from the head to the shoulder, and the hipellaphus has a beard
upon its larynx.
[31] Perhaps Nylghau (Liddel and Scott's Lexicon), or some large kind
of Stag.
[32] Cameleopard. (Schneider.)
4. Both of these are horned, and have a cloven hoof: the female
hipellaphus has no horns, it is about the size of a stag; there are
hipellaphi in the country of the Arachotæ, where also are buffaloes.
The wild differ as much from domesticated oxen, as wild hogs from tame
ones; for they are black, and of great strength; their nose is curved
like an eagle's beak, and their horns lie backwards; the horns of
the hipellaphus are very like those of the dorcas:[33] the elephant
is the least hairy of all quadrupeds. The tails of animals are like
their bodies in roughness, and smoothness, in as many as have tails in
proportion to their size, for some have very small tails.
[33] Gazelle or antelope, so named from the brightness of its eyes.
5. Camels have a part peculiar to themselves, called the hump upon
the back; the Bactrian camel differs from the Arabian; the one has two
humps, the other but one; and they have another hump below, like the
one on their back, upon which the rest of their body is supported, when
they go down upon their knees. The camel has four mammæ, like the cow,
and a tail like an ass, and the pudendum is behind; it has but one knee
in each leg, and not many joints, as some persons say; this appearance
arises from the position of the abdomen. It has a talus like that of an
ox, misshapen, and small in proportion to its size.
6. The hoof is cloven; it has not teeth in both jaws. The cloven hoof
is formed in this manner; the lower part is somewhat cloven, as far
as the second joint of the toes, but the upper part is four-cleft as
far as the first joint of the toes; there is a membrane uniting the
cloven parts as in geese, the foot is fleshy underneath like that of
a bear, wherefore, when camels are used in war, and become footsore,
their drivers put them on leather shoes. All quadrupeds have their legs
bony and sinewy and without flesh, that is all animals with feet are so
formed, excepting man, and they are without hips; this is particularly
the case with birds. But on the contrary, the hips, thighs, and legs of
man are more fleshy than almost any other part of his body, for even
the calf of his leg is fleshy.
7. Some sanguineous and viviparous quadrupeds have many divisions in
the foot, like the hands and feet of man; for some, as the lion, the
dog, and the panther, have many divisions of the foot; others are
cloven-footed, and instead of nails have hoofs, as the sheep, the
goat, the stag, and the river-horse. Some are without divisions in the
foot, as the solidunguli, the horse, and the mule. The genus of swine
belongs to both classes; for in Illyria, Pæonia, and other places,
there are swine with a solid hoof. Those with a two-cleft hoof have
two divisions, before and behind; in those with a solid hoof this is
continuous.
8. Some animals have horns, others have none; most of those with horns
have also cloven feet, as the ox, the stag, and the goat. We have never
seen an animal with a solid hoof with two horns, and there are only a
few that have a solid hoof and one horn, as the Indian ass, and the
oryx.[34] Of all animals with a solid hoof, the Indian ass alone has
a talus. Swine, as I said before, belong to both classes, so that they
have not a well-formed astragulus.
[34] Antelope Oryx.
9. Many animals with cloven hoofs have a talus; no animals with their
feet in many divisions have a talus, nor has man. The lynx has as it
were half a talus, and so has the lion, but it is more intricate, as
some pretend. The talus is always in the hind leg, and it is placed
upright upon the gamb, with the lower part outwards, and the upper part
inwards; the parts called Coa[35] turned inwards towards each other,
and the Chia turned outwards, and the projecting portions upwards. This
is the position of the talus, in all animals which are furnished with
this part. Some animals have a cloven hoof, and a mane, and two horns
turned towards each other, as the bonassus, an animal which inhabits
the country between Pæonia and Media.
[35] Coa, the highest throw with the Astragalus with the convex side
uppermost, opposed to Chia, the lowest throw, sixes and aces.
10. All animals with horns are four-footed, unless there is any animal
which metaphorically, and for the sake of a word, is said to have
horns, as they say that the serpents in the neighbourhood of Thebes in
Egypt have, though it is nothing more than an appendage, that is called
a horn. The stag is the only animal that has solid horns, the horns of
all other animals are hollow for a part of their length, and solid at
the extremity; the hollow part is principally formed of skin, and round
this is arranged the solid part, as in the horns of oxen. The stag is
the only animal which casts its horns; they are reproduced; this takes
place every year after the animal has attained the age of two years;
other animals never lose their horns unless destroyed by violence.
CHAPTER III.
1. The parts of the mammæ also, and the organs of generation, are
different in man and in other animals. For some have the mammæ forward
on or near the breast, and two mammæ with two nipples, as man and the
elephant, as I said before, for the elephant has two mammæ near the
arm-pits; in the female they are small, and do not bear any proportion
to the size of the animal, so that they are scarcely visible in a side
view; the males also have mammæ as well as the females, but they are
exceedingly small.
2. The bear has four, other animals have two mammæ upon the thighs,
and two nipples like sheep; others have four nipples, as the cow; some
animals have not their nipples on the breast and thighs, but on the
abdomen, as the dog and the hog, they have many nipples, but not all of
the same size; other animals also have more than two, as the panther,
which has four on the abdomen; the lioness has two on the abdomen, the
camel has two mammæ and four nipples, like the cow.
3. Among animals with a solid hoof the males have no mammæ, except some
horses which bear a resemblance to their dams. Some males have the
penis external, as man, and the horse, and many others; some internal,
as the dolphin. Of those animals in which it is external, some have it
in front, as those which I have named; and some of these have both the
penis and testicles loose, as in man; others have them close to the
abdomen; some have them more, others less loose, for this part is not
equally free in the boar and the horse.
4. The elephant has a penis like a horse, but small and less in
proportion to the size of its body; its testicles are not external but
internal, and near the kidneys, wherefore also the work of copulation
is quickly performed. The female has the pudendum in the same position
as the udder of the sheep, and when excited with desire, it is lifted
up outwards, so as to be ready for copulation with the male; and the
orifice of the pudendum is very wide. Most animals have the penis in
the same direction, but some are retromingent, as the lynx, lion,
camel, and hare. In some males, as I have said, the direction of the
penis is different, but all females are retromingent, for even in the
female elephant the pudendum is placed under the thighs, as in other
animals.
5. The penis is very different in different animals, for in some it is
cartilaginous and fleshy, as in man; the fleshy part does not swell,
but the cartilaginous portion is erected; in others it is sinewy, as
the camel and the stag; in others it is bony, as the fox and the wolf,
the weasel and the martin, for the martin also has a bony penis.
6. Again, man being a perfect animal, has the upper part of his
body less than the lower part; the contrary is the case with other
sanguineous animals: by the upper portion of his body we mean the
portion of his body from the head to the anus, and by the lower,
the parts from hence downwards. In those animals which have feet the
hind leg is the lower part of the body in point of size; and in those
without legs, the same relation is observed in their various kinds of
tails. Such is the nature of perfected animals, but they differ in the
development of their parts. Man in the young state has the upper part
of his body greater than the lower; but as he grows the proportion of
his parts changes, wherefore also he is the only animal which does not
move in the same way when young and when grown up, for at first a child
crawls like a four-footed animal.
7. Some animals grow in the same proportion throughout, as the
dog--others when they are first born have their upper part
proportionally less than the lower, but as they approach maturity, the
upper parts increase in size, as in the lophuri, for in these animals
the part from the hoof to the haunch never grows after their birth.
8. There is a great difference in the teeth of animals, both among
themselves and from the human type; all viviparous and sanguineous
quadrupeds have teeth; some have teeth in both jaws, which others have
not; this is the first distinction. Those which have horns do not
possess teeth in both jaws, for they have no front teeth in the upper
jaw. There are others, as the camel, which, though it has no horns, has
not teeth in the upper jaw.
9. Some animals have tusks like the boar, others have not; some have
pointed teeth, as the lion, panther, and dog; the teeth of others have
an even surface, as the ox and the horse. Animals with pointed teeth
have their teeth fitting into each other; no animal has both tusks and
horns, neither those with pointed teeth nor any others. Most animals
have their front teeth sharp, and their hind teeth flat; all the teeth
of the seal are sharp pointed, showing an approximation to the race of
fishes, for all fishes have pointed teeth.
10. None of these genera have a double row of teeth. But, if we may
believe Ctesias, there are some which have this peculiarity, for he
mentions an Indian animal called martichora, which had three rows of
teeth in each jaw; it is as large and as rough as a lion, and has
similar feet, but its ears and face are like those of a man; its eye is
grey, and its body red; it has a tail like a land scorpion, in which
there is a sting; it darts forth the spines with which it is covered
instead of hair, and it utters a noise resembling the united sound of
a pipe and a trumpet; it is not less swift of foot than a stag, and is
wild, and devours men.
11. Man sheds his teeth, and so do other animals, as the horse, the
mule, and the ass; man sheds his front teeth, but no animal sheds the
molar teeth; swine do not shed any of their teeth. About dogs, there
is some doubt; some persons think they do not shed their teeth at all,
others that they shed only the canine teeth; but it has been observed
that they do shed their teeth like men: perhaps it has escaped notice,
because they do not shed them before the inner ones, which are similar,
are grown up.
12. And it is probable that the same takes place in other wild animals,
since they are said only to shed their canine teeth. Young dogs are
known from old ones by their teeth, for young dogs have sharp white
teeth, old dogs have them black and blunted. The horse is in this
respect different from all other animals; for while the teeth in other
animals become darker as they grow older, in the horse they become more
white.
13. Those which are called canine teeth are placed between the cutting
and the molar teeth, and partake of the nature of both, for they are
wide below, but sharp at the top. The male has more teeth than the
female in mankind, and sheep, and goats, and swine. This has not been
observed in other animals. Those persons which have the greatest number
of teeth are the longest lived; those which have them widely separated,
smaller, and more scattered, are generally more short lived.
14. The last molar teeth, which are called wisdom teeth, appear, both
in the male and female about the age of twenty, and some women cut the
molar teeth at eighty years of age, causing great pain in the extremity
of the jaw, and some men also: this happens with persons who do not cut
their wise teeth at the proper age.
15. The elephant has four teeth on each side, with which he grinds his
food, for he reduces his food very small, like meal. Besides these,
he has two tusks: in the male these are large, and turned upwards; in
the female they are small, and bent in the contrary direction. The
elephant has teeth as soon as it is born; but the tusks are small, and
therefore inconspicuous at first. It has so small a tongue within its
mouth, that it is difficult to see it.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Animals have very differently-sized mouths, for some have wide, open
mouths, as the dog, the lion, and all animals with pointed teeth; other
animals have a small mouth, as man, or a moderately-sized one, as the
swine. The Egyptian river-horse has a mane like a horse, and a cloven
hoof like the ox; it has a flat face; the talus is like that of other
animals with cloven hoofs, and it has large projecting teeth; it has a
tail like a hog, and utters a sound like the neighing of a horse; it
is about the size of an ass, and its skin is so thick that shields are
made of it; its intestines are like those of a horse or ass.
CHAPTER V.
1. Some animals unite in their nature the characteristics of man and
quadrupeds, as apes, monkeys, and cynocephali. The monkey is an ape
with a tail; cynocephali have the same form as apes, but are larger and
stronger, and their faces are more like dogs' faces; they are naturally
fierce, and their teeth are more like dogs' teeth, and stronger than in
other genera.
2. The apes are hairy in their upper parts, so as to bear some
resemblance to quadrupeds, and also in the lower, because they are like
men, for in this particular, as I said before, there is a difference
in men and brutes; their hair is coarse, and apes are rough both above
and below. They bear a strong likeness to men in their face, for their
nostrils, ears, and teeth, both the fore and back teeth, are like his;
and as for eye-lashes, though other animals are entirely without them,
the ape has them on the lower eye-lid; they are, however, very thin,
and altogether small.
3. Upon the breast are two small mammæ, with two nipples; the arms are
like those of man, but hairy; both the arms and legs are bent like
those of man, the curves of the limbs being turned towards each other.
Besides these, it has hands, fingers, and nails like those of man, but
all indicating an approximation to the brute; their feet are peculiar,
for they are like great hands. The fingers upon them are like those
on the hands, and the middle one is the longest; the sole of the foot
is like a hand, except that it extends the whole length of the hand
like a palm, and is hard at the extremity, and is a bad and obscure
representation of a heel.
4. The feet are used for both the purposes of hands and feet, and are
bent like hands. The humerus and the femur are short compared with the
cubitus and the leg. The navel is not prominent, and there is a hard
place about the region of the navel. Like quadrupeds, the upper part
of the body is much larger than the lower, almost in the proportion of
five to three, and the feet are like hands, and as it were made up of
hands and feet, a foot as far as the extremity of the heel, and the
remainder like a hand, for the fingers are furnished with something
like a palm.
5. The ape passes more of its time as a quadruped than a biped, and
like a quadruped, it has no nates, nor has it a tail like a biped, but
only something in representation of a tail. The pudendum of the female
resembles that of a woman; that of the male is more like a dog's. The
monkey, as I said before, has a tail, and all the internal parts of the
body are like those of man. The external parts of viviparous quadrupeds
are of this nature.
CHAPTER VI.
1. Oviparous and sanguineous quadrupeds (for no sanguineous land animal
that is not either a quadruped or apodal is oviparous) have a head,
neck, back, upper and lower parts of the body, and fore and hind legs,
and something resembling a breast, like oviparous quadrupeds: most of
them also have a large tail, some a small one; all of them have many
toes and divided feet, and all the organs of sense, and a tongue,
except the Egyptian crocodile. And in this respect it resembles some
fishes, for the tongue of fishes is thorny, and not free, and in some
the place for the tongue is altogether smooth, and without division (so
that nothing is visible), unless the lips are drawn aside.
2. They have no ears, only a passage for hearing; neither have they any
mammæ, and the penis and testicles are internal, and not external. They
have no hair, but are covered with scales, and all are furnished with
sharp teeth. The river-crocodiles have eyes like hogs, and great sharp
teeth, strong claws, and an unbroken scaly skin. In the water their
sight is imperfect, but very good on land. They pass the greatest part
of the day on land, and of the night in the water, for they cannot bear
the cold air.
CHAPTER VII.
1. The chameleon has the whole of its body like that of a lizard, and
the ribs, descending downwards, are joined together on the hypogastric
region, like those of fish, and the back-bone stands up, like that of
a fish; its face is like that of the chœropithecus.[36] It has a very
long tail; the extremity is very smooth, and rolled together like a
thong. It is raised, upon longer legs than a lizard; the joints of the
legs are bent in the same direction as the lizard's.
[36] Simia rostrata, or perhaps baboon. (_The identifications of the
animals, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the German translation
by Strack_, 1816.)
2. Each of its feet is divided into two parts, having the same relation
to each other as our thumbs have to the rest of the hand: and, for a
short distance, each of these is divided into toes; in the fore-feet
the internal part has three, the external two toes; in the hind feet
the internal part has two, and the external three toes; there is a claw
upon each of its toes like that of birds of prey; its whole body is
rough, like the crocodile.
3. Its eyes are placed in a hollow, and are very large and round;
surrounded with skin like the rest of its body, and in the middle is
left a small aperture through which it sees; this is never covered with
skin. The eye is turned round in a circle, and it can direct its vision
to any side, so that it can see where it will. The change in the colour
of its skin takes place when it is filled with air. It can acquire
either a black colour, like that of the crocodile, or ochreous, like
that of the lizard, or spotted with black, like the panther; and this
change takes place over the whole body, for the eyes also change like
the rest of the body, and so does the tail.
4. Its movements are slow, like those of the tortoise; when dying, it
becomes ochreous, and retains this colour after death. The œsophagus
and trachea of the chameleon are similar to the same parts in lizards;
it has no flesh, except a little on the head and cheeks, and upon the
appendage at the end of its tail. It has no blood, except about the
heart, and eyes, and the parts above the heart, and the veins that
extend from these: and even in these there is very little blood.
5. The brain lies a little above the eyes, and is continuous with them;
and when the outside skin of the eye is taken away, a bright object
shines through it, like a bright ring of brass. Through the whole of
its body many strong membranes are extended, which are much stronger
than in other animals. It breathes strongly for some time after it has
been dissected, and there are some slight movements of the heart; it
also continues to contract its sides, but not the other parts of the
body. It has no distinct spleen; and it hides itself in rocks like the
lizard.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Birds also have many parts like the animals described above. For
all these have a head, neck, back, and under parts of the body, and
something resembling a breast. They have two legs, and thus resemble
men more than other animals, except that the joints bend backwards like
those of quadrupeds, as I said before. They have neither hands, nor
fore-feet, but wings; herein they differ from all other animals. Again,
the hip is like a thigh, large and united as far as the middle of the
abdomen, so as to look like a thigh, when it is separated from the rest
of the body; and the thigh where it is joined to the leg is another
part. The class of birds with crooked claws have the largest thigh, and
stronger breasts than others.
2. All birds have claws and many divisions of the foot; in most of
them the toes are quite separate; but the swimmers have their feet
covered with a web, but even these have distinct and jointed toes. All
birds that fly high in the air have four toes; and, generally, these
are placed three forwards, and one backward, like a heel; a few birds
have two toes turned forwards and two backwards, as the bird called
jynx.[37] This bird is somewhat larger than the spize,[38] and is
variegated in appearance. The formation of its toes is peculiar, and so
is that of its tongue, which is like a serpent's. This it can project
from its mouth, as much as the width of four fingers, and draw it in
again. Like a snake it can turn its neck quite round, whilst the rest
of its body is perfectly still. It has large claws, like those of the
colius,[39] and it hisses with its voice.
[37] Jynx torquilla, wry-neck.
[38] Fringilla, finch.
[39] Perhaps Corvus galgulus.
3. Birds have a mouth, but its construction is peculiar, for they have
neither lips nor teeth, but a beak, and neither ears nor nostrils, but
only passages for these organs, for the nostrils in the beak, and for
the ears in the head. They have two eyes like other animals, without
eyelashes; when heavy with sleep, they close their eyes with the lower
eyelid; and all possess a nictitating membrane, which closes the eye.
The owl-like birds also use the upper eyelid. The same is the nature of
the scaly animals, as the saurians, and others of this class; all of
them close their eyes with the lower eyelid, but they do not all wink
like birds. Again, birds have neither scales nor hair, but feathers;
all the feathers have a stem.
4. Birds have no tail, but a rump; in birds with long legs, or palmated
feet, this is short, in others it is large. These last, when they
fly, keep their legs close to the body, but the others stretch them
out behind them. All birds have a tongue, but this differs in various
kinds: some have it large, others small. Next after man, some birds
articulate words better than any other animals; this is particularly
the case with those with broad tongues. No oviparous animal has an
epiglottis on its trachea: but it can close and open the passage, so as
to prevent any heavy thing finding its way into the lungs.
5. Some tribes of birds have spurs; this is never the case with those
which have crooked claws. Those with crooked claws are more active in
flight; those which have spurs, are heavier in their make.
6. Some birds have a crest, mostly formed of erect feathers; the
domestic fowl, alone, is peculiar, for its crest is neither flesh, nor
very unlike flesh.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Among aquatic animals, there is one class of fish, which embraces
many forms, and is separated from other animals, for it has a head, and
upper and lower parts, in which last are the stomach and bowels, and
a continuous and undivided tail. This is not alike in all. They have
neither neck nor limb, nor internal and external testicles, nor mammæ,
nor has any other animal mammæ that is not viviparous, nor indeed all
viviparous animals, but those only that are internally viviparous, and
not first of all oviparous. For the dolphin is a viviparous animal,
wherefore it has two mammæ, not indeed above, but near the organs of
reproduction. It has not evident nipples, but, as it were, a stream
flowing from each side. From these the milk exudes, and the young ones
suck as they follow the mother. This has been distinctly observed by
some persons.
2. But fish, as we have observed, have neither mammæ nor any external
passage for the genital organs. In the branchia they have a distinctive
organ, through which they eject the water they have received into their
mouths; and they have fins, most fishes have four, but the long fishes,
as the eel, have only two placed near the branchia, and in this respect
the cestreus,[40] a fish in the lake of Siphæ, is similar to the
eel,[41] and so is the fish called tænia.[42] Some of these long fish
have no fins, as the muræna, nor have they divided branchia like other
fish.
[40] Mugil, mullet.
[41] Muræna anguilla.
[42] Perhaps Cepola tænia.
3. Some fish with branchia have coverings over their branchi; in
all the cartilaginous fishes they are uncovered. All fishes that
have coverings have the branchia placed on their sides; among the
cartilaginous fishes some are broad in the lowest part, as the
narce[43] and the batos;[44] some very long in the sides, as all the
galeodea.[45] In the batracus,[46] although the branchia are on the
sides, they are covered with a coriaceous, not a prickly membrane, like
those of fishes which are not cartilaginous.
[43] Raia torpedo.
[44] Raia batos.
[45] The shark tribe.
[46] Lophius piscatorius.
4. In some fishes with branchia they are single, in others double, but
the last towards the body is always single. Some have but few branchia,
others have many; but their number is always equal on both sides, and
those with the smallest number have always one on each side; this is
double in the capros;[47] others have two on each side, sometimes these
are single, sometimes double, as in the conger[48] and the scarus;[49]
others have four simple branchia on each side, as the ellops,[50]
synagris, muræna, and eel; others have four, all divided except the
last, as the cichle,[51] perca,[52] glanis,[53] and cyprinus;[54] all
the galeodea have five double branchia on each side, the xiphias[55]
has eight, which are double. This is the manner and number of the
branchia of fishes.
[47] Perhaps Cottus cataphractus.
[48] Muræna conger.
[49] Scarus cretensis.
[50] Swordfish or sturgeon (L. and S. Lexicon), or Centriscus scolopax.
[51] A variegated fish.
[52] Perca fluviatilis.
[53] Silurus glanis.
[54] Cyprinus carpis, Carp.
[55] Xiphias gladius, Swordfish.
5. And fish differ in other respects besides their gills, for they have
no hair like viviparous quadrupeds, nor scaly plates like oviparous
quadrupeds, nor feathers like birds, but the greater number of them are
covered with scales; some of them are rough, and a very few are smooth.
Some cartilaginous fishes are rough, others smooth. Congers, eels, and
tunnies are smooth. All fish except the scarus have pointed teeth,
and all have sharp teeth, some several rows of them, and teeth on the
tongue; they have also a hard prickly tongue, so united to the mouth as
sometimes to appear without a tongue.
6. The mouth of some fishes is wide, like viviparous quadrupeds. They
have no external organs of sense, nor even passages for smelling or
hearing; but all have eyes without eyelids, though their eyes are
not hard. All fishes are sanguineous; some are oviparous, others
viviparous; all those that are covered with scales are oviparous. The
cartilaginous fishes are all viviparous, except the batrachus.
CHAPTER X.
1. The remaining class of sanguineous animals is that of serpents;
these partake of both characters. The greater portion of them inhabit
the land, a few inhabiting water are found in rivers. There are also
serpents in the sea very like those on land, except in their head,
which is more like that of the conger. There are many genera of
sea-serpents, and they are of all kinds of colours; they do not exist
in the deepest part of the ocean. Serpents are apodal, like fishes.
2. There are also marine scolopendræ,[56] very like those on land, but
rather less; they live in rocky places; in colour they are redder, and
they have more feet, and slighter legs than in the terrestrial species.
These also, like the serpents, are not found in deep places.
[56] Nereis, or aphrodite.
3. And there is a small fish which lives among the rocks, which some
call echineis;[57] some people use it for trials and philtres; it is
not fit for food. Some people say it has feet, but it has none; the
fins, however, are like feet, which gives it this appearance. I have
now described the external parts of sanguineous animals, their nature,
and their number, and the differences which occur amongst them.
[57] Echeneis remora.
CHAPTER XI.
1. First of all we will speak of the internal parts of sanguineous
animals, for the greatest number of genera differ from other animals,
some being sanguineous, others ex-sanguineous. The sanguineous genera
are man, viviparous and oviparous quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and
whales, and perhaps others that are anonymous, because they do not form
a genus, but simply species amongst each other, as the serpent and the
crocodile.
2. All viviparous quadrupeds have an œsophagus and trachea, situated
as in man, and so have oviparous quadrupeds and birds, though there
is some difference in the formation of these parts; all that breathe
by inhaling and exhaling air have lungs, trachea, and œsophagus. The
position of the œsophagus and trachea, though similar, is not the same,
nor are the lungs alike in all, nor similar in position.
3. All sanguineous animals have a heart, and a division in the middle
of the body, called a diaphragm. In small animals its smallness and
thinness render it less apparent. The heart of the ox is peculiar; for
there is a kind of ox, though not the whole genus, which has a bone in
its heart, and there is also a bone in the heart of the horse.
4. Not all animals have lungs, fish and those with gills have no lungs.
All sanguineous animals have a liver, generally a spleen also; but
in oviparous animals that are not viviparous, the spleen is so small
as nearly to escape notice, as in most birds, the pigeon, kite,[58]
hawk,[59] and owl. The ægocephalus[60] has none at all. Oviparous
quadrupeds are of the same nature, for they have a very small spleen,
as the tortoise, emys,[61] phryne, lizard, crocodile, and frog.
[58] Falco milvus.
[59] Falco palurabarius.
[60] Stryx otus.
[61] Testudo coriacea.
5. Some animals have a gall upon the liver, others none. Among
viviparous quadrupeds the stag[62] has none, nor the deer,[63] horse,
mule, ass, seal, and some swine. The Achaïnian stag appears to have the
gall in the tail; that which they call gall in these animals resembles
it in colour, but it is not liquid like gall, but more like the spleen
in its internal structure.
[62] Cervus elaphus.
[63] Cervus capreolus, or C. Dama.
6. All, while they are alive, have worms[64] in the head; they are
produced in the hollow part under the hypoglottis, and near the
vertebræ, where the head is joined on. In size they resemble very large
maggots; they are numerous, and continuous, in number not generally
more than twenty. Stags, as I have observed, have no gall, but their
intestines are so bitter that dogs will not eat them if the deer are
fat.
[64] Possibly Œstras nasalis.
7. The elephant also has a liver without a gall, but when the part
where the gall is attached in other animals, is cut open, a quantity
of fluid like bile, more or less abundant, runs out. Among those
animals which inhale sea-water, and have lungs, the dolphin has no
gall. All birds and fishes have galls, and all oviparous quadrupeds,
to speak of them at once, have a gall, greater or less; but in some
fishes it is placed upon the liver, as the galeodea, glanis, rine,[65]
leiobatus,[66] narce, and in some long fish, as the eel, belone,[67]
and zygæna;[68] and the callionymus[69] has a gall upon the liver,
larger in proportion to its size than any other fish. Others have a
gall upon the intestines, extending from the liver by several thin
passages; the amia[70] has it stretched out upon the intestines, and
equal to them in length, and many times folded upon it. Other fish
have the gall upon the intestines, some at a greater, others at a less
distance, as the batrachus, elops, synagris, muræna, xiphias.
[65] Squalus squatina.
[66] Raia batos.
[67] Syngnathus acus.
[68] Squalus zygæna.
[69] Uranoscopus scaber.
[70] A kind of marked scomber, mackerel?
8. And the same genus often appears to have the gall extended in both
directions, as the conger, in some individuals it is turned towards
the liver, in others suspended before the liver. The same structure is
observed in birds, for some have the gall turned towards the stomach,
and others towards the entrails, as the pigeon, crow, quail, swallow,
sparrow; in others it is directed both towards the liver and the
stomach, as the ægocephalus; in others, as the hawk and kite, it is
directed towards the liver and the intestines.
CHAPTER XII.
1. All viviparous quadrupeds have kidneys and a bladder, but some
oviparous animals have neither, as birds and fishes, and among
oviparous quadrupeds the marine turtle is the only one that has them at
all proportionate to its size. The marine turtle has the kidneys like
those of oxen, and that of the ox is like a great many kidneys joined
together. In all its internal parts, the bonassus[71] is like the ox.
[71] Bos grunniens.
2. The position which these parts occupy is the same in all animals,
and the heart is in the middle of the body of all creatures, except
man. In him it is inclined towards the left side; and, as it was before
observed, the apex of the heart is directed forward in all, but in
fishes it does not appear to be so, for the apex of the heart is not
directed towards the chest, but towards the mouth and head, and the
top of the heart is suspended from the place where the right and left
branchia are joined to each other, and there are also other passages
which extend from the heart to each of the branchia, greater towards
the larger branchia, and less towards the smaller; but that to the top
of the heart in great fishes is a thick white tube.
3. A few fishes, as the conger and the eel, have an œsophagus, but even
in these it is very small; in some of the fish that have a liver, it is
placed on the right side, and has no lobes; in others, it is divided
from the commencement; and the greater part is on the right side. For
in some fish each part of the liver hangs down, and the divisions are
not united at their origin, as in the tribe of fish called galeodea,
and in a species of hare which is found near the lake of Bolba, in the
place called Sycine, and in other places, so that one might suppose
that they had two livers, on account of the distances at which the
passages unite, as in the lungs of birds.
4. In all animals the spleen is naturally situated on the left side.
The case has occurred that an animal having been opened, has been
observed to have the spleen on the right side and the liver on the
left, but such appearances are considered ominous. In all animals the
trachea reaches to the lungs (its nature will be described in another
place); and the œsophagus, in all that have this part, reaches to the
stomach through the diaphragm. For most fishes (as I observed before)
have no œsophagus, but the stomach is united directly with the mouth.
So that it often happens that, when great fishes are pursuing small
ones, the stomach falls forward into the mouth.
5. All the animals that have been mentioned have a stomach, and in
the same situation, for it is universally placed under the diaphragm,
and an intestine follows it, and ends in the exit for the food which
is called the anus. But the stomach of different animals is variously
formed, for in the first place viviparous horned quadrupeds, which have
not teeth in both jaws, have four such passages, and those animals are
said to ruminate. For the œsophagus, commencing in the mouth, extends
to the parts just below the lungs, and passes through the diaphragm to
the great stomach.
6. The internal part of this is rough, and folded together; and it is
united, near the junction of the stomach, to the part which, from its
appearance, is called the net, for the exterior is like a stomach, but
the inside resembles the meshes of a net; in point of size, the net is
much less than the stomach. Next to this is the part called echinus,
because internally it is rough and channelled; it is nearly the same
size as the net. Next to the echinus is the enystrum, which is both
larger and longer than the echinus, and internally covered with many
large and smooth folds; after this are the entrails.
7. This is the nature of the stomach of animals with horns, and no
teeth in the upper jaw. But they differ from each other in the form
and size of these parts; and because the œsophagus is sometimes united
to the middle, and sometimes to the side of the stomach. Most animals
which have teeth in both jaws have but one stomach, as the man, dog,
bear, lion, and the wolf. The thos[72] has all its intestines like a
wolf. All these have but one stomach, to which the bowel is united.
But in some of these the stomach is larger, as the hog and the bear;
that of the hog is marked with a few smooth lines. In other animals the
stomach is less, not indeed much larger than the intestine, as the dog,
lion, and man. In the forms of their bowels other animals are divided
into two classes, resembling these types; for in some the stomach
resembles a dog's, in others a hog's, both the greater and lesser
animals in the same way; and the stomachs of various animals differ in
size, form, thickness, thinness, and the position of the junction of
the œsophagus.
[72] Felis onza, perhaps also canis aureus.
8. And the nature of the bowels differs in the before-named animals,
those, namely, which have not, and those which have teeth in both
jaws, in size, thickness, and folding. The intestines of the ruminants
are all large, and so are the animals themselves; there are a few
small animals of this class, and there is no horned animal which is
very small. And some have appendages to the intestines, for none of
the animals with teeth in both jaws have straight intestines. There
are enlargements in the bowels of the elephant, which give it the
appearance of having four stomachs; in these the food is detained, and
apart from these there is no receptacle for the food. Its intestines
are very like those of the hog, except that the liver is four times
greater than that of the ox, and other parts also; the spleen is small
in proportion to its size.
9. The stomach and intestines of oviparous quadrupeds bear a similar
proportion to each other, as in the land and marine tortoise, the
lizard, and both kinds of crocodiles,[73] and similar quadrupeds; for
they have one simple stomach, in some it is like that of the hog, in
others like that of the dog.
[73] Crocodilus niloticus and Lacerta stellio.
10. The class of serpents in almost every part of their body resemble
the saurians, which have feet, and are oviparous, if we add to their
length, and take away the feet; for snakes are covered with scales,
and have their upper and lower parts like saurians, except that they
have no testicles, but, like fish, two passages united in one, and a
large and cloven uterus, but in other respects their intestines are so
like those of saurians, except that from their elongated figure their
intestines are long and narrow, that they might be mistaken for them,
from their similarity.
11. For the trachea is very long, and the œsophagus still longer, and
the commencement of the trachea is close to the mouth, so that the
tongue appears to lie beneath it. The trachea appears to be above the
tongue because this last can be retracted, and is not always in one
position, as in other animals. Their tongue is long, thin, and black,
and can be put forth for some distance. The tongue of serpents and
saurians is distinct from that of all other animals, for the extremity
of the tongue is cloven; this is most remarkable in serpents, for the
extremities of their tongues are like hairs. The seal also has a
forked tongue. The serpent has a stomach like a very wide entrail, like
that of the dog, afterwards a very long and thin intestine, which is
alike to its extremity.
12. Behind the pharynx is a small kidney-shaped heart, so that at
times the apex does not appear to be directed towards the chest, next
to this is a single lung, divided by a muscular passage, very long,
and descending a long distance from the breast. The liver is long and
simple, the spleen small and round, like that of the saurians. The gall
resembles that of fish, in water serpents it is situated on the liver,
in others generally upon the intestines. They all have pointed teeth,
and as many ribs as there are days in the month, for they have thirty.
Some persons say that in one respect serpents resemble the young of the
swallow, for if their eyes are pierced with a pointed instrument, they
will grow again, and if the tails of serpents or lizards be cut off,
they will be reproduced.
13. The same remarks will apply to the intestines and stomachs of
fishes, for they have one simple stomach, but it differs in form,
for in some fishes it is like a bowel, as in the one called scarus,
and this is the only fish that appears to ruminate, and the size of
the intestines is simple and folded together, for it can be resolved
into one, by unfolding it. The appendages of the stomach appear
to be peculiar to fishes and birds, for birds have them above the
stomach, and few in number, but in fish they are above, and around the
stomach. Some have many appendages, as the gobius,[74] galeus,[75]
perca, scorpios,[76] citharus,[77] trigla,[78] and sparus.[79] But
the cestreus has many on one side of the stomach, and only one on the
other. Some have only a few, as the hepatus[80] and the glaucus,[81]
and the chrysophrys[82] also has only a few, but some individuals
differ from others, for one chrysophrys has many, another has only
a few. There are some fish which have none of them, as most of the
cartilaginous genera; others have a few, and some a great many, and all
fish have these appendages very near the stomach itself.
[74] Gobio, gudgeon.
[75] Shark.
[76] Cottus scorpius.
[77] Probably Pleuronectes rhombus.
[78] Mullus surmulentus.
[79] Sparus maina.
[80] Theutis hepatus.
[81] Probably Gobio gozo.
[82] Sparus aurata.
14. Birds have their internal parts different from each other and from
other animals; for some have before the stomach a crop, as the domestic
fowl, pigeon, dove, and partridge. The crop is a large and hollow skin,
into which the food is received before it is digested. Hence from the
œsophagus it is narrower, then wider, and where it descends into the
stomach it is smaller.
15. In most birds the stomach is fleshy and thick, and on the outside
there is a strong skin, which is separated from the fleshy part. Some
birds have no crop, but instead of it a wide œsophagus, either wholly
so, or in the part extending to the stomach, as in the colœus,[83]
raven, and crow. The quail has the lower part of the œsophagus broad,
the ægocephalus has it small but wider, and so has the owl. But the
duck, goose, gull, diver, and bustard, have a wide and broad œsophagus,
and so have many other birds.
[83] Three kinds of birds are called by this name. Corvus graculus, C.
monedula, and Pelicanus graculus.
16. And some have a part of the stomach itself like a crop, as the
cenchreis;[84] and there are some which have neither œsophagus nor a
wide crop, but a large stomach; these are small birds like the swallow,
and the sparrow. A few have neither a crop, nor a wide œsophagus, but a
very long one; these are birds with a long neck, as the porphyrion.[85]
Almost all these emit a moister excrement than other birds.
[84] Falco tinnunculus.
[85] Fulica porphyrion.
17. The quail has these peculiarities, for it has a crop, and before
the stomach a wide and broad œsophagus. And the crop is at a great
distance from the part of the œsophagus before the belly, considering
the size of the bird. Birds have generally a small intestine, which
is single when unfolded, and birds have appendages, a few, as I have
said, and not placed above, as in fish, but below, near the end of the
intestine. Some birds have not these appendages, though they generally
have them, as the domestic fowl, partridge, duck, night-raven,[86]
localus,[87] ascalaphus,[88] goose, bustard, owl. Some of the small
birds have them, but they are very minute, as the sparrow.
[86] Ardea nycticorax.
[87] Some kind of heron.
[88] Some kind of owl.
BOOK THE THIRD.
CHAPTER I.
1. We have treated of the other internal parts of animals, their
number, their nature and varieties. It now remains for us to speak of
the organs of generation. In females these are always internal; but
there is much difference in males, for some sanguineous animals have
no testicles at all, in others they are internal; and in some animals
with internal testicles, they are placed near the kidneys, in others
near the abdomen; in other animals they are external. The penis of
these last is sometimes united to the abdomen, in others it is loose
as well as the testicles; but in promingent and retromingent animals
it is suspended from the abdomen in a different manner. Neither fish
nor any other animal with gills, nor the whole class of serpents,
have testicles; neither has any apodal animal which is not internally
viviparous.
2. Birds have testicles, but they are internal and near the loins, and
so have oviparous quadrupeds, as the lizard, tortoise, and crocodile,
and among viviparous animals, the hedgehog. In some viviparous animals
they are situated internally upon the abdomen, as the dolphin among
apodal creatures, and the elephant among quadrupeds. In other animals
the testicles are external. It has been previously observed, that the
manner and position of their junction with the abdomen is various, for
in some they are joined on and do not hang down, as in swine, in others
they hang down as in man.
3. It has also been observed that neither fishes nor serpents have
testicles, but they have two passages hanging down on each side of the
spine from the diaphragm, and these unite in one passage above the
anus, by above, we mean nearer the spinal column. At the season of
coition these passages are full of semen, which exudes on pressure;
the differences among these may be seen by dissection, and in another
place they will each be considered more particularly.
4. All oviparous animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, have their
testicles placed in the loins below the diaphragm, some of a white
colour, others ochreous, but in all surrounded with small veins; from
each of these a passage is produced, which afterwards become united in
one, and, as in fish, open near the anus. This is the penis, which is
inconspicuous in small animals; but in the larger, as the goose and
such like, it becomes more conspicuous immediately after coition.
5. And these passages, both in fish and other animals, are joined to
the loins below the stomach and between the entrails and the great
vein, from which passages proceed to each of the kidneys; and, as in
fish, the semen may be seen entering them at the period of coition,
when these passages become very conspicuous, but when this season is
passed the passages again become invisible. So also the testicles of
birds are either small or entirely invisible when not excited, but
when urged by desire they become very large; this is so remarkable in
pigeons and partridges, that some persons have supposed that they had
no testicles during winter.
6. In some of those animals in which the testicles are placed forwards,
they are internal and upon the abdomen, as in the dolphin; in others
they are externally conspicuous upon the extremity of the abdomen.
These animals are similar in other respects, but differ in this, for in
some the testicles are uncovered, and others that have external testes
they are placed in a scrotum.
7. This is the nature of the testicles of all viviparous animals with
feet: from the aorta, passages like veins proceed to the head of each
testicle, and two others from the kidneys, these last are full of
blood, but those from the aorta contain no blood. From the head of each
testicle to the testicle itself, there proceeds a thicker and more
muscular passage, which is in each testicle reflected back to the head
of the testicle, and from this point they again unite upon the penis
towards the fore-part of it.
8. And both these passages which are reflected back upon themselves,
and those which are seated upon the testicles, are covered with the
same membrane as the testes themselves, so that unless this membrane
is taken away, they all appear to be one passage. These last passages,
which are seated upon the testicle, contain sanguineous fluid, but less
than those above from the aorta; but in the reflected passages of the
duct which is upon the penis, the fluid is white. A passage also leads
from the bladder, and is united to the upper part of this duct, which
is enclosed in the part called the penis as in a husk. The accompanying
diagram will illustrate the position of these parts.
9. The origin of the passage from the trachea, _a_; the head of the
testes and the descending passages, _b b_; the passages which proceed
from these, and are seated upon the testicle, _c c_; the reflexed
passages which contain the white fluid, _d d_; the penis, _e_; the
bladder _f_; the testicles, _g g_. But when the testicles are cut out
or otherwise destroyed, the upper passages are retracted; in young
animals castration is performed by bruising the testicles, in older
animals by excision. And it has happened that a bull has begotten young
if admitted to the female immediately after castration. This is the
nature of the testicles of animals.
10. The uterus of the females that possess this organ is not of the
same nature, nor alike in all, but they differ from each other both in
viviparous and oviparous animals. The uterus is double in all those
animals in which it is situated near the external organ of generation,
one part lying on the right side, the other on the left, but the origin
is one, and there is but one os uteri, which is like a very fleshy
tube, and in most animals, especially those of a large size, it is
cartilaginous. One part of this organ is called the uterus and delphys
(whence the word adelphi, brothers), and the vagina and os uteri are
called metra.
11. In all viviparous animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, the
uterus is placed below the diaphragm, as in the human female, the
bitch, sow, mare, and cow, and it is the same in all horned animals.
At the extremity of the uterus most animals have a convoluted part
called the horns; these are not distinct in all oviparous animals; but
in some birds they are placed near the diaphragm, and in some fishes
below, as in the viviparous bipeds and quadrupeds. But they are thin,
membranaceous, and long, so that in very small fish each part of the
roe appears as one ovum, as if the fish which are said to have a
crumbling roe had but two ova, for it is not one ovum but many, and
therefore it may be resolved into many.
12. In the uterus of birds the vagina is below, fleshy and tough, but
the part near the diaphragm membranaceous and very thin, so that the
eggs appear to be outside the uterus. In large birds the membrane is
more conspicuous, and if inflated through the vagina, it swells and
enlarges at places; in small birds these parts are not conspicuous. The
uterus of oviparous quadrupeds, as the tortoise, lizard, frog, and such
like, is of the same nature, for the vagina below is one and fleshy,
but the division and the ova are higher up and near the diaphragm.
13. In those apodal creatures which are outwardly viviparous and
inwardly oviparous, as the sharks and selachea--[The selachea are
apodal, furnished with gills, and viviparous]--the uterus is divided,
and as in birds, it commences below and extends towards the diaphragm.
The ova are situated between the division, and above near the
diaphragm; and the animal is produced from the ovum after this has
descended into the open space.
14. The difference between the uteri of these fish and others may be
studied more accurately in drawings of dissections. Serpents also
differ much both among themselves and from other animals, for all
serpents except the viper are oviparous; this one is viviparous, though
at first internally oviparous, wherefore, in many respects, its uterus
resembles that of the cartilaginous fishes. The uterus of the serpent
is long, like the body, and descends downwards, beginning from one duct
and continuing on either side of the spine as far as the diaphragm, as
if each were a passage, in which the ova are placed in order; these ova
are not extruded singly, but connected together like a chain.
15. In all animals that are either internally or externally viviparous,
the uterus is situated above the abdomen; in all oviparous creatures it
is placed below, near the loins. Those that are externally viviparous,
but internally oviparous, partake of both characters, for the lower
part in which the ova are situated is near the loins, the other part
whence the ova are extruded above the intestines. And there is also
this difference in the uteri of animals: those which have horns and
not teeth in both jaws have cotyledons in the pregnant uterus, and some
of those also with teeth in both jaws, as the hare, the mouse, and the
bat. But other viviparous animals with teeth in both jaws, and with
feet, have a smooth uterus. The embryo is not united to the cotyledon,
but to the womb. This is the manner of the internal and external
heterogeneous parts of animals.
CHAPTER II.
1. Of the homogeneous parts of animals, the blood is common to
sanguineous animals; and so is the part in which it is contained, which
is called a vein; analogous to these, in exsanguineous animals are the
serum and the fibre. That which especially constitutes the body is
flesh or its analogue: the bone and its analogue; the spine and the
cartilage. Next to this we place the skin, membranes, sinews, hair,
nails, and their analogue; after these, adeps, fat, and excrementitious
matters; then are fæces, phlegm, and bile, both the yellow and the
black.
2. But inasmuch as the blood and the veins seem to occupy the chief
place, we will first of all speak of these, both for other reasons, and
because former writers do not appear to have described them rightly.
The difficulty of understanding them is the reason of their errors,
for in dead animals, the nature of the principal veins is obscure, for
they collapse as soon as the blood has escaped, and it pours out of
them as from a vessel. No part of the body, except the veins, contains
any blood, except the heart, which has a little; but it is all in the
veins. In living creatures their nature cannot be distinguished, for
they are internal, and out of sight; so that those who consider them
only in dead and dissected animals, cannot see their principal origins.
But some, by the examination of emaciated persons, have distinguished
the origin of the veins, from the appearance of those which are
external.
3. For Syennesis,[89] a Cyprian physician, speaks thus: "The larger
veins are thus constituted. From the navel around the loins, through
the back to the lungs, under the breasts; that from the right to the
left, and that from the left to the right. That from the left, through
the liver to the kidney and the testicle; that from the right to the
spleen, the kidney, and the testicle, and from thence to the penis."
[89] Syennesis, a physician of Cyprus. Very little is known of him; he
must have lived in or before the fourth century B.C.
4. Diogenes[90] of Apollonia writes thus: "The veins are thus placed in
man. There are two very large ones, which extend through the stomach by
the spine of the back, one to the right and the other to the left, each
to the leg nearest itself, and upwards to the head by the collar-bone,
and through the neck. From these great veins others extend through the
whole of the body, from the right to the right side, and from the left
to the left side. The largest are two from the heart, surrounding the
spine of the back; and others, a little higher up, through the breasts
under the arm-pits, each to the hand nearest itself; and the one is
called the splenetic, the other the hepatic vein.
[90] Diogenes of Apollonia was an eminent natural philosopher of Crete,
in the fifth century B.C. He wrote a work, περὶ φύσεως, in which he
treated of natural philosophy in the widest sense of the words: a few
fragments are still extant, of which this quoted by Aristotle is the
longest.
5. "The extremity of these veins is divided, one branch goes to the
thumb, and another to the wrist, and from these many small branches
are extended upon each hand, and the fingers; and others, smaller
still, branch off from these first veins, from the right side to the
liver, from the left to the spleen and kidneys. The veins, which go to
the legs, are divided near the junction, and extend through the whole
thigh; but the largest of these extends to the back of the thigh, and
appears thick; another, less thick, passes through the inside of the
thigh, and afterwards veins extend by the knee to the leg and foot. As
on the hands, they are distributed upon the tarsus of the foot, and
from thence to the toes.
6. "A number of small veins are distributed on the stomach and the
lungs. Those that extend to the head, through the jugular region,
appear large in the neck. From the extremity of each of these many
veins are distributed upon the head, some on the right side to the
left, others on the left side to the right, they all end near the ear.
And there is a second vein upon the neck on each side, somewhat less
than the other, to which the principal veins of the neck are united.
These pass inwards, through the neck, and from each of them veins pass
beneath the shoulder-blade and to the hands; and near the splenetic
and hepatic veins there appear others a little less, which they divide
when any disease attacks the skin; but the hepatic and splenetic veins
are divided for any disease in the neighbourhood of the stomach.
7. "Other veins pass from these, beneath the breasts; and there are
other small ones, which proceed from each of these through the spinal
marrow to the testicles, and others beneath the skin, through the
flesh, reach the kidneys; in men they terminate upon the testicles, in
women on the uterus. The first veins from the stomach are wider, and
afterwards become smaller, until they pass over from the right to the
left, and from the left to the right; these are called the spermatic
veins. The thickest blood is beneath the flesh, but that which is in
excess in these places becomes thin, and warm, and frothy." These are
the opinions of Syennesis and Diogenes.
8. Polybus[91] writes thus: "There are four pair of veins, one from
the back of the head through the neck, on the outside, near the spine
on either side, as far as the thighs and the legs, afterwards through
the legs to the ancles, on the outside, and to the feet. Wherefore,
in complaints of the back and thigh, they divide the veins upon the
poplitic region, or ancles, on the outside. Another pair of veins pass
from the head, by the ears, through the neck, these are called the
jugular veins; and others within, near the spine, lead by the loins to
the testicles and the thighs, and through the poplitic region on the
inside, and through the leg to the inner part of the ancle, and the
feet; wherefore, in complaints of the loins and testicles, they bleed
in the poplitic region and ancles.
[91] Polybus, a pupil of Hippocrates, a native of the island of Cos; he
lived in the fourth century B.C. Many treatises on medical subjects are
attributed to him.
9. "The third pair of veins, from the temple through the neck, and
beneath the scapula, reach the lungs; those from the right to the left,
under the breast, to the spleen and kidneys; and those from the left
to the right side, from the lungs, under the breast, and liver, and
kidney; and both end beneath the testicles. The fourth pair from the
forepart of the head and the eyes, under the neck and collar-bones;
from thence they extend through the humerus to the elbow, and through
the cubitus to the wrist and the fingers, and through the lower part
of the arm to the arm-pits, and the upper part of the lungs. The one
reaches as far as the spleen, the other to the liver; afterwards they
both pass over the abdomen to the pudendum."
CHAPTER III.
1. The opinions of other persons are nearly these; and there are other
physiologists, but they have not treated so accurately of the veins.
But all agree in placing their origin in the head and brain, in which
they are incorrect. But, as I have remarked before, it is difficult to
discern the course of the veins; indeed, it is impossible to understand
them unless a person will examine animals which, after emaciation, have
been killed by strangulation. The following is the nature of the veins:
There are two veins in the interior of the chest, near the spine; the
larger of these is placed forward, the smaller is behind; the larger is
inclined to the right side, the smaller to the left; and this by some
persons is called the aorta, from the sinewy portion which is seen in
dead animals.
2. These veins have their origin in the heart, for they pass completely
through the other intestines, and always preserve the character of
veins. The heart is, as it were, a part of them, and especially of the
more forward and larger one, for these veins are above and below, and
the heart is in the middle of them. The heart of all animals contains
cavities, but in the heart of very small animals the largest cavity is
scarcely perceptible, in moderately sized animals the second cavity
is scarcely visible, but in large animals they are all three distinct
enough. And when the apex of the heart is turned forwards, as I have
observed, the principal cavity is on the right side, and above it the
least is on the left side, and the middle-sized one is between them;
the two smaller are far less than the greater.
3. All these are perforated towards the lungs, but imperceptibly so
from the minuteness of the passage, except in one place. The great vein
is suspended from the upper portion of the principal cavity, and on the
right side; afterwards through the cavity a vein extends again, as if
the vein were a part of the cavity in which the blood stagnates. The
aorta has its origin from the middle cavity, but in a different manner
from the vein, for it communicates with the heart by a much narrower
passage, and the vein is continued through the heart. But the aorta
passes from the heart, and the great vein is membranous and like skin,
but the aorta is narrow and very sinewy, and as it is continued towards
the head and the lower parts of the body, it becomes narrow and quite
sinewy.
4. A portion of the great vein is first of all extended upwards
from the heart to the lung, and to the junction of the aorta, this
vein being undivided and large; from this place it divides into two
branches, the one towards the lung, and the other to the spine and the
lowest vertebra of the neck. The branch which goes to the lungs is
first divided into two branches, and afterwards it is continued upon
every tube and passage of the lungs, greater to the greater, and less
to the less, so as to leave no part in which there is not a passage and
a small vein. These last are invisible from their minute size, so that
the whole lung seems to be full of blood.
5. And the passages from the vein are above the tubes which extend from
the trachea. And the vein which is continued upon the vertebra of the
neck, and upon the spinal column, returns again to the spine, as Homer
writes in his poems: "He cut off the whole vein which passes up the
back and returns again to the neck;"[92] and from this vein branches
extend to each rib and to each vertebra; but that which is upon the
vertebra near the kidneys branches in two directions. These branches,
then, of the great vein are subdivided in this manner.
[92] Iliad. xiii. 546.
6. And above these, from that part which is continued from the heart,
the whole is again divided into two directions, for some reach to the
sides and the clavicles, and afterwards through the armpits to the
arms, in the human subject, but in quadrupeds to the fore-legs, to the
wings in birds, and to the pectoral fins in fishes. The commencements
of these veins, when they are first of all divided, are called jugular
veins; and having branched off in the neck from the great vein, they
are continued to the trachea of the lungs. And if these veins are held
on the outside, men fall down dead with insensibility, with closed
eyes, but without choking.
7. Extending in this manner, and receiving the trachea between them,
they reach the place where the jaws unite with the head; and again
from this point they are divided into four veins, one of which bends
backwards and descends through the neck and shoulder, and meets the
first division of the vein by the joint of the arm; the other portion
terminates in the hand and fingers; and another branch extends from
each part near the ear to the brain, where it is divided into many
small branches upon the membrane which surrounds the brain.
8. The brain never contains blood in any animal, nor does any vein,
small or great, terminate upon it; but some of the other branches that
extend from this vein surround the brain in a circle, and others, end
upon the organs of sense and the teeth in very small veins. In the same
manner, also, the branches of the smaller vein, which is called the
aorta, are divided: they are continued beside those of the great vein,
but the tubes are smaller and the branches less than those of the great
vein.
CHAPTER IV.
1. The veins, then, are thus distributed in the parts above the heart,
but the part of the great vein which is below the heart passes through
the middle of the diaphragm, and is united to the aorta and spinal
column by membranous flaccid passages. From this a short and wide vein
passes through the liver, from which many similar branches extend to
the liver, and disappear upon it. There are two branches of the vein,
one of which terminates upon the diaphragm, and what is called the
præcordia, the other returns through the arm-pit to the right arm,
and unites with the other veins near the interior part of the elbow.
For this reason physicians treat certain diseases of the liver by
venesection in this vein.
2. From the left of this there is a short and wide vein, which reaches
to the spleen, and the branches of this vein are lost upon this organ,
and another portion branching off in the same way from the left the
great vein passes up to the left arm, except that the last-mentioned
pass through the liver, but this one through the spleen. Other branches
also separate from the great vein, the one to the omentum, the other to
the pancreas; and from this many veins extend through the mesenterium,
and all end there in one great vein, which passes through the whole
intestine and the stomach, as far as the œsophagus; and many veins
branch off from them around these parts.
3. Both the aorta and the great vein continue as far as the kidney each
as a single duct; from this point they are more closely united to the
spinal column, and are each divided into two parts, like the letter
lambda (Λ), and the great vein is placed farther back than the aorta.
The aorta is more closely united to the spinal column, near the heart,
and the junction is formed by small sinewy veins.
4. The aorta leaves the heart as a large hollow passage, but as it
advances it becomes narrower and more sinewy. From the aorta, veins
extend also to the mesenterium, like those from the great vein, but
far inferior in size, for they are narrow and muscular. They terminate
in small hollow muscular veins. No branch of the aorta extends to the
liver and the spleen, but the branches of either vein extend to each
hip, and both touch upon the bone. Branches reach the kidney both from
the great vein and the aorta; they do not, however, enter the cavity,
but are taken up in the substance of the kidney.
5. Two other strong and continuous passages reach from the aorta to
the bladder, and others from the cavity of the kidney; but these do
not communicate with the great vein. From the centre of each kidney a
hollow sinewy vein passes through the other veins to the spinal column;
first of all they disappear upon each hip, and then appear again in
branches towards the hip; their extremities are distributed upon the
bladder and penis in the male, and upon the uterus in the female; no
branch of the great vein passes to the uterus, but many and thick ones
reach it from the aorta.
6. From the aorta and great vein branches are distributed to the nates;
at first they are large and hollow, afterwards they pass through the
legs, ending upon the feet and toes; and others again pass through the
nates and thighs, alternately from right to left, and they join with
other veins below the knees.
7. The nature and origin of the veins are evident from this
description. In all sanguineous animals, the nature and origin of the
principal veins are the same, but the multitude of smaller veins is
not alike in all, for neither are the parts of the same nature, nor do
all possess the same parts. Nor are the veins equally apparent in all
animals; but they are more manifest in those which have most blood,
and in the largest creatures; but in those animals which are small, and
have not much blood, either by nature or from excess in fat, they are
not so easily investigated, for some of the passages are confused, like
rivulets that are lost in beds of mud; and there are some animals which
have but few, and these fibres instead of veins. The great vein is very
conspicuous in all, even the smallest animals.
CHAPTER V.
1. The following is the nature of the sinews of animals. The origin of
these, also, is in the breast, for there is a sinew in the principal
cavity of the heart itself; and that which is called the aorta is a
sinewy vein, for its terminations are always sinewy, for they are not
hollow, and are extensible, like the sinews which end upon the bending
of the bones: for it is not the nature of sinews to be continuous from
one origin, like the veins, for the veins have the whole form of the
body as in outline sketches, so that in emaciated subjects the whole
mass appears full of veins, for the same place is occupied by veins in
lean persons that in fat ones is flesh.
2. The sinews are drawn round the joints and flexures of the bones;
but, if their nature were continuous, the continuation would be evident
in emaciated persons. The principal parts of the sinews are around
the part of the body appropriated to leaping, and this is called
the poples. Another double sinew is the tendon of the neck, and the
epitonus and the sinew of the shoulder, which aid in the support of the
body. The sinews around the joints have not received any name, for all
the bones where they are contiguous are bound together by the sinews.
3. And there are many sinews round all the bones; there are none in the
head; but the sutures of the skull are adapted to each other. It is the
nature of sinew to tear readily lengthwise, but across the fibre it is
indivisible, and it is very extensible. The sinews are surrounded by a
mucous, white, and gelatinous fluid, by which they are nourished, and
from which they seem to derive their origin. The vein does not alter
its form by combustion, but the sinew is entirely destroyed. Neither
does it unite after division.
4. Numbness does not take place in those parts of the body which
contain no sinews. The sinews are most abundant on the hands and feet,
and on the ribs and shoulder-blades, and round the neck and arms. All
sanguineous animals have sinews; but in those which have not jointed
limbs, and are without feet and hands, the sinews are small and
inconspicuous, so that in fishes they are most distinct near the fins.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The fibres are between the sinews and the veins; but some of them
are moistened with serum, and they extend from the sinews to the veins,
and from the veins to the sinews. There is also another kind of fibre,
which is produced in the blood of most, but not of all animals. When
this is extracted from the blood, it does not coagulate, but if it is
not taken out of the blood it coagulates. These fibres are present in
the blood of most animals, but not in that of the stag, prox,[93] and
bubalis,[94] and some others; so that their blood does not coagulate
like that of other animals: the blood of stags is very like that of
hares; for in both of these coagulation takes place; not firm, as in
other animals, but trembling, like that of milk, if no coagulating
substance is put into it. The blood of the bubalis coagulates more
thickly, only a little less so than that of sheep. This is the nature
of veins, sinews, and fibres.
[93] Cervis Capreolus, or C. dama.
[94] Antilope gnou.
CHAPTER VII.
1. The bones of animals depend upon one bone, and are connected with
each other, like the veins; and there is no such thing as a separate
bone. In all animals with bones the spinal column is their origin. The
spinal column is made up of vertebræ, and extends from the head to the
hips. All the vertebræ are perforated; the upper part of the head is a
bone joined to the last vertebra, and is called the skull, the saw-like
part is the suture.
2. This is not alike in all animals, for the cranium of some consists
of a single bone, as in the dog; in others it is compound, as in the
human subject. The female has one suture, in a circle; the male has
three, meeting at the top of the head, like a triangle; and human
skulls have been seen without sutures. The head is not composed of four
bones, but of six; two of these are placed above the ears, and are
small compared with the rest.
3. From the head the jaw-bones descend. All other animals move the
lower jaw, the river-crocodile alone moves the upper jaw. In the jaws
are the order of the teeth, which are bony, in some parts they are
perforated, in others they are not. These are the only bones too hard
to be engraved.
4. From the spinal-column, which is the point of union, originate the
clavicles and ribs; the breast also is placed upon the ribs, and some
of these are united, others are not, for no animal has a bone round
the stomach. There are also the scapulæ upon the shoulders, and these
are continued upon the arms, and those again to the hands; and in all
animals with fore legs the nature of the bone is the same.
5. At the extremity of the lower part of the spinal column, and next
to the hip, is the socket, and the bones of the lower extremity,
with those of the thigh and leg, which are called the colenes. The
ancles form a portion of these, and the part called the spur in all
creatures with ancles. Continuous with these are the bones of the feet.
Viviparous animals with blood and feet do not differ much in their
bones, but rather by analogy, in hardness, softness, and size. Again,
some of the bones contain marrow, whilst others, in the same animal,
have none.
6. Some animals do not appear to have any marrow at all in their
bones, as the lion, whose bones are very small and slight: or there
may be marrow in a few of its bones, as in those of the thigh and fore
leg; otherwise, in the lion, the bones are particularly solid, for
they are sufficiently hard to emit fire like stones on concussion.
The dolphin also has bones, but it has no spine, like fish. Some
sanguineous animals differ partially from these, as the class of birds.
In others, as fish, the bones are only analogous, for viviparous fish
have a cartilaginous spine, like those which are called selachea; the
oviparous fish have a spine, which is like the backbone of quadrupeds.
7. It is a peculiarity in fish that some species have small spines in
the flesh separated from each other. Serpents are like fish, for their
back-bone is spinous; among oviparous quadrupeds the greater animals
have a bony vertebral column; the lesser have a spinous one.
8. For all sanguineous animals have either a bony, or a spinous
column. The remainder of the bones exist in some animals, but not in
others, for if they have the limbs, they have the bones belonging to
them; for those that have not hind and fore legs have not hams, nor
are they present in those animals which possess limbs unlike those of
quadrupeds, for in these they vary in size and proportion. This is the
nature of the bones of animals.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Cartilage is of the same nature as bone, but it differs in the
greater and less, and neither bone nor cartilage are reproduced if they
are cut off. In sanguineous and viviparous animals living on the land
the cartilage is imperforate, and does not contain marrow, like the
bones; but the flat selachea, which have a cartilaginous spine, have
a cartilage analogous to bone containing a liquid marrow. Viviparous
animals, with feet, have cartilage about their ears, nostrils, and
extremities of their bones.
CHAPTER IX.
1. There is another class of parts, which, though not the same as
these, are not very different, as nails, hoofs, claws, and horns, and
besides these, the beak of birds which alone possess this part. For
these are both flexible and fissile. But bone is neither flexible nor
fissile, but brittle; and the colour of horns, nails, claws, and hoofs
follow the colour of the skin and the hair: for in black animals the
horns are black, and so are the claws and hoofs in those with claws; in
white animals they are white. There are also intermediate colours, the
nails also are of the same nature.
2. But the teeth are like bones; wherefore, in black men, Ethiopians,
and such like, the teeth and the bones are white, but the nails are
black, like the rest of the skin. The horns of most animals are hollow
at their base, and surround a bony process on their heads; but at the
extremity the horn is solid and single. The stag's horns are solid
throughout, and divided; and these animals alone cast their horns; this
is done annually, if they are not cut off. Concerning those that are
cut off, we shall speak hereafter.
3. The horns are more nearly allied to skin than to bone, so that in
Phrygia and elsewhere there are oxen which have the power of moving
their horns, as they do their ears; and of those which have nails
(and all that have toes have nails, and those that have feet have
toes, except the elephant, which has its toes undivided, and scarcely
distinguished, and no nails at all)--and of those with nails, some have
straight nails, like men, others crooked, as the lion among beasts, and
the eagle amongst birds.
CHAPTER X.
1. This is the nature of hair and its analogues and skin. All
viviparous animals, with feet, have hair; oviparous animals, with feet,
have scaly plates; and those fish alone which produce friable ova are
covered with scales; for the conger and muræna among long fish have not
such ova, and the eel produces no ova. The hair differs in thickness,
thinness, and size, according to its situation, both in the parts of
the body which it occupies, and the nature of the skin, for upon thick
skins the hair is generally harsh and thick, the hair is both thicker
and longer in the hollow and moist parts of the body, if they are such
as to be covered with hair.
2. And the case is similar in those animals which are covered with
plates or scales. If animals covered with soft hair are placed in good
pastures their hair will become coarser; and, on the contrary, it
becomes finer and less in those that have coarse hair. Warm and cold
situations also make a difference, for the hair of natives of warm
climates is harsh, but it is soft in those of colder climates. Straight
hair is soft, crisped hair is harsh.
3. It is the nature of hair to split; and different kinds of hair are
dissimilar in excess and deficiency; some are so changed by harshness
as to bear slight resemblance to hair, and are more like spines, as in
the hedgehog, wherein they resemble nails. So again the nails in some
animals are not different from bones in point of hardness.
4. Man has the thinnest skin in proportion to his size. There is a
mucous, glutinous fluid in the skin of all animals, less in some,
more in others, as in the skins of oxen, from which glue is made; and
sometimes glue is made from fishes. When the skin alone is cut it is
insensible, especially that upon the head, from the absence of flesh
between that and the bone. Wherever the skin is without flesh it does
not unite again after being cut, as the thin part of the cheek, the
prepuce, and the eyelid. In all animals the skin is continuous, and
it is only wanting in places where there are natural passages for
exudation, and at the mouth and nails. All sanguineous animals have a
skin: all, however, have not hair, but those which are described above.
5. The colour of the hair changes in men as they grow old, and the hair
becomes grey. This takes place in other animals, but not so remarkably
as in the horse. The hair begins to grow white from the extremity. Most
white animals are white from their birth, wherefore it is plain that
whiteness does not arise from dryness, as some persons suppose, for no
animal is born dry. In the exanthematous disease, called whiteness,
all the hair becomes hoary; and some patients, who have suffered from
illness, after the hair has fallen off on recovery, have regained their
dark-coloured hair. Hair which is covered up becomes white more readily
than that which is exposed to the air; in man the temples are the first
to grow grey, and the fore part of the head before the hind part, and
last of all the hair on the pubes.
6. Some of the hair exists on the body at the period of birth, and some
appears afterwards. In man alone the hair on the head, eyelashes, and
eyebrows exist at birth. The hair on the pubes, in the armpits, and on
the chin appear successively after birth, so that the parts on which
the hair appears at birth, and those on which it grows afterwards are
the same in number. In old age the hair on the head especially is the
first to fail, and falls off. This is only in front, for no one ever
becomes bald on the back of the head. The smoothness on the crown of
the head is called baldness, that upon the eyebrows depilation; neither
of these takes place before the commencement of puberty.
7. Children, women, and eunuchs never become bald. If a person be
castrated before puberty, the hair which grows after birth never makes
its appearance; if after puberty these alone fall off, except the hair
on the pubes. Women have no hair upon the chin, excepting a few of
those in whom the catamenia have ceased, and the priestesses in Caria:
and this appears ominous of future events. Women also have other hair,
but not much. There are some persons, both male and female, who from
their birth are without the hair which grows after birth; but those
persons are barren who have not hair on the pubes.
8. The rest of the hair grows proportionally, either more or less. That
upon the head grows the most, then that on the chin, and thin hair most
of all. The eyebrows grow so thick upon some aged persons as to be cut
off, for they are placed upon the symphysis of the bone; and this being
separated in old persons, a more abundant moisture exudes. Those on the
eyelids do not grow, but they fall off, when persons come to puberty,
and especially in those of warm sexual desires; they become grey very
slowly. If the hair is plucked out during the period of growth, it
comes again, but not after it has done growing.
9. Every hair has at its root a glutinous moisture, which will adhere
to anything with which it comes in contact, soon after it is drawn out.
In spotted animals the spots exist both in the hair and upon the skin,
and upon the skin of the tongue. As for the beard, some persons have a
thick one, both beneath the chin and upon it; in others, these parts
are smooth, and the beard is on the cheeks. Those who have smooth chins
are least likely to become bald. The hair grows in some diseases, as
in phthisis especially, and in old age, and upon dead bodies, and the
hair becomes harder instead of softer. The same is the case with the
nails. In persons of strong passions, the hair that is born with them
decreases, while that which comes after birth increases.
10. Those who suffer from enlarged veins are less likely to become
bald; and if they have this disease after they are bald, the hair
sometimes grows again. The hair, when cut off, does not grow again from
the extremity, but increases by growth from the root. The scales of
fishes become harder and thicker, and in those that are growing thin
and old they become still harder. The hair and wool of old animals
becomes thicker, though the quantity decreases; and the hoofs and claws
enlarge as they grow old, and the beaks of birds. And the claws grow in
the same way as the nails.
11. Feathered animals, like birds, do not change their colour by age,
excepting the crane, for this bird is ash-coloured, and becomes black
by age. But from the change of season, when it becomes cold, some of
those having but one colour, black or grey, become white, as the crow,
sparrow, and swallow; but none of those which are white become black.
At different seasons of the year many birds change the colour of their
plumage, so as to render it difficult for those who are not acquainted
with them to recognise them.
12. And many animals change their colour with a change of water; for
in one place they are black, and in another white; and the same thing
takes place at the season of coition. There are many waters of such
a nature that if sheep drink of them before sexual intercourse, they
produce black lambs; as at that which is called the cold river in the
Thracian Chalcis (in Astyritis). And in Antandria there are two rivers,
one of which turns the sheep white, the other black; and the Scamander
appears to make the sheep yellow, wherefore some people think that
Homer called the Scamander the Xanthus.
13. Other animals have no hair internally, nor upon the bottom of their
feet, though it is on the upper part. The hare alone has hair on the
inside of its cheeks, and upon its feet, and the mysticetus[95] has no
teeth in its mouth, but hairs, like hog's bristles. The hair, if it is
cut off, increases below, but not above. Feathers do not grow either
above or below, but fall out. The wing of the bee, if it is plucked
off, does not grow again, nor that of any other creature which has an
undivided wing; nor does the sting of the bee grow after it is plucked
out, but the animal dies.
[95] Balæna Mysticetus.
CHAPTER XI.
1. There are membranes in all sanguineous animals. Membrane is
like a dense thin skin, but it differs in kind, for it is neither
divisible nor extensible. There is a membrane round every bone and
every intestine, both in the greater and smaller animals; they are
inconspicuous in small animals, owing to their thinness and small size.
The principal membranes are two, which surround the brain, one round
the bones of the head, and this is stronger and thicker than that round
the brain itself; and after these, the membrane which surrounds the
heart. A thin membrane does not unite after it has been cut asunder,
and the bones, when deprived of their membranes, become inflamed.
2. The omentum is a membrane. All sanguineous animals have an omentum;
in some it is fat, in others it contains no fat. In viviparous animals,
with cutting teeth in both jaws, it has its origin and is suspended
from the middle of the stomach, where it appears like a suture of this
organ. In those that have not teeth in both jaws, it is suspended in
the same way from the principal stomach.
3. The bladder also is membranous, but its character is different, for
it is extensible. All animals have not a bladder, but all viviparous
animals have this organ, and the tortoise alone of oviparous animals.
When the bladder is cut it does not re-unite, except at the very origin
of the urethra, or only very rarely, for it has happened sometimes.
No moisture passes into the bladder of dead animals; but in living
creatures there are dry compounds, from which are formed the stones
that are found in persons labouring under this disease; sometimes
they are of such a nature in the bladder as to differ in nothing from
shells. This, then, is the nature of veins, sinews, and skins, and of
muscle and membrane; and of hair, nails, claws, hoofs, horns, teeth and
beaks, and of cartilage, bone, and their analogues.
CHAPTER XII.
1. In all sanguineous animals, flesh, and that which is like flesh, is
between the skin and the bone, or what is analogous to bone: for the
same relation which a spine bears to a bone, is also borne by flesh to
that which is like flesh, in animals possessing bones and spines. The
flesh can be divided in every direction, and so is unlike sinews and
veins, which can only be divided in their length. The flesh disappears
in emaciated animals, giving place to veins and fibres. Those animals
which can obtain abundance of good food have fat instead of flesh.
2. Those that have much flesh have smaller veins and redder blood, and
their intestines and stomachs are small; but those which have large
veins and dark blood, and large intestines and great stomachs, have
also less flesh, for those that have fat flesh have small intestines.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. Adeps and fat differ from each other, for fat is always brittle, and
coagulates upon cooling, but adeps is liquid, and does not coagulate;
and broths made from animals with adeps do not thicken, as from the
horse and hog, but that made from animals with fat thickens, as from
the sheep and goat. These substances also differ in situation, for the
adeps is between the skin and the flesh; but the fat only exists upon
the extremity of the flesh. In adipose animals the omentum is adipose,
in fat animals it is fatty: for the animals with cutting teeth in both
jaws are adipose, those that have not cutting teeth in both jaws are
fat.
2. Of the viscera in some animals the liver is full of adeps, as in the
cartilaginous fishes, for oil is procured from these during the process
of decomposition, the cartilaginous fish are particularly free from
adeps on their flesh, but the adeps is separated on the stomach. The
fat also of fishes is adipose, and does not coagulate; and some animals
are furnished with adeps on the flesh, and others apart from the flesh;
and those creatures in which the adeps is not separated from the flesh
have less of this substance on the stomach and omentum, as the eel: for
these creatures have little fat on the omentum. In most animals the
adeps collects principally upon the abdomen, especially in those which
take little exercise.
3. The brain of adipose animals is unctuous, as in swine; that of fatty
animals is dry. Of all the viscera the kidneys are surrounded by the
greatest quantity of adeps in all animals; that on the right side is
always the least adipose; and let there be ever so much adeps, there is
always a space left between the kidneys. They are also the most fatty
of the viscera, and especially in sheep, for this animal sometimes
dies from the entire concealment of its kidneys in fat. This excessive
fat around the kidneys arises from good pasture, as in the Leontine
territory of Sicily; wherefore also in the evening they drive away the
sheep which have been feeding during the day, in order that they may
take less food.
4. The fat around the pupil of the eye is common to all animals; for
all have fat in this part, that possess it, and are not hard-eyed. Fat
animals, both male and female, are more inclined to be barren, and all
old animals become fat more readily than young ones, especially when
they increase in depth, having obtained their proper width and length.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. The following is the nature of the blood. This is most essential and
common to all sanguineous animals, and is not superadded, but exists
in all animals that are not in a perishing condition. All the blood is
in a vessel called the veins, but in no other part of the body, except
the heart. The blood of all animals has no sense of touch, nor has the
excrementitious matter in the stomach; neither have the brain, nor the
marrow, any sensation of touch; but wherever the flesh is divided, the
blood flows in the living subject, unless the flesh is perishing. It is
the nature of the blood to have a sweet juice, as long as it is healthy
and a red colour, and that is bad which either by nature or disease is
black. The best kind of blood is neither very thick nor thin, unless it
is vitiated either by nature or disease.
2. In living animals it is always warm and moist, but when taken out
of the animal the blood of all creatures coagulates, except that of
the stag and deer, and perhaps some others of the same nature. The
blood of all other creatures coagulates, unless the fibre is taken
out of it. Bullock's blood coagulates faster than that of any other
animals. Amongst sanguineous animals, those which are both internally
and externally viviparous, have the most blood, and after them the
oviparous sanguineous animals; those which are well disposed, either by
nature or by health, have not a great deal of blood, as in those that
have just drank; nor a very little, as in those which are very fat. Fat
animals have pure blood, though the quantity is small; as they become
more fat they lose a portion of their blood, for fat is free from
blood. Fat is not corruptible, but blood and the parts that contain
blood are very corruptible; of these the parts surrounding the bones
are most corruptible.
3. Man has the thinnest and purest blood, that of the ox and ass is the
thickest and blackest of all viviparous animals. The blood is thicker
and blacker in the lower than in the upper part of animals. The blood
palpitates in the veins alike in all animals; this alone of all the
fluids exists in every part of the body of living subjects, and as long
only as they are alive. The blood first of all exists in the heart of
all animals before it is distributed through the body. When deprived of
their blood, or if the greater part escapes, they faint away; but when
a very great deal is lost, they die. When the blood becomes very much
liquefied, illness ensues, for it becomes like serum, and flows through
in such a manner, that some have perspired blood; and when taken out
of the body, it does not coagulate into a mass, but into separate and
divided portions.
4. In sleeping animals, the blood in the extremities is diminished, so
that it does not flow freely when they are pricked. Blood is formed
from serum, and fat from blood. When the blood becomes diseased,
hæmorrhoids are produced, either in the nose or anus, and a disease
called ixia.[96] When the blood becomes corrupted in the body, pus is
formed, and from pus a scab. The blood in females differs from that of
males, for it is more thick and black in females of similar health and
age. In the whole of the body the quantity of blood is less in females,
but internally they are more full of blood. Of all females, women have
the most blood, and the catamenia are more abundant in them than in
other females.
[96] Varicose veins.
5. When this blood is diseased, it is called a flooding. Women have a
less share in other diseases; but a few are afflicted with ixia, and
with hæmorrhoids and bleeding from the nose; when any of these take
place, the catamenia decrease. The blood differs in proportion to the
age in quantity and appearance, for when very young, it is more like
serum, and very abundant; in the aged it is thick, black, and in less
quantity; in those in the prime of life it is between these. In aged
persons the blood coagulates quickly in the body, or on the surface;
but in young persons this does not take place. Serum is imperfect
blood, because it has not ripened, or because it has become more fluid.
CHAPTER XV.
1. Concerning marrow, for this is one of the fluids which exist in some
animals. All the natural fluids of the body are contained in vessels,
as the blood in the veins, and the marrow in the bones, and others in
membranes, skin, and cavities. The marrow is always full of blood in
young animals; but when they grow older, in the adipose it becomes
adipose, in fat animals fatty. There is not marrow in all the bones,
but only in those that are hollow, and not even in some of these,
for some of the bones of the lion have no marrow, others but little;
wherefore some persons say the lion has no marrow at all, as was before
observed. In the bones of swine there is very little marrow, in some
none at all.
CHAPTER XVI.
1. These fluids are nearly always co-existent with animal life; but
milk and the spermatic fluid are produced afterwards. Of these the
milk is always secreted in those animals in which it is present. The
spermatic fluid is not secreted in all, but in some as in fishes are
what are called melts. All animals having milk have it in the mammæ.
All animals that are both internally and externally viviparous have
mammæ, that is, all that have hair, as man, and the horse, the cetacea,
as the dolphin, seal, and whale, for these also have mammæ and milk.
2. Those animals that are only externally viviparous, and oviparous
animals, have neither mammæ nor milk, as fish, and birds. All milk has
a watery serum, which is called whey, and a substantial part called
curds; the thicker kinds of milk have the most curds. The milk of
animals without cutting teeth in both jaws, coagulates, wherefore
cheese is made from the milk of domestic animals. The milk of those
with cutting teeth in both jaws does not coagulate, but resembles their
adeps, and is thin and sweet; the milk of the camel is the thinnest of
all, next is that of the horse; in the third place that of the ass.
Cow's milk is thicker.
3. Under the influence of cold, milk does not coagulate, but becomes
fluid; by heat it is coagulated, and becomes thick. There is no milk
in any animal before it has conceived, or but rarely; but, as soon
as it has conceived the milk is produced; the first and last milk
are useless. Sometimes milk has come in animals not with young, from
partaking of particular kinds of food; and even in aged females it has
been produced so freely when sucked, as to afford nourishment for an
infant. And the shepherds round Æta, when the shegoats will not endure
the approach of the males, cut their udders violently against a thorn,
so as to cause pain; at first, when milked, they produce bloody, and
afterwards putrid milk, but at last their milk is as good as that of
those which have young ones.
4. The males, both of man and other animals, rarely produce milk;
nevertheless, it is found in some cases: for in Lemnos, a he-goat
has given from the two nipples, which are always found on the penis,
so much milk, that cakes of cheese were made from it. The same thing
happened to another he-goat, which was produced from this one; but such
things as these are considered ominous: for, on inquiry being made of
the god of Lemnos, he replied that there should be an additional supply
of cattle. A small quantity of milk has been forced from some men after
puberty; from others a great quantity has been produced by suction.
5. There is a fatness in milk which becomes oily when it is cooked.
In Sicily, and other countries, when there is an abundant supply of
goat's milk, they mix ewe's milk with it, and it coagulates readily,
not only because it contains abundance of curd, but also because it
is of a drier nature. Some animals have more milk than enough for the
support of their offspring, and this is useful for making cheese, and
for putting aside. The best is that of the sheep and goats, and next,
that of the cow. Mare's milk and ass's milk are combined with the
Phrygian cheese. There is more cheese in the milk of the cow than of
the goat: for the shepherds say, from an amphora of goat's milk they
can make nineteen cakes of cheese, each worth an obolus, and thirty
from cow's milk. Other creatures have only enough for their young, and
no superabundance useful for making cheese, as all those animals which
have more than two mammæ, for none of these have a superabundance of
milk, nor will their milk make cheese.
6. Milk is coagulated by the juice of figs, and by rennet; the juice
is placed upon wool, and the wool is washed in a little milk; this
coagulates upon mixture. The rennet is a kind of milk, which is found
in the body of sucking animals. This rennet is milk, containing cheese,
for the milk becomes cooked by the heat of the body. All ruminating
animals contain rennet, and the hare among those with cutting teeth in
both jaws. The older coagulum is the better, for such rennet is useful
in diarrhœa, and so is that of the hare. The rennet of the fawn is the
best.
7. The greater or less quantity of milk drawn from those animals which
have milk, differs in the size of the body, and the variety of the
food. In Phasis there are very small cows, each of which gives a great
deal of milk; and the large cows of Epirus give an amphora and half of
milk from each of their two mammæ; and the person who milks them stands
up, or only leans a little, because he cannot reach them sitting down.
The other animals of Epirus are large except the ass, but the largest
are the cows and the dogs. These large cattle require more pasture; but
the country has a great deal so excellent, that they can be changed to
fit places every hour. The oxen are the largest, and the sheep, called
Pyrrhic; they have received this name from king Pyrrhus.
8. Some kinds of food check the milk, as the medic grass, especially
in ruminating animals. The cytisus and orobus have a very different
effect; but the flower of the cytisus is unwholesome, and causes
inflammation; the orobus does not agree with pregnant cattle, for it
causes difficulty of parturition. On the whole, those animals which are
able to eat the most food, as they are better adapted for parturition,
will also give the most milk, if they have enough food. Some of the
flatulent kinds of food, when given to animals, increase the quantity
of milk, as beans given freely to the sheep, goat, ox, and chimœra,[97]
for they cause the udder to be distended; and it is a sign that there
will be plenty of milk when the udder is seen below before parturition.
[97] Some kind of domestic goat, but not known.
9. The milk lasts a long time in those that have it, if they remain
without sexual intercourse, and have proper food; and in sheep it
lasts longer than in any other animals, for the sheep may be milked
for eight months. Altogether the ruminating animals produce milk in
greater abundance, and more fitted for making cheese. Around Torona the
cows fail in their milk a few days before calving, but give milk all
the rest of the time. In women dark-coloured milk is better for the
children than that which is white; and black women are better nurses
than white women. The most nutritious milk is that which contains the
most cheese, but that which contains less cheese is better for infants.
CHAPTER XVII.
1. All sanguineous animals eject the spermatic fluid; the office it
performs in generation, and how it is performed, will be treated of in
another place. In proportion to his size man ejects more than other
animals. This fluid, in animals covered with hair, is glutinous, in
others it is not glutinous; in all it is white, so that Herodotus is
mistaken when he says that the Ethiopians have black semen.[98] The
semen comes out white and thick if it is healthy, but after ejection
it becomes thin and black; it does not thicken with cold, but becomes
thin and watery, both in colour and density. By heat it coagulates and
thickens, and when it has been ejected for any time into the uterus,
it comes out more thick, and sometimes dry and twisted together. That
which is fruitful sinks in water, but the barren mixes with it. All
that Ctesias said about the semen of the elephant is false.
[98] Herodotus, iii. c. 97, 101.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. We have hitherto treated of sanguineous animals, the parts possessed
by all as well as those which are peculiar to each class, and of
their heterogeneous and homogeneous, their external and internal
parts. We are now about to treat of ex-sanguineous animals. There
are many classes of these, first of all the mollusca.[99] These are
ex-sanguineous animals, which have their fleshy parts external, and
their hard parts internal, like sanguineous animals, as the whole tribe
of cuttle-fish. Next the malacostraca, these are animals which have
their hard parts external, and their interior parts soft and fleshy;
their hard parts are rather liable to contusion than brittle, as the
class of carabi and cancri.
[99] The Cephalopoda.
2. Another class is that of the testacea. These are animals which have
their internal parts fleshy, and their external parts hard, brittle,
and fragile, but not liable to contusion. Snails and oysters are
instances of this class.
3. The fourth class is that of insects, which includes many dissimilar
forms. Insects are animals which, as their name signifies, are insected
either in their lower or upper part, or in both; they have neither
distinct flesh nor bone, but something between both, for their body is
equally hard internally and externally. There are apterous insects,
as the julus and scolopendra; and winged, as the bee, cockchafer, and
wasp; and in some kinds there are both winged and apterous insects;
ants, for example, are both winged and apterous, and so is the glowworm.
4. These are the parts of animals of the class mollusca (malacia);
first the feet, as they are called, next to these the head, continuous
with them; the third part is the abdomen, which contains the viscera.
Some persons, speaking incorrectly, call this the head. The fins are
placed in a circle round this abdomen. It happens in many of the
malacia that the head is placed between the feet and the abdomen.
5. All the polypi, except one kind, have eight feet, with a double row
of suckers. The sepia,[100] teuthis,[101] and teuthos[102] possess as a
characteristic part two long proboscidiform members, which have rough
suckers at their extremities, with which they seize their food and
bring it to their mouth; and when a storm arises they weather it out,
fastening these members upon a rock, like an anchor. They swim by means
of the fin-like members which are attached to the abdomen. There are
suckers upon all their feet.
[100] Sepia officinalis.
[101] Loligo vulgaris (_Owen_).
[102] Loligo media (_Owen_).
6. The polypus[103] uses its tentacula both as feet and hands, for it
brings its food to its mouth with the two that are above the mouth, and
it uses the last of its tentacula, which is the sharpest of all, in the
act of coition; this is the only one which is at all white, and it is
divided at the extremity, it is placed upon the back; and the smooth
part, in front of which are the acetabula, is called the back. In front
of the abdomen, and above the tentacula, they have a hollow tube,
by which they eject the sea-water which they have received into the
abdomen, if any enters through the mouth. This part varies in position,
and is sometimes on the right side, sometimes on the left, and by this
its ink is ejected.
[103] Sepia octopodia.
7. It swims sideways upon the part called the head, stretching out its
feet; as it swims it is able to see forwards, for the eyes are upwards,
and the mouth is placed behind. As long as it is alive the head is
hard, as if it were inflated; it touches and holds with its tentacula
bent downwards, a membrane is extended throughout, between the feet, if
it falls into the sand, it can no longer hold by it.
8. The polypus and the above-mentioned malacia differ from each other;
the abdomen of the polypus is small, and the feet are large; but of
the others, the abdomen is large, and the feet small, so that they
cannot walk upon them. They have also differences among each other; the
teuthis is the smallest, the sepia wider; the teuthos is much larger
than the teuthis, for it reaches the length of five cubits. Some sepiæ
are two cubits long, and the tentacula of the polypus are as long, and
even larger in size.
9. The class of the teuthos is rare, and differs in form from the
teuthis, for the extremity of the teuthos is wider; and, again, the fin
is placed round the whole abdomen, but it is wanting in the teuthis. It
is a marine animal, as well as the teuthis. After the feet, the head of
all these animals is placed in the middle of the feet, which are called
tentacula; one part of this is the mouth, in which are two teeth;
above these are two large eyes; between these is a small cartilage,
containing a small brain.
10. In the mouth is a small piece of flesh, for these animals have no
tongue, but use this instead of a tongue. After this, on the outside,
the abdomen is apparent. The flesh of this can be divided, not in a
straight line, but in a circle. All the malacia have a skin around
this part. After the mouth, they have a long and narrow œsophagus; and
continuous with this is a large round crop, like that of a bird; this
contains the stomach, like a net. Its form is spiral, like the helix of
a whelk; from this a thin intestine turns back, to the vicinity of the
mouth. The intestine is thicker than the stomach.
11. The malacia have no viscus, except that which is called the
mytis,[104] and the ink which is upon it. The most abundant and largest
of all is that of the sepia; all exclude this ink, when alarmed, but
especially the sepia; the mytis lies beneath the mouth; and through
this the œsophagus passes; and where the intestine turns back the
ink is beneath, and the same membrane surrounds both the ink and the
intestine. The same orifice serves for the emission of the ink and the
fœces.
[104] Köhler supposes the part called by Aristotle _mytis_ to have
been the glandular appendages on the vena cava and two visceral veins.
(_Owen in Todd's Cyclopedia of Anatomy, Art. Cephalopoda._)
12. There are some appearances of hair[105] in their bodies; the sepia,
teuthis, and teuthos, have a hard part upon the forward part of the
body; the one is called sepium (the bone of the cuttle-fish), the other
xiphus (the pen of the loligo). These two are different; for that of
the sepia is strong and wide, partaking of the nature of spine and
bone, and it contains a spongy, friable substance; but the pen of the
teuthis is thin, and cartilaginous. In their form also they correspond
with the differences of the animals themselves. The polypus has no
hard internal part, but a portion of cartilage round the head, which
becomes hard as they grow old.
[105] Probably the branchia.
13. The females also differ from the males, for the latter have a
passage beneath the œsophagus, extending from the brain to the lowest
part of the body. That part to which it reaches is like a teat. In
the female there are two such organs, which are placed above. In both
sexes, some small red bodies are placed under these. The polypus has
one capsule of eggs, which is uneven on the surface; it is large;
internally it is all of a white colour, and smooth. The multitude of
the ova is so great as to fill a vessel larger than the head of the
polypus.
14. The sepia has two capsules, and many eggs are in them, like
white hailstones. The position of each of these parts may be seen in
anatomical diagrams. In all these creatures the male differs from the
female, and especially in the sepia. The fore part of the abdomen of
the male is always darker than the back; and more rough than in the
female, and variegated with stripes, and the extremity of the body is
more acute.
15. There are many kinds of polypus; one, which is the largest of
all, is very common. Those near land are larger than those which are
caught out at sea. There are smaller kinds, which are variegated;
these are not articles of food; and two others, one of which is called
eledone,[106] differs in the length of its feet, and is the only one of
the malacia with a single row of suckers, for all the rest have two;
the other is called bolitæna,[107] and sometimes ozolis.
[106] Eledone moschata.--_Leach._ (_Owen._)
[107] Eledone cirrosa.--_Leach._ (_Owen._)
16. There are two other kinds which dwell in shells, which some persons
call nautilus[108] (and nauticus), and others call it the egg of the
polypus; its shell is like that of the hollow pecten, and not like
that which has its shells close together.[109] This animal generally
feeds near the land; when it is thrown upon the shore by the waves,
after its shell has fallen off, it cannot escape, and dies upon the
land. These animals are small in form, like the bolitæna; and there is
another,[110] which inhabits a shell like a snail. This animal never
leaves its shell, but remains in it, like the snail, and sometimes
stretches out its tentacula. Let thus much be said about the malacia.
[108] Argonauta argo. (_Owen._)
[109] This is probably the meaning of the passage. Two kinds of pectens
were distinguished; the one large, hollow, and of a dark colour, the
other broad and sweeter, but harsh.
[110] Nautilus Pompilius (_Owen._)
CHAPTER II.
1. Of the malocostraca, there is one genus, of carabi,[111] and
another, very like it, of astaci;[112] these differ from the carabi,
which have no claws, and in some other respects. There is a third
genus, of carides,[113] and a fourth, of carcini.[114] There are more
genera of carides, and of carcini; for among the carides are the
cyphæ,[115] the crangon,[116] and a small species, for these never grow
large.
[111] Palinurus, spiny lobster (Bell's crustacea).
[112] Lobster.
[113] Prawns.
[114] Crabs.
[115] Shrimp.
[116] Perhaps Prawn.
2. The family of carcini is more various, and not so easily enumerated;
the largest genus is that called maia,[117] the next to this the
pagurus,[118] and the Heracleot carcini; and, again, those that live
in rivers. The other genera are small, and have not received any name.
On the Phenician coast there are some that they call horsemen, because
they run so fast that it is difficult to catch them, and when opened,
they are empty, because they have no pasture. There is another small
genus like carcini, but in shape they resemble astaci.
[117] Perhaps Maia squinado.
[118] Cancer paguras, Great crab.
3. All these creatures, as I observed before, have their hard and
shelly coats on the outsides of their bodies in the place of skin, the
fleshy part is internal. Their under parts resemble plates, upon which
the females deposit their ova; the carabi have five feet on each side,
including the claws; the carcini, also, have in all ten feet, including
the claws, which are last. Of the carides, the cypha have five on each
side; those near the head are sharp, and five others on each side of
the stomach have flat extremities; they have no plates upon the under
part of their body; those on the upper part are like the carabi.
4. The crangon is different, for it has, first of all, four plates on
each side, and, afterwards, three slight ones, continuous with those
on each side, and the greater part of the remainder of its body is
apodal; all the feet are directed outwards to the side, like those of
insects; but the claws, in those that have them, all turned inwards.
The carabus also has a tail, and five fin-like appendages. The cypha,
among the carides, has a tail, with four fin-like appendages. The
crangon has fin-like processes on each side of the tail, and the middle
of them is spinous on both sides; but this part is wide in the crangon,
and sharp in the cypha. The carcini alone are without a tail; the body
of the carabi and carides is elongated, that of the carcini is rounded.
5. The male carabus is different from the female, for the female has
the first foot divided; in the male it is formed of a single claw, and
the fin-like process on the lower part is large in the female, and
interchanged with each other in the neck; in the male they are small
and not interchanged. In the male, also, the last feet are furnished
with large and sharp processes like spurs; in the female these are
small and smooth. They all have two large and rough processes, like
horns, before their eyes, and two, smaller and smooth, below.
6. The eyes of all these animals are hard, and capable of motion,
inwards, outwards, and to the side; the same is the nature of the
carcini, in which they are even more moveable. In colour the astacus
is all of a dull white, sprinkled with black; it has eight small feet,
as far as the large ones; after these the large feet are far greater
and wider at the extremity than in the carabus, and they are unequal
in size; for on the right side the broad part at the end is long and
smooth, on the left side the same part is thick and round; they are
both divided from the extremity like a jaw, with teeth above and below,
only that in those on the right the teeth are all small and sharp, and
they are sharp at the extremity of the left side; in the middle they
are like molar teeth; in the lower part are four close together, but in
the upper part three, but not close together.
7. In both claws the upper part is moved and pressed down upon the
lower; both are placed sideways in position, as if intended by nature
for seizure and pressure; above these large feet are two rough ones, a
little below the mouth; and still lower, the branchial organs around
the mouth, which are rough and numerous, and these are continually in
motion; it bends and approximates its two rough feet towards its mouth;
the feet near the mouth have smooth appendages.
8. It has two teeth like the carabus, above these the long horns,
much shorter and smoother than in the carabus; four others of the same
form as these, but still shorter and smoother; and above these are
placed its eyes, which are small and short, and not large like those
of the carabus. The part above the eyes is acute and rough, as it were
a forehead, and larger than in the carabus: on the whole, the head is
sharper and the thorax much wider than in the carabus, and its whole
body is more fleshy and soft: of its right feet, four are divided at
the extremity, and four not divided.
9. The part called the neck is externally divided into five portions,
the sixth and last division is wide and has five plates; in the inside
are four rough plates, upon which the females deposit their ova. On
the outside of each of these which have been mentioned, there is a
short and straight spine, and the whole body, with the part called the
thorax, is smooth, and not rough as in the carabus. On the outside of
the large feet there are great spines. The female does not in any way
differ from the male, for whether the male or female have larger claws,
they are never both of them equal.
10. All these animals take in sea-water through their mouths; the
carcini also exhale a small portion of that which they have taken in,
and the carabi do this through the branchiform appendages, for the
carabi have many branchiform appendages. All these animals have two
teeth: the carabi have two front teeth, and then a fleshy mouth instead
of a tongue, from this an œsophagus continued on to the stomach. And
the carabi have a small œsophagus before the stomach, and from this
a straight intestine is continued. In the caraboid animals and the
carides, this is continued to the tail in a straight passage, by which
they eject their excrements, and deposit their ova. In the carcini this
is in the middle of the folded part, for the place wherein they deposit
their ova is external in these also.
11. All the females also, besides the intestines, have a place for
their ova, and the part called mytis[119] or mecon, which is greater
or less, and the peculiar differences may be learned by studying the
individual cases. The carabi, as I have observed, have two large and
hollow teeth, in which there is a juice resembling the mytis, and,
between the teeth, a piece of flesh resembling a tongue; from the mouth
a short œsophagus extends to a membranous stomach; in the part of this
nearest the mouth are three teeth, two opposite and one below.
[119] Perhaps the liver.
12. And from the side of the stomach there is a simple intestine, which
is of equal thickness throughout, reaching to the anus. All these parts
belong to the carabi, carides, and carcini; and, besides these, the
carabi have a passage suspended from the breast and reaching to the
anus; in the female this performs the office of a uterus, in the male
it contains the spermatic fluid. This passage is in the cavity of the
flesh, so as to appear to be between portions of the flesh, for the
intestine is toward the curved part, but the passage towards the cavity
in the same way as in quadrupeds. In the male this part differs in
nothing from the female, for both are smooth and white, and contain an
ochreous fluid, and in both sexes it is appended to the breast.
13. The ova and spirals occupy the same position in the carides. The
male is distinguished from the female by having in the flesh upon the
breast two distinct white bodies, in colour and position like the
tentacula of the sepia; these appendages are spiriform, like the mecon
of the whelk; their origin is from the acetabula, which are placed
under the last feet. These contain a red sanguineous flesh, which is
smooth to the touch, and not like flesh. From the whelk-like appendage
there is another spiral fold, about as thick as a thread, below which
there are two sand-like bodies appended to the intestine, containing a
seminal fluid. These are found in the male, but the female has ova of
a red colour; these are joined to the abdomen, and on each side of the
intestine to the fleshy part of the body, enclosed in a thin membrane.
These are their internal and external parts.
CHAPTER III.
1. It happens that all the internal parts of sanguineous animals have
names, for all these have the internal viscera; but the same parts of
exsanguineous animals have no names, but both classes have in common
the stomach, œsophagus, and intestines. I have before spoken of the
carcini, and their legs and feet, and how many they have, and in what
direction, and that, for the most part, they have the right claw larger
and stronger than the left; I have also mentioned their eyes, and
that most of them are able to see sideways. The mass of their body is
undivided, and so is their head, and any other part.
2. In some the eyes are placed immediately below the upper part, and
generally far apart; in some they are placed in the middle, and near
together, as in the Heracleot carcini and the maia. The mouth is placed
below the eyes, and contains two teeth, as in the carabus, but they are
long and not round, and over these there are two coverings, between
which are the appendages, which the carabus also possesses.
3. They receive water through their mouth, opening the opercula, and
emit it again by the upper passage of the mouth, closing the opercula
by which it entered; these are immediately beneath the eyes, and when
they take in water they close the mouth with both opercula, and thus
eject again the sea-water. Next to the teeth is a very short œsophagus,
so that the mouth appears joined to the stomach, and from this proceeds
a divided stomach, from the middle of which is a single thin intestine;
this intestine ends externally beneath the folding of the extremity,
as I said before. Between the opercula there is something resembling
the appendages to the teeth of the carabi; within the abdomen is an
ochreous chyme, and some small elongated white bodies, and other red
ones scattered through it. The male differs from the female in length
and width, and in the abdominal covering, for this is longer in the
female, farther from the body, and more thick-set with appendages, as
in the female carabi. The parts of the malacostraca are of this nature.
CHAPTER IV.
1. The testacea, as cochleæ,[120] and cochli,[121] and all that are
called ostrea,[122] and the family of echini, are composed of flesh,
and this flesh is like that of the malacostraci, for it is internal;
but the shell is external, and they have no hard internal part. But
they have many differences amongst themselves, both in regard to their
external shells and their internal flesh, for some of them have no
flesh at all, as the echinus; in others it is entirely internal and
out of sight, except the head, as the land snails and those called
coccalia,[123] and in the sea the purpura[124] and the ceryx,[125] the
cochlus, and all the turbinated shells.
[120] Land snails.
[121] Marine.
[122] Bivalves.
[123] Some small land snail with a conical shell.
[124] Purpura.
[125] Whelk.
2. Of the rest some are bivalves, others univalves. I call those
bivalves which are enclosed in two shells; the univalves are enclosed
in one shell, and the fleshy part is uncovered, as the lepas.[126]
Some of the bivalves can open, as the pectens and mya, for all these
are joined on one side, and separated on the other, so as to shut and
open. There are other bivalves which are joined on both sides, as the
solen; others which are entirely enclosed in their shells, and have no
external naked flesh, as those which are called tethya.[127]
[126] Patella, limpet.
[127] Ascidians.
3. And there is a great difference amongst the shells themselves, for
some are smooth, as the solen, mya, and some conchæ, called by some
persons galaces;[128] other shells are rough, as the limnostrea,[129]
pinnæ, some kinds of conchæ, and the whelk; and of these some are
marked with ridges, as the pecten and a kind of concha, others are
without ridges, as the pinna and another species of concha. They also
differ in thickness and thinness, both in the whole shell and in
certain parts of the shell, as about the edges, for in some the edges
are thin, as the mya; others are thick-edged, as the limnostrea.
[128] Chama, L.
[129] Ostrea edulis.
4. Some of them are capable of motion, as the pecten, for some persons
say that the pectens can fly, for that they sometimes leap out of the
instrument by which they are taken. Others, as the pinna, cannot move
from the point of attachment; all the turbinated shells can move and
crawl; the lepas (patella) also feeds by going from place to place.
It is common to all those with hard shells to have them smooth in the
inside.
5. Both in univalves and bivalves the fleshy part is united to the
shell, so that it can only be separated by force; it is more easily
separated from the turbinated shells; it is a characteristic of all
these shells, that the base of the shell has the helix directed from
the head. All of them from their birth have an operculum; all the
turbinated testacea are right-handed, and move, not in the direction
of the helix, but the contrary way.
6. The external parts of these creatures are thus distinguished; the
nature of their internal structure is similar in all, especially in
the turbinated animals, for they differ in size and in the relations
of excess, the univalves and bivalves do not exhibit many differences.
Most of them have but few distinctive marks from each other, but they
differ more from the immovable creatures. This will be more evident
from the following considerations. In nature they are all alike, the
difference, as before said, is in excess; for in larger species the
parts are more conspicuous, and less so in those that are smaller. They
differ also in hardness and softness, and such like affections.
7. For all have on the outside of the shell, in the mouth, a hard piece
of flesh, some more, some less; from the middle of this are the head
and the two horns; these are large in larger species, in the little
ones they are very small. The head is protruded in the same manner in
all of them, and when the creature is alarmed it is again retracted;
some have a mouth and teeth, as the snail, which has small, sharp, and
smooth teeth.
8. They have also a proboscis, like that of the fly, and this organ is
like a tongue. In the ceryx and the purpura this organ is hard, like
that of the myops and œstrus, with which they pierce through the skins
of quadrupeds; but this is more powerful in strength, for they can
pierce through the shells of the baits. The stomach is joined quite
closely to the mouth; the stomach of the cochlus is like the crop of
a bird; below this there are two hard white substances like nipples,
which also exist in the sepia, but are much harder.
9. From the stomach a long, simple intestine reaches as far as the
spiral, which is on the extremity of the body. These are distinct, and
in the purpura and the ceryx are in the helix of the shell. The bowel
is continuous with the intestine. The intestine and bowels are joined
together, and are quite simple, to the anus. The origin of the bowel is
around the helix of the mecon,[130] and here it is wider. The mecon is,
as it were, a superfluous part in all testacea, afterwards another bend
causes it to return to the fleshy part; the end of the entrail, where
the fæces are emitted, is near the head, and is alike in all turbinated
shells, whether terrestrial or marine.
[130] The so-called liver (_Strack_). Papaver (_Scaliger_).
10. In the larger cochli a long white passage, contained in a membrane,
and in colour resembling the upper mastoid appendages, is joined from
the stomach to the œsophagus, and it is divided into segments like
the ovum of the carabus, except that it is white, while the other is
red. It has neither exit nor passage, but it is contained in a thin
membrane, which has a narrow cavity. From the intestine black and rough
bodies descend continuously, like those in the tortoise, but they are
less black.
11. Both these and white bodies occur in the marine cochli, but they
are less in the smaller kinds. The univalves and bivalves are in some
respects like these, and in others they are different, for they have a
head, horns, and mouth, and something like a tongue, though in smaller
species these are inconspicuous from their minute size, and they are
not discernible when the animals are dead or at rest. They all contain
the mecon, but not in the same position, nor of the same size, nor
equally conspicuous. In the lepas it is in the bottom of the shell, in
the bivalves near the hinge.
12. They all have hair-like appendages placed in a circle, and so have
the pectens, and that which is called the ovarium in those that have
it; where it is possessed, it is placed in a circle on the other side
of the circumference, like the white portion in the cochli, for this is
alike in all. All these parts, as I have said, are conspicuous in the
larger kinds, but in smaller not at all, or scarcely so, wherefore they
are most conspicuous in the larger pectens, and these have one valve
flat like an operculum.
13. The anus is placed in the side in some of these creatures, for this
is where the excrement passes out. The mecon, as I have said, is a
superfluous part enclosed in a thin membrane in all of them; that which
is called the ovarium has no passage in any of them, but it swells out
in the flesh. This is not placed upon the intestine, for the ovarium
is on the right side and the intestine on the left; the anus is the
same as in others; but in the wild patella, as some persons call it, or
the sea-ear (haliotis), as it is named by others, the excrement passes
out below the shell, for the shell is perforated. The stomach also is
distinct behind the mouth, and so is the ovarium in this animal. The
position of all these parts may be seen in dissections.
14. The creature called carcinium[131] resembles both the malacostraca
and the testacea, for this in its nature is similar to the animals that
are like carabi, and it is born naked (not covered with a shell). But
because it makes its way into a shell, and lives in it, it resembles
the testacea, and for these reasons it partakes of the character of
both classes. Its shape, to speak plainly, is that of a spider, except
that the lower part of the head and thorax is larger.
[131] Hermit crab.
15. It has two thin red horns, and two large eyes below these, not
within nor turned on one side, like those of the crab, but straight
forwards. Below these is the mouth, and round it many hair-like
appendages; next to these, two divided feet with which it seizes its
prey, and two besides these on each side, and a third pair smaller.
Below the thorax the whole creature is soft, and when laid open is
yellow within.
16. From the mouth is a passage as far as the stomach; but the anus is
indistinct; the feet and the thorax are hard, but less so than those
of the cancri; it is not united with the shell like the purpura and
ceryx, but is easily liberated from it. The individuals which inhabit
the shells of the strombus are longer than those in the shells of the
nerita.
17. The kind which inhabits the nerita is different, though very like
in other respects, for the right divided foot is small, and the left
one large, and it walks more upon this than the other; and a similar
animal is found in the conchæ, though they are united to their shells
very firmly; this animal is called cyllarus.[132] The nerita has a
smooth, large, round shell, in form resembling that of the ceryx, but
the mecon is not black, but red; it is strongly united in the middle.
[132] Cancer Diogenes.
18. In fine weather they seek their food at liberty, and if a storm
arises, the carcinia hide themselves under a stone, and the neritæ
attach themselves to it like the patella, the hæmorrhois, and all that
class, for they become attached to the rock, where they close their
operculum, for this resembles a lid; for that part which is in both
sides in the bivalves is joined to one side in the turbinated shells:
the interior is fleshy, and in this the mouth is placed.
19. The nature of the hæmorrhois, the purpura, and all such animals is
the same. But those which have the left foot greater are not found in
the shells of the strombus, but in the neritæ. There are some cochli
which contain an animal like the small astacus, which is found in
rivers; but they differ from them in having the inner part of the shell
soft. Their form may be seen by examining dissections.
CHAPTER V.
1. The echini contain no flesh, but this part is peculiar, for they are
all of them void of flesh, and are filled with a black substance. There
are many kinds of echinus, one of which is eatable; in this one the ova
are large and eatable, both in the greater and the less.
2. And there are two other kinds, the spatangus and that called
bryttus; these are inhabitants of the sea, and rare. Those which are
called echinometræ[133] are the largest of all. Besides this, there
is another small species, which has long and sharp spines; this is
procured from the sea, in many fathoms water, and some persons use it
for stranguary.
[133] Echinus esculentus.
3. Around Torona there are white marine echini, which have shells,
and prickles, and ova, and are longer than others; but the prickle is
neither large nor strong, but soft, and the black parts from the mouth
are more in number, and united to the outward passage, but distinct
among themselves, and by these the animal is as it were divided. The
eatable kinds are particularly and especially active, and it is a sign
of them; for they have always something adhering to their spines.
4. They all contain ova, but in some they are very small, and not
eatable: that which is called the head and mouth in the echinus is
downwards, and the anus placed upwards. The same thing occurs in the
turbinated shells, and the patella; for their food is placed below
them, so that the mouth is towards the food, and the anus at or on the
upper part of the shell.
5. The echinus has five hollow internal teeth, in the midst of these a
portion of flesh like a tongue; next to this is the œsophagus; then the
stomach, in five divisions, full of fæculent matter: all its cavities
unite in one, near the anus, where the shell is perforated. Beneath the
stomach, in another membrane, are the ova, the same number in all,
they are five in number, and uneven.
6. The black substance is joined above to the origin of the teeth, this
black substance is bitter and not eatable; in many animals there is
either this substance or its analogue, for it is found in tortoises,
toads, frogs, turbinated shells, and in the malacia; these parts differ
in colour, but are entirely or nearly uneatable. The body of the
echinus is undivided from beginning to end, but the shell is not so
when seen through, for it is like a lantern, with no skin around it.
The echinus uses its spines as feet, for it moves along by leaning upon
them and moving them.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The creatures called tethya[134] have a most distinct character,
for in these alone is the whole body concealed in a shell. Their shell
is intermediate between skin and shell, so that it can be cut like
hard leather: this shell-like substance is attached to rocks; in it
there are two perforations, quite distant from each other, and not
easily seen, by which it excludes and receives water, for it has no
visible excrement as other testacea, neither like the echinus, nor the
substance called mecon.
[134] Ascidian mollusks.
2. When laid open, there is first of all a sinewy membrane lining the
shell-like substance, within this the fleshy substance of the tethyon.
Unlike any other creature, its flesh, however, is alike throughout, and
it is united in two places to the membrane and the skin from the side,
and at its points of union it is narrower on each side; by these places
it reaches to the external perforations which pass through the shell;
there it both parts with and receives food and moisture, as if one were
the mouth, the other the anus, the one is thick, the other thinner.
3. Internally there is a cavity at each end, and a passage passes
through it; there is a fluid in both the cavities. Besides this, it
has no sensitive or organic member, nor is there any excrementitious
matter, as I said before. The colour of the tethyon is partly ochreous,
partly red.
4. The class acalephe[135] is peculiar; it adheres to rocks like some
of the testacea, but at times it is washed off. It is not covered with
a shell, but its whole body is fleshy; it is sensitive, and seizes upon
the hand that touches it, and it holds fast, like the polypus does
with its tentacula, so as to make the flesh swell up. It has a central
mouth, and lives upon the rock, as well as upon shell-fish, and if any
small fish falls in its way, it lays hold of it as with a hand, and if
any eatable thing falls in its way it devours it.
[135] Actiniæ.
5. One species is free, and feeds upon anything it meets with, even
pectens and echini; it appears to have no visible excrement, and in
this respect it resembles plants. There are two kinds of acalephe, some
small and more eatable, others large and hard, such as are found near
Chalcis. During winter their flesh is compact, wherefore in this season
they are caught and eaten; in summer time they perish, for they become
soft; if they are touched they soon melt down, and cannot by any means
be taken away. When suffering from heat, they prefer getting under
stones. I have now treated of malacia, malacostraca, testacea, and of
their external and internal parts.
CHAPTER VII.
1. Insects must now be treated of in the same manner. This is a class
which contains many forms, and no common name has been given to unite
those that are naturally related, as the bee, anthrene,[136] and wasp,
and such like; again, those which have their wings enclosed in a case,
as the melolontha,[137] carabus,[138] cantharis, and such like. The
common parts of all insects are three--the head, the abdomen, and the
third, which is between these, such as in other animals is the breast
and back. In many insects this is one, but in the long insects with
many legs, the middle parts are equal to the number of segments.
[136] Wild bee.
[137] Chafer.
[138] Beetle.
2. All insects survive being divided, except those which are naturally
cold, or soon become so from their small size, so that wasps live
after they are cut asunder; either the head or the abdomen will live
if united to the thorax, but the head will not live alone. Those which
are long, and have many feet, will survive division for a considerable
time; both the extremities are capable of motion, for they walk both
upon the part cut off and upon the tail, as that which is called
scolopendra. All of them have eyes, but no other manifest organs of
sense, except that some have a tongue. All the testacea have this
organ, which serves the double purpose of tasting and drawing food into
the mouth.
3. In some of them this organ is soft; in others very strong, as in the
purpura; in the myops and œstrus this member is strong, and in a great
many more; for this member is used as a weapon by all those that have
no caudal sting.
4. Those with this weapon have no small external teeth, for flies
draw blood by touching with this organ, and gnats sting with it. Some
insects also have stings, which are either internal, as in bees and
wasps, or external, as in the scorpion. This last is the only insect
that has a long tail; it has claws, and so has the little scorpion-like
creature[139] found in books. The winged insects, in addition to other
parts, have wings. Some have two wings, as the flies; others four, as
the bees; none of the diptera have a caudal sting. Some of the winged
insects have elytra on their wings, as the melolontha; and others no
elytra, as the bee. Insects do not direct their flight with their tail,
and their wings have neither shaft nor division.
[139] Phalangium Cancroides. _Linn. Schneider._
5. Some have a horn before their eyes, as the psychæ[140] and carabi.
Of the jumping insects, some have their hind-legs larger; others have
the organs of jumping bent backwards, like the legs of quadrupeds. In
all, the upper part is different from the lower, like other animals.
[140] Butterfly.
6. The flesh of their bodies is neither testaceous nor like the
internal parts of testacea, but between the two. Wherefore, also, they
have neither spine nor bone, as the sepia; nor are they surrounded
with a shell. For the body is its own protection by its hardness, and
requires no other support; and they have a very thin skin. This is the
nature of their external parts.
7. Internally, immediately after the mouth, there is an intestine
which in most insects passes straight and simply to the anus, in a few
it is convoluted; these have no bones nor fat, neither has any other
exsanguineous animal. Some have a stomach, and from this the remainder
of the intestine is either simple or convoluted, as in the acris.[141]
The tettix (grasshopper) alone of this, or any other class of living
creatures, has no mouth; but, like those with a caudal sting, it has
the appearance of a tongue, long, continuous, and undivided, and with
this it feeds upon the dew alone. There is no excrement in the stomach.
There are many kinds of these creatures, they differ in being greater
or less; those called achetae are divided beneath the diaphragm, and
have a conspicuous membrane, which the tettigonia has not.
[141] Locust.
8. There are many other creatures in the sea which it is not possible
to arrange in any class from their scarcity. For some experienced
fishermen say they have seen in the sea creatures like small beams,
black and round, and of the same thickness throughout; others like
shields, of a red colour, with many fins; others[142] like the human
penis in appearance and size, but instead of testicles they had two
fins, and that such have been taken on the extremity of grappling
irons. This is the nature of the internal and external parts of all
animals of every kind, both those which are peculiar to certain
species, and those which are common to all.
[142] Perhaps Pennatula.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. We must now treat of the Senses: for they are not alike in all,
but some have all the senses, and some fewer. They are mostly five in
number; seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, touch, and besides these
there are none peculiar to any creatures. Man, then, and all viviparous
animals with feet, besides all sanguineous and viviparous animals, have
all these, unless they are undeveloped in any particular kind, as in
the mole.
2. For this creature has no sight, it has no apparent eyes, but when
the thick skin which surrounds the head is taken away, in the place
where the eyes ought to be on the outside, are the undeveloped internal
eyes, which have all the parts of true eyes, for they have both the
iris of the eye, and within the iris the part called the pupil, and the
white; but all these are less than in true eyes. On the outside there
is no appearance of these parts, from the thickness of the skin, as if
the nature of the eye had been destroyed at birth; for there are two
sinewy and strong passages proceeding from the brain, where it unites
with the spinal cord, reaching from the socket of the eye, and ending
upon the upper sharp teeth.
3. All other animals are endued with the perception of colours, sounds,
smells, and taste. All animals have the fifth sense, which is called
touch. In some animals the organs of sense are very distinct, and
especially the eyes, for they have a definite place, and so has the
hearing. For some animals have ears, and others open perforations:
so also of the sense of smelling, some animals have nostrils, others
passages, as the whole class of birds. In the same way the tongue is
the organ of taste.
4. In aquatic animals and those called fish, the tongue is still
the organ of taste, though it is indistinct, for it is bony, and
not capable of free motion. In some fish the roof of the mouth is
fleshy, as in some cyprini among river fish, so that, without careful
examination, it appears like a tongue. That they have the sense of
taste is quite clear, for many of them delight in peculiar food, and
they will more readily seize upon a bait formed of the amia and other
fat fishes, as if they delighted in the taste and eating of such baits.
5. They have no evident organ of hearing and smelling, for the passages
which exist about the region of the nostrils in some fish do not appear
to pass to the brain, but some of them are blind, and others lead to
the gills; it is evident, however, that they both hear and smell, for
they escape from loud noises, such as the oars of the triremes, so as
to be easily captured in their hiding-places.
6. For if the external noise is not loud, yet to all aquatic animals
that are capable of hearing, it appears harsh and very loud; and this
takes place in hunting dolphins, for when they have enclosed them with
their canoes, they make a noise from them in the sea, and the dolphins,
crowded together, are obliged to leap upon the land, and, being stunned
with the noise, are easily captured, although even dolphins have no
external organs of hearing.
7. And again in fishing, the fishermen are careful to avoid making a
noise with their oars or net when they perceive many fish collected in
one place; they make a signal, and let down their nets in such a place
that no sound of the oar or the motion of the waters should reach the
place where the fish are collected, and the sailors are commanded to
row in the greatest silence until they have enclosed them.
8. Sometimes, when they wish to drive them together, they proceed as in
dolphin catching, for they make a noise with stones that they may be
alarmed and collected together, and thus they are enclosed in a net.
Before their inclosure, as it was said, they prevent a noise, but as
soon as they have enclosed them, they direct the sailors to shout and
make a noise, for they fall down with fear when they hear the noise and
tumult.
9. And when the fishers observe large shoals at a distance, collected
on the surface in calm, fine weather, and wish to know their size,
and of what kind they are, if they can approach them in silence, they
avoid their notice, and catch them while they are on the surface. If
any noise is made before they reach them, they may be seen in flight.
In the rivers, also, there are little fish under the stones, which
some persons call cotti:[143] from their dwelling beneath rocks, they
catch them by striking the rocks with stones, and the fishes fall
down frightened when they hear the noise, being stunned by it. It is
evident, from these considerations, that fishes have the sense of
hearing.
[143] Perhaps Cottus gobio L., miller's thumb. Salmo Fario (_Strack_).
10. There are persons who say that fish have more acute ears than other
animals, and that, from dwelling near the sea, they have often remarked
it. Those fish which have the most acute ears are the cestreus[144]
(chremps),[145] labrax,[146] salpe,[147] chromis,[148] and all such
fishes; in others the sense of hearing less acute, because they live in
the deeper parts of the ocean.
[144] Mullet.
[145] Unknown.
[146] Perca Labrax.
[147] Scomber.
[148] Unknown.
11. Their nature of smelling is the same, for the greater number of
fishes will not take a bait that is not quite fresh; others are less
particular. All fish will not take the same bait, but only particular
baits, which they distinguish by the smell; for some are taken with
stinking baits, as the salpe with dung. Many fish also live in the
holes of rocks, and when the fishermen want to entice them out, they
anoint the mouths of these holes with salted scents, to which they
readily come.
12. The eel also is enticed out in this way, for they place a pitcher
of salt food, covering the mouth of the pitcher with another vessel
pierced with holes, and the eels are quickly drawn forth by the smell
of the bait. Baits made of the roasted flesh of the cuttle fish, on
account of its strong smell, attract fish very readily. They say they
put the roasted flesh of the polypus upon their hooks for nothing but
its strong smell.
13. And the fish called rhyades,[149] when the washings of fish or
of fœtid drains are emptied into the water, make their escape as if
smelling the fœtid odour. They say that fish soon smell the blood of
their own kind; this is plain from their hastening from any place where
the blood of fishes may be. On the whole, if any one use a putrid bait,
the fish will not come near it; but if a fresh strong-smelling bait is
used, they will come to it from a great distance.
[149] A fish living in shoals.
14. This is especially observable in what was said of dolphins, for
these creatures have not external organs of hearing, but are captured
by being stunned with a noise, as was before observed; neither have
they any external organs of smell, yet their scent is acute. Therefore,
it is evident that all creatures have these senses. Other kinds of
animals are divided into four classes; and these contain the multitude
of remaining animals, namely, the malacia, malacostraca, testacea, and
insects.
15. Of these the malacia, the malacostraca, and insects have all the
senses, for they can see, smell, and taste. Insects, whether they have
wings or are apterus, can smell from a great distance, as the bee and
the cnips[150] scent honey, for they perceive it from a long distance,
as if they discovered it by the scent. Many of them perish by the
fumes of sulphur: ants leave their hills when origanum and sulphur are
sprinkled upon them. Almost all of them escape from the fumes of burnt
stags' horns, but most of all do they avoid the smell of burnt styrax.
[150] Perhaps some species of ant.
16. The sepia, also, the polypus, and the carabus are caught with
baits; the polypus holds the bait so fast that it holds on even when
cut: if a person hold conyza to them, they let go as soon as they smell
it. So, also, of the sense of taste, for they follow different kinds
of food, and do not all prefer the same food, as the bee approaches
nothing that is putrid, only sweet things; the gnat not what is sweet,
but what is acid.
17. As I before observed, the sense of touch belongs to all animals.
The testacea have the senses of smelling and tasting. This is plain
from the baits used, as those for the purpuræ; for this creature is
caught with putrid substances, and will be attracted from a great
distance to such baits, as if by the sense of smell. It is evident from
what follows that they possess the sense of taste; for whatever they
select by smell, they all love to taste.
18. And all animals with mouths receive pain or pleasure from the
contact of food. But, concerning the senses of sight and hearing, it is
not possible to say anything certain, or very distinct; the solens, if
a person touch them, appear to retract themselves, and try to escape
when they see an instrument approaching them, for a small portion
of them is beyond the shell, the remainder as it were in a retreat;
the pectens, also, if a finger is brought near them, open and shut
themselves as if they could see.
19. Those who seek for neritæ do not approach them with the wind, when
they seek them for baits, nor do they speak, but come silently, as if
the creatures could both smell and hear; they say that if they speak,
they get away. Of all testacea, the echinus appears to have the best
sense of smell amongst those that can move, and the tethya and balanus
in those that are fixed. This is the nature of the organs of sense in
all animals.
CHAPTER IX.
1. The following is the nature of the voice of animals, for there is
a distinction between voice and sound. Speech, again, is different
from these. Voice is due to no other part except the pharynx, the
creatures, therefore, without lungs are also without voice. Speech is
the direction of the voice by the tongue; the vowels are uttered by
the voice and the larynx, the mutes by the tongue and the lips; speech
is made up of these: wherefore, no animals can speak that have not a
tongue, nor if their tongue is confined.
2. The power of uttering a sound is connected with other parts also;
insects have neither voice nor speech, but make a sound with the air
within them, not with that which is external, for some of them breathe
not, some of them buzz, as the bee with its wings, and others are said
to sing, as the grasshopper. All these make a noise with the membrane
which is beneath the division of their body in those which have a
division, as some families of grasshoppers by the friction of the air.
These insects, bees, and all other insects raise and depress their
wings in flight, for the sound is the friction of the air within them.
Locusts produce a sound by rubbing themselves with their legs, which
are adapted for leaping. None of the malacia utter any sound or natural
voice, nor do the malacostraca.
3. Fish also are mute, for they have neither lungs, trachea, nor
pharynx. Some of them utter a sound and a squeak; these are said to
have a voice, as the lyra[151] and chromi,[152] for these utter, as
it were, a grunt; so does the capros, a fish of the Achelous, the
chalceus[153] and coccyx,[154] for the one utters a sound like hissing,
the other a noise like that of the cuckoo, from whence also its name
is derived. Some of these utter their apparent voice by the friction
of their gills, for these places are spinous, in others the sound is
internal, near the stomach. For each of them has an organ of breathing,
which causes a sound when it is pressed and moved about.
[151] Trigla Lyra.
[152] Cottus cataphractus.
[153] Zeus faber.
[154] Trigla hirundo.
4. Some of the selachea also appear to whistle, but they cannot be
correctly said to utter a voice, only to make a sound. The pectens
also make a whizzing noise when they are borne upon the surface of the
water, or flying, as it is called; and so do the sea-swallows,[155]
for they also fly through the air in the same way, not touching the
sea, for they have wide and long fins. As the sound made by birds
flying through the air is not a voice, so neither can either of these
be properly so called. The dolphin also utters a whistle and lows when
it comes out of the water into the air, in a different way from the
animals above-mentioned--for this is a true voice, for it has lungs and
a trachea, but its tongue is not free, nor has it any lips so as to
make an articulate sound.
[155] Flying fish.
5. The oviparous quadrupeds, with a tongue and lungs, utter a sound,
though it is a weak one. Some of them hiss like serpents; others have
a small weak voice, others, as the tortoise, utter a small hiss. The
tongue of the frog is peculiar, for the fore-part of it is fixed, like
that of a fish; but the part near the pharynx is free and folded up.
With this it utters its peculiar sound. The male frogs make a croaking
in the water when they invite the females to coition.
6. All animals utter a voice to invite the society and proximity of
their kind, as the hog, the goat, and the sheep. The frog croaks by
making its lower jaw of equal length, and stretching the upper one
above the water. Their eyes appear like lights, their cheeks being
swelled out with the vehemence of their croaking; for their copulation
is generally performed in the night. The class of birds utter a voice:
those which have a moderately wide tongue have the best voice; those
also in which the tongue is thin. In some kinds both male and female
have the same voice; in others it is different: the smaller kinds have
more variety in their voice, and make more use of it, than the larger
tribes.
7. All birds become more noisy at the season of coition. Some utter a
cry when they are fighting, as the quail; others when they are going to
fight, as the partridge; or when they have obtained a victory, as the
cock. In some kinds both male and female sing, as the nightingale; but
the female nightingale does not sing while she is sitting or feeding
her young: in some the males alone, as the quail and the cock; the
female has no voice. Viviparous quadrupeds utter different voices; none
can speak--for this is the characteristic of man, for all that have
a language have a voice, but not all that have a voice have also a
language.
8. All that are born dumb, and all children, utter sounds, but have no
language; for, as children are not complete in their other parts, so
their tongue is not perfect at first; it becomes more free afterwards,
so that they stammer and lisp. Both voices and language differ in
different places.
9. The voice is most conspicuous in its acuteness or depth, but the
form does not differ in the same species of animals; the mode of
articulation differs, and this might be called speech, for it differs
in different animals, and in the same genera in different places, as
among partridges, for in some places they cackle, in others whistle.
Small birds do not utter the same voice as their parents, if they are
brought up away from them, and have only heard other singing birds. For
the nightingale has been observed instructing her young, so that the
voice and speech are not naturally alike, but are capable of formation.
And men also have all the same voice, however much they may differ in
language. The elephant utters a voice by breathing through its mouth,
making no use of its nose, as when a man breathes forth a sigh; but
with its nose it makes a noise like the hoarse sound of a trumpet.
CHAPTER X.
1. Concerning the sleep and wakefulness of animals. It is quite
manifest that all viviparous animals with feet both sleep and are
awake; for all that have eyelids sleep with the eyes closed; and not
only men appear to dream, but horses, oxen, sheep, goats, dogs, and all
viviparous quadrupeds. Dogs show this by barking in their sleep. It is
not clear whether oviparous animals dream, but it is quite plain that
they sleep.
2. And so it is in aquatic animals, as fish, the malacia, the
malacostraca, the carabi, and such like creatures. The sleep of all
these animals is short: it is plain that they do sleep, though we can
form no conclusion from their eyes, for they have no eyelids, but from
their not being alarmed; for if fish are not tormented with lice, and
what are called psylli, they may be captured without alarming them, so
that they can be even taken with the hand. And if fish remain at rest
during the night a great multitude of these creatures fall upon and
devour them.
3. They are found in such numbers at the bottom of the sea as to devour
any bait made of fish that remains any length of time upon the ground;
fishermen frequently draw them out hanging like globes around the
bait. The following considerations will serve still more to confirm
our suppositions that fishes sleep; for it is often possible to fall
upon the fish so stealthily as to take by the hand, or even strike them
during this time; they are quite quiet, and exhibit no signs of motion
except with their tails, which they move gently. It is evident, also,
that they sleep, from their starting if anything moves while they are
asleep, for they start as if they were waked out of sleep.
4. They are also taken by torchlight while asleep; those who are
seeking for thynni surround them while asleep; it is evident that
they can be captured from their stillness, and the half-open white
(of their eyes). They sleep more by night than by day, so that they
do not move when they are struck; they generally sleep holding by the
ground, or the sand, or a stone, at the bottom, concealing themselves
beneath a rock, or a portion of the shore. The flat fishes sleep in the
sand; they are recognized by their form in the sand, and are taken by
striking them with a spear with three points. The labrax, chrysophrys,
cestreus, and such-like fish are often taken with the same kind of
weapon while asleep in the day time, but if not taken then, none of
them can be captured with such a spear.
5. The selache sleep so soundly that they may be taken with the hand;
the dolphin, whale, and all that have a blow-hole, sleep with this
organ above the surface of the sea, so that they can breathe, while
gently moving their fins, and some persons have even heard the dolphin
snore. The malacia sleep in the same manner as fish, and so do the
malacostraca. It is evident from the following considerations that
insects sleep; for they evidently remain at rest without motion; this
is particularly plain in bees, for they remain quiet, and cease to hum
during the night. This is also evident from those insects with which
we are most familiar, for they not only remain quiet during the night
because they cannot see distinctly, for all creatures with hard eyes
have indistinct vision, but they seem no less quiet when the light of a
lamp is set before them.
6. Man sleeps the most of all animals. Infants and young children do
not dream at all, but dreaming begins in most at about four or five
years old. There have been men and women who have never dreamt at
all; sometimes such persons, when they have advanced in age, begin
to dream; this has preceded a change in their body, either for death
or infirmity. This, then, is the manner of sensation, sleep and
wakefulness.
CHAPTER XI.
1. In some animals the sexes are distinct, in others they are not
so, these are said to beget and be with young by a likeness to other
creatures. There is neither male nor female in fixed animals, nor in
testacea. In the malacia and malacostraca there are male and female
individuals, and in all animals with feet, whether they have two or
four, which produce either an animal, an egg, or a worm from coition.
2. In other kinds the sexes are either single or not single; as in all
quadrupeds there is the male and female, in the testacea it is not
so, for as some vegetables are fertile and others barren, so it is in
these. Among insects and fishes there are some that have no differences
of this kind, as the eel is neither male nor female, nor is anything
produced from them.
3. But those persons who say that some eels appear to have creatures
like worms, of the size of a hair, attached to them, speak without
observation, not having seen how they really are; for none of these
creatures are viviparous without being first oviparous, none of them
have ever been observed to contain ova; those that are viviparous have
the embryo attached to the uterus, and not to the abdomen, for there it
would be digested like food. The distinction made between the so-called
male and female eel that the male has a larger and longer head, and
that the head of the female is smaller, and more rounded, is a generic,
and not a sexual distinction.
4. There are some fish called epitragiæ, and among fresh-water fish the
cyprinus and balagrus are of the same nature, which never have ova or
semen; those which are firm and fat, and have a small intestine, appear
to be the best. There are creatures, such as the testacea, and plants,
which beget, and produce young, but have no organ of coition; and so
also in fishes the psetus,[156] erythrhinus,[157] and the channa. All
these appear to have ova.
[156] Pleuronectes Lingua and Rhombus.
[157] Perca marina, or Sparus erithrinus.
5. In sanguineous animals with feet that are not oviparous, the males
are generally larger and longer lived than the females, except the
hemionus, but the females of this animal are both larger and longer
lived; in oviparous and viviparous animals, as in fish and insects, the
females are larger than the males, as the serpent, phalangium,[158]
ascalabotes,[159] and frog; in fish likewise, as in most of the small
gregarious selache, and all that inhabit rocks.
[158] Aranca tarantula.
[159] Lacerta Gekko.
6. It is evident that female fishes have longer lives than males,
because females are caught of a greater age than the males; the upper
and more forward parts of all animals are larger and stronger, and more
firmly built in the male; the hinder and lower parts in the female.
This is the case in the human subject, and all viviparous animals with
feet: the female is less sinewy, the joints are weaker, and the hairs
finer, in those with hair; in those without hair, its analogues are of
the same nature; the female has softer flesh and weaker knees than the
male, the legs are slighter; the feet of females are more graceful, in
all that have these members.
7. All females, also, have a smaller and more acute voice than the
males, but in oxen the females utter a deeper sound than the males; the
parts denoting strength, as the teeth, tusks, horns, and spurs, and
such other parts, are possessed by the males, but not by the females,
as the roe-deer has none, and the hens of some birds with spurs have
none; the sow has no tusks: in some animals they exist in both sexes,
only stronger and longer in the males, as the horns of bulls are
stronger than those of cows.
BOOK THE FIFTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. We have hitherto treated of the external and internal parts of all
animals, of their senses, voice, and sleep, with the distinctions
between the males and females; it remains to treat of their generation,
speaking first of those which come first in order, for they are many,
and have numerous varieties, partly dissimilar, and partly like each
other. And we will pursue the same order in considering them as we did
before in their division into classes; we commenced our consideration
by treating of the parts in man, but now he must be treated of last,
because he is much more intricate.
2. We shall begin with the testacea, and after these treat of the
malacostraca, and the others in the order of their succession. These
are the malacia and insects, next to these fishes, both viviparous and
oviparous; next to them birds, and afterwards we must treat of animals
with feet, whether viviparous or oviparous; some viviparous creatures
have four feet, man alone has two feet. The nature of animals and
vegetables is similar, for some are produced from the seed of other
plants, and others are of spontaneous growth, being derived from some
origin of a similar nature. Some of them acquire their nourishment
from the soil, others from different plants, as it was observed when
treating of plants.
3. So also some animals are produced from animals of a similar form,
the origin of others is spontaneous, and not from similar forms; from
these and from plants are divided those which spring from putrid
matter, this is the case with many insects; others originate in the
animals themselves, and from the excrementitious matter in their parts;
those which originate from similar animals, and have both the sexes
are produced from coition, but of the class of fishes there are some
neither male nor female, these belong to the same class among fishes,
but to different genera, and some are quite peculiar. In some there
are females but no males, by these the species is continued as in the
hypenemia among birds.
4. All these among birds are barren, (for nature is able to complete
them as far as the formation of an egg,) unless persons suppose that
there is another method of communicating the male influence, concerning
which we shall speak more plainly hereafter. In some fish, after the
spontaneous production of the ovum, it happens that living creatures
are produced, some by themselves, others by the aid of the male. The
manner in which this is done will be made plain in a future place, for
nearly the same things take place in the class of birds.
5. Whatever are produced spontaneously in living creatures, in the
earth, or in plants, or in any part of them, have a distinction in the
sexes, and by the union of the sexes something is produced, not the
same in any respect, but an imperfect animal, as nits are produced from
lice, and from flies and butterflies are produced egg-like worms, from
which neither similar creatures are produced, nor any other creature,
but such things only. First of all, then, we will treat of coition, and
of the animals that copulate, and then of others, and successively of
that which is peculiar to each, and that which is common to them all.
CHAPTER II.
1. Those animals in which there is a distinction of the sexes use
sexual intercourse, but the mode of this intercourse is not the same
in all, for all the males of sanguineous animals with feet have an
appropriate organ, but they do not all approach the female in the same
manner, but those which are retromingent, as the lion, the hare, and
the lynx, unite backwards, and the female hare often mounts upon the
male; in almost all the rest the mode is the same, for most animals
perform the act of intercourse in the same way, the male mounting upon
the female; and birds perform it in this way only.
2. There are, however, some variations even among birds; for the male
sometimes unites with the female as she sits upon the ground, as the
bustard and domestic fowl: in others, the female does not sit upon
the ground, as the crane; for in these birds the male unites with
the female standing up; and the act is performed very quickly, as in
sparrows. Bears lie down during the act of intercourse, which is
performed in the same manner as in those that stand on their feet, the
abdomen of the male being placed upon the back of the female: in the
hedgehogs, the abdomens of both sexes are in contact.
3. Among the large animals, the roe-deer seldom admits the stag, nor
the cow the bull, on account of the hardness of the penis; but the
female receives the male by submission. This has been observed to take
place in tame deer. The male and female wolf copulate like dogs. Cats
do not approach each other backwards, but the male stands erect, and
the female places herself beneath him. The females are very lascivious,
and invite the male, and make a noise during the intercourse.
4. Camels copulate as the female is lying down, and the male embraces
and unites with her, not backwards, but like other animals. They remain
in intercourse a whole day. They retire into a desert place, and suffer
no one to approach them but their feeder. The penis of the camel is
so strong, that bowstrings are made of it. Elephants also retire into
desert places for intercourse, especially by the sides of rivers which
they usually frequent. The female bends down and divides her legs, and
the male mounts upon her. The seal copulates like retromingent animals,
and is a long while about it, like dogs. The males have a large penis.
CHAPTER III.
1. Oviparous quadrupeds with feet copulate in the same manner: in some,
the male mounts upon the female, like viviparous animals, as in the
marine and land turtle, for they have an intromittent organ by which
they adhere together, as the trygon and frog, and all such animals.
2. But the apodous long animals, as serpents and murænæ, are folded
together, with the abdomens opposite, and serpents roll themselves
together so closely, that they seem to be but one serpent with two
heads. The manner of the whole race of saurians is the same, for they
unite together in the same kind of fold.
CHAPTER IV.
1. All fish, except the flat selache, perform the act of intercourse
by approaching each other with their abdomens opposite: but the
flat fish, with tails, as the batos, trygon, and such like, not only
approach each other, but the male applies his abdomen to the back of
the female, in all those in which the thickness of the tail offers no
impediment. But the rhinæ, and those which have a large tail, perform
the act by the friction of their abdomens against each other, and some
persons say that they have seen the male selache united to the back of
the female, like dogs.
2. In all those that resemble the selache, the female is larger
than the male; and in nearly all fish the female is larger than the
male. The selache are those which have been mentioned; and the bos,
lamia, æetus, narce, batrachus, and all the galeode. All the selache
have been frequently observed to conduct themselves in this way. In
all viviparous creatures the act occupies a longer time than in the
oviparous. The dolphin and the cetacea also perform the act in the same
manner, for the male attaches himself to the female for neither a very
long, nor a very short time.
3. The males of some of the fish which resemble the selache differ from
the females, in having two appendages near the anus, which the females
have not, as in the galeodea; for these appendages exist in them all.
Neither fish nor any other apodal animal has testicles, but the males,
both of serpents and of fish, have two passages, which become full of a
seminal fluid at the season of coition; and all of them project a milky
fluid. These passages unite in one, as they do in birds; for birds have
two internal testes, and so have all oviparous animals with feet. In
the act of coition this single passage passes to, and is extended upon
the pudendum and receptacle of the female.
4. In viviparous animals with feet, the external passage for the
semen and the fluid excrement is the same: internally these passages
are distinct, as I said before in describing the distinctive parts
of animals. In animals which have no bladder, the anus is externally
united with the passage of the semen, internally the passages are
close together; and this is the same in both sexes: for none of them
have a bladder, except the tortoise. The female of this animal, though
furnished with a bladder, has but one passage; but the tortoise is
oviparous.
5. The sexual intercourse of the oviparous fish is less evident,
wherefore many persons suppose that the female is impregnated by
swallowing the semen of the male; and they have been frequently
observed to do this. This is seen at the season of coition, when the
females follow the males, and are observed to strike them on the
abdomen with their mouths, this causes the males to eject their semen
more rapidly. The males do the same with the ova of the females, for
they swallow them as they are extruded, and the fish are born from
those ova which remain.
6. In Phœnicia they use each sex for capturing the other; for having
taken the male cestreus, they entice the females with it, and so
enclose them in a net. They use the females in the same way for
catching the males. The frequent observation of these circumstances
appears to corroborate this manner of intercourse among them.
Quadrupeds also do the same thing, for at the season of coition both
sexes emit a fluid, and smell to each other's pudenda.
7. And if the wind blows from the cock partridge to the hen, these last
are impregnated; and often, if they hear the voice of the cock when
they are inclined for sexual intercourse, or if he flies over them,
they become pregnant from the breath of the cock. During the act of
intercourse, both sexes open their mouths, and protrude their tongues.
The true intercourse of oviparous fish is rarely observed, from the
rapidity with which the act is accomplished; for their intercourse has
been observed to take place in the manner described.
CHAPTER V.
1. All the malacia, as the polypus, sepia, and teuthis, approach each
other in the same manner, for they are united mouth to mouth; the
tentacula of one sex being adapted to those of the other; for when
the polypus has fixed the part called the head upon the ground, it
extends its tentacula, which the other adapts to the expansion of its
tentacula, and they make their acetabula answer together. And some
persons say that the male has an organ like a penis in that one of
its tentacula which contains the two largest acetabula. This organ is
sinewy, as far as the middle of the tentaculum, and they say that it is
all inserted into the nostril of the female.
2. The sepia and loligo swim about coiled together in this way,
and with their mouths and tentacula united, they swim in contrary
directions to each other. They adapt the organ called the nostril
of the male to the similar organ in the female; and the one swims
forwards, and the other backwards. The ova of the female are produced
in the part called the physeter, by means of which some persons say
that they copulate.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The malacostraca, as the carabi, astaci, carides, and such like
perform the act of intercourse like the retromingent animals, the one
lying upon its back, and the other placing its tail upon it. They
copulate on the approach of spring, near the land; for their sexual
intercourse has often been observed, and sometimes when the figs begin
to ripen.
2. The astaci and the carides perform the act in the same manner; but
the carcini approximate the fore part of their bodies to each other,
and adapt also the folds of their tails to each other. First of all,
the smaller carcinus mounts from behind, and when he has mounted, the
greater one turns on its side. In no other respect does the female
differ from the male, but that the tail, which is folded on the body,
is larger and more distant, and more thick set with appendages: upon
this the ova are deposited, and the excrement ejected. Neither sex is
furnished with an intromittent organ.
CHAPTER VII.
1. Insects approach each other from behind, and the smaller one
subsequently mounts upon the larger. The male is always the smaller.
The female, which is below, inserts a member into the male, which is
above, and not the male into the female, as in other animals. In some
kinds this organ appears large in proportion to the size of the body,
especially in those that are small, in others it is less. The organ may
be plainly discerned if two flies are separated while in the act of
coition. They are separated from each other with difficulty, for the
act of intercourse in such animals occupies a long time. This may be
plainly discerned by common observation, as in the fly and cantharis.
2. All adopt the same method, the fly, cantharis, spondyla[160],
phalangium, or any other insect that copulates. All the phalangia that
spin a web unite in the following manner. The female draws a filament
from the middle of the web, and then the male draws it back again,
and this they do a great many times till they meet, and are united
backwards, for this kind of copulation suits them on account of the
size of their abdomen. The copulation of animals is accomplished in
this manner.
[160] A beetle living at the roots of trees, Carabus.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. All animals have their proper season and age for coition; the nature
of most creatures requires them to have intercourse with each other
when winter is turning into summer. This is the spring season, in
which all animals with wings, feet, or fins, are incited to coition.
Some copulate and produce their young in the autumn and winter, as
some aquatic and winged creatures. Mankind are ready at all seasons,
and so are many other animals which associate with man; this arises
from greater warmth, and better food, and is usual among those which
are pregnant only for a short time, as the hog, dog, and those birds
which have frequent broods. Many animals appear to adapt the season of
coition to that which they consider the best for the nurture of their
young.
2. Among mankind the male is more disposed for sexual intercourse in
the winter, and the female in the summer. Birds, as I have observed,
generally pair in the spring and summer, except the halcyon. This bird
hatches its young about the time of the winter solstice. Whereupon fine
days occurring at this season are called halcyon days, seven before the
solstice and seven after it. As Simonides also writes in his poems, "as
when in the winter months Jupiter prepares fourteen days, which mortals
call the windless season, the sacred nurse of the variegated halcyon."
3. These fine days take place wherever it happens that the solstice
turns to the south, when the pleiades set in the north. The bird is
said to occupy seven days in building its nest, and the other seven in
bringing out and nursing its young. The halcyon days are not always
met with in this country at the time of the solstice, but they always
occur in the Sicilian Sea. The halcyon produces five eggs.
4. The æthuia and the larus hatch their young among the rocks on the
sea-side, and produce two or three, the larus during the summer, and
the æthuia at the beginning of the spring, immediately after the
equinox; it sets upon its eggs like other birds; neither of these kinds
conceal themselves. The halcyon is the rarest of all, for it is only
seen at the season of the setting of the pleiades, and at the solstice,
and it first appears at seaports, flying as much as round a ship, and
immediately vanishing away. Stesichorus also speaks of it in the same
manner.
5. The nightingale produces her young at the beginning of summer. She
produces five or six eggs. She conceals herself from the autumn to the
beginning of spring. Insects copulate and produce their young during
the winter whenever the days are fine, and the wind in the south, at
least such of them as do not conceal themselves, as the fly and ant.
Wild animals produce their young once a year, unless, like the hare,
they breed while they are nursing their young.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Fish also generally breed once a year, as the chyti. All those which
are caught in a net are called chyti; the thynnus, palamis, cestreus,
chalais, colias, chromis, psetta, and such like, the labrax is an
exception, for this alone of them all breeds twice a year, and the
second fry of these are much weaker. The trichias[161] and rock fish
breed twice, the trigla is the only one that breeds three times a year.
This is shewn by the fry, which appear three times at certain places.
[161] Clupea Sprottus.
2. The scorpius breeds twice, and so does the sargus, in spring and
autumn, the salpa once only in the spring. The thynnis breeds once, but
as some of the fry are produced at first, and others afterwards, it
appears to breed twice. The first fry makes its appearance in the month
of December, after the solstice, the second in the spring. The male
thynnis is different from the female, for the female has a fin under
the abdomen, called aphareus, which the male has not.
3. Among the selachea, the rhine alone breeds twice in the year; at
the beginning of the autumn, and at the period of the setting of
the Pleiades. The young are, however, better in the autumn. At each
breeding season it produces seven or eight. Some of the galei, as the
asterias, seem to produce their ova twice every month. This arises from
all the ova not being perfected at once.
4. Some fish produce ova at all seasons of the year, as the muræna: for
this fish produces many ova, and the fry rapidly increase in size, as
do those also of the hippurus,[162] for these, from being very small,
rapidly increase to a great size; but the muræna produces young at
all seasons, the hippurus in the spring. The smyrus differs from the
muræna, for the muræna is throughout variegated and weak. The smyrus is
of one colour, and strong; its colour is that of the pine tree, and it
has teeth both internally and externally. They say that these are the
male and the female, as in others. These creatures go upon the land,
and are often taken.
[162] Coryphœna hippurus.
5. The growth of all fish is rapid, and not the least so in the
coracinus among small fish. It breeds near the land, in thick places
full of seaweed. The orphos also grows rapidly. The pelamis and thynnus
breed in Pontus, and nowhere else. The cestreus, chrysophrys, and
labrax, breed near the mouths of rivers. The orcynes and scorpides, and
many other kinds, in the sea.
6. Most fish breed in March, April, and May; a few in the autumn, as
the salpe, sargus, and all the others of this kind a little before
the autumnal equinox; and the narce and rhine also. Some breed in the
winter and summer, as I before observed, as the labrax, cestreus, and
belona in the winter; the thynnis in June, about the summer solstice:
it produces, as it were, a bag, containing many minute ova. The rhyas
also breeds in the summer. The chelones among the cestræi begin to
breed in the month of December, and so does the sargus, the myxon, as
it is called, and the cephalus. They go with young thirty days. Some of
the cestrei do not originate in coition, but are produced from mud and
sand.
7. The greater number of them contain ova in the spring, but some, as
I observed, in the summer, autumn, and winter. But this does not take
place in all alike, nor singly, nor in every kind, as it does in most
fish which produce their young in the spring: nor do they produce as
many ova at other seasons. But it must not escape our notice, that as
different countries make a great difference in plants and animals, not
only in the habit of their body, but also in the frequency of their
sexual intercourse and production of young; so different localities
make a great difference in fish, not only in their size, and habit of
their body, but in their young, and the frequency or rarity of their
sexual intercourse, and of their offspring in this place or that.
CHAPTER X.
1. The malacia breed in the spring, and first of all the marine sepia,
though this one breeds at all seasons. It produces its ova in fifteen
days. When the ova are extruded, the male follows, and ejects his ink
upon them, when they become hard. They go about in pairs. The male is
more variegated than the female, and blacker on the back. The sexes of
the polypus unite in the winter, the young are produced in the spring,
when these creatures conceal themselves for two months. It produces
an ovum like long hair, similar to the fruit of the white poplar. The
fecundity of this animal is very great, for a great number of young
are produced from its ova. The male differs from the female in having
a longer head, and the part of the tentaculum which the fishermen call
the penis is white. It incubates upon the ova it produces, so that it
becomes out of condition, and is not sought after at this season.
2. The purpuræ produce their ova in the spring, the ceryx at the end
of the winter; and, on the whole, the testacea appear to contain ova
in the spring and autumn, except the eatable echini. These principally
produce their young at the same seasons, but they always contain some
ova, and especially at the full and new moon, and in fine weather, but
those which live in the Euripus of the Pyrrhæi are better in winter.
They are a small kind but full of ova. All the cochleæ appear to
contain ova at the same season.
CHAPTER XI.
1. The undomesticated birds, as it was observed, generally pair and
breed once a-year. The swallows and cottyphus breed twice, but
the first brood of the cottyphus is killed by the cold, for it is
the earliest breeder of all birds. It is able, however, to bring
up the other brood. But the domestic birds, and those capable of
domestication, breed frequently, as pigeons during the whole summer,
and domestic fowls. For these birds have sexual intercourse, and
produce eggs all the year round, except at the winter solstice.
2. There are many kinds of pigeons, for the peleias and peristera
are different. The peleias is the smaller, but the peristera is more
readily tamed. The peleias is black and small, and has red and rough
feet, for which reason it is never domesticated. The phatta is the
largest of the tribe, the next is the œnas, which is a little larger
than the peristera, the trygon is the least of all. If the peristera
is supplied with a warm place and appropriate food, it will breed and
bring up its young at any season of the year. If it is not properly
supplied, it will only breed in the summer. Its young ones are best
during the spring and autumn, those produced in the hot weather in
summer are the worst.
CHAPTER XII.
1. Animals also differ in the age at which sexual intercourse
commences. For in the first place the period at which the spermatic
fluid begins to be secreted, and the age of puberty is not the same,
but different; for the young of all animals are barren, or if they do
possess the power of reproduction, their offspring are weak and small.
This is very conspicuous in mankind, and in viviparous quadrupeds and
birds, for in the one the offspring, in the other the eggs, are small.
The age of puberty is nearly the same in the individuals of each kind,
unless any alteration takes place, either as ominous, or from an injury
done to their nature.
2. In men this period of life is shown by the change of voice, and not
only by the size but by the form of the pudendum and of the breasts in
women, but especially by the growth of hair on the pubes. The secretion
of the spermatic fluid commences about the age of fourteen, the power
of reproduction at twenty-one. Other animals have no hair on the pubes,
for some have no hair at all, and others have none upon their under
side, or less than on their upper side, but the change of the voice is
conspicuous in some of them. And in others different parts of the body
signify the period of the formation of the semen, and of the power of
reproduction.
3. In almost all animals the voice of the female and of the young is
more acute than that of the male and the older animals, for even the
stags have a deeper voice than their females. The males utter their cry
at the season of copulation, the females when they are alarmed. The
voice of the female is short, that of the male longer. And the barking
of old dogs is also deeper than of young ones, and the voice of the
horse also varies. The females utter a little small cry as soon as they
are born, and the males do the same, but their voice is deeper than
that of the female, and as they grow older, it still increases. When
they are two years old, and reach puberty, the male utters a great deep
voice, that of the female is greater and clearer than it was at first;
this continues till they are twenty years old at the outside, and after
that the voice, both of the male and female, becomes weaker.
4. For the most part, then, as we observed, the voice of the male
differs from that of the female in depth, in those animals which utter
a lengthened sound. There are, however, some exceptions, as oxen; for
in these animals the voice of the female is deeper than that of the
male, and the voice of the calf than that of the full-grown animal;
wherefore also in the castrated animals, the voice changes the other
way, for it becomes more like that of the female.
5. The following are the ages at which animals acquire the power of
reproduction. The sheep and goat arrive at puberty within a year
after they are born, and especially the goat, and the males as well
as the females, but the offspring of these males and of the others is
different. For the males are better the second year than when they
become older. In hogs, the male and female unite at eight months old,
and the female produces her young when she is a year old, for this
agrees with the period of gestation. The male reaches puberty at eight
months old, but his offspring are useless till he is a year old. But
these periods, as we have said, are not always the same, for swine
will sometimes copulate when they are four months old, so as to have
young and nurse them at six months old, and boars sometimes reach
puberty at ten months old, and continue good to three years old.
6. The bitch reaches puberty within a year after birth, and so does the
dog, and sometimes this takes place at the end of eight months, but
more frequently in the male than in the female. The period of gestation
is sixty days, or one or two, or perhaps three days more, but never
less than sixty days, or if they produce young in a less time, it never
comes to perfection. The bitch is ready for sexual intercourse again in
six months, but never sooner. The horse reaches puberty in both sexes
at two years old, and is capable of reproduction, but its offspring at
that age are small and weakly. For the most part, sexual intercourse
begins at three years of age, and the colts continue to improve from
that period till they are twenty years old. The male is useful till he
is thirty years old, so that he can beget during almost the whole of
his life, for the horse generally lives five-and-thirty years, and the
mare more than forty, and a horse has been known to live seventy-five
years.
7. The ass reaches puberty in both sexes at the age of thirty months;
they rarely, however, produce young till they are three years, or
three years and six months old. But it has been known to be pregnant
and bring up its young within the year. The cow also has been known to
produce young and rear it within the year after birth, which grew to
the ordinary size, and no more.[163]
[163] This probably means "to such a size as might be expected from the
early age of the parent."
8. These are the periods of puberty in these animals. The seventieth
year in man, and the fiftieth in woman, is the latest period of
reproduction, and this happens rarely, for only a few have had children
at this time of life. Sixty-five is generally the boundary in one sex,
and forty-five in the other. The sheep produces young till it is eight
years old, and, if well treated, until it is eleven, though the act of
copulation is continued in both sexes during the whole period of life.
9. Fat goats are rarely productive, wherefore they compare barren vines
with barren goats, but they are productive when they are lean. The
rams copulate with the old sheep first, but they do not follow after
the younger; and the younger, as I before observed, produce a smaller
offspring than the older.
10. A wild boar will beget till he is three years old, but the
progeny of older animals is inferior; for he has not the same power
or strength. He generally goes to the female when full of food, and
without having been to another female, or, if not, the act of coition
is of shorter duration, and the progeny smaller. The sow produces the
smallest number of pigs at her first litter, but at the second they
are more flourishing. She also produces young when old, but the act of
coition is longer. At fifteen years old, she no longer produces young,
but becomes fierce.
11. If well-fed, she will be more ready for sexual intercourse, whether
young or old; and, if rapidly fattened when pregnant, she has less milk
after parturition. As regards the age of the parent, the young of those
in the prime of their age are the best, and those that are born at the
beginning of winter. The worst are those born in the summer, for they
are small, and thin, and weak. If the male is well fed, he is ready
for sexual intercourse at all seasons, by day as well as by night; but
if not well fed, he is most ready in the morning, and as he grows old,
he becomes less disposed for it, as was said before. And it frequently
happens that those which are impotent, through age or weakness, and
cannot copulate readily, will approach the female as she lies down
tired with long standing. The sow generally becomes pregnant when she
hangs down her ears in her heats; if she is not pregnant, she becomes
heated again.
12. Bitches do not copulate during the whole of their life, but only
to a certain period. Their coition and pregnancy generally takes
place till they are twelve years old, but both males and females have
been known to perform the act of coition at eighteen and even twenty
years of age; but old age takes away from both sexes the power of
reproduction, as in other animals.
13. The camel is retroningent, and performs the act of intercourse in
the manner already described; the period of its coition in Arabia is
in the month of September; the female goes with young twelve months,
and produces one foal, for the animal is one of those which produce but
one. Both the male and female arrive at puberty at the age of three
years, and the female is ready for the male again at the end of a year
after parturition.
14. The elephant arrives at puberty, the earliest at ten years of age,
the latest at fifteen, and the male at five or six years old. The
season for the intercourse of the sexes is in the spring: and the male
is ready again at the end of three years, but he never touches again
a female whom he has once impregnated. Her period of gestation is two
years, and then she produces one calf, for the elephant belongs to the
class of animals which have but one young one at a time. The young one
is as large as a calf of two or three months old. This, then, is the
nature of the sexual intercourse of those animals which perform this
function.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. We must now treat of the mode of reproduction, both of those animals
which use sexual intercourse, and those which do not; and, first of
all, we will speak of the testacea, for this is the only entire class
which is not reproduced by sexual intercourse. The purpuræ collect
together in the spring, and produce what is called their nidamental
capsules (melicera), for it is like honey-comb, though not so deeply
cut, but, as it were, made up of the white pods of vetches. These
capsules have neither opening nor perforation, nor are the purpuræ
produced from them; but both these and other testacea are produced from
mud and putrefaction. But this substance is an excrementitious matter
both in the purpura and the ceryx, for these last also produce similar
capsules.
2. The testacea which produce these capsules are generated in the
same way as the rest of their class, but more readily when there are
homogeneous particles pre-existing among them; for, when they deposit
their nidamental capsules, they emit a clammy mucus, from which the
scales of the capsules are formed. When all these have been deposited,
they emit upon the ground a sort of chyle, and small purpuræ spring up
upon the same spot and adhere to the larger purpuræ, though some of
these can hardly be distinguished by their form. But if they are taken
before the breeding season, they will sometimes breed in the baskets,
not indeed anywhere, but they collect together like they do in the
sea, and the narrow limits of their place of captivity make them hang
together like bunches of fruit.
3. There are many kinds of purpuræ, some of which are large, as those
which are found near Sigeum and Lectum; and others are small, as those
in the Euripus and on the Carian coast. Those found in gulfs are large
and rough. Most of them contain a black pigment; in others it is red,
and the quantity of it small. Some of the largest weigh as much as a
mina. Near the shore and on the coast they are small, and the pigment
is red. Those which are natives of the north contain a black pigment;
in those of the south it is red, generally speaking.
4. They are taken in the spring, about the time that they deposit their
capsules, but they are never taken during the dog-days, for then they
do not feed, but conceal themselves and get out of the way. The pigment
is contained between the mecon and the neck. The union of these parts
is thick, and the colour is like a white membrane; this is taken away.
When this is bruised, the pigment wets and stains the hand. Something
resembling a vein passes through it, and this appears to be the
pigment; the nature of the rest resembles alum.[164] The pigment is the
worst at the period of depositing their nidamental capsules.
[164] Evidently a corrupt reading.
5. The small ones are pounded up, shells and all, for it is not easy to
separate them; but they separate the larger kinds from the shells, and
then extract the pigment. For this purpose the mecon is divided from
the neck, for the pigment lies above the part called the stomach, and
when this is taken away, they are divided asunder. They are careful to
bruise them while alive, for if they die before they are cut up, they
vomit up the pigment; for this reason they keep them in the baskets
till a sufficient number is collected, and there is time to procure the
pigment.
6. The ancients did not let down or fasten any basket-net to their
baits, so that it often happened that the purpura fell off as they
were drawn up; but at the present time they use basket-nets, in order
that if the purpura should fall off, it may not be lost. They are most
likely to fall off when full, but when empty it is difficult to draw
them from the bait. These are the peculiarities of the purpura. The
nature of the ceryx is the same as that of the purpura, and so are
their seasons.
7. They both have opercula, and so have all turbinated shell-fish, from
the period of their birth. They feed by forcing out their tongue, as
it is called, beneath the operculum: the purpura has a tongue larger
than a finger, with which it feeds upon and pierces the conchylia, and
even the shells of its own species. Both the purpura and the ceryx are
long-lived, for the purpura lives six years, and its annual increase is
seen in the divisions on the helix of its shell.
8. The mya also deposits nidamental capsules; those which are called
limnostrea are the first to originate in muddy places, but the conchæ,
chemæ, solens, and pectens find their subsistence in sandy shores;
the pinnæ grow up from their byssus both in sandy and muddy shores.
The pinnæ always contain a pinnophylax, either like a small caris or
cancer, and soon die when this is extracted. On the whole, all the
testacea are produced spontaneously in mud different kinds originating
in different sorts of mud: the ostrea is found in mud, the conchæ and
others that have been mentioned in sand. The tethya, balanus, and
others which live on the surface, as the patella and nerita, originate
in holes in the rocks. All these reach maturity very soon, especially
the purpuræ and pectens, for they are matured in one year.
9. Very small white cancri are produced in some of the testacea,
especially in the myæ that inhabit muddy places, and next to this in
the pinnæ those which are called pinnoteræ; they occur also in the
pectens and limnostrea. These animals apparently never grow; and the
fishermen say that they are produced at the same time as the creatures
they inhabit. The pectens disappear for some time in the sand, and
so do the purpuræ. The ostrea (bivalves) are produced in the manner
described, for some of them originate in shallow water, others near the
shore, or among rocks, or in rough hard places, or in sand; and some
have the power of locomotion, others have not.
10. Among those that are not locomotive, the pinnæ are fixed; the
solens and conchæ remain on one spot, though not fixed, and do not
survive separation from their home. The nature of the aster[165] is
so hot, that if it is captured immediately after swallowing anything,
its food is found digested; and they say that it is very troublesome
in the Pyrrhæan Euripus. Its form is like the paintings of a star. The
creatures called pneumones are spontaneously produced. The shell which
painters use is very thick, and the pigment is produced on the outside
of the shell; they are principally found in the neighbourhood of Caria.
[165] Star-fish.
11. The carcinium also originates in earth and mud, and afterwards
makes its way into an empty shell, and when it grows too large for
that, it leaves it for a larger one, as the shell of the nerita,
strombus, and such like; it frequently occurs in the small ceryx. When
it has entered the shell, it carries it about and lives in it, except
that as it grows it migrates into a larger shell.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. The nature of the testacea is the same as that of creatures without
shells, as the cnidæ[166] and sponges, which inhabit the holes in
rocks. There are two kinds of cnidæ, some which live in holes in the
rocks, and cannot be separated from them, and other migrating species
which live upon the smooth flat surface of the rocks. (The patella also
is free and locomotive.) In the interior of the sponges are found the
creatures called pinnophylaces, and the interior is closed with a net
like a spider's web, and small fish are captured by opening and closing
this web, for it opens as they approach, and closes upon them when they
have entered.
[166] Actinia.
2. There are three kinds of sponges; one of them is thin, the other
is thick, and the third, which is called the Achillean sponge, is
slender, compact, and very strong; it is placed beneath helmets and
thigh-pieces, for the sake of deadening the sound of blows; this kind
is very rare. Among the compact kinds, those which are very hard and
rough are called tragi. They all grow upon the rock or near the shore,
and obtain their food from the mud. This is evident, for they are full
of mud when they are captured. This is the case with all other fixed
things, that they derive their food from the spot to which they are
attached.
3. The compact species are weaker than those which are thin, because
their point of attachment is smaller. It is affirmed that the sponge
possesses sensation; this is a proof of it, that it contracts if it
perceives any purpose of tearing it up, and renders the task more
difficult. The sponge does the same thing when the winds and waves
are violent, that it may not lose its point of attachment. There are
some persons who dispute this, as the natives of Torona. The sponge is
inhabited by worms and other living creatures, which the rock-fish eat
when the sponge is torn up, as well as the remainder of its roots. But
if the sponge is broken off, it grows again, and is completed from the
portion that is left.
4. The thin sponges are the largest, and they are most abundant on
the Lycian coast; the compact sponges are softer, and the Achillean
are more harsh than the others. On the whole, those that inhabit deep
places with a mild temperature are the softest, for wind and cold
weather harden them, as they do other growing things, and stop their
increase. For this reason the sponges of the Hellespont are rough and
compact; and, altogether, those beyond Malea, and those on this side,
differ in softness and hardness.
5. Neither should the heat be very great, for the sponge becomes
rotten, like plants, wherefore those near the shore are the best,
especially if the water is deep near the land, for the temperature is
moderated by the depth. When alive, before they are washed, they are
black. Their point of attachment is neither single nor dispersed over
the whole surface, for there are empty passages between the points of
attachment. Something like a membrane is extended over their lower
part, and the attachment is by several points; on the upper part are
other closed passages, and four or five which are apparent. Wherefore
some persons say that these are the organs by which they take their
food.
6. There is also another species called aplysia, because it cannot
be washed. This has very large passages; but the other parts of the
substance are quite compact. When cut open it is more compact and
smooth than the sponge, and the whole is like a lung; of all the
sponges this one is confessed to have the most sensation, and to be
the most enduring. They are plainly seen in the sea near the sponges,
for the other sponges are white as the mud settles down upon them, but
these are always black. This is the mode of production in sponges and
testacea.
CHAPTER XV.
1. Among the malacostraca the carabi are impregnated by sexual
intercourse, and contain their ova during three months, May, June, and
July. They afterwards deposit them upon the hollow part of their folded
tail, and their ova grow like worms. The same thing takes place in the
malacia and oviparous fish, for their ova always grow.
2. The ova of the carabi are sandy, and divided into eight parts;
for a cartilaginous appendage, round which the ova are attached, is
united to each of the opercula at their junction with the side; and the
whole resembles a bunch of grapes, for every one of the cartilaginous
appendages is frequently subdivided, and the divisions are apparent to
any one who will separate them, but when first seen they appear to be
united. Those ova which are in the centre are larger than those which
are contiguous to the perforation, and the last are the least.
3. The smallest ova are as large as millet; the ova are not continuous
with the perforation, but in the middle. For two divisions extend on
each side, from the tail and from the thorax, and this is also the line
of junction for the opercula. The ova, which are placed at the side,
cannot be enclosed, unless the extremity of the tail is drawn over
them; this, however, covers them like a lid.
4. The female, in depositing her ova, appears to collect them on the
cartilaginous appendages by means of the broad part of the folded tail.
She produces them by pressing with her tail and bending her body. These
cartilaginous processes at the season of oviposition increase in size,
in order to become appropriate receptacles for the ova. The ova are
deposited on these processes, as those of the sepia are deposited upon
broken pieces of wood or anything floating in the sea. This is the
manner of depositing them; but after they have been ripened twenty
days, they are cast off altogether in a mass, as they appear when
separated from the parent; in fifteen days, at the outside, the carabi
are produced from these ova, and they are often taken off less than
a finger's length. The ova are produced before Arcturus, and after
Arcturus they are cast off.
5. The cyphæ among the carides contain their ova about four months.
The carabi are found in rough and rocky places, the astaci in those
that are smooth; but neither of them inhabit mud. For this cause the
astaci are found in the Hellespont and near Thasus; the carabi in the
neighbourhood of Sigeum and Athos. Fishermen, when they pursue their
calling in the open sea, distinguish the rough and muddy places by the
nature of the shore, and other signs. In the spring and winter they
come near the shore; in summer time they go into deep water, sometimes
for the sake of warmth, and sometimes for the cold.
6. Those called arcti[167] breed nearly at the same time as the carabi,
wherefore they are most excellent in winter and in spring before the
breeding season, and they are worst after they have deposited their
ova. They change their shell in the spring, like the serpent, which
puts off its old age, as it is called. Both the carabi and the carcini
do this when they are young, as well as afterwards. All the carabi are
long-lived.
[167] Perhaps, Cancer spinosissimus.
CHAPTER XVI.
1. The malacia produce a white ovum after sexual intercourse; in the
course of time this becomes sandy, like that of the testacea. The
polypus deposits its ova in holes or pots, or any other hollow place;
the ovum is like bunches of the wild vine and of the white poplar, as
was observed before; when the ova are produced they remain suspended
from the hole in which they were deposited; and the ova are so
numerous, that when taken out they will fill a vessel much larger than
the head of the polypus in which they were contained.
2. About fifty days afterwards the young polypi burst the eggs and
escape, like phalangia, in great numbers. The particular shape of each
limb is not distinct, though the general form is plain. Many of them
perish from their small size and debility. Some have been observed so
small that they could not be distinguished, unless they were touched,
when they were seen to move.
3. The sepia also deposits eggs, which resemble large, black, myrtle
seeds. They are united together like a bunch of fruit, and are enclosed
in a substance which prevents them from separating readily. The male
emits his ink upon them, a mucous fluid, which causes their slippery
appearance. The ova increase in this way; and when first produced they
are white, but when they have touched the ink they become large and
black. When the young sepia, which is entirely formed of the internal
white of the ovum, is produced, it makes its way out by the rupture of
the membrane of the ovum.
4. The ovum which the female first produces is like hail, and to this
the young sepia is attached by the head, as birds are attached to
the abdomen. The nature of the umbilical attachment has never been
observed, except that as the sepia increases the white always becomes
less, and at last entirely disappears, like the yolk of the eggs of
birds.
5. The eyes are at first very large in these as in other animals, as in
the diagram. The ovum is seen at A, the eyes at B and C, and the embryo
sepia itself at D. The female contains ova during the spring. The ova
are produced in fifteen days; and when the ova are produced they remain
for fifteen days longer like the small seeds of grapes, and when these
are ruptured the young sepias escape from the inside. If a person
divides them before they have reached maturity, the young sepias emit
their fœces and vary in colour, and turn from white to red from alarm.
6. The crustaceans incubate upon their ova, which are placed beneath
them; but the polypus and sepia and such like incubate upon their ova
wherever they may be deposited, and especially the sepia, for the
female has often been observed with her abdomen upon the ground, but
the female polypus has been observed sometimes placed upon her ova,
and sometimes upon her mouth, holding with her tentacula over the hole
in which the ova were deposited. The sepia deposits her ova upon the
ground among fuci and reeds, or upon any thing thrown in the water,
as wood, branches, or stones; and the fishermen are careful to place
branches of trees in the water. Upon these they deposit their long and
united ova like branches of fruit.
7. The ova are deposited and produced by repeated exertion, as if the
parturition were accompanied with pain. The teuthis oviposits in the
sea. The ova, like those of the sepia, are united together. Both the
teuthus and sepia are short-lived, for very few of them survive a year.
The same is the case with the polypus. Each egg produces one small
sepia, and so also in the teuthis. The male teuthus differs from the
female; for if the hair (branchia) are drawn aside, the female will be
seen to have two red substances like mammæ, which the male does not
possess. The sepia also has the same sexual distinction, and is more
variegated than the female, as I observed before.
CHAPTER XVII.
1. It has already been observed that the male insects are less than
the female, and that the male mounts upon the female; and the manner
of their sexual intercourse has been described, and the difficulty
of separating them. Most of them produce their young very soon after
sexual intercourse. All the kinds except some psychæ (butterflies and
moths) produce worms. These produce a hard substance, like the seed
of the cnecus,[168] which is fluid within. From the worm an animal is
produced, but not from a portion of it, as if it were an ovum, but the
whole grows and becomes an articulated animal.
[168] Cantharus tinctorius, a plant of the thistle kind. L. and S.
2. Some of them are produced from similar animals, as phalangia and
spiders from phalangia and spiders, and attelabi,[169] locusts, and
grasshoppers. Others do not originate in animals of the same species,
but their production is spontaneous, for some of them spring from the
dew which falls upon plants. The origin of these is naturally in the
spring, though they often appear in the winter, if fine weather and
south winds occur for any length of time. Some originate in rotten mud
and dung; and others in the fresh wood of plants or in dry wood; others
among the hair of animals, or in their flesh, or excrements, whether
ejected, or still existing in the body, as those which are called
helminthes.
[169] The larva of some species.
3. There are three kinds of these, the flat worms, the round worms,
and those which are called ascarides. From these creatures nothing
is produced; but the broad worm is attached to the intestine, and
produces something like the seed of the colocynth, and this is used by
physicians as a proof of the presence of the worm.
4. Butterflies are produced from caterpillars; and these originate
in the leaves of green plants, especially the rhaphahus, which
some persons call crambe. At first they are smaller than millet,
afterwards they grow into little worms, in three days they become
small caterpillars, afterwards they grow and become motionless, and
change their form. In this state the creature is called chrysalis. It
has a hard covering, but moves when it is touched. They are united to
something by weblike processes, and have no mouth nor any other visible
organ. After a short time the covering is burst, and a winged animal
escapes, which is called a butterfly.
5. At first, while in the caterpillar state, they take food and
evacuate fœces, but in the chrysalis state they do neither. The same is
the case with all other creatures which originate in worms, and those
which produce worms after sexual intercourse, or even without this
process; for the offspring of bees, anthrenæ, and wasps, while they are
young worms, consume food and evacuate excrement, but when from worms
they receive their conformation they are called nymphæ, and neither
feed nor evacuate, but remain quiet in their covering until they are
grown. They then make their escape by cutting through a place where the
cell is fastened on.
6. The penia[170] and hypera[171] also are produced from a kind of
campe (caterpillar) which make a wave as they walk, and as they
advance bend the hinder extremity up to that which has preceded. The
creature produced always derives its colour from the campe in which
it originates. A certain great worm, which has as it were horns, and
differs from others, at its first metamorphosis produces a campe,
afterwards a bombylius, and lastly a necydalus. It passes through all
these forms in six months. From this animal some women unroll and
separate the bombycina (cocoons), and afterwards weave them. It is
said that this was first woven in the island of Cos by Pamphila, the
daughter of Plateos.
[170] Some species of larva.
[171] Geometra.
7. From the worms in dry wood the insects called carabi are produced in
the same manner; for at first they are immoveable worms, and afterwards
the carabi are produced by the rupture of their case. The crambides
originate in the plant called crambe, and these also have wings, and
the prasocurides from the plant called prasum (onion). The œstri are
produced from the little flat creatures that are found on the surface
of rivers. Wherefore also they congregate in the greatest numbers
around the waters where such animals are found. The kind of pygolampis
which has no wings originates in a small, black, hairy caterpillar.
These undergo another change, and turn into the winged creatures called
bostrychi.
8. The empides originate in ascarides, and the ascarides originate in
the mud of wells and running waters which flow over an earthy bottom.
At first the decaying mud acquires a white colour, which afterwards
becomes black, and finally red. When this takes place, very small red
creatures are seen growing in it like fuci. At first these move about
in a mass, afterwards their connection is ruptured, the creatures
called ascarides are borne about in the water, after a few days they
stand erect in the water without motion and of a hard texture, and
subsequently the case is broken and the empis sits upon it until either
the sun or the wind enables it to move, then it flies away.
9. The commencement of life in all other worms, and in all creatures
produced from worms, originates in the influence of the sun and wind.
The ascarides are produced in greater numbers, and more quickly, where
the various matters are mixed together, as in the works conducted in
the Megarian territory, for putrefaction thus takes place more readily.
The autumnal season also is favourable to their increase, for there is
less moisture at that time of the year. The crotones[172] originate in
the agrostis, the melolonthæ from the worms which originate in the dung
of oxen and asses.
[172] Ticks. Acarus ricinus.
10. The canthari which roll up dung, hide themselves in it during the
winter, and produce worms, which afterwards become canthari; and
from the worms which inhabit the osprea,[173] winged creatures, like
those already mentioned, derive their existence. Flies originate in
dung which has been set apart, and those who are employed in this work
strive to separate the remainder which is mixed together, for they say
that the dung is thus brought to putrefaction.
[173] Vetches, leguminous plants.
11. The origin of these worms is very small; for first of all a redness
is perceived, and motion commences, as if they were united together.
The worm then again becomes still, afterwards it moves, and then again
is immoveable. From this the worm is completed, and motion recommences
under the action of the sun and wind. The myops is produced in wood.
The orsodacnæ[174] from the metamorphosis of worms, which originate on
the stalks of the crambe. The cantharis from worms which dwell on the
fig tree, apium (pear tree), and pitch tree, for there are worms on all
these, and on the cynacantha.[175] They assemble round strong smelling
things because they originate from them.
[174] Chrysomela oleracea.
[175] Perhaps the dog rose, or sweet briar.
12. The conops springs from a worm which originates in the thick part
of vinegar; for there seem also to be worms in things which are the
farthest from putrefaction, as in snow which has laid for some time:
for after having laid, it becomes red, wherefore, also, the worms
are such and hairy. Those in the snow in Media are large and white,
and furnished with but little power of motion. In Cyprus, when the
manufacturers of the stone called chalcitis burn it for many days in
the fire, a winged creature, something larger than a great fly, is seen
walking and leaping in the fire.
13. The worms perish when they are taken out of the snow, and so do
these creatures when taken from the fire. And the salamander shews that
it is possible for some animal substances to exist in the fire, for
they say that fire is extinguished when this animal walks over it.
14. In the river Hypanis in the Cimmerian Bosphorus, about the summer
solstice, capsules larger than grape-seed are floated down the river:
when these are ruptured, a four-footed, winged creature makes its
escape, which lives and flies about till the evening. As the sun
descends, it becomes emaciated, and is dead by sunset, having lived
but one day; for which cause it is called ephemerum. Most animals which
spring from caterpillars or worms, are first of all enclosed in a web,
and this is their nature.
15. The wasps which are called ichneumons, which are smaller than the
others, kill the phalangia, and carry them to a wall, or some other
place with a hole in it; and when they have covered them over with mud,
they oviposit there, and the ichneumon wasps are produced from them.
Many of the coleoptera, and other small and anonymous creatures make
little holes in tombs or walls, and there deposit their worms.
16. The period of reproduction, from its commencement to its
conclusion, is generally completed in three or four weeks. In the worms
and worm-like creatures, three weeks are usually sufficient, and four
weeks are usually enough for those which are oviparous. In one week
from their sexual intercourse, the growth of the ovum is completed. In
the remaining three weeks, those that produce by generation, hatch and
bring forth their ova, as in the spiders, and such like creatures. The
metamorphoses generally occupy three or four days, like the crisis of
diseases. This is the mode of generation in insects.
17. They die from the shrivelling of their limbs, as large animals do
of old age. Those which are furnished with wings have these organs
drawn together in autumn. The myopes die from an effusion of water in
their eyes.
CHAPTER XVIII.
1. All persons are not agreed as to the generation of bees, for some
say that they neither produce young, nor have sexual intercourse; but
that they bring their young from other sources; and some say that they
collect them from the flowers of the calyntrus,[176] and others from
the flower of the calamus.[177] Others again, say that they are found
in the flowers of the olive, and produce this proof, that the swarms
are most abundant when the olives are fertile. Other persons affirm
that they collect the young of the drones from any of the substances we
have named, but that the rulers (queens) produce the young of the bees.
[176] Honeysuckle.
[177] Reed.
2. There are two kinds of rulers, the best of these is red, the other
black and variegated: their size is double that of the working bees;
the part of the body beneath the cincture is more than half of the
whole length: by some they are called the mother bees, as if they were
the parents of the rest; and they argue, that unless the ruler is
present, drones only are produced, and no bees. Others affirm that they
have sexual intercourse, and that the drones are males, and the bees
females.
3. The other bees originate in the cells of the comb, but the rulers
are produced in the lower part of the comb, six or seven of them
separated, opposite to the rest of the progeny. The bees have a sting,
which the drones have not: the kings and rulers have a sting which they
do not make use of, and some persons suppose that they have none.
CHAPTER XIX.
1. There are several kinds of bees, the best are small, round, and
variegated: another kind is large, like the anthrene: a third kind is
called phor; this is black, and has a broad abdomen: the drone is the
fourth, and is the largest of all; it has no sting, and is incapable of
work, for which reason people often wrap something round their hives,
so that the bees can enter, but the drones, being larger, cannot.
2. There are two kinds of rulers among bees, as I observed before. In
every hive there are several rulers, and not a single one, for the hive
perishes if there are not rulers enough (not that they thus become
anarchical, but, as they say, because they are required for breeding
the bees); if there are too many rulers they perish, for thus they
become distracted.
3. If the spring is late, and drought and rusts are about, the progeny
is small. When the weather is dry, they make honey. When it is damp,
their progeny multiplies; for which reason, the olives and the swarms
of bees multiply at the same time. They begin by making comb, in which
they place the progeny, which is deposited with their mouths, as those
say who affirm that they collect it from external sources. Afterwards
they gather the honey which is to be their food, during the summer and
the autumn; that which is gathered in the autumn is the best.
4. Wax is made from flowers. They bring the material of wax from the
droppings of trees, but the honey falls from the air, principally about
the rising of the stars, and when the rainbow rests upon the earth.
Generally no honey is produced before the rising of the Pleiades. We
argue that wax is made, as I said, from flowers, but that the bees do
not make honey, but simply collect that which falls; for those who keep
bees find the cells filled with honey in the course of one or two days.
In the autumn there are flowers enough, but the bees make no honey,
if that which they have produced is taken away. But if one supply was
taken away, and they were in want of food, they would make more if they
procured it from flowers.
5. The honey becomes thick by ripening, for at first it is like water,
and continues liquid for some days, wherefore it never becomes thick
if it is taken away during that time. It requires twenty days to make
it consistent; this is very plain from the taste of it, for it differs
both in sweetness and solidity. The bee carries honey from every plant
which has cup-shaped flowers, and from all those which contain a sweet
principle, but does not injure the fruit; it takes up and carries away
the sweet taste of plants with its tongue-like organ.
6. The honey-comb is pressed when the wild figs begin to appear; and
they produce the best grubs when they can produce honey. The bees carry
the wax and bee-bread upon their legs, but the honey is disgorged into
the cells. After the progeny is deposited in the cells, they incubate
like birds. In the wax cells the little worm is placed at the side;
afterwards it rises of itself to be fed. It is united to the comb in
such a manner as to be held by it. The progeny both of the bees and
drones from which the little worms are produced, is white. As they grow
they become bees and drones. The progeny of the king-bees is rather
red, and about the consistency of thick honey. In bulk it is as large
as the creature which is produced from it. The progeny of the king-bee
is not a worm, but comes forth a perfect bee, as they say; and, when
the progeny is produced in the comb, honey is found in that which is
opposite.
7. After the grub is covered up, it has wings and feet; and when it
has acquired wings, it bursts through the membrane, and flies away.
It evacuates an excrementitious matter while it is a worm, but not
afterwards, until it is perfected, as I observed before. If a person
cuts off the head of the grub before its wings are acquired, the other
bees devour it; if a person having cut off the wings of a drone lets it
go, the bees will eat off the wings of the other drones.
8. The bee will live for six years, some have lived for seven, and if a
swarm lasts nine or ten years, it is considered to have done well. In
Pontus there are very white bees, which make honey twice every month.
In Therniscyra, near the river Thermodon, are found bees which make
cells in the earth, and in hives with a very small quantity of wax, but
their honey is thick. The cells are smooth and homogeneous. They only
do this in the winter, and not all the year round; for there is a great
deal of ivy in the place, which flowers at this season of the year,
and from this they carry away the honey. From the higher regions of
Amisus a kind of white honey is procured, which the bees form upon the
trees without wax. The same is also found in another place in Pontus.
There are also bees which form triple cells in the earth; these form
honey, but never have grubs. All such as these, however, are not cells,
neither are they formed by every kind of bee.
CHAPTER XX.
1. The anthrenæ[178] and wasps form cells for their progeny when they
have no rulers, but are wandering about in search of them, the anthrenæ
upon some high place, the wasps in holes. But when they have the rulers
they form their cells underground. All their cells are hexagonal, like
those of bees; they are not formed of wax, but of a web-like membrane,
made of the bark of trees. The cells of the anthrenæ are far more
elegant than those of wasps. Upon the side of their cells they place
their progeny, in the manner of the bees, like a drop of liquid united
to the wall of the cell. The progeny in all the cells is not alike, but
in some they are so large as to be almost ready for flight, in others
are nymphæ, in others grubs.
[178] Hornet, Apis terrestris.
2. The only excrementitious matter is found in the cells of the
grubs, as in the case of bees. As long as they are nymphæ they remain
motionless, and the cell is sealed over, and on the other side of the
cell which contains their progeny, there is a drop of honey in the
combs of the anthrenæ. The grubs of these creatures are produced in the
autumn, not in the spring, but they evidently grow most rapidly at the
full moon. The progeny and the grubs are not united to the bottom, but
to the side of the cell.
CHAPTER XXI.
1. Some of the bombycia[179] form an angular cell of mud, which
they attach to a stone or something else, and smear with a kind of
transparent substance; this is so very thick and hard, that it can
scarcely be broken with the blow of a spear. In this they deposit their
ova, and the white maggots are contained in a black membrane; and wax
is formed in the mud without any membrane, this wax is much more yellow
than that of bees.
[179] Apis cementaria.
2. The ants also have sexual intercourse, and produce maggots which
they do not attach to anything. As these grow, they change from
small round things to long articulated beings. The season for their
production is in the spring.
3. The land-scorpions also bring forth many egg-like maggots, upon
which they incubate. When the young ones are perfect, they drive out
and destroy their parents like spiders, for they are frequently eleven
in number.
CHAPTER XXII.
1. The arachnia copulate in the manner already described, and produce
maggots which at first are small. After their metamorphosis they
become spiders, not from a part but from the whole of the maggot,
for they are round from the first. When the female has produced her
ova, she incubates upon them, in three days they acquire limbs. All
of them produce their young in a web, which is thin and small in some
species, but compact in others. Some are enclosed entirely in a round
receptacle, and others are only partially covered by the web. All
the young spiders are not produced at once, but as soon as they are
hatched they leap out and shoot forth a web. If they are bruised they
are found to contain a thick white fluid like that of maggots.
2. The field-spiders first of all deposit their ova in a web, of
which one half is attached to themselves, and the other external,
they incubate upon this, and produce their young alive. The phalangia
deposit their ova in a thick basket which they weave, upon this they
incubate. The smooth kinds produce a small number, the phalangia a
great many. When they are grown, they surround their parent in a
circle, kill and throw her out. They often seize the male in the same
way if they can catch him, for he assists the female in incubation.
Sometimes there are as many as three hundred round a single phalangium.
The little spiders become full-grown in about four weeks.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1. Locusts copulate in the same manner as all other insects, the
smaller mounting upon the larger, for the male is the smaller. They
oviposit by fixing the organ which is attached to their tail (the
ovipositor) in the ground. The males do not possess this organ. Many
of them deposit their ova in one spot, so as to make it appear like a
honey-comb. As soon as they have deposited their ova, egg-like maggots
are formed, which are covered with a thin coating of earth like a
membrane, and in this they are matured.
2. The young are so soft as to collapse if they are only touched. They
are not produced on the surface, but a little below the surface of
the soil; and as soon as they are matured, they escape from the coat
of soil in which they are enclosed as small black locusts. Their skin
is subsequently ruptured, and they then attain their full size. They
produce their young at the end of summer, and then die.
3. For as soon as they have deposited their ova, small worms make their
appearance on their necks, the males also perish at the same time: they
come out of the earth in the spring. Locusts never shew themselves in
mountainous countries, nor in poor land, but in plains, and broken
soil, for they deposit their ova in fissures. The ova remain in the
soil during the winter, and in the summer the locusts are produced from
the germs of the preceding year.
4. The young of the attelabi are produced in the same manner, and the
parents die after having deposited their ova. Their ova are destroyed
by the rains of the autumn, if the weather is wet; but if that season
is dry, many attelabi are produced, because they are not equally
destroyed; for their destruction appears to be irregular, and to take
place by accident.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1. There are two kinds of grasshoppers: some are small. These are the
first to appear, the last to perish. Others, which chirp, are large:
these appear last, and disappear first. There is another difference
between the small and large kind. Those which chirp have a division in
the middle of the body: those which do not chirp have none. The large
ones, which chirp, are called achetæ; the small are called tettigonia.
Such of these as are divided, sing a little.
2. Grasshoppers do not appear where there are no trees, for which
reason they are unknown in the open country of Cyrene, but are abundant
near the city, and especially among olive trees, for these do not give
much shade, and grasshoppers are not produced in the cold, nor in very
shady groves. Both the large and small ones have sexual intercourse
with their own kind, copulating with each other on their backs. The
male inserts his organ into the female, in the same manner as other
insects. The female has a divided pudendum. The female individual is
the one which receives the male.
3. They deposit their ova in fields, piercing the soil with the organ
at the extremity of their body, like the attelabi; for the attelabi
also oviposit in the fields, for which reason they are common in
Cyrene. They oviposit also in the reeds which are used to support
the vines; these they pierce: and so they do in the stems of the
scilla. The young ones are washed into the earth, and are common in
rainy weather. The maggot, when it is grown in the earth, becomes
a tettigometra: these are sweetest before they have ruptured their
covering.
4. And when the season arrives for their appearance, about the
solstice, they come forth by night, and immediately burst their
envelope, and the tettigometra becomes a grasshopper. They immediately
become black and hard, acquire their full size, and begin to chirp.
In both kinds the males chirp; the others, which do not chirp, are
females. When first produced the males are the sweetest: after the
sexual intercourse, the females are sweetest, for they contain white
ova.
5. If a noise is made as they fly along, they emit a fluid like water,
which the agriculturists describe as if they emitted both a liquid and
solid excrement, and that they feed on dew; and if any one approaches
them with a bent finger, which is gradually straightened, they will
remain more quiet than if it is put out straight at once, and will
climb up upon the finger; for, from the dimness of their sight, they
climb upon it as if it were a moving leaf.
CHAPTER XXV.
1. Those insects which are not carnivorous, but live upon the juices
of living flesh, as lice, fleas, and bugs, produce nits from sexual
intercourse; from these nits nothing else is formed. Of these insects
the fleas originate in very small portions of corrupted matter, for
they are always collected together where there is any dry dung.
Bugs[180] proceed from the moisture which collects on the bodies of
animals: lice from the flesh of other creatures; for before they
appear, they exist in little pimples which do not contain matter: and
if these are pricked, the lice[181] escape from them. Some persons have
been afflicted with a disease arising from excessive moisture in the
body, of which people have died, as they say that Alcmon the poet, and
Pherecydes of Syria did.
[180] Cinex lectularius.
[181] Perhaps Acarus Scabiei, Itch insect.
2. And in some diseases lice are very common. There is a kind of lice,
which they call wild, and are harder than the common sort, which are
difficult to eradicate from the body. The heads of children are most
subject to be infested with lice, and men the least so, for women are
more liable to them than men. Those that have lice in the head are
less subject to headache. Many other animals are infested with lice:
for both birds have them, and those which are called phasiani, unless
they dust themselves, are destroyed by them. And so are all those
creatures which have feathers with a hollow stem, and those which have
hair, except the ass, which has neither lice nor ticks. Oxen have both;
sheep and goats have ticks, but no lice; hogs are infested with large,
hard lice, and dogs with those which are called cynoraïstæ. All lice
originate in the animals that are infested with them. All creatures
that have lice, and wash themselves, are more liable to them when they
change the water in which they bathe.
3. In the sea is a kind of lice[182] growing on fish; but these do
not originate in the fish, but in the mud. Their appearance is that
of wood-lice with many feet, except that they have a wide tail. There
is one species of marine lice which occur everywhere, and especially
infest the trigla. All these creatures are furnished with many legs,
are exsanguineous, and insects. The œstrus[183] of the thynnus occurs
near the fins: in shape it is like a scorpion, and as large as a
spider. In the sea between Cyrene and Egypt, there is a fish called the
phtheira, which accompanies the dolphin; it is the fattest of all fish,
because it enjoys an abundance of the food which the dolphin hunts for.
[182] Perhaps Oniscus Ceti, or Isora.
[183] Perhaps Lernœa branchialis.
CHAPTER XXVI.
1. There are also other minute animals, as I observed before, some of
which occur in wool,[184] and in woollen goods; as the moths, which
are produced in the greatest abundance when the wool is dusty, and
especially if a spider is enclosed with them, for this creature is
thirsty, and dries up any fluid which may be present. This worm also
occurs in garments. There is one which occurs in old honeycombs, like
the creature which inhabits dry wood: this appears to be the least of
all creatures, it is called acari, it is white and small. Others also
are found in books,[185] some of which are like those which occur in
garments: others are like scorpions;[186] they have no tails, and are
very small. And on the whole, they occur in everything, so to say,
which from being dry, becomes moist, or being moist, becomes dry, if it
has any life in it.
[184] Tinea pellionella, or T. sarcitella.
[185] Dumestes Pellio, and D. lardarius.
[186] Phalangium cancroides.
2. There is a little worm which is called xylophthorus,[187] which
is no less extraordinary than these animals; for its variegated head
is projected beyond its case, and its feet are at the extremity, as
in other worms. The rest of the body is contained in a case made of
a substance like spider's web, and a dry material on the outside of
this; so that it appears to walk about with this attached to it. These
creatures are attached to their case, and as a snail to its shell, so
the whole of the case is joined to the worm, and it does not fall out
of it, but is drawn out of it, as if they were joined together. If a
person pulls off the case, the creature dies, and becomes as helpless
as a snail without its shell. As time advances, this grub becomes a
chrysalis, like a caterpillar, and lies without motion: but the nature
of the winged creature that is produced has never been ascertained.
[187] Tinea graminella, Tinea lichenella, Tinea Xylophorus, or perhaps
larva of Phryganea.
3. The wild figs upon the fig-trees contain a creature called
psen;[188] this is at first a little worm, and afterwards having
ruptured the case, the psen flies out, and leaves it behind. It then
pierces the unripe figs, and causes them not to fall off, wherefore
gardeners place wild fruit near the cultivated kinds, and plant the
wild and cultivated plants near each other.
[188] Cynips Psenes.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1. The sexual intercourse of sanguineous and oviparous quadrupeds takes
place in the spring. They do not, however, all copulate at the same
season; but some in the spring, others in the summer or autumn, as the
season is appropriate for bringing up the young of each species. The
tortoise produces hard, two-coloured eggs, like those of birds. Having
deposited her eggs, she buries them, and makes a beaten place above
them. When this is done, she sits upon them. The eggs are hatched the
following year. The emys goes out of the water to deposit her eggs, and
digs a hole like a cask, in which she places her eggs and leaves them.
Having left them alone for less than thirty days, she digs them up
again and hatches them and leads them at once to the water. The marine
turtles deposit their eggs in the earth like domestic birds, and cover
them up with earth and sit upon them during the night. They produce a
great many eggs, as many as an hundred.
2. The saurians and both the land and river crocodiles produce their
eggs upon the land. Those of the lizards are hatched spontaneously in
the earth; for the lizard does not live a whole year, for it is said
to live only six months. The river crocodile produces as many as sixty
eggs, which are white. She sits upon them for sixty days, for they live
a long while. A very large animal is produced from these small eggs;
for the egg is not larger than that of a goose, and the young is in
proportion, but when full grown the creature measures seventeen cubits.
Some persons say that it grows as long as it lives.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Among serpents the viper is externally viviparous, but first of all
internally oviparous. The ovum, like that of fish, is of one colour and
soft skinned. The young are produced in the upper part. They are not
enclosed in a shelly covering, neither are the ova of fish. The little
vipers are produced in a membrane, which they rupture on the third
day, and sometimes they make their escape by eating their way through
the mother. They are produced one by one in the course of a day, and
their number often exceeds twenty. Other serpents are externally
oviparous, but their ova are joined together like women's necklaces.
When the female deposits her eggs in the soil, she incubates upon them.
These also are hatched in the second year. This is the manner of the
production of serpents, insects, and of oviparous quadrupeds.
BOOK THE SIXTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. The above describes the manner of reproduction in serpents, insects,
and oviparous quadrupeds. All birds are oviparous, but the season of
sexual intercourse and of bringing out their young is not the same in
all; for some copulate and produce eggs at all seasons, as we may say,
as the domestic fowl and the pigeon, for the domestic fowl lays eggs
all the year round, except two months at the winter solstice. Some of
the finest birds will lay sixty eggs before they want to sit, though
these are not so fruitful as the more common kinds. The Adrianic fowls
are very small, but they lay every day; but they are cruel, and often
kill their chickens. Their colour is variegated. Some of the domestic
birds lay twice a-day, and some have been known to lay so many eggs
that they died very soon.
2. The domestic fowls, as I said, lay continually; but the pigeon,
dove, trygon, and œnas lay twice a-year; and the pigeon ten times. The
greatest number of birds lay in the spring; and some of them produce
many young, and this in two ways; some producing their young often, as
the pigeon; others producing many at a time, as the domestic fowl. All
birds with crooked claws, except the cenchris,[189] lay but few eggs.
This bird lays the most of any of its class; for it has been observed
to produce four, and it even produces more. Some birds lay their eggs
in nests; but those that do not fly, as partridges and quails, do not
make nests, but lay their eggs on the ground and cover them over with
rubbish. The lark and tetrix[190] do the same.
[189] Falco tinnunculus.
[190] Tetrao tetrix or Otis tetrix.
3. These birds make their nests in a place sheltered from the wind.
That which the Beotians call ærops[191] is the only bird that makes
its nests in caverns in the earth. The cichlæ[192] make nests of mud
like swallows in the tops of trees; but they place them in order close
to each other, so that from their proximity they look like a chain of
nests. Among the birds which make solitary nests, the hoopoe makes no
real nest, but lays its eggs in the stumps of hollow trees, without
building at all. The coccyx[193] lays its eggs in houses and holes in
rocks. The tetrix, which the Athenians call "urax," makes no nest on
the ground or in trees, but in herbaceous plants.
[191] Merops apiaster.
[192] Turdus, thrush.
[193] Cuculus canorus.
CHAPTER II.
1. The eggs of all birds are alike and have a hard shell, if they are
produced by sexual intercourse and are not decayed, for domestic fowls
sometimes lay soft eggs. Birds' eggs are two-coloured, externally
white, internally yellow. The eggs of birds inhabiting the sides of
streams and lakes differ from those living on dry land, for in the eggs
of aquatic birds the yolk bears a much larger proportion to the white.
2. The colours of eggs vary in different kinds of birds. Some have
white eggs, as pigeons, partridges; some yellow, as those inhabiting
streams; others are spotted, as those of the meleagris[194] and
phasianus;[195] the eggs of the cenchris are red like vermilion. In the
egg itself there is a difference; for one end is pointed, the other
round. The round end is produced first. The large, sharp eggs are
males; those which are round and circular at the sharp end are females.
[194] Numida Meleagris.
[195] Phasianus colchicus.
3. They are matured by incubation. Some are hatched spontaneously in
the earth, as in Egypt, being buried in dung; and they say that in
Syracuse a drunkard placed eggs beneath his mat, and drank without
ceasing until the eggs were hatched; and eggs placed in warm vessels
have been matured and hatched spontaneously.
4. The seminal fluid of all birds is white, like that of other animals;
and when they copulate the female receives the male semen near the
diaphragm. The egg at first appears small and white, afterwards red
and bloody; as it grows it becomes quite ochreous and yellow; when it
becomes larger a distinction is made, and the internal part becomes
yellow, the external white; and when it is perfected it is set at
liberty, and excluded just at the period when it is changing from soft
to hard. So that during exclusion it is not hardened; but as soon as
it is excluded it thickens and becomes hard, unless it is diseased. And
eggs have been known to be excluded in the state in which all eggs are
at a certain period of their growth; for they were entirely yellow,
as the young bird is afterwards. Such have also been observed in the
domestic fowl beneath the diaphragm, where the eggs of the hen are
placed, entirely yellow, and as large as eggs usually are. This has
been considered ominous.
5. They are mistaken who say that the hypenemia (barren eggs) are the
remains of former acts of sexual intercourse; for young birds, as fowls
and geese, have been frequently observed to lay such eggs without any
sexual intercourse. Barren eggs are smaller, not so sweet, and more
fluid than fertile eggs, and they are more numerous. If they are placed
under a bird, the fluid part never thickens, but both the yolk and
the white remain in their original state. Many birds produce these
eggs, as the domestic fowl, partridge, pigeon, peafowl, goose, and
chenalopex.[196]
[196] Œnas tadorna.
6. Eggs are hatched more readily in summer than in winter; for in the
summer the domestic fowl will hatch in eighteen days, but in winter
sometimes in not less than twenty-five days. Some birds also are more
adapted for incubation than others. A thunder-storm during the season
of incubation will destroy the eggs. What are called cynosura and
uria (addled eggs) are more frequently produced in the summer. The
hypenemia[197] are by some persons called zephyria, because they say
that birds receive these winds in the spring. They do the same thing if
they are touched with the hand. The hypenemia become fertile; and eggs
that are produced by sexual intercourse are changed to another kind,
if the hen which contains either hypenemia or fertile eggs has sexual
intercourse with another bird before the eggs begin to change from
yellow to white, and the hypenemia become fertile, and the fertile eggs
produce birds of the nature of the second male.
[197] Eggs formed without sexual intercourse.
7. But if the change from yellow to white has already taken place,
neither the barren nor the fertile eggs are altered, so as to change to
the nature of the second male. And if the sexual intercourse should be
discontinued while the eggs are small, those which existed previously
undergo no change, but if the act is repeated, a rapid increase in
size takes place. The nature of the white and yolk of the egg is
different, not only in colour, but in other properties, for the yolk
coagulates with cold, while the white remains fluid, but the white
coagulates with heat, which the yolk does not, but remains soft, if it
is not burnt; and it becomes consistent and dry by boiling rather than
roasting.
8. The white and yolk are separated from each other by a membrane.
The chalazæ at the extremities of the yolk have nothing to do with
generation, as some persons suppose. These spots are two, one below
and one above. If many whites and yolks of eggs are taken out, and
mixed together in a vessel, and cooked with a slow and moderate heat,
the yolks will all collect in the middle, and the whites will surround
them. Young domestic fowls begin to lay eggs at the beginning of the
spring; they lay more than those which are older, but those of the
young birds are smaller, and if birds are not permitted to incubate,
they are destroyed and become sick.
9. After copulation birds ruffle and shake themselves, and often cover
themselves with chaff, and this also they do when they have laid.
Pigeons draw up their tail, geese go and bathe. The pregnancy and
conception of barren eggs is quick in most birds, as in the partridge,
on account of the violence of their sexual desires; for if the hen
stands in the way of the breath of the male, she conceives, and
immediately becomes of no use for fowling; for the partridge appears to
have a very distinct smell. The production of the egg after copulation,
and the production of the young by incubation, do not occupy the same
length of time in all birds, but varies according to their size.
The egg of the domestic fowl is perfected in ten days after sexual
intercourse, and that of the pigeon in a shorter time. Pigeons are
able to retain their eggs even in the act of parturition. If they are
disturbed by anything occurring in the neighbourhood of their nest,
or a feather be plucked out, or if anything else troubles or disturbs
them, they retain the egg they were about to lay.
10. This is peculiar to pigeons, and so is the following: for they
kiss each other when the male is about to mount, or else they will not
endure it. The older bird first gives a kiss, but afterwards he mounts
without kissing, but younger birds always kiss before copulation.
This also is peculiar to these birds. The females kiss and mount upon
each other like the males, when there is no male present. They do not
project anything into each other, but produce more eggs than those
which produce fertile ones; from these eggs nothing is hatched, but
they are all barren.
CHAPTER III.
1. The production of the bird from the egg is alike in them all, but
the period of completion varies, as I observed before. In domestic
fowls the first sign of alteration takes place after three days and
nights. This period is longer in larger birds, and shorter in small
birds. During this period the upper part of the yolk advances to the
small extremity of the egg, which is the beginning of the egg. This is
the part from which the chicken is excluded, and the heart is visible
like a red spot in the white of the egg.
2. This spot palpitates and moves as though it were endued with life.
From this, as it increases, two involved sanguineous passages like
veins lead to each of the surrounding tunics; and a membrane which has
sanguineous passages encloses the white at this period, and separates
it from the venous passages. A short time afterwards the body is
distinguished, at first very small and white, but the head is distinct,
and in this the eyes are the most enlarged. And this continues for some
time, for afterwards the eyes are reduced in size and approach each
other, but the lower part of the body has not at first any proportion
to the upper part.
3. One of the passages from the heart extends into a circle around the
embryo, and the other to the yolk, as if it were an umbilical cord.
The origin of the young bird is in the white, its nutriment is derived
from the yolk through the umbilical cord. On the tenth day, the whole
of the young bird and all its parts are distinct, but its head is still
larger than the rest of the body, and the eyes are larger than the rest
of the head. They have no sense of sight. If the eyes are taken out at
this period, they are larger than beans, and black; when the skin is
taken from them, they are seen to contain a white and cold fluid, very
brilliant in appearance, but without any hard substance. This is the
manner of the development of the eyes and head.
4. At the same period the viscera are visible, but the stomach, and
intestines, and the veins from the heart still appear to extend towards
the navel. From the navel a vein appears to extend upon the membrane
which encloses the yolk, and the yolk itself is at this period fluid,
and more abundant than in its natural state. The other extends to the
membrane which encloses the whole membrane containing the embryo, and
the membrane of the yolk and the fluid between them, and when the young
birds have grown a little more, part of the yolk goes to one end, and
part to the other, and between them is the fluid white; but the white
is still below the lower part of the yolk, where it was at first, but
at the tenth day the white disappears, for it has become small, viscid,
thick, and rather yellow.
5. This is the position of all the parts: the first and last part
adjoining the shell is the membrane of the egg, not the membrane of
the shell, but beneath this. This contains the fluid white; within
this is the young bird, and a membrane surrounding it, and separating
it from the fluid; beneath the embryo is the yolk, to which one of the
veins extends, and the other to the white which encloses it. A membrane
containing a fluid resembling sanies encloses the whole, and then
another membrane which surrounds the embryo itself, as I observed, and
separates it from the fluid. Below this the yolk, enclosed in another
membrane, which is reached by the umbilical cord from the heart, and
the great vein, so that the embryo does not appear to be in either of
the fluids.
6. About the twentieth day, if the hatching has been delayed beyond
this period, the young bird is able to chirp when moved externally, and
if the shell is taken off, by this time also it is downy. The head is
placed over the right leg upon the side, and the wing is over the head.
At this period the chorion-like membrane is visible, which is united
with the lowest membrane of the shell, to which one of the umbilical
cords passes, and the young bird is complete. The other chorion-like
membrane is also visible, enclosing the yolk. To this the other
umbilical cord extends. Both of these cords are attached to the heart
and the great vein. At the same period the cord which is attached to
one chorion falls off, and is separated from the animal, but the one
which passes to the yolk remains suspended from the young bird by a
thin bowel, and a considerable portion of the yolk is contained in the
young bird, and some of it is found in the stomach.
7. At this period also they eject an excrementitious matter into
the external chorion, and contain it in the stomach. The external
excrement is white, the internal yellow. At last the yolk, which has
been continually wasting and advancing, is entirely taken up and
enclosed in the young bird. So that portions of it may be observed in
the intestines of birds if they are dissected on the tenth day after
exclusion from the egg. But it is set at liberty from the navel, nor
does any communication remain, but the whole is separated. About the
before-mentioned period the young bird sleeps, but it stirs itself, and
looks up, and chirps when it is touched, and the heart swells up with
the navel, as if the embryo were breathing. This is the manner of the
development of the chick in the egg.
8. Birds also produce some barren eggs, as well as those from sexual
intercourse, but they produce nothing after incubation. This is
particularly observed in pigeons. Double eggs have two yolks; in some a
thin division of white prevents the yolks from mixing together; others
have not this division, but touch each other. There are some hens which
always lay double eggs, and in these the peculiarities of the yolks
have been observed; for a certain bird having laid eighteen eggs,
hatched two chickens from each of them, except those that were addled;
all the rest were productive, except that one of the twin chickens was
large and the other small in each. The last, however, was monstrous.
CHAPTER IV.
1. All the pigeon tribe, as the phatta and trygon, generally produce
two eggs; the trygon and the phatta are those which generally lay
three. The pigeon lays, as I said, at every season; the trygon and
the phatta in the spring, and not more than twice. The second brood
are hatched when the first has been destroyed, for many birds destroy
them. It sometimes lays three, as I have said, but it never brings out
more than two young ones, and sometimes only one, the remaining egg
is always addled. Very few birds begin to lay before they are a year
old; but when they have once begun to lay, they all, as we may say,
naturally contain eggs to the end of their life, though it is not easy
to see them in some birds, from their small size.
2. The pigeon usually produces one male and one female, and of these
the male is often hatched first; and having laid an egg one day, she
omits many days and then lays another. The male sits during a portion
of the day, and the female during the night. The first young one is
hatched and able to fly within twenty days, and the egg is billed on
the day before it is hatched; both the old birds keep the young ones
warm for some time, as they do the eggs. During the time of bringing up
their young the female is fiercer than the male: this is also the case
in other animals. They produce young ten times in a year, and sometimes
eleven times; those in Egypt even twelve times. The cock and hen birds
copulate within the year, for they do this at the end of six months.
3. And some say that the phatta and trygon are matured when three
months old, and they consider their great numbers as a proof of this.
The female contains her eggs fourteen days, and then sits upon them
fourteen more; in fourteen days after this the young ones fly so well
that it is difficult to catch them. The phatta lives, as they say,
forty years; the partridge more than sixteen years. The pigeon, after
having brought out her young, lays again in thirty days.
CHAPTER V.
1. The vulture builds its nest in inaccessible rocks, wherefore its
nest and young ones are rarely seen. For this reason Herodorus, the
father of Bryson the sophist, says that vultures come from another part
of the earth, which is invisible to us, giving as a reason for his
opinion, that they are seen in great numbers suddenly following the
path of an army. But difficult as it is to observe them, their nests
have been seen. The vulture produces two eggs. No other carnivorous
bird has been observed to produce young more than once a year; but
the swallow more frequently produces young twice a year than the
carnivorous birds. If a person pierces the eyes of young swallows they
recover, and are able to see afterwards.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The eagle produces three eggs, of which two only are hatched. This
is also related in the poems of Musæus. The bird which lays three eggs,
hatches two, and brings up but one. This frequently happens; but three
young have been seen in the nest. When the young begin to grow, one of
them is turned out by the parent, because she dislikes the trouble of
feeding it. At this period it is said to be without food, so that it
does not capture the young of wild creatures, for a few days the talons
are turned back, and the feathers become white, so that it then becomes
cruel to its young. The phene[198] receives and brings up the ejected
young one.
[198] Vultur cinereus, ossifragus, osprey.
2. The eagle incubates for thirty days; this is the usual period of
incubation for large birds, as the goose and the bustard. Moderately
sized birds usually sit twenty days, as the ictinus[199] and
hierax.[200] The ictinus usually produces two young ones, and sometimes
three; the Ætolian kite, as it is called, sometimes produces four. The
raven produces not only two, but, as they say, many eggs, which she
sits upon for about twenty days. She also turns out some of her young
ones. Many other birds do the same thing; and generally those which
produce several turn out one.
[199] Kite.
[200] Hawk.
3. All kinds of eagles do not behave in the same way to their young;
but the pygargus is cruel; and the black eagles are careful for the
food of their young; but all birds with crooked talons as soon as their
young can fly well beat them and drive them from the nest. And most
birds of other classes, as I have before observed, do the same thing;
and when they have brought them up, they take no more notice of them,
except the crow. This bird cares for its young a long while, for as it
flies past them it gives them food after they are able to fly.
CHAPTER VII.
1. The cuckoo is said by some persons to be a changed hawk, because the
hawk which it resembles disappears when the cuckoo comes, and indeed
very few hawks of any sort can be seen during the period in which the
cuckoo is singing except for a few days. The cuckoo is seen for a
short time in the summer, and disappears in winter. But the hawk has
crooked talons, which the cuckoo has not, nor does it resemble the hawk
in the form of its head, but in both these respects is more like the
pigeon than the hawk, which it resembles in nothing but its colour; the
markings, however, upon the hawk are like lines, while the cuckoo is
spotted.
2. Its size and manner of flight is like that of the smallest kind of
hawk, which generally disappears during the season in which the cuckoo
is seen. But they have both been seen at the same time, and the cuckoo
was being devoured by the hawk, though this is never done by birds of
the same kind. They say that no one has ever seen the young of the
cuckoo. It does, however, lay eggs, but it makes no nest; but sometimes
it lays its eggs in the nests of small birds, and devours their eggs,
especially in the nests of the pigeon, when it has eaten their eggs.
Sometimes it lays two, but usually only one egg; it lays also in the
nest of the hypolais,[201] which hatches and brings it up. At this
season it is particularly fat and sweet-fleshed; the flesh also of
young hawks is very sweet and fat. There is also a kind of them which
builds a nest in precipitous cliffs.
[201] Sylvia curucca, hedge sparrow.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. In many birds the male alternates with the female in the duty of
incubation, as we observed in speaking of pigeons, and takes her place
while she is obliged to procure food for herself. In geese the female
alone sits upon the eggs, and having once begun, she never leaves them
during the whole process of incubation. The nests of all water birds
are situated in marshy and grassy places, by which means they can keep
quiet and still have food within their reach, so that they do not
starve all the while. The females alone, among the crows, sit on the
eggs, which they never leave; but the males bring them food and feed
them.
2. The females of the pigeons begin to sit at twilight, and remain on
the nest the whole night, till dawn; and the male the rest of the time.
Partridges make two nests of eggs, upon one of which the male sits, on
the other the female; and each of them hatches and brings up its own:
and the male has sexual intercourse with its young as soon as they are
hatched.
CHAPTER IX.
1. The peacock lives about twenty-five years, and produces young
generally at three years old; by which time also they have obtained
their variegated plumage: and it hatches in thirty days, or rather
more. It only produces young once a-year, laying twelve eggs, or not
quite so many. It lays its eggs at intervals of two or three days,
and not regularly. At first they lay only eight. The pea-fowl also
lays barren eggs: they copulate in the spring, and lay their eggs
immediately afterwards.
2. This bird sheds its feathers when the leaves of the trees begin
to fall, and begins to acquire them again with the first budding in
the spring. Those who rear these birds place the eggs for incubation
beneath domestic fowls; because the peacock flies at, and torments the
hen when she is sitting; for which reason some of the wild birds make
their escape from the males before they begin to lay and sit. They
place only two eggs under domestic fowls, for these are all that they
can hatch and bring out; and they take care to put food before them,
that they may not get up and desert their incubation.
3. Birds at the season of sexual intercourse have large testicles. In
the more lascivious they are always more evident, as the domestic cock
and the partridge. In those that are not always lascivious, they are
less. This is the manner of the gestation and reproduction of birds.
CHAPTER X.
1. It has been already observed that fish are not always oviparous,
for the selache are always viviparous. All the rest are oviparous. The
selache are viviparous, having first of all produced ova internally;
and these they bring up in themselves, except the batrachus. Fish
have also, as I observed before, very different uteri in different
kinds: for in the oviparous genera the uterus is double, and situated
low down. In the selache the uterus is more like that of birds. There
is this difference, however, that the ova are not placed near the
diaphragm, but in an intermediate position near the spine; and when
they have grown they change their place from this part. The ovum in
all fish is not of two, but of one colour; and it is more white than
yellow, both in its early stages, and after the formation of the embryo.
2. The development of the ovum is different in fish and in birds, in
that it has not the umbilical cord which passes to the membrane of the
shell; but only the passage which leads to the yolk in the eggs of
birds. The rest of the development of the ovum is alike in birds and
fish; for it takes place at the extremity, and the veins have their
origin in a similar manner in the heart; and the head, and eyes, and
upper parts of the body are larger than the rest. As the young fish
increases, the ovum continues to diminish, and at last it disappears,
and is absorbed, like the yolk in the eggs of birds. The umbilical cord
is attached a little below the abdomen. At first the cord is long, but
it becomes less as the fish grows, and at last is small, and finally
absorbed, like that of birds.
3. The embryo and the ovum are enclosed in a common membrane, and
beneath this there is another membrane, in which the embryo alone is
enclosed. Between these membranes there is a fluid substance. The
nutriment contained in the stomach of the young fish is similar to
that in the young birds, partly white, and partly yellow. The form of
the uterus must be learned from dissection. This organ is different
in different fish, as in the galeode by themselves, and the flat fish
by themselves: for in some the ova are attached near the spine to the
centre of the uterus, as I observed before, as in scylia.[202] They
descend when they begin to increase, when the uterus is double, and are
attached to the diaphragm, as in other fish: the ova descend into each
division.
[202] Dog-fish. Squalus stellaris.
4. The uterus of these fish, and of the other galeode, has a small
appendage attached to the diaphragm like a white nipple, which is not
present unless they are pregnant. The scylia and the batis have a
shell-like substance, which contains the fluid of the ovum. In form the
shell resembles the tongue of a wind instrument, and hair-like passages
are attached to the shells. The young of the scylia, which some persons
call nebria galei, are born when the shell falls off and bursts. The
young of the batis when they are brought forth are excluded by the
rupture of the shell. In the acantheas[203] galeos the ova are attached
to the diaphragm above the nipples; and when the ovum descends, the
young is attached to it after it is set free. The reproduction of the
alopex is in the same manner.
[203] Squalus Acanthias.
5. Most galei which are called smooth have the ova placed between the
divisions of the uterus, like those of the scylia; and as they surround
it, they descend into each division of the uterus, and they are
produced, attached to the uterus by an umbilical cord; so that when the
ova are taken out, they appear similar to the embryo of quadrupeds. And
the long umbilical cord is attached to the lower part of the uterus,
each part, as it were, attached to an acetabulum; and to the middle of
the embryo near the liver. And when it is dissected, the food is like
an egg, though the ovum be no longer there. There is a chorion, and
peculiar membranes surrounding each of the embryos, as in quadrupeds.
6. The head of the embryo when it is just produced, is upwards; but as
it grows and reaches maturity, it is placed downwards. The males are
placed on the left, and the females on the right, or there are males
and females together on the same side. The embryo, when dissected,
resembles that of quadrupeds, in having its viscera such as it has, as
the liver, large, and full of blood. In all the selache the ova are
placed high up, near the diaphragm; many larger, and many smaller: and
the embryos are placed below, wherefore it is probable that such fish
produce their young, and copulate frequently during the same month, for
they do not produce all their young at once, but frequently, and for
a long while; but those that are in the lower part of the uterus are
matured and brought to perfection.
7. The other galei both emit and receive their young into themselves,
and so do the rhine and the narca; and a large narca has been observed
to contain eighty young in herself. The acanthias is the only one of
the galei which does not admit its young into itself, on account of
their thorns. Among the flat fish the trygon and batos do not admit
their young, on account of the roughness of the tail. Neither does
the batrachus admit its young, on account of the size of their heads,
and their thorns; and this is the only one that is not viviparous, as
I previously observed. These are their mutual differences, and the
manner of the development of their ova.
8. At the season of sexual intercourse, the seminal ducts of the
male are full of fluid, so that a white matter escapes when they are
pressed. These passages are divided, and originate in the diaphragm
and the large vein: at the same season the passages of the male are
conspicuous, and may be compared with the uterus of the female. When
it is not the season of sexual intercourse, they are less conspicuous,
from not being in use. In some fish, and sometimes, they are not
visible at all, as it was remarked of the testicles of birds. The
seminal and uterine passages are different in other respects also,
and because those of the male are attached to the loins, those of the
female are easily moved, and enclosed in a thin membrane. The nature of
the passages of the male may be seen in works on anatomy.
9. The selachea become pregnant again while with young, and the period
of gestation is six months. Among the galei, the asterias produces
young the oftenest; for it produces twice in a month: it begins to
copulate in the month of September. All the other galei except the
scylia produce twice in the year; the scylia but once. Some of them
have their young in the spring. The rhine produces its first brood in
the spring, and its last in the autumn, near the winter season, and
the setting of the Pleiades. The second fry are the most numerous. The
narca produces its young in the autumn. The selache descend from the
ocean and deep water to the shore, to produce their young, both for the
sake of the warmth, and care of their offspring.
10. No other fish but the rhine and the batos have ever been observed
to unite with others not of their own kind, but there is a fish called
the rhinobatus, which has the head and upper part of the rhine, and
the lower part like the batus, as it were made up of both. The galei
and the galeoeides, as the alopex, dog-fish, and the flat fish, as the
narce batos, leiobatos and trygon, are in this manner ovoviparous.
CHAPTER XI.
1. The dolphin, whale, and other cetacea which have a blow-hole but no
gills, are viviparous, and so are the pristis and the bos. For none
of these have an ovum, but a proper fœtus, from which, when perfected,
an animal is developed, as in man and the viviparous quadrupeds. The
dolphin usually produces one, and sometimes two young ones. The whale
generally and usually produces two and sometimes one. The phocæna is
similar to the dolphin, for it is like a small dolphin. It is produced
in the Pontus. In some respects the phocæna differs from the dolphin,
for its size is smaller, it is wider in the back, and its colour is
blue. Many persons say that the phocæna is a kind of dolphin.
2. All these creatures which have a blow-hole, breathe and inhale
air; and the dolphin has been observed while asleep with the muzzle
above the water, and it snores in its sleep. The dolphin and phocæna
give milk and suckle their young. They also receive their young into
themselves. The growth of the young dolphins is rapid, for they attain
their full size in ten years. The female is pregnant for ten months.
The dolphin produces her young in the summer-time, and at no other
season. They seem also to disappear for thirty days during the season
of the dog-star. The young follow their dam for a long while, and it is
an animal much attached to its offspring. It lives many years; for some
have been known to live twenty-five or thirty years; for fishermen have
marked them by cutting their tails and then giving them their liberty.
In this way their age was known.
3. The seal is amphibious, for it does not inhale water, but breathes
and sleeps. It produces its young on land, but near the shore, in the
manner of animals with feet; but it lives the greater part of its time,
and obtains its food in the sea, wherefore it is to be considered among
aquatic animals. It is properly viviparous, and produces a living
creature, and a chorion, and it brings forth the other membranes like a
sheep. It produces one or two, never more than three young ones. It has
also mammæ, so that it suckles its young like quadrupeds. It produces
its young like the human subject, at all seasons of the year, but
especially with the earliest goats.
4. When the young are twelve days old, it leads them to the water
several times in the day, in order to habituate them by degrees. It
drags its hinder parts along, and does not walk, for it cannot erect
itself upon its feet, but it contracts and draws itself together. It
is fleshy and soft, and its bones are cartilaginous. It is difficult
to kill the seal by violence, unless it is struck upon the temple, for
its body is fleshy. It has a voice like an ox. The pudendum of the
female is like that of the batis, in all other animals of the class the
pudendum resembles that of the human female. This is the manner of the
development and nature of the young of aquatic animals which are either
internally or externally viviparous.
CHAPTER XII.
1. The oviparous fish have a divided uterus placed on the lower part of
the body, as I observed before. All that have scales are viviparous,
as the labrax, cestreus, cephalus, etelis,[204] and those called white
fish, and all smooth fish except the eel. Their ova resemble sand. This
appearance is owing to their uterus being quite full of ova, so that
small fish appear to have only two ova; for the small size and thinness
of the uterus renders it invisible in these creatures. I have before
treated of the sexual intercourse of fish. The sexes are distinct in
almost all fish, though there is some doubt about the erythrinus[205]
and the channa, for all these are found to be pregnant.
[204] Perhaps the Sea-bream, Sparus.
[205] Perhaps Perca marina.
2. Ova are found in those fish which have sexual intercourse, though
they possess them without intercourse. This is observable in some kinds
of river fish; for the phoxini[206] appear to be pregnant as soon as
they are born, and when they are quite small. They emit the ova in a
stream; and, as I observed before, the males devour great numbers of
them, and others perish in the water. Those are preserved which they
deposit in their appropriate situations. For, if all were preserved,
the numbers that would be found would be immense. Not all those that
are preserved are fertile, but only those on which the seminal fluid of
the male has been sprinkled. When the female produces her ova, the male
follows, and scatters his semen upon them. Young fish are produced from
those ova which are thus sprinkled. The remainder turn out as chance
may direct.
[206] Cyprinus Phoxinus.
3. The same thing also occurs in the malacia; for the male sepia
sprinkles the ova of the female as they are deposited; and it is
reasonable to suppose that the other malacia do the same, although it
has only been observed in the sepia. They produce their ova near the
land, the cobii deposit them upon stones, and that which they produce
is flat and sand-like. The rest do the same, for the parts near the
land are warmer, and provision is more abundant, and there is better
protection for their young against larger fish, for which cause very
great numbers deposit their ova near the river Thermodon, in the
Pontus, for the place is sheltered and warm, and the water is sweet.
4. The majority of viviparous fish reproduce once in a-year, except
the small phycides,[207] which reproduce twice a-year. The male phyces
differs from the female, being darker-coloured and having larger
scales. All other fish produce from seed, and emit ova; but that which
is called the belone, at the season of reproduction bursts asunder, and
in this way the ova escape; for this fish has a division beneath the
stomach and bowels, like the serpents called typhlinæ.[208] When it has
produced its ova, it survives, and the wound heals up again.
[207] Mugil. Some species of mullet.
[208] Lacerta apus.
5. The development of the ovum is alike, both in those that are
internally and those that are externally oviparous. For it takes
place at the extremity of the ovum, and it is enclosed in a membrane.
The eyes are the first part that is conspicuous; they are large and
spherical; so that it is plain that they are mistaken who say that
the mode of development resembles that of vermiform creatures, for in
them the order is different, and the lower parts are formed first, and
afterwards the head and eyes. When the ovum is taken away, they assume
a circular form, and for some time continue to grow without taking in
any food, by absorbing the moisture of the ovum. They afterwards derive
their nutriment, as long as they continue growing, from the water of
the river.
6. When the Pontus is cleansed, something is floated out into the
Hellespont which is called fucus. It is of a yellow colour. Some say
that it is naturally a plant. This takes place at the beginning of
summer. The oysters and small fish which live in these places feed
upon this fucus; and some maritime persons say that they obtain their
purple from this plant.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. The pond and river fish begin to reproduce usually when five months
old. They all produce their ova at the beginning of summer. Like the
marine fish, the females of these kinds never emit all their ova, nor
the males all their semen, at once; but both sexes are always found to
contain a portion of the reproductive substance; they produce their
ova at the proper season. The cyprinus five or six times a-year, and
especially under the influence of the stars. The chalcis reproduces
three times, all the rest but once a-year.
2. They deposit their ova in the stagnant parts of rivers and ponds
among the reeds, as the phoxinus and perca. The glanis and the
perca produce their ova in strings, like the frog. That which the
perca produces is so involved that, on account of its breadth, the
fishermen collect it together from among the reeds in ponds. The
larger individuals of the glanis produce their ova in deep water, some
where it is a fathom deep; but the smaller ones in shallow water, and
especially at the root of the willow or some other tree, and among the
reeds and mosses.
3. The fish fold themselves together, sometimes a large one with a
small one, and approximate the passages, which some call their navel,
from which they eject their respective seminal matter, the females
their ova, and the males their spermatic fluid. Those ova with which
the semen of the male has been mixed immediately or in the course of a
day become whiter and larger, and in a short time the eyes of the fish
make their appearance; for in all fish, as in other animals, this part
is most conspicuous, and appears the largest. But, if the seminal fluid
does not touch any of the ova, as in the case of sea-fish, these become
useless and barren.
4. From the fertile ova, as the fish increase in size, something like a
shell is separated; this is the membrane which envelopes the ovum and
the embryo fish. As soon as the seminal fluid is mixed with the ova a
glutinous matter is formed, which fastens them to the roots or other
substance on which they are deposited. The male watches over the place
where the greatest number of ova are deposited, and the female departs
as soon as she has spawned. The development of the ovum of the glanis
proceeds the most slowly, for the male remains by them for forty or
fifty days, in order that they may not be devoured by fish chancing to
come that way.
5. Next to this is the cyprinus. The ova, however, of these which
are preserved escape very quickly. The development in some of the
small fish takes place on the third day, and the ova upon which the
seminal fluid has fallen begin to increase on the same day, or shortly
afterwards. The ova of the glanis become as large as the seed of the
orobus. Those of the cyprinus and that class, about the size of millet.
The ova of these fish are produced and developed in this manner.
6. The chalcis assembles in great numbers to deposit its ova in deep
water. The fish which is called tilon deposits its ova near the shore,
in sheltered places; this fish also is gregarious. The cyprinus,
balerus, and all others, so to say, hasten into shallow water to
deposit their ova, and thirteen or fourteen males often follow a single
female, and when the female has deposited her ova and departed, the
males that follow her sprinkle their semen upon them. The majority of
the ova are lost, for the female scatters them abroad as she is moving
forward, unless they fall upon any substance, and are not carried away
by the stream. None of them, except the glanis, watch their ova, unless
the cyprinus meets with them in great numbers, when, they say, that
this fish watches them.
7. All the male fish have semen, except the eel, and this one has
neither semen nor ova. The cestreus migrates from the sea into lakes
and rivers; the eel, on the contrary, leaves them for the sea. Most
fish, therefore, as I observed, proceed from ova.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. Some originate in mud and sand: even of those kinds which originate
in sexual intercourse and ova, some, they say, have appeared both
in other marshy places and in those which once surrounded Cnidus,
which became dry under the influence of the dog-star, and all the mud
was parched up, but with the first rains the waters returned, and
small fish appeared with the return of the waters. This was a kind
of cestreus, which originates in coition, about the size of small
mænidia,[209] but they had neither ova nor semen. In the Asiatic
rivers, which do not flow into the sea, other small fish, of the size
of epseti,[210] are produced in the same manner. Some persons say that
the cestreus is always produced in this manner, but in this they are
mistaken, for both the females are known to have ova and the males
semen. But there is some one kind of them which originates in mud and
sand.
[209] Sardine.
[210] Atherine epsetos.
2. It is evident from the following considerations that some of them
are of spontaneous growth, and do not originate either in ova or semen.
Those which are neither oviparous nor viviparous are all produced
either from mud or sand, or from the putrid matter on the surface, as
also the foam in sandy places produces the aphya.[211] This aphya never
increases in size, and is barren, and as time advances it perishes, and
another fry is formed. Wherefore it may be said to be reproduced at
every season, except for a short time; for it continues from the autumn
arcturus to the spring. This is a proof that it sometimes originates
in the soil, for it is not captured by fishermen in cold weather, but
on a fine day it may be taken as it comes up from the ground for the
sake of the warmth. When they have dragged the ground and scraped up
the surface, the fish are more numerous and better. The other aphyæ are
inferior, on account of their rapid growth.
[211] Melanurus juvenculus.
3. They are found in shady and marshy places, when the earth becomes
warm in fine weather, as near the temple of Athene in Salamis, and near
the tomb of Themistocles, and near Marathon, for foam is formed in
all these places. It makes its appearance in such places, and in fine
weather: it appears also at times in seasons of much rain, and when
foam is formed of rain water, wherefore also it is called aphrus; and
sometimes it is found on the surface of the sea, in fine weather, where
it is whirled about, and, like the little maggots in dung, so this is
found in the foam which floats on the surface; wherefore also this
aphya is carried by the sea in many directions, and it abounds and is
captured in the greatest abundance when the season is moist and warm.
4. There is another aphya derived from fish, for that which is
called cobitis is derived from small and inferior gobii, which bury
themselves in the earth. The membrades are produced from the phalerica.
The trichides come from these, and the trichiæ from the trichides; from
one kind of aphya, which inhabits the port of Athens, the encrasicoli
are derived. There is another kind of aphya which originates in the
mœnis and cestreus, but the barren aphrus is very soft, and endures
only for a short time, as I said before, and at last nothing is left
but the head and eyes. The fishermen, however, have now found a mode of
conveying it from place to place, for it lasts longer when salted.
CHAPTER XV.
1. Eels are not produced from sexual intercourse, nor are they
oviparous, nor have they ever been detected with semen or ova, nor
when dissected do they appear to possess either seminal or uterine
viscera; and this is the only kind of sanguineous animal which does
not originate either in sexual intercourse or in ova. It is, however,
manifest that this is the case, for, after rain, they have been
reproduced in some marshy ponds, from which all the water was drawn
and the mud cleaned out; but they are never produced in dry places nor
in ponds that are always full, for they live upon and are nourished by
rain water. It is plain, therefore, that they are not produced either
from sexual intercourse or from ova. Some persons have thought that
they were productive, because some eels have parasitical worms, and
they thought that these became eels.
2. This, however, is not the case, but they originate in what are
called the entrails of the earth, which are found spontaneously in
mud and moist earth. They have been observed making their escape from
them, and others have been found in them when cut up and dissected.
These originate both in the sea and in rivers wherein putrid matter is
abundant; in those places in the sea which are full of fuci, and near
the banks of rivers and ponds, for in these places the heat causes much
putridity. This is the mode of generation in eels.
CHAPTER XVI.
1. The reproductive function is not active in all fish at the same time
or the same manner, nor are they pregnant during the same length of
time. Before the season of sexual intercourse the males and females
begin to assemble, and at the period of intercourse and the production
of their ova they pair together. Some of them do not remain pregnant
more than thirty days, and others not so long; but all of them remain
so for a number of days, which can be distributed into seven. Those
which some persons call marini remain pregnant for the longest period.
The sargus becomes pregnant in the month of December, and remains so
for thirty days. The kind of cestreus which some persons call the
chelon and the myxon are pregnant at the same time as the sargus. All
these suffer in their pregnancy, wherefore they are driven to the shore
at this season; for in the vehemence of their desire they are carried
towards the land, and always continue in motion during this period till
they have produced their ova. The cestreus is more remarkable for this
than any other fish. As soon as they have deposited their ova, they
become quiet.
2. In many fish there is a limit to their reproductive powers, when
worms make their appearance in their abdomen. These worms are small
living creatures, which expel the reproductive substance. The small
fry of the rhyas makes its appearance in the spring, and that of many
others about the vernal equinox. Other fish do not produce at this
season of the year, but in the summer or near the autumnal equinox.
3. The atherina produces its young first of all, near the land. The
cephalus is the last. This is evident from the small fry of the former
appearing first, and that of the latter last of all. The cestreus also
produces among the first. The salpa in most places deposits its ova
during the summer, and sometimes in the autumn. The aulopias, which
they call anthias, produces its ova in the summer season. After these
the chrysophrys, labrax, mormyrus, and all those which are called
dromades; the trigla and cocarinus are the latest of all the gregarious
fish. These oviposit in the autumn. The trigla deposits her ova in the
mud, which causes her to be late, for the mud continues cold for a long
while. The coracimus is next to the trigla, and goes among the sea
weed to deposit her ova: consequently they frequent rocky places. It
continues pregnant for a long while. The mænides oviposit at the winter
solstice. Many other marine fish oviposit in the summer, for they are
not captured at this period. The mænis is the most productive of all
fish, and the batrachus the most so among the selache. They are,
however, rare, for they perish very readily; they oviposit in shoals
and near the land.
4. The selache, as being viviparous, are less productive. These are
particularly preserved by their large size. The belone is late in
producing its young, and many of them are burst by their ova in the act
of parturition; for these ova are not so numerous as they are large.
They surround the parent as if they were phalangia; for she produces
them attached to herself, and if any one touches them they make their
escape. The atherina deposits her ova by rubbing her abdomen against
the sand. The thynni burst with fat. They live two years. The fishermen
argue thus: when the thynnides fail one year, the thynni fail the year
after. They appear to be a year older than the pelamus.
5. The thynni and scombri copulate at the end of February, and produce
their young at the beginning of June. They produce their ova, as it
were, in a purse. The growth of the thynnides is rapid; for when these
fish produce their young in the Pontus, they produce from the ovum
creatures which some persons call scordylæ, and the Byzantines call
auxidæ, because they grow in a few days. They go out in the autumn
with the thynnus, and return in the spring as pelamides. Nearly all
other fish grow rapidly, but those in the Pontus more rapidly than in
other places; for the amiæ there increase visibly every day. It is
necessary to remember that the same fish have not in the same place
the identical time of coition and gestation, nor the same period of
reproduction and completion of their offspring. For those which are
called coracini produce their ova at the time of wheat harvest, though,
generally speaking, the order of their reproduction is that which I
have mentioned.
6. The conger also becomes pregnant, though this circumstance is not
equally distinct everywhere on account of its fat; for the organ of
reproduction is long, like that of serpents. It becomes distinct,
however, when laid upon the fire; for the fat smokes and consumes
away, and the ova, when pressed, jump out with a cracking noise. If
any person will feel and rub them with the finger, the fat will appear
smooth and the ova rough to the touch. Some congers have fat but no
ova; and others, on the contrary, have no fat but such ova as I have
described. We have now treated of nearly all the oviparous animals,
whether furnished with fins, or wings, or feet, and of their sexual
intercourse, gestation, development, and such like subjects.
CHAPTER XVII.
1. We must now treat of the nature of viviparous animals with feet
and of man at this period. We have already treated in general and in
particular of their mode of coition. It is common to all animals to
be elevated with the desire and pleasure of sexual intercourse. The
females become savage when their young are produced, the males at the
season of coition; for horses bite each other and drive about and
pursue their riders. The wild boars are very savage at this season,
although coition renders them weak.
2. And they fight wonderfully among themselves, and make themselves
as it were breastplates, and render their skin callous beforehand by
rubbing themselves against trees and frequently wallowing in the mud
and drying themselves. They fight together and drive each other out of
the herd so fiercely, that not rarely both of them perish in the fight.
The same is the nature of bulls, rams, and goats; for although at other
seasons they pasture together, at the period of copulation they quarrel
and fight together. The male camel also is violent at this time,
whether it is a man or a camel that approaches him, and he will at all
times fight with a horse.
3. The nature of wild animals is the same. For bears, wolves, and lions
are savage if they are approached at this season; but they do not
quarrel much among themselves, for none of them are gregarious. The
she bears are savage in defence of their cubs, and bitches for their
puppies. Elephants also become wild at this period. Wherefore they say
that in India those who have the care of them do not permit them to
have sexual intercourse with the females; for they become mad at such
season and overturn the houses, which are badly built, and do many
other violent acts. They say also that abundance of food will render
them more gentle. They also bring others among them which are directed
to beat them, and so they punish them and reduce them to a state of
discipline.
4. Those creatures which have frequent sexual intercourse, like
domestic animals, as the hog and dog, appear to be less influenced by
these circumstances on account of the frequency of their coition. Of
all females the mare is the most violent in her sexual desires, and
then the cow. Mares are subject to the affection called hippomania, and
this name is transferred from this single animal to intemperate and
lascivious persons. They are said to be affected by the wind at such
seasons: wherefore in Crete they never separate the stallions from the
mares. When the mares are thus affected, they separate themselves from
the other horses. In swine the same affection is called καπρίζειν, to
desire the boar. They never run to the east or the west, but either
north or south.
5. When they suffer from this affection, they will allow no one to
approach them, till they either are so fatigued that they can go no
further, or come to the sea: they then eject some substance, which
has received the name of hippomanes, like that on a new-born colt. It
resembles the capria of the sow. Poisoners diligently seek for this
substance. At the season of sexual intercourse they lean upon each
other more than at other times, and move their tails, and utter a
different sound from that which is common to them. A fluid like semen
also flows from their genital organs, but it is much more thin than
that of the male; and some persons call this fluid hippomanes, though
it is not that which is produced upon colts. It is difficult to collect
this fluid, for it does not appear in large quantities. When they
are desirous of sexual intercourse, they often make water, and sport
together: this is the nature of horses.
6. Cows desire the bull. They are so taken up by their passion, that
the cowherds cannot manage them. Mares and cows shew the vehemence of
their desire by the swelling of their genital parts. Cows also, like
mares, make water very frequently. The cows also mount upon the bull,
and follow, and stand beside him. The younger animals, both among
horses and oxen, are the first to desire sexual intercourse; and in
fine weather, when their health is good, the vehemence of their desire
is still stronger. If the manes of the mares are cut, their desires
become weaker, and they are rendered more gentle.
7. The stallions recognise the mares of their own herds by the scent;
and if any strangers become mixed with them a few days before the
period of coition, they bite them till they go away, and each stallion
feeds apart with his own mares. Thirty mares, or rather less, are given
to each; and if any male approaches, he turns and goes round the mares
in a circle, and then prepares to fight. If any one of the females
attempts to move, he bites and prevents her.
8. At the season of sexual intercourse the bull pastures with the cows,
and fights with other bulls: at other times the sexes keep themselves
separate: this is called ἀτιμαγελεῖν (despising the herd); those in
Epirus are often not seen for three months: and generally all, or
nearly all, wild animals, do not herd with their females before the
season of sexual intercourse: but as soon as they come to puberty the
males separate themselves, and cease to feed with the females. Sows,
when they are urged by sexual desire, or, as it is called, desire the
boar (καπρᾳν), will even attack men. In bitches this affection is
called σκυζᾳν, to desire the dog.
9. When females are urged with desire, their genital organs are swollen
with heat, and a fluid secretion takes place. Mares scatter about
a white fluid at this season. In no creatures are the catamenia so
abundant as in women. In sheep and goats at the season of coition,
there are certain signs before copulation: there are also signs after
copulation, but these again cease till the period of parturition,
when they again occur. By this means shepherds understand that they
are about to produce their young. After parturition there is a great
purification, which at first is not very full of blood, but becomes so
afterwards.
10. In the cow, the ass, and mare, this purification is abundant, on
account of their great size; but still it is small, considering how
large they are. When the cow is urged by desire, she undergoes a brief
purification, about half-a-cup full, or a little more. The time of
this purification is peculiarly the period for sexual intercourse. Of
all quadrupeds the mare suffers the least, and is the most cleanly in
parturition: neither is her loss of blood great considering the size
of the animal. In cows and mares, the failure of the catamenia in the
second, fourth, and sixth month is considered as a sign of pregnancy;
but it is not easy for anyone to understand this, who does not follow
and accustom himself to them: and some persons are of opinion that they
have no catamenia. The female oreus has no catamenia, but her urine is
thicker than that of the male.
11. On the whole, the liquid excrements are thicker in other animals
than in man; and those of female sheep and goats thicker than in the
males of the same animal. That of the she ass is thinner, of the cow is
harsher, than of their respective males. After parturition the urine
of all creatures becomes thicker, and especially in those which have
no purification. When females begin to feel sexual desires, their milk
is like pus; it afterwards becomes useful after parturition. Sheep and
goats become fat when they are pregnant, and consume more food; and so
do cows, and all other quadrupeds.
CHAPTER XVIII.
1. Generally speaking, the sexual desires of animals are more violent
in spring. They do not all, however, copulate at the same seasons,
but at the time of year which will cause them to produce their young
at the proper season. The period of gestation in domestic swine is
four months. They never produce more than twenty pigs; and if they
have many, they cannot bring them all up. When aged, they produce in
the same manner, but they copulate more slowly. They become pregnant
with one act of coition; but they submit themselves to the boar very
frequently, on account of their rejection of the capria after they are
pregnant. This takes place in all, but some will also eject the semen.
2. If any of the pigs are injured or deteriorated during pregnancy, it
is called metachæron. This may take place in any part of the uterus. In
parturition the sow gives the first teat to the first pig. It is not
necessary that she should go to the boar as soon as the sexual appetite
is felt, or before her ears begin to hang down; for otherwise she
desires to go again. If she goes to the boar when she is desirous of
it, the impregnation is complete in a single act of intercourse. Barley
is a proper food for the boar at the period of coition. It should be
cooked for the female after parturition. Some sows produce excellent
pigs from the first; others do not produce good offspring and pigs till
they are grown up. Some persons say that if one of the eyes of a sow
is put out, she generally speaking dies very soon. Most of them live
fifteen. Some die in less than twenty years.
CHAPTER XIX.
1. Sheep become pregnant after three or four acts of sexual
intercourse. If rain falls after the act of intercourse, it must be
repeated. The nature of goats is the same. They generally produce two,
and sometimes three. Cases have occurred of their producing four. The
period of gestation in the sheep and goat is five months; and in some
places, where the weather is warm and fine, and food is abundant, they
have young twice a-year. The goat will live eight years. The sheep
lives ten years, or generally rather less; but the leaders of the flock
live fifteen years; for in every flock they select one of the males
as a leader, who, when called by the shepherd, places himself at the
head of the flock. They are accustomed to this duty even when young. In
Ethiopia the sheep live twelve or thirteen years, and the goats ten or
eleven.
2. Both the sheep and goat enjoy sexual intercourse as long as they
live. Sheep and goats produce twins, if either the pasture is good, or
the ram or he-goat, or the ewe belongs to a race producing twins. They
produce females or males both from the nature of the water (for there
are some waters that cause them to produce males and others females)
and from their manner of sexual intercourse; and if the wind is
northward during copulation they produce males; and if it is southward,
females; and one which naturally produces females will change its
nature and produce males; so that it is necessary to see that they
stand to the north during the act of sexual intercourse. If any are
accustomed to copulate early, and the ram is introduced to them late,
they will not endure it.
3. The lambs are white or black according as the veins beneath the
tongue of the ram are white or black; for the lambs are white if
the veins are white, and black if they are black. If they are both
black and white, the lambs also are of two colours; and if red, then
the lambs are red. They are more ready for sexual intercourse if
they drink salt water; so that they should be supplied with salted
water both before and after parturition, and again in the spring.
The herdsmen do not constitute any leader among the flocks of goats,
because it is not their nature to be stationary, but they are active
and ready to move from place to place. If the older sheep prepare for
sexual intercourse at the proper time, the shepherds consider it a sign
of a good year for the sheep; if the younger ones are ready first, it
will be a bad sheep year.
CHAPTER XX.
1. There are many kinds of dogs. The Lacedemonian dogs, both male and
female, begin to have sexual intercourse at eight months old. Some
also lift their leg to make water about this period. The bitch becomes
pregnant with a single act of coition; this is particularly evident
in those which perform the act in secret, for they become pregnant
when once united. The period of gestation in the Lacedemonian bitch is
the sixth part of a year, that is sixty days, or it may be one, two,
or three days more or less. The puppies when they are born are blind
for twelve days. The bitch is ready for sexual intercourse six months
after she has produced her young, and not sooner. In some the period
of gestation is the fifth part of a year, this is seventy-two days.
The puppies of such bitches are blind for fourteen days. Others are
pregnant the fourth part of a year, that is three whole months; their
puppies are blind seventeen days. The female appears to desire the male
for the same length of time.
2. The catamenia in bitches last for seven days, and at the same time
the genital organs are swollen with heat; during this period they will
not endure coition, but during the seven days which follow, for they
all appear usually to desire the male for fourteen days. This affection
continues in some for sixteen days. The purification from parturition
takes place at the birth of the young ones; it is thick and phlegmatic,
and the quantity produced in parturition is small in proportion to the
size of the body.[212] Bitches generally have milk five days before
parturition; in some cases it appears seven, and in others four
days beforehand; the milk is good as soon as the young are born. The
Lacedemonian bitch gives milk in thirty days after sexual intercourse;
at first it is thick, but becomes thinner afterwards. The milk of the
bitch is thicker than that of other animals, except the sow and the
hare.
[212] (Or perhaps) after parturition the discharge becomes thinner in
consistence.
3. There is evidence of their having reached the age of puberty,
for as in the human subject the mammæ begin to enlarge and become
cartilaginous; it is, however, difficult to detect this without
practice, for the enlargement is not very great. This takes place in
the female, nothing of the kind occurs in the male. The males generally
begin to lift up their leg to make water when they are six months old.
Some do not do so till they are eight months old, and others before
they are six months old, for, to speak plainly, they do this as soon
as they reach puberty; all the females sit down to make water; some,
however, even of these lift up their leg for this purpose. The female
never produces more than twelve puppies, generally five or six, and
sometimes only one; those of Lacedæmon generally have eight; both sexes
continue to enjoy sexual intercourse as long as they live.
4. It is a peculiarity of the Lacedemonian dog, that it is more ready
for sexual intercourse after hard work than when idle; the male of
this kind lives ten years, the female for twelve, most other dogs live
fourteen or fifteen years, some even twenty, for which reason some
persons think that Homer is right when he makes the dog of Ulysses to
have died at the age of twenty. On account of the hard work which the
Lacedemonian dogs have to endure the female lives longer than the male;
in other races this is not so plainly observed, but the male is usually
longer lived than the female. The dog does not shed any teeth except
those called the canine teeth, these are shed by both sexes at four
months old. Because they shed these only, a question is raised, for
some persons altogether deny that they shed only two teeth, for it is
difficult to meet with these, and others, when they see that they shed
these, think that they must shed all their teeth. People judge of the
age of a dog by its teeth, for in young dogs they are white and sharp,
in old ones they are black and blunted.
CHAPTER XXI.
1. The cow is impregnated with a single act of coition, and the bull
mounts upon her with such violence that she bends beneath his weight.
If he fails to impregnate her after twenty days, she is again admitted
to the bull. Old bulls will not mount the same cow several times in the
same day unless there is some intermission, but young bulls, incited by
the strength of their desires, will force the same cow several times,
and will mount upon many in succession. The bull is one of the least
lascivious of animals. The conqueror copulates with the female, but if
he become impotent from frequent sexual intercourse, the inferior will
attack him, and often prevail.
2. Both the male and the female commence sexual intercourse, so as to
produce young, at a year old, though not generally till they are a year
and eight months old, or two years old according to general agreement.
The female is pregnant nine months, and produces her young in the tenth
month; some persons affirm that parturition takes place at ten months
to a day; if any of them calve before the above mentioned time, the
calf is abortive and does not live, and even if born a little before
the proper time it cannot live, for the hoofs are imperfect. The female
generally produces one at a time, sometimes two. She continues to bear
and to have sexual intercourse as long as she lives.
3. The female usually lives fifteen years, and so does the male if he
is not castrated; some live for more than twenty years if they have an
active body. They usually place castrated oxen as leaders of the herd,
as they do in sheep, and these live longer than the others, for they do
no work, and feed in a superior pasture. They attain perfection at five
years old, wherefore some say that Homer was right when he spoke of the
male flourishing at five years old, and the cow at nine years old, for
both expressions have the same meaning.
4. Oxen change their teeth at two years old, not all of them, however,
but only like the horse; they do not cast their hoofs when they are
lame, but only swell very much about the feet. The milk is good
immediately after calving, but the cow has no milk beforehand. The
milk which is first formed becomes hard like a stone when it is
coagulated; this takes place if it is not mixed with water. They do not
produce young before they are a year old, except in some remarkable
cases, for some have been known to copulate at four months old. Most
of them desire sexual intercourse in the months of April and May.
Some, however, are not impregnated before the autumn. When many become
pregnant and admit the male, it is a sign of cold and rainy weather.
The usual discharges occur in cows as they do in mares, but the
quantity is less.
CHAPTER XXII.
1. Both the horse and mare begin to use sexual intercourse at two years
old. Such early cases, however, are rare, and their offspring small and
weak; and generally they commence at three years old, and they continue
to produce better colts till they are twenty years old. The period of
gestation is eleven months; parturition takes place in the twelfth. The
male does not impregnate the female in any particular number of days;
but at times in one, two, or three, sometimes in more. The ass mounts
and impregnates more quickly than the horse; and the act of intercourse
is not laborious in horses as it is in oxen. Next to the human subject,
the horse in both sexes is the most lascivious of all animals. The
sexual intercourse of the younger horses takes place before the usual
age according to the goodness and abundance of their food. The horse
generally produces but one colt, or sometimes two at the outside. The
hemionus has also been known to produce two, but this is considered
extraordinary. The horse begins sexual intercourse at thirty months
old, so that it can produce proper colts when it has done changing
its teeth. Some have been known, they say, to impregnate mares while
changing their teeth, unless they were naturally barren.
2. The horse has forty teeth. It sheds its four first teeth at thirty
months old, two above and two below. A year afterwards, it sheds four
more in the same manner, two above and two below. And again, at the
end of the next year, it sheds four more in the same manner. When it
is four years and a half old, it sheds no more; and individuals have
been known to shed them all at first, and others that have shed them
all in the last year. These circumstances are rare, so that it usually
happens that the horse is most fit for sexual intercourse at four years
and a half old. The older horses are more full of semen, both the males
and the females, than younger ones. Horses will copulate both with
their dams and with their offspring; and it is thought to be a sign
that the herd is complete, when they copulate with their offspring. The
Scythians ride upon their pregnant mares when the embryo begins to turn
in the uterus, and say that it renders parturition more easy. All other
quadrupeds lie down in the act of parturition; wherefore their young
are always produced lying on their side; but when the mare feels that
the time for parturition is approaching, she stands upright to part
with her colt.
3. Horses generally live eighteen or twenty years; some live
twenty-five or thirty years; but if they are carefully treated, their
life may be extended to fifty years. Thirty years, however, is a very
long life for the male, and twenty-five for the female. Some have been
known to live forty years. Males live a shorter time than females, on
account of the act of sexual intercourse; and those that are brought up
separately longer than those which live in herds. Females attain their
proper length and height in five years; the males in six. In six more
years the fulness of body is acquired, which continues till they are
twenty years old. The females attain perfection more rapidly than the
males; but in the uterus the males are the more rapidly developed. This
is also the case in the human subject. This also takes place in those
animals which produce several at a birth.
4. They say that the mule sucks for six months, but the mare will not
permit it to come afterwards, because it drags and hurts her. The horse
sucks for a longer time. The horse and the mule attain perfection after
casting their teeth; and when they have cast them all, it is not easy
to know their age. Wherefore they say that, before casting its teeth,
the horse has its mark, which it has not afterwards. After the teeth
have been changed, the age is usually ascertained by the canine tooth;
for that in riding horses is generally worn down, for the bridle rubs
against it. In horses which have not been ridden, it is large and not
worn. In young horses it is small and sharp.
5. The male copulates at all seasons, and as long as he lives; the
female also as long as she lives; and at all seasons, unless they
have on a fastening or some other hindrance, no peculiar time is
appropriated for copulation in either sex, for there is no period of
coition when they cannot also bring up their young. In Opus there was
a horse in a herd which engendered when he was forty years old; but it
was necessary to lift up his fore legs for him. Mares begin to desire
sexual intercourse in the spring; and when the mare has foaled, she
does not become pregnant again immediately, but waits for a time, and
produces better foals at the end of four or five years. It is quite
necessary that she should wait one year, and should pass through a
fallow, as it were.
6. The horse, then, bears young at intervals, as I have observed; but
the ass is not subject to intervals. Some mares are quite barren, and
others, though they conceive, yet do not produce their young; and they
give as a reason for this, that upon dissection the fœtus was found to
contain other reniform bodies round the kidneys, so that it appeared
to have four kidneys. As soon as the mare has foaled, she eats the
chorion, and bites from the head of her foal the substance called
hippomanes. In size this substance is somewhat less than a dry fig.
Its form is flat and round, and its colour black. If any person is at
hand to take it before the mare, and she smells it, the scent renders
her wild and mad. For this reason it is sought after and collected by
poisoners. If an ass copulates with a pregnant mare, the pre-existing
fœtus is destroyed. Those who keep herds of horses do not place a
leader over them, as they do over oxen, for they are not naturally
stationary, but active and wandering.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1. The male and female ass begin to copulate at thirty months old, and
shed their first teeth at the same period. They lose their second pair
of teeth six months afterwards, and their third and fourth in the same
way. These fourth teeth are called the marking teeth. Sometimes the
ass has become pregnant and brought up its young at a year old. The
she ass parts with the semen after coition, if she is not prevented;
and therefore, immediately after coition, they beat her and drive her
about. She foals in the twelfth month, and generally produces one foal,
for this is their nature, though cases of twin births have occurred. If
an ass mounts upon a mare, he destroys her fœtus, as I observed before.
But the horse does not destroy the fœtus of the ass, if the mare has
been impregnated by a he ass.
2. The pregnant female has milk at the end of ten months. After
parturition, she will admit the male on the seventh day, and is very
easily impregnated at that period. She will also receive it afterwards.
If she does not produce young before losing her marking teeth, she can
never be impregnated all the rest of her life. She does not like men
to be witnesses of her parturition, nor will she produce her young in
the day time; but when it is dark she retires, and so produces her
young. She continues to procreate during her whole life, if she has
begun before losing her marking teeth. The ass lives more than thirty
years, and the female longer than the male. When a horse copulates
with an ass, or a he ass with a mare, abortion is more frequent than
between congeners, a horse with a mare, or two asses together. When the
horse and ass are mixed together, the period of gestation follows from
the male parent. I mean to say that it takes the same time as if the
parents had been congeners; but in size, form, and strength the produce
of their union generally resembles the female parent.
3. If the union takes place frequently, and sufficient time is not
allowed to intervene, the female soon becomes barren. For which reason
those who attend to this business do not permit them to have continual
intercourse, but interpose a proper interval. The mare will not admit
the he ass, nor the she ass the horse, unless the he ass has been
suckled by a mare. They are careful, therefore, to admit only those
asses which they call hippothelæ, _i.e._ asses which have been suckled
by a mare. These copulate by force in the pastures, like horses.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1. The oreus (mule) mounts and copulates after shedding the first
teeth, and when seven years old is able to engender; and the ginnus is
produced when he mounts upon a mare. After this he no longer continues
to copulate. The female oreus also has been impregnated, but the
fœtus has never been known to come to maturity. The hemioni (female
mules) of Syria, near Phœnicia, admit the male and procreate. The kind,
however, though similar, is not the same. Those which are called ginni
are produced from a mare, when the fœtus has received some injury in
the uterus, like dwarfs among men and metachœra among swine; and the
ginnus, like the dwarf, has a large genital organ.
2. The hemionus has a long life; for they have been known to live
for eighty years, as in Athens, when they built the temple, this
individual, though failing with age, helped in drawing, and went beside
them, and encouraged the yoke mules to their work, so that an edict was
made, commanding the corn-dealers not to drive it away from the vessels
filled with corn. The female mule (oreus) grows old sooner than the
male. Some persons say that she is purified when making water, but the
male ages more rapidly from smelling the urine.
3. This is the manner of the reproduction of these animals. Those who
are employed in bringing up these animals recognize the young from the
old in this way. If the skin, when drawn back from the cheek, soon
recovers its shape, the animal is young; if the skin continues wrinkled
for a long while, the creature is aged.
CHAPTER XXV.
1. The camel is pregnant ten months, and always produces a single
young one, for this is its nature. They separate the young camel from
the herd at a year old. The camel will live more than fifty years.
The season of parturition is in the spring, and the female continues
to give milk until she conceives again. Their flesh and milk are
exceedingly sweet. The milk is drunk mixed with two or three times its
quantity of water.
2. Elephants begin to copulate at twenty years old. When the female is
impregnated, her period of gestation, some persons say, is a year and a
half; other people make it three years. The difficulty of seeing their
copulation causes this difference of opinion respecting the period of
gestation. The female produces her young bending upon her haunches. Her
pain is evident. The calf, when it is born, sucks with its mouth, and
not with its proboscis. It can walk and see as soon as it is born.
3. Wild swine copulate at the beginning of winter. They produce their
young in the spring. For this purpose the female gets away into
inaccessible and precipitous places, where there are caves and plenty
of shade. The males remain with the females for thirty days. The number
of pigs and the period of gestation are the same as in the domesticated
herd, and their voices are much alike: the female, however, grunts
more and the male less. The castration of the male makes them larger
and more fierce, as Homer writes. "He brought up a castrated wild
boar, which was not like a beast fed upon food, but resembled a woody
mountain peak." Castration takes place from a disease like a swelling
in the testicles, which they rub against the trees and so destroy them.
CHAPTER XXVI.
1. The female deer usually copulates, as I observed before, from
allurement; for she cannot endure the male on account of the hardness
of the penis. Some, however, endure copulation as sheep do. When sexual
desire is felt, they lie down beside each other. The male is changeable
in his disposition, and does not unite himself to a single female,
but in a short time leaves one for another. The season for sexual
intercourse is in August and September, after Arcturus. The period of
gestation is eight months. The female becomes pregnant in a few days,
and frequently in one day.
2. She generally produces one fawn, though some have been known to
bear twins. She produces her young by the road side, for fear of
wild beasts. The growth of the fawns is rapid. The female has no
purification at other times, but after parturition her cleansing is
sanguineous. The female usually conducts her fawn to some accustomed
place, which serves them for a refuge. It is usually an opening in a
rock, with but one entrance, where they can defend themselves against
those who would attack them.
3. There are fables about their long life. They do not, however,
appear to be worthy of credit; and the period of gestation and growth
of the young does not agree with the habits of long-lived animals. In
the mountain called Elaphoïs, in Arginusa, in Asia, where Alcibiades
died, all the deer have their ears divided, so that they can be known
if they migrate to another place, and even the fœtus in utero has this
distinction. The females have four nipples, like cows.
4. As soon as the females are impregnated, the males go and live apart
from them, and, urged by their sexual desires, they each go apart and
make a hole, in which they emit a strong smell like he goats, and
their faces become black, by being sprinkled like those of goats. This
continues till after rain, when they turn again to their pasture. The
animal acts in this way on account of its violent sexual desires and
its fatness. In summer time this is so great that they cannot run, but
are taken by those who pursue them, even on foot, in the second or
third race.
5. They frequent the water both on account of the heat and the
difficulty of breathing. At the period of sexual intercourse, their
flesh is inferior both in taste and smell, like that of he-goats. In
winter they are thin and weak, and in the spring are most active for
the chase. When chased, they sometimes rest awhile, and remain standing
till their pursuers come up with them, when they start afresh. They
seem to do this from a pain in their intestines; for their viscera are
so thin and weak that if they are only struck gently they are ruptured,
though the hide remains sound.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1. Bears perform the act of sexual intercourse in the manner already
described, not mounting upon each other, but lying down upon the
ground. The female is pregnant thirty days, when she produces one or
two, or at the outside five cubs. The fœtus is smaller, in proportion
to the size of the parent, than that of any other animal; for it is
less than a weasel, and greater than a mouse. It is without hair and
blind, and its legs and almost all its parts are without joints. Its
season of sexual intercourse is in March. The cubs are born at the time
of concealment. At this season both the female and the male are very
fat. When they have brought up their young, they show themselves in the
third month of the spring. The porcupine also conceals itself, and is
pregnant for the same number of days, and in other respects resembles
the bear. It is very difficult to capture the she bear when pregnant.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1. It has already been observed that the lion both copulates and makes
water backwards. They do not copulate and produce their young at all
seasons of the year, though they produce annually. The young are
produced in the spring. The female generally produces two, never more
than six, and sometimes only one. The fable which says that the uterus
is ejected in parturition is a mistake. It has arisen from the rarity
of the animal, those who invented the fable being ignorant of the true
state of the case. The race of lions is rare, and not to be found in
every place, but only in the country between the Achelous and the
Nessus in the whole of Europe. The young of the lion are very small at
their birth, so that they can hardly walk at two months old. The Syrian
lions produce five times; at first five cubs, and then one less every
time. After this they produce no more, but continue barren. The lioness
has no mane, though the lion has. The lion only sheds its four canine
teeth, two above and two below. They are shed when the animal is six
months old.
2. The hyæna is of the colour of the wolf, but it is more hairy, and
has a mane along the ridge of its back. It is a mistake to say that
each individual has the sexual organs of both sexes. That of the male
resembles the same organ in the wolf and the dog. That which has
been imagined to be the female organ is placed beneath the tail, and
it resembles that of the female, but is imperforate, and the anus
is beneath it. The female hyena has an organ similar to that which
bears its name in the male. It is placed beneath the tail, and is
imperforate. Beneath this is the anus, and below this again the true
genital organ. The female hyena has an uterus like that of other
animals of the class, but the female is rarely captured. A certain
hunter said that he caught eleven hyænas of which only one was a female.
3. Hares copulate backwards, as I formerly observed, for it is a
retromingent animal. They copulate and produce their young at all
seasons. They become pregnant a second time while they are pregnant,
and produce their young every month. They do not produce their young
continually, but as many days as may be intervene. The female has
milk before the young are produced. As soon as her young are born,
she copulates again and conceives while giving milk. The milk is as
thick as that of the sow. The young are born blind, like those of many
animals with divided feet.
CHAPTER XXIX.
1. The fox copulates, mounting on the back of the female. The young are
born blind, like those of the bear, and are even more inarticulate.
When the season of parturition approaches, the female goes apart, so
that it is rare to take a pregnant fox. When the young are born, the
dam licks them, in order to warm and mature them. She never produces
more than four.
2. The periods of gestation and parturition, both in point of time and
the number of the young, are the same in the wolf as in the dog, and
the young are blind, like those of the dog. They copulate at one season
of the year, and the young are produced in the beginning of summer.
A fabulous story is told of their parturition; for they say that all
the she wolves produce their young in twelve days in the year; and the
reason which is given for this fable is this, that during this number
of days Latona was brought from the Hyperborean regions to Delos, in
the form of a wolf, for fear of Juno. Whether this is or is not the
period of parturition has never yet been ascertained. At present it
only rests upon tradition. It does not appear to be true, nor that
other tale which says that wolves only produce once in their life.
3. Cats and ichneumons produce their young in the same manner as dogs,
and live upon the same things. They live about six years. The young of
the panther are born blind. They are never more than four in number.
The jackal is impregnated like a bitch, and the young are born blind.
They produce two, or three, or four. Its length towards the tail is
great. Its height is small. It runs very swiftly, although its legs
are short; but on account of the softness of its tissues it can leap a
great distance.
4. In Syria there are animals called hemioni which are different from
those derived from a mixture of the horse and ass, though they resemble
them in appearance. As the wild ass is named from its resemblance to
the domestic kind, the wild asses and the hemioni differ from the
domestic race in speed. These hemioni are derived from their own
congeners, of which this is a proof. For some came to Phrygia in the
time of Pharnaces, the father of Pharnabazus, and remain there still.
There are now only three, though they say that at first there were nine.
CHAPTER XXX.
1. The reproduction of mice is more wonderful than that of any other
animal, both in number and rapidity. For a pregnant female was left in
a vessel of corn; and after a short time the vessel was opened, and a
hundred and twenty mice were counted. There is a doubt respecting the
reproduction and destruction of the mice which live on the ground; for
such an inexpressible number of field mice have sometimes made their
appearance that very little food remained. Their power of destruction
also is so great that some small farmers, having on one day observed
that their corn was ready for harvest, when they went the following day
to cut their corn, found it all eaten.
2. The manner of their disappearance also is unaccountable; for in
a few days they all vanish, although beforehand they could not be
exterminated by smoking and digging them out, nor by hunting them and
turning swine among them to root up their runs. Foxes also hunt them
out, and wild weasels[213] are very ready to destroy them; but they
cannot prevail over their numbers and the rapidity of their increase,
nor indeed can anything prevail over them but rain, and when this comes
they disappear very soon.
[213] Perhaps ferret, Mustela varo, or weasel.
3. In a certain part of Persia the female fœtus of the mice are found
to be pregnant in the uterus of their parent. Some people say and
affirm that if they lick salt they become pregnant without copulation.
The Egyptian mice have hair nearly resembling that of the hedgehog.
There are other kinds which go upon two feet, for their fore feet are
small and their hind feet large.[214] They are very numerous. There are
also many other kinds of mice.
[214] Serboa, Dipus gerbillus, or D. jaculus.
BOOK THE SEVENTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. The circumstances attending on the growth of man, from his
conception in the womb even to old age, derived from his peculiar
nature, are after this manner. We have already treated of the
distinctions of the male and female and their parts. The male begins
to have semen at about the age of fourteen complete. At the same time
hair begins to appear on the pubes. As Alcmæon of Crotona says that
flowers blossom before they bear seed, about the same period the voice
begins to become more harsh and irregular. It is neither quite harsh,
nor deep, nor all alike, but it resembles a discordant and harsh
instrument. This is called τραγίζειν, to have a voice like a goat.
2. This is more conspicuous in those who attempt the gratification of
sexual desires; for those who are vehement in these desires rapidly
pass into a man's voice. In those that refrain themselves the contrary
occurs. In those who, like some singers, endeavour to avoid this
change, the voice will continue for a long while, and never undergo any
great change. The breasts also and pudendum not only increase in size,
but their general appearance is changed. At this period of life, if a
person is urged to the emission of semen, the discharge is accompanied
with pain as well as pleasure.
3. About the same period also the breasts of females enlarge, and the
catamenia make their appearance. They resemble the blood of a newly
killed animal. In young girls only do they appear white, especially
if they make use of fluid food. This complaint stops the growth and
weakens the body of girls. The catamenia usually appear when the mammæ
are about two fingers high. The voice of girls also becomes deeper at
this period, for on the whole the voice of women is more acute than
that of men, and the voice of girls than that of old women, as the
voice of boys is more acute than the voice of men. The voice of female
children also is more acute than that of males, and the windpipe is
more acute in girls than boys.
4. They also want especial care at this period, for their sexual
desires are very strong at the commencement, so that if they now take
care to avoid every excitement, except such as the change of their body
requires, without using venery, they generally remain temperate in
after-years. For girls who indulge in venery when young, generally grow
up intemperate; and so do males if they are unguarded either one way or
both ways; for at this age the ducts open and afford an easy passage
for the fluid through the body, and at the same time the memory of past
pleasures causes a desire for present gratification.
5. Some men never have hair on the pubes from their birth, nor seed,
on account of the destruction of the parts appropriated to the semen.
There are some women also who never have hair on the pubes. The male
and female also change their habits of sickness and of health, and the
proportions of their body, whether slight or stout, or of a good habit.
Some thin boys after they attain puberty become stout and healthy, in
others the contrary takes place. This is the case also with females;
for whether boys or girls have their bodies loaded with excrementitious
matter, this is separated in the one by puberty, in the other by the
catamenia. They become more healthy and thriving when that which had
prevented health and growth is removed.
6. Those which are of the contrary habit of body become more thin and
delicate; for their naturally healthy condition is separated in the
puberty of one sex, and the catamenia of the other. There is also
considerable variety in the bosoms of young girls, for in some they are
very large, in others small. This generally takes place in those girls
which have much superfluous humour, for when the catamenia are about to
appear, but before they arrive, the more fluid the patient is, the more
necessary it is that the breasts should increase until the catamenia
make their appearance, and the breasts, which then begin to increase,
remain so afterwards. In youths and aged men the breasts are more
conspicuous, and more like those of females; and in those who are of a
soft habit of body, and are smooth and not full of veins, and in dark
persons also more than fair ones.
7. Until twenty-one years of age the semen is unproductive, afterwards
it becomes fertile, though boys and girls produce small and imperfect
children: this is also the case with other animals. Young girls
conceive more readily, but after conception suffer more in parturition,
and their bodies frequently become imperfect. Men of violent passions,
and women that have borne many children, grow old more rapidly than
others; nor does there appear to be any increase after they have borne
three children. Women of violent sexual desires become more temperate
after they have borne several children.
8. Women who have attained thrice seven years are well adapted for
child-bearing, and men also are capable of becoming parents. Thin
seminal fluid is barren. That which is lumpy begets males; what is thin
and not clotted, females. The beard also appears on the chin of men at
the same period.
CHAPTER II.
1. The catamenia appear when the moon is on the wane, from which some
persons would argue that the moon is a female, for the purification of
women and the waning of the moon occur together, and repletion occurs
again in both after the purification and waning. In few women the
catamenia occur every month, but in most at every third month. Those in
whom they continue for only two or three days escape with ease: it is
more difficult for those in whom it continues for a longer time, for
they suffer during the whole period. In some the purification takes
place all at once, in others by degrees; in all, however, the pain
is considerable as long as they are present. In many women, when the
catamenia are nearly ready to appear, the womb suffers so much from
strangulation and disturbance, until they are discharged.
2. Conception naturally takes place immediately after this discharge
in women, and those who do not then conceive, are usually barren. Some
women, however, who have never menstruated, conceive. Such persons
contain in themselves as much of the fluid as is usually left behind
after the purification, but not so much as to make its appearance
externally. Some women in whom the uterus has closed immediately after
the purification, conceive even while menstruating, but do not conceive
afterwards. The catamenia sometimes occur even in pregnant women. Such
women usually bear imperfect children, and their offspring either do
not grow up, or are weakly.
3. It frequently happens that from the want of sexual intercourse, or
from youth and the period of life, or from long abstinence, the uterus
descends, and the catamenia occur several times in the month, until
they conceive; after which the parts return to their proper place: and
sometimes even in women with a good habit of body, if the humours are
abundant, an effusion of the semen takes place if it is too moist.
4. It has already been observed that this purification is more abundant
in women than in any other creature. In animals that are not viviparous
no symptoms of anything of the kind occur, for this superfluous matter
is returned into their own body, for in many the females are superior
to the males in size, and in many it is turned to the formation of
plates, or scales, or abundance of feathers. In viviparous animals
with feet, it is turned to the formation of hair and bulk of body (for
man is the only animal that is smooth), or of urine; for in almost
all animals this secretion is thick and abundant. In women, on the
contrary, all the superfluous matter of the body is directed to this
purification.
5. The case of the male is the same, for in proportion to his size,
man emits more semen than other animals; (wherefore, also, man is the
smoothest of all animals,) and among men those which abound in humours,
and are not very full fleshed, and fair men more than dark ones. So
also among women. For in those that are full fleshed, the greater part
of the secretion goes to the supply of the body, and in the act of
sexual intercourse, fair women have naturally more seminal fluid than
dark ones. Liquid and acid foods also increase this kind of intercourse.
CHAPTER III.
1. It is a sign that women have conceived when the pudendum remains dry
after coition. If the labia are smooth they will not conceive, for
it slips out; nor will they if the labia are thick: but if there is a
sensation of roughness and resistance when touched with the finger, and
the labia are thin, they are then adapted for conception. In order that
they may be able to conceive, such women must prepare the uterus, and
the contrary that they may not conceive; for if the labia are smooth
they do not conceive: so that some women, in order that the semen may
fall outside the uterus, anoint themselves with oil of cedar, or with
ceruse, or oil mixed with frankincense.
2. If it remain seven days, it is evident that conception has taken
place, for in this period what are called the outpourings take place.
The purification takes place in many women after conception. Thirty
days afterwards in the case of conceiving a female child, and forty in
the case of a male. After parturition, also, the purification lasts a
similar number of days, though it is not exactly the same in all.
3. In the same number of days after conception the discharge no longer
takes its usual course, but is turned towards the mammæ, in which
the milk begins to make its appearance. At first the milk appears
very small, and like a web in the mammæ. After conception, the first
sensation generally takes place in the iliac region, which immediately
appears more full in some persons. This is more conspicuous in slight
persons. If the child is a male, a movement is usually felt on the
right side of the groin, in about forty days; if a female, the movement
occurs on the left side, in about ninety days. We must not suppose,
however, that an accurate judgment can be formed in this way, for it
often happens that the movement is felt on the right side when a female
child, and on the left when a male child is conceived. All these, and
such like things, vary in a greater or less degree.
4. About this period, also, the fœtus becomes divided; it previously
existed as an undivided mass of flesh. If it perishes within seven
days, it is called an effluxion; if in forty days, an abortion. The
fœtus often perishes within this period. If the male fœtus is excluded
within forty days, and is put out into any other fluid, it becomes
dissolved, and disappears. If placed in cold water, it becomes, as it
were, surrounded with a membrane. When this is taken off, the fœtus
appears about as large as a large ant. Its parts are visible, both
those of generation, and all the rest; and the eyes are very large, as
in other animals. If the female fœtus perishes within the three months,
it generally appears without divisions. If it survives to the fourth
month, the parts appear formed.
5. The whole completion of the parts is more slow in the female than
in the male, and parturition is more frequently delayed to the tenth
month. After birth, females attain to youth, and puberty, and old age,
more rapidly than males, and those that have borne many children more
rapidly than others, as it was observed before.
CHAPTER IV.
1. When conception has taken place, the uterus usually closes
immediately for seven months. In the eighth month it opens, and the
fœtus, if properly developed, begins to descend in the eighth month. If
the fœtus is not properly developed, but checked in the eighth month in
parturition, women who bear in the eighth month do not exclude it, nor
does the fœtus advance downwards in the eighth month, and the uterus
does not open itself. It is a sign that it is not properly developed,
when it is born before the circumstances I have described take place.
2. After conception, women suffer throughout their whole body, and
their sight becomes dim, and they are afflicted with headache. In some,
these symptoms occur very soon, as early as the tenth day; in others
they are delayed, in proportion as they have an abundance or deficiency
of superfluous matter in their bodies. Nausea and vomiting often seize
upon them, and on those especially in whom the purifications become
stagnant, and do not yet fly to the mammæ. Some women suffer at the
commencement of pregnancy, and others in the more advanced stages, when
the fœtus begins to grow. Retention of urine also frequently attacks
them at last.
3. Those that are pregnant with a male fœtus, usually pass through
the time more easily, and retain a better colour throughout. If a
female is conceived, the contrary is the case; for they are generally
more discoloured, and suffer more during the period of gestation.
In many cases the legs swell, and a swollen condition of the flesh
is also common. In some women, however, the condition is contrary.
Pregnant women are apt to have all sorts of fancies, which change very
rapidly. Some persons call this longing. These fancies are strongest
when a female is conceived, and there is but little pleasure in their
gratification. In a few women the condition of the body is better
during pregnancy; they suffer most when the hair of the fœtus begins to
grow. Pregnant women lose the hair which grows on the parts that are
hairy at birth, while it becomes more thick upon the parts on which it
appears subsequent to birth.
4. A male fœtus usually moves more freely in the womb than a female,
and the parturition is not so long. If a female, the parturition is
slower. The pain in the birth of female children is continuous, and
dull; in the birth of males it is sharp, and far more severe. Those
who, before parturition, have sexual intercourse, suffer less in the
process. Sometimes women seem to suffer, not from any pain of their
own, but from the turning of the head of the child; and this appears
to be the commencement of the pain. Other animals have a single exact
period for parturition, for one time is appointed for them all. The
human subject alone varies in this particular, for the period of
gestation is seven, eight, or nine months, or ten at the outside,
though some have even advanced as far as the eleventh month.
5. If any are born before the seventh month, they never live. Those of
seven months are the first that are developed, but these are usually
weakly, wherefore, also, they wrap them in wool. Many of these infants
have the passages, as the ears and nostrils, imperforate. As they
grow, however, they assume a proper form, and many of them survive. In
Egypt, and some other places, where the women suffer little pain in
parturition, and where they bear many children with ease, those even
at the end of eight months are capable of living, even although they
should be monstrous; but in such places children born in the eighth
month may survive and be brought up. In Greece, however, few of them
survive, and most of them perish; and people suspect that if any of
them survive, the exact period of conception must have been mistaken by
the mother.
6. Women suffer most in the fourth and eighth month, and if the fœtus
dies in the fourth or eighth month, they usually die also; so that not
only children born in the eighth month often perish, but their mothers
also perish with them. In the same way, the period of conception
probably is mistaken by those who have been pregnant more than eleven
months; for in these cases the beginning of the conception escapes the
notice of females, for frequently after the uterus has been distended
with flatulence, women have copulated and conceived, and supposed that
the former condition in which they observed the usual symptoms, was the
commencement of gestation.
CHAPTER V.
1. The human subject also differs from other animals, as to the number
of the perfect offspring produced at a birth. For the human subject
differs both from animals which produce but one, and those which
produce many; for, generally speaking, and, in most cases, women have
but one child at a time, though cases of twins occur frequently, and
in many places, as in Egypt, three or four at a birth have been known
in some particular places, as I have observed before. Five at a birth
are the most that have been produced. This has been observed to take
place in many cases, but in one case only have twenty been produced
at four births, for five were born each time, and many of them were
reared. In other animals, if the twins are male and female, there is
no more difficulty in rearing and preserving them, than if they were
both of the same sex. In the human subject there are few cases of twins
surviving, when one was male and the other female.
2. The human female and the mare copulate after conception more than
any other creatures, for all other females, when they have conceived,
fly from the males, except those which, like the hare, become pregnant
a second time during gestation. But the mare, having once conceived,
does not form a second fœtus, but generally produces a single foal. In
the human subject it happens sometimes, though rarely. Those which are
conceived a long while afterwards never come to perfection, but, from
the pain which they cause, destroy the original fœtus; and a case has
occurred in which twelve imperfect embryos have been produced at one
time. If the second conception take place soon after the first, they
bear and produce the fœtus, as if it were a twin. This, they say, was
the case with Iphicles and Hercules.
3. The possibility of the case is manifest, for an adulteress has
been known to produce one child like her husband, and another like
her paramour; and a case has occurred of a woman having conceived
twins, and then conceived a third child upon them; and when the proper
time came, the twins were born perfect, the other was only a fœtus of
five months old, which died immediately: and in another case, a woman
produced, first of all, a fœtus of seven months old, and then twins,
perfectly developed; the former perished, but the latter survived. And
some women have conceived at the same time as they miscarried, and
have ejected one fœtus while they bore the other. In most females, who
have cohabited after the eighth month after conception, the child has
been born filled with a shining mucous-like substance, and has often
appeared full of the food which has been eaten by the mother; and if
she has fed upon food more than usually salt, the child has been born
without nails.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The milk that is produced before the seventh month is useless; but
as soon as the child is alive the milk becomes good. At first it is
salt, like that of sheep. Most women during pregnancy are affected by
wine, and if they drink it they become faint and feeble. The beginning
and the ending of the reproductive power in both sexes is marked in
the male by the emission of the semen, in the female by the catamenia.
They are not, however, fertile when these first occur, nor while they
are still small and weak. The period of the commencement of these signs
has been mentioned. In women the catamenia usually cease at forty; but
if they pass over this age, they go on to fifty; and some have even
produced children at that period, but none later than this period.
2. The reproductive function in men usually continues active till
they are sixty years old; if they pass beyond this period, till they
are seventy; and some men have had children at seventy years old. It
frequently happens that, when marriages are unfruitful, both men and
women become pregnant, if the marriage is dissolved and they marry
again. The same thing takes place respecting the birth of male and
female children. For sometimes only children of one sex are produced
by a marriage; and if this is dissolved, and the parents marry again,
children of the other sex are produced. These things also vary with the
age of the parents; for some when young have female children, and when
older males, though the contrary sometimes takes place.
3. The same is the case with the whole of the reproductive function.
For some persons have no children when they are young, but have them
afterwards; others have children at first, but none afterwards; and
there are some women who conceive with difficulty, but when they have
conceived bear children; others conceive easily, but the fœtus never
comes to maturity. There are also both men and women who only produce
children of one sex, as the story goes of Hercules, who had but one
daughter in seventy-two children. Those who have been barren, and
either after great care, or from any other cause, at last conceive,
more frequently bear a daughter than a son. It often happens also that
men who have engendered become impotent, and subsequently return to
their former condition.
4. Maimed parents produce maimed children; and so also lame and blind
parents produce lame and blind children; and, on the whole, children
are often born with anything contrary to nature, or any mark which
their parents may have, such as tumours and wounds. Such marks have
often been handed down for three generations; as if a person had a mark
on their arm which was not seen in the son, but the grandson exhibited
a dark confused spot on the same place. The circumstances, however, are
rare; and sound children are generally produced from lame parents; nor
is there any complete certainty in these matters; and children resemble
their parents or their grandparents, and sometimes they resemble
neither. This is handed down for many generations; as in Sicily, a
woman cohabited with an Ethiopian, her daughter was not black, but her
daughter's child was so.
5. For the most part the girls resemble their mother, and the boys
their father; though the contrary is often the case, and the females
resemble their father, and the males their mother, and the different
parts of the body resemble either parents. Twins have sometimes no
resemblance to each other, but they are generally much alike; and one
woman cohabited with a man, and conceived seven days after parturition,
when she bore a child as like her former as if they had been twins.
Some women, as well as other creatures, produce young resembling
themselves, others bear those which resemble the male, as the horse
called Dicæa in Pharsalia.
CHAPTER VII.
1. The seminal fluid in its emission is preceded by wind. The manner of
its emission exhibits this; for nothing is expelled to a great distance
without pneumatic force. If the seminal fluid is taken up by the
uterus and retained there, it becomes inclosed in a membrane. For if
it is expelled before it becomes articulated, it appears like an ovum
inclosed in a membrane, but without any shell, and the membrane is full
of veins. All animals, whether furnished with fins, feet, or wings,
whether viviparous or oviparous, are produced in the same manner,
except that the umbilicus in viviparous animals is turned towards the
uterus, and in others to the ovum; and in some cases both ways, as in
a certain kind of fish. Some of them are surrounded by a membrane,
others by a chorion. First of all, the fœtus is contained within the
last envelope. Then there is another membrane over this, which is in
part united to the matrix and is partly separate, and contains water.
Between these is a watery or sanguineous fluid, which in women is
called prophorus.
2. All animals that have a navel increase by the navel; and in those
which have acetabula the navel is united to the acetabulum; and in
those which have a smooth uterus the navel is united to the uterus upon
a vein. The position of all quadrupeds in the uterus is stretched out;
that of fishes is on the side; bipeds, as birds, are folded together.
The human fœtus lies folded up with its nose between its knees and its
eyes upon them, and its ears turned outwards. All animals are alike
in having the head placed upwards at first. As they grow, the head
turns round, and the birth of all animals is naturally with the head
forwards: for even in those that are folded together the presentation
of the feet is unnatural. The embryo of quadrupeds contains
excrementitious matter, as soon as it is matured, both fluid and
solid. The latter is contained in the extreme parts of the intestine,
the former in the bladder.
3. If animals have acetabula in the uterus, these acetabula always
become smaller as the fœtus grows, and at last disappear. The umbilical
cord is a covering for veins, of which the origin is in the uterus.
In those creatures which have acetabula it originates in them; in
those that have not acetabula it originates in the vein. In the larger
animals, such as the fœtus of oxen, there are four veins; in smaller
animals, two; in very small animals, as in birds, there is but one.
Two veins reach the fœtus through the liver, from that part called the
gates of the liver, towards the great vein; and two go to the aorta,
where it is divided into two parts; and there are membranes round each
pair of veins, and the umbilical cord surrounds these membranes like a
covering. As the fœtus increases, these veins diminish. The embryo, as
it grows, advances into the viscera, where its movements are manifest.
Sometimes it remains rolled up near the pudendum.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. When the pains of parturition come on, they extend to many and
various parts of the body, but especially to one or other of the
thighs. Those who suffer most in the bowels are delivered most rapidly;
those who suffer much in the loins are delivered with difficulty; those
whose pain lies in the subumbilical region, more quickly. If the child
is a male, a liquid, serum-like discharge, of a pale yellow colour,
precedes; if a female, this discharge is sanguineous, but still fluid.
Some women have neither during the period of parturition.
2. In other animals parturition is not painful, and it is evident that
they suffer but moderately in the pains of labour. In women the pains
of parturition are more violent, especially in those that are inactive
or that are not well made in their sides, and are unable to hold their
breath. They also suffer more in parturition, if they breathe in the
meantime, compelled by the necessity of respiration. At first a fluid
escapes when the fœtus comes to the birth, and the membranes are
ruptured; after this, the embryo is excluded, the uterus being turned,
and the uterus being turned inside-out.
CHAPTER IX.
1. The division of the umbilical cord often requires the careful
attention of the midwife; for by skilfulness she may not only assist in
difficult labours, but should attend carefully to the circumstances,
and apply the ligature to the umbilical cord of the child; for if the
secundines fall out with the child, the umbilical cord must be bound
with a ligature of worsted, and cut above the ligature, and where it is
bound it joins together, and that which is joined with it falls off. If
the ligature becomes loose, the child dies from loss of blood. If the
secundines do not come out at once, while they remain within, and the
child is outside, the umbilical cord must be tied and divided.
2. Frequently the child, if weak, has appeared as if born dead, until
the umbilical cord was tied, for the blood flowed from the child to
the navel and the surrounding parts; but some skilful midwife being
present, by pressure on the navel from within has revived the child,
just as if it had been filled with blood from the first. It has been
already observed, that all animals are naturally born with the head
forwards. Children also have their hands pressed down against their
sides. As soon as they are born they begin to cry and bring their
hands to their mouth. They emit excrements, some immediately, others
very soon, but all in the course of a day. This excrementitious matter
is very abundant, considering the size of the child. Women call it
the meconium. Its colour is like that of blood, and it is black and
pitch-like. Afterwards it becomes milky, for the child immediately
draws the breast. The child never cries before it is entirely in the
world, not even though its head is protruded in difficult cases, while
the body is within the uterus.
3. Those women in whom a flooding has preceded the period of delivery
are delivered with more difficulty, and if the purifications are
small after parturition, and only as much as they are at first, and
do not continue for more than forty days, such women are stronger,
and more ready for conception. After children are born, for forty
days they neither laugh nor weep when awake, but sometimes do both
in their sleep; nor do they usually feel when they are tickled, but
they sleep the greater part of their time. As they grow, the period of
wakefulness continually increases; and it is evident that they dream,
but it is some time before they remember their imaginations. There is
no difference in the bones of other animals, but they are all born
perfect. In children the bone called bregma is soft, and does not
become strong for some time. Some animals are born with teeth, but
children begin to cut their teeth in the seventh month. The front teeth
naturally appear first, sometimes the upper teeth and sometimes the
under. Children cut their teeth more easily if their nurses have warmer
milk.
CHAPTER X.
After parturition and purification women become full of milk; and in
some it not only flows through the nipples but through other parts of
the breast, and sometimes from the cheeks; and if this fluid is not
matured nor secreted, but remains full, hard knots are formed, which
remain for a long time; for every part of the breast is so spongy that,
if a hair is swallowed with the drink, pain ensues in the breasts,
until it either escapes spontaneously with the milk, or is sucked out,
this is called τριχιᾷν. They continue to have milk until they conceive
again. It then ceases, and is quenched in other creatures as well as
in the human subject. The catamenia seldom take place while milk is
secreted, though this sometimes occurs in women while nursing. On the
whole, an effusion of fluid seldom takes place from many parts of the
body at the same time, and those that have hæmorrhoids have usually
less purification. In some it takes place through ixiæ (varices), and
is secreted from the loins before it reaches the uterus; and those who
vomit blood when the purification is suppressed suffer no harm.
CHAPTER XI.
Children are very subject to spasms, and especially those that are in
a good condition and have abundance of rich milk, or whose nurses are
fat. Wine is injurious in this complaint, and dark-coloured wines more
so than those that are pale, and food that is not fluid, and windy
aliments, and stoppage in the bowels. Children with this complaint
generally die before the seventh day: wherefore also this day has
received a name, as if it gave some hope of the recovery of the child.
Children suffer most at the full moon. Children are in great danger
when the spasms originate in the back, especially if they are advancing
in age.[215]
[215] The seventh book ends very abruptly, and hence it has been
thought that what is now called the tenth book, in which the subject
of reproduction is continued, would have its proper place here, as a
continuation of the seventh. Whether a portion of the genuine work
of Aristotle has been lost which would have completed the subject is
another question; but there can be little doubt that the tenth book,
in the form in which we have it, is no genuine work of Aristotle; some
of the opinions are contrary to those which he has expressed, and the
whole style and language is different from that of Aristotle. Schneider
therefore has placed the tenth book at the end of the work, that he may
neither entirely exclude that which in former times was considered a
portion of Aristotle's treatise on Animals, nor yet allow a fictitious
book to interrupt the genuine writings of his Author.
BOOK THE EIGHTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. The nature of animals and their mode of reproduction has now been
described. Their actions and mode of life also differ according to
their disposition and their food. For almost all animals present
traces of their moral dispositions, though these distinctions are most
remarkable in man. For most of them, as we remarked, when speaking
of their various parts, appear to exhibit gentleness or ferocity,
mildness or cruelty, courage or cowardice, fear or boldness, violence
or cunning; and many of them exhibit something like a rational
consciousness, as we remarked in speaking of their parts. For they
differ from man, and man from the other animals, in a greater or less
degree; for some of these traits are exhibited strongly in man, and
others in other animals.
2. Others differ in proportion. For as men exhibit art, wisdom, and
intelligence, animals possess, by way of compensation, some other
physical power. This is most conspicuous in the examination of infants,
for in them we see, as it were, the vestiges and seeds of their future
disposition; nor does their soul at this period differ in any respect
from that of an animal; so that it is not unreasonable for animals
to present the same, or similar, or analogous appearances. Nature
passes so gradually from inanimate to animate things, that from their
continuity their boundary and the mean between them is indistinct. The
race of plants succeeds immediately that of inanimate objects; and
these differ from each other in the proportion of life in which they
participate; for, compared with other bodies, plants appear to possess
life, though, when compared with animals, they appear inanimate.
3. The change from plants to animals, however, is gradual, as I before
observed. For a person might question to which of these classes some
marine objects belong; for many of them are attached to the rock, and
perish as soon as they are separated from it. The pinnæ are attached to
the rocks, the solens cannot live after they are taken away from their
localities; and, on the whole, all the testacea resemble plants, if
we compare them with locomotive animals. Some of them appear to have
no sensation; in others it is very dull. The body of some of them is
naturally fleshy, as of those which are called tethya; and the acalephe
and the sponge entirely resemble plants; the progress is always gradual
by which one appears to have more life and motion than another.
4. In the vital actions also we may observe the same manner. For
vegetables which are produced from seed appear to have no other work
beyond reproduction; nor do some animals appear to have any other
object in their existence. This object then is common to them all; but
as sensation advances, their manner of life differs in their having
pleasure in sexual intercourse, in their mode of parturition and
rearing their young. Some of them, like plants, simply accomplish their
peculiar mode of reproduction at an appointed season, and others are
diligent in rearing their young; but as soon as this is accomplished
they separate from them, and have no farther communication; but those
that are more intelligent, and possess more memory, use their offspring
in a more civilized manner.
5. The work of reproduction is one part of their life, the work of
procuring food forms another. These two occupy their labour and their
life. Their food differs in the substances of which it consists, and
all the natural increase of the body is derived from food. That which
is natural is pleasant, and all animals follow that which is pleasant
to their nature.
CHAPTER II.
1. Animals are divided according to the localities which they inhabit;
for some animals are terrestrial, others are aquatic. They also admit
of a ternary division, those that breathe air and those that breathe
water, one of these classes is terrestrial, the other is aquatic; the
third class does not breathe either air or water, but they are adapted
by nature to receive refreshment from each of these elements; and some
of these are called terrestrial, others are aquatic, though they
neither breathe air or water; and there are other animals which procure
their food and make their abode in either of these elements. For many
that breathe air, and produce their young upon the land, procure their
food from the water, where they generally make their abode; and these
are the only animals which appear to be doubtful, for they may be
arranged either as terrestrial or aquatic animals.
2. Of those that breathe water, none have feet or wings, nor seek their
food on land; but many of those that are terrestrial, and breathe
air, do so; some of them so much so, that they cannot live when
separated from the water, as those which are called marine turtles,
and crocodiles, and hippopotami, and seals, and some of the smaller
creatures, as the water tortoise and the frog tribe; for all these are
suffocated if their respiration is suspended for any length of time.
They produce their young and rear them on dry land; others do so near
the dry land, while they reside in the water.
3. Of all animals the most remarkable in this particular is the
dolphin, and some other aquatic animals and cetacea which are of this
habit, as the whale and others which have a blowhole; for it is not
easy to arrange them either with aquatic or terrestrial animals, if
we consider animals that breathe air as terrestrial, and those that
breathe water as aquatics, for they partake of the characters of
both classes; for they receive the sea and eject it through their
blowhole, and air through their lungs, for they have this part, and
breathe through it. And the dolphin, when captured in nets, is often
suffocated, from the impossibility of breathing. It will live for a
long while out of water, snoring and groaning like other breathing
animals. It sleeps with its snout above the water, in order that it may
breathe through it.
4. It is thus impossible to arrange it under both of these contrary
divisions, but it would appear that the aquatic animals must be further
subdivided; for they breathe and eject water for the same reason as
others breathe air, for the sake of coolness. Other animals do this
for the sake of food; for those animals which obtain their food in the
water, must also, at the same time, swallow some of the fluid, and have
an organ by which they can eject it. Those creatures which use water
instead of air for breathing have gills; those that use it for food
have a blowhole. These creatures are sanguineous. The nature of the
malacia and malacostraca is the same; for these swallow water for food.
5. Those animals which breathe air, but live in the water, and those
which breathe water, and have gills, but go out upon dry land and take
their food there, belong to two divisions of aquatic animals. This last
division is represented by a single animal called the cordylus (water
newt); for this animal has no lungs, but gills; and it goes on dry
land to procure its food. It has four feet, so that it appears natural
that it should walk. In all these animals nature appears to be, as it
were, turned aside, and some of the males appear to be females, and
the females have a male appearance; for animals which have but small
diversity in particular parts, exhibit great variations in the whole
body.
6. This is evident in castrated animals; for if a small portion only of
the body is destroyed, the animal becomes a female; so that it is plain
that if a very minute portion in the original composition of an animal
becomes changed, if that portion belongs to the origin of the species,
it might become either male or female; or, if taken away altogether,
the animal might be neuter. And so, either way, it might become a land
or aquatic animal, if only a small change took place ... it happens
that some become terrestrial and others aquatic animals, and some are
not amphibious which others are, because in their original generation
they received some kind of substance which they use for food. For that
which is natural is agreeable to every animal, as I have said before.
CHAPTER III.
1. When animals are divided in three ways into aquatic and land
animals, because they either breathe air or water, or from the
composition of their bodies; or, in the third place, from their food,
their manner of life will be found to agree with these divisions. For
some follow both the composition of their bodies and the nature of
their food, and their respiration of either water or air. Others only
agree with their composition and food.
2. The testacea which are immoveable live by a fluid which percolates
through the dense parts of the sea, and being digested because it
is lighter than the sea water, thus returns to its original nature.
That this fluid exists in the sea, and is capable of infiltration is
manifest, and may be proved by experiment; for if anyone will make a
thin waxen vessel, and sink it empty in the sea, in a night and a day,
it may be taken up full of water, which is drinkable.
3. The acalephe (actinia) feeds upon any small fish which may fall in
its way. Its mouth is placed in the centre of its body. This organ
is conspicuous in the larger individuals: like the oyster, it has a
passage for the exclusion of its food, which is placed above. The
acalephe appears to resemble the internal part of the oyster, and it
makes use of the rock, as the oyster does of its shell. (The patella
also is free, and wanders about in search of food.)
4. Among the locomotive testacea, some are carnivorous, and live on
small fish, as the purpura, for this creature is carnivorous, it is
therefore caught with a bait of flesh: others live upon marine plants.
The marine turtles live upon shell-fish, for which purpose they have a
very powerful mouth; for if any of them take a stone or anything else,
they break and eat it. This animal leaves the water and eats grass.
They often suffer and perish, when they are dried up as they float on
the surface, for they are not able to dive readily.
5. The malacostraca are of the same nature, for they eat everything;
they feed upon stones and mud, seaweeds and dung, as the rock crabs,
and are also carnivorous. The spiny lobsters also overcome large
fishes, and a kind of retribution awaits them in turn, for the polypus
prevails over the lobster, for they are not inconvenienced by the shell
of the lobster, so that if the lobsters perceive them in the same net
with them, they die from fear. The spiny lobsters overcome the congers,
for their roughness prevents them from falling off. The congers devour
the polypi which cannot adhere to them on account of the smoothness of
their surface; all the malacia are carnivorous.
6. The spiny lobsters also live on small fish, which they hunt for in
their holes, for they are produced in such parts of the sea as are
rough and stony, and in those places make their habitations; whatever
they capture, they bring to their mouth with their double claw, as the
crabs do. When not frightened they naturally walk forwards, hanging
their horns down at their sides. When alarmed they retreat backwards,
and extend their horns to a great distance. They fight with each other
like rams with their horns, raising them and striking each other. They
are often seen in numbers as if they were gregarious.
7. The malacostraca lead this kind of life. Among the malacia the
teuthis and sepia prevail over the large fish. The polypus generally
collects shells which it empties of their contents and feeds upon them,
so that those who seek for them find their holes by the shells that are
scattered about. The report that they eat each other is a mistake; but
some have the tentacula eaten off by the congers.
CHAPTER IV.
1. All fish at the season of oviposition live upon ova; in the rest of
their food they are not all so well agreed, for some of them are only
carnivorous, as the selachos, conger, channa, thynnus, labrax, sinodon,
amia, orphus, and muræna; the trigla lives upon fuci, shell-fish, and
mud; it is also carnivorous. The cephalus lives on mud, the dascillus
on mud and dung. The scarus and melanurus on sea-weed, the salpa on
dung and fuci, it will also eat the plant called horehound; it is the
only fish that can be caught with the gourd.
2. All fish, except the cestreus, eat one another, especially the
congers. The cephalus and the cestreus alone are not carnivorous. This
is a proof of it. They are never captured with anything of the kind in
their stomach, nor are they captured with a bait made of flesh, but
with bread; the cestreus is always fed upon sea-weed and sand. One
kind of cephalus which some persons call chelone lives near the land,
another is called peræas. This last feeds upon nothing but its own
mucus, for which reason it is always very poor. The cephalus lives upon
mud, wherefore they are heavy and slimy. They certainly never eat fish,
on account of their dwelling in mud; they often emerge in order to wash
themselves from the slime. Neither will any creature eat their ova, so
that they increase rapidly, and when they increase they are devoured
by other fish, and especially by the acharnus.
3. The cestreus (mullet) is the most greedy and insatiable of fish, so
that its abdomen is distended, and it is not good for food unless it is
poor. When alarmed it hides its head, as if its whole body were thus
concealed; the sinodon also is carnivorous, and eats the malacia. This
fish and the channa often eject their stomachs as they pursue small
fish, for their stomach is near the mouth, and they have no œsophagus.
Some are simply carnivorous, as the dolphin, sinodon, chrysophrys, the
selache and malacia; others, as the phycis, cobius, and the rock-fish,
principally feed upon mud and fuci, and bryum, and what is called
caulion, and any matter which may be produced in the sea. The phycis
eats no other flesh than that of the shrimps. They also frequently eat
each other, as I before remarked, and the greater devour the less. It
is a proof that they are carnivorous, that they are captured with bait
made of flesh.
4. The amia, tunny, and labrax generally eat flesh, though they also
eat sea-weed. The sargus feeds after the trigla when the last has
buried itself in the mud and departed, for it has the power of burying
itself, then the sargus comes and feeds and prevents all those that are
weaker than itself from approaching. The fish called scarus is the only
one which appears to ruminate like quadrupeds. Other fish appear to
hunt the smaller ones with their mouths towards them, in this way they
naturally swim; but the selachea, dolphins and cetacea throw themselves
on their back to capture their prey, for their mouth is placed below
them, for this reason the smaller ones escape, or if not they would
soon be reduced in number; for the swiftness of the dolphin and its
capacity for food appear incredible.
5. A few eels in some places are fed upon mud, and any kind of food
which may be cast into the water, but generally they live upon fresh
water, and those who rear eels take care that the water which flows off
and on upon the shallows in which they live may be clear, where they
make the eel preserves. For they are soon suffocated if the water is
not clean, their gills being very small. For this reason those who seek
for them disturb the water. In the Strymon they are taken about the
time of the rising of the Pleiades. For the water is disturbed at this
season by the mud which is stirred up by contrary winds, otherwise it
is useless to attempt to obtain them. When dead, eels do not rise and
float on the surface, like other fishes, for their stomach is small; a
few of them are fat, but this is not usually the case.
6. When taken out of the water, they will live five or six days; if
the wind is in the north they will live longer than if it is in the
south. If they are removed from the ponds to the eel preserves during
the summer they perish, but not if removed in the winter; neither will
they bear violent changes, for if they are taken and plunged into cold
water, they often perish in great numbers. They are suffocated also if
kept in a small quantity of water. This takes place also in other fish,
which are suffocated if kept in a small quantity of water which is
never changed, like animals which breathe air when enclosed in a small
quantity of air. Some eels live seven or eight years. Fresh-water fish
make use of food, and devour each other, as well as plants and roots,
or anything else that they can find in the mud; they generally feed in
the night, and during the day dwell in deep holes. This is the nature
of the food of fish.
CHAPTER V.
1. All birds with crooked claws are carnivorous, nor are they able to
eat corn even when put in their mouths. All the eagles belong to this
class and the kites, and both the hawks, the pigeon hawk namely, and
the sparrow hawk. These differ in size from each other, and so does the
triorches. This bird is as large as the kite, and is visible at all
seasons of the year; the osprey and vulture also belong to this class.
The osprey is as large as the eagle, and ash-coloured. There are two
kinds of vultures, one small and whitish, the other large and cinereous.
2. Some of the night birds also have crooked claws, as the nycticorax,
owl, and bryas. The bryas resembles an owl in appearance, but it is as
large as an eagle; the eleos, ægolius, and scops also belong to this
class. The eleos is larger than a domestic fowl, the ægolius is about
the size of that bird, they both hunt the jay. The scops is less than
the owl; all three of these are similar in form, and carnivorous. Some
that have not crooked claws are carnivorous, as the swallow.
3. Some birds feed on worms, as the finch, the sparrow, batis,
chloris, titmouse. There are three kinds of titmouse; the spizites
is the largest, it is as large as the finch. Another is called the
orinus, because it dwells in mountains; it has a large tail. The third
resembles them in everything except its size, for it is very small.
The sycalis also, the megalocoryphus, pyrrhulas, erithacus, hypolaïs,
œstrus, tyrannis are of this class. The last of these is the least,
it is not much larger than a locust; it has a purple crest, and is
altogether a graceful and well-formed bird. The bird called anthus
also, which is of the size of the finch; the orospizus is like the
finch, and nearly of the same size, it has a blue stripe on its neck,
and lives in mountainous places. The wren also lives upon seeds. All
these and such like birds either partly or entirely live on worms.
4. These birds, the acanthis, thraupis, and that which is called
chrysometris, all live upon thorns, but neither eat worms or any other
living creature, and they both roost and feed in the same places.
There are others which feed on gnats; these live chiefly by hunting
for these insects, as the greater and lesser pipo, both of which are
by some persons called woodpeckers. They resemble each other in their
cry, though that of the larger bird is the louder, and they both feed
by flying against trees. The celeos also, which is as large as a turtle
dove, and entirely yellow; its habit is to strike against trees; it
generally lives upon trees, and has a loud voice. This bird generally
inhabits the Peloponnesus. There is also another called cnipologus,
which is small, about the size of the acanthyllis; its colour is
cinereous and spotted, and its voice is weak; this bird also pecks
trees.
5. There are other birds which live upon fruit and grasses, as the
phaps, phatta, peristera, œnas, and trygon.[216] The phatta and
peristera are always present, the trygon only in summer time; in the
winter it is not seen, for it hides itself in holes. The œnas is
generally seen and captured in the autumn. The œnas is as large as the
peristera but less than the phaps. It is generally captured as it is
drinking; it comes to this country when it has young. All the rest come
in the summer, and make their nests here, and all, except the pigeon
tribe, live upon animal food.
[216] Different species of pigeons and doves.
6. All birds, as far as food is concerned, are either terrestrial or
live in the neighbourhood of rivers and ponds, or near the sea. Those
that have webbed feet pass the greater part of their time on the water;
those with divided feet near the water. Some of these dive for their
food, such as live upon plants and do not eat flesh; others, as the
heron and white heron, live in ponds and rivers. The latter of these is
smaller than the former, and has a flat large bill.
7. The pelargus also, and the gull, the latter is ash-coloured, and the
schœnilus, cinclos, pygargus, (and tryngas) this last is the largest of
these small birds, for it is of the same size as the thrush; all these
birds wag their tails. The calidris also, this bird is variegated and
ash-coloured. The kingfisher also lives near the water; there appear to
be two kinds of this bird, one of which utters its cry as it sits upon
the reeds, and the other, which is larger, is silent; they both have
a blue back. The trochilus also, and the kingfisher and cerylus also
live near the sea. The corona also lives upon animals which are cast on
shore, for it is omnivorous. The white gull also, the cepphus, æthyia,
and charadrius.
8. The heavier web-footed birds inhabit the neighbourhood of rivers and
ponds, as the swan, duck, phalaris, columbis, and the boscas, which
is like a duck, but smaller; and the bird called corax, which is as
large as the pelargus, but its legs are shorter, it is web-footed and
a swimmer, its colour is black; this last bird perches upon trees, and
is the only one of this class that builds its nest in such places. The
great and small goose also, the latter is gregarious, and chenalopex,
the aix, and the penelops. The sea eagle also lives near the sea, and
fishes in the waters of lakes. Many birds are omnivorous; those with
crooked claws seize upon other animals which they can overcome, and
upon birds. They do not, however, devour their own congeners, as fish
frequently do; all the tribes of birds drink very little, those with
crooked claws do not drink at all, or only a few of them, and these but
seldom; of these the cenchris drinks the most; the kite rarely drinks,
though it has been observed to do so.
CHAPTER VI.
1. Animals covered with scaly plates, as the lizard and other
quadrupeds and serpents, are omnivorous, for they eat both flesh and
grass, and serpents lick their prey more than any other animal; all
these creatures, and indeed all with spongy lungs, drink very little,
and all that are oviparous are of this kind, and have but little blood.
Serpents are all very fond of wine, so that they hunt the viper by
placing vessels of wine in the hedge-rows, and they are captured when
intoxicated. Serpents devour any animal that they may have captured,
and when they have sucked out the juice, they reject all the remainder;
nearly all such animals do this, as also the spiders. But the spiders
suck the juice without swallowing the animal. Serpents suck the juice
internally.
2. The serpent swallows any food which may be presented to it, for it
will devour both birds and beasts, and suck eggs. When it has taken
its food it draws itself up, till it stands erect upon its extremity,
it then gathers itself up and contracts itself a little, so that when
stretched out the animal it has swallowed may descend in its stomach;
it does this because its œsophagus is long and thin. Phalangia and
serpents can live a long while without food, this may be seen in those
that are kept by dealers in medicine.
CHAPTER VII.
1. Among viviparous quadrupeds, those that are wild and have pointed
teeth are all carnivorous, except some wolves, which, when they are
hungry, will, as they say, eat a certain kind of earth, but this is the
only exception. They will not eat grass unless they are sick, for some
dogs eat grass and vomit it up again, and so are purified. The solitary
wolves are more eager for human flesh than those which hunt in packs.
2. The animal which some persons call the glanus and others the hyæna,
is not less than the wolf, it has a mane like a horse, but the hair all
along its spine is more harsh and thick. It also secretly attacks men,
and hunts them down; it hunts dogs also by vomiting like men; it also
breaks open graves for the sake of this kind of food.
3. The bear is also omnivorous, for it eats fruit, and on account of
the softness of its body it can climb trees; it eats leguminous seeds
also; it also overturns hives and eats the honey, and it feeds upon
crabs and ants, and is carnivorous, for its strength enables it to
attack not only deer, but wild hogs, if it can fall upon them secretly,
and oxen. For when it meets the bull face to face, it falls upon its
back, and when the bull attempts to throw it, seizes its horns with its
fore-legs, and biting upon the shoulder of the bull, throws it down.
For a short time it can walk upright on its hind legs. It eats flesh
after it has become putrid.
4. The lion, like all other wild animals with pointed teeth, is
carnivorous; it devours its food greedily, and swallows large pieces
without dividing them; it can afterwards, from its repletion, remain
two or three days without food. It drinks very little. Its excrement
is small, and is not made more than once in three days or thereabouts,
and it is dry and hard like that of a dog. The wind from its bowels has
an acrid smell, and its urine is powerfully scented, for which reason
dogs smell to trees, for the lion, like the dog, lifts its leg to make
water. It produces also a strong smell when it breathes upon its food,
and when its bowels are laid open they emit a strong scent.
5. Some quadrupeds and wild animals seek their food in the
neighbourhood of ponds and rivers, but none of them except the seal
live near the sea; of this class are the creature called beaver, and
the satherium, the satyrium, the otter, and that which is called latax.
This creature is broader than the enydris, and has strong teeth, for it
often goes out in the night and with its teeth gnaws off the osiers.
The enydris also will bite men, and they say will not leave its hold
till it hears the noise of its teeth against the bone. The latax has
rough hair, the nature of which is between that of the seal and that of
the deer.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Animals with pointed teeth drink by lapping, and some that have not
pointed teeth, as mice. Those which have an even surface to their teeth
draw in the water as horses and oxen; the bear neither draws in the
water nor laps it, but gulps it down. Some birds draw in the water, but
those which have long necks imbibe it at intervals, lifting up their
heads; the porphyrion alone gulps it down. All horned animals, both
domestic and wild, and those that have not pointed teeth eat fruits and
grass, and are incapable of enduring hunger, except the dog, and this
animal eats fruit and grass less than any other.
2. The hog eats roots more than other animals, because its snout is
well adapted for this operation, it is more adapted to various kinds
of food than other animals. In proportion to its size its fat is
developed very fast, for it becomes fat in sixty days. Those who occupy
themselves in fatting hogs know how fast they fatten by weighing them
when lean; they will become fat after starvation for three days. Almost
all other animals become fat, after previous starvation. After three
days those who fatten hogs feed them well.
3. The Thracians fatten them by giving them drink on the first day,
then at first they omit one day, afterwards two, three, or four, till
they reach to seven days. These creatures are fattened with barley,
millet, figs, acorns, wild pears, and cucumbers. Both this and other
animals with a warm stomach are fattened in idleness, and the sow
also by wallowing in the mire. They prefer different kinds of food at
different ages. The hog and the wolf fight together, a sixth part of
its weight when alive, consists of bristles, blood, and fat. Sows and
all other animals grow lean while suckling their young. This then, is
the nature of these animals.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Oxen eat both fruits and grass. They become fat on flatulent food,
as vetches, broken beans, and stems of beans, and if any person having
cut a hole in the skin inflates them and then feeds the older cattle,
they fatten more rapidly, and either on whole or broken barley, or on
sweet food, as on figs and grapes, wine, and the leaves of the elm, and
especially in the sunshine and in warm waters. The horns of the calf,
if anointed with wax, may be directed in any way that is desired, and
they suffer less in the feet if their horns are rubbed with wax, or
pitch, or oil.
2. Herds of cattle suffer less when moved in frost than in snow. They
grow if they are deprived for a long time of sexual intercourse;
wherefore the herdsmen in Epirus keep the Pyrrhic cattle, as they are
called, for nine years without sexual intercourse, in order that they
may grow. They call such cows apotauri. The number of these creatures
reaches four hundred, and they are the property of the king. They will
not live in any other country, though the attempt has been made.
CHAPTER X.
1. The horse, mule, and ass feed upon fruit and grass, but they
fatten especially on drinking, so that beasts of burden enjoy their
food in proportion to the quantity of water which they drink, and the
less difficulty there is of obtaining drink, the more they profit by
abundance of grass. When the mare is in foal, green food causes her
hair to be fine, but when it contains hard knots it is not wholesome.
The first crop of Medic grass is not good, nor if any stinking water
has come near it, for it gives it a bad smell. Oxen require pure water
to drink, but horses in this respect resemble camels. The camel prefers
water that is dirty and thick; nor will it drink from a stream before
it has disturbed the water. It can remain without drinking four days,
after which it drinks a great quantity.
CHAPTER XI.
1. The elephant can eat more than nine Macedonian medimni at one meal,
but so much food at once is dangerous; it should not have altogether
more than six or seven medimni, or five medimni of bread, and five
mares of wine, the maris measures six cotylæ. An elephant has been
known to drink as much as fourteen Macedonian measures at once, and
eight more again in the evening. Many camels live thirty years, and
some much more, for they have been known to live an hundred years. Some
say that the elephant lives two hundred, and others three hundred years.
CHAPTER XII.
1. Sheep and goats live upon grass. Sheep pasture for a long while
in one place without leaving it, but goats change their places very
soon, and only crop the top of the grass. The sheep fatten rapidly
with drinking, and for this reason during summer they give them
salt, a medimnus to each hundred sheep; for in this manner the flock
becomes more healthy and fat, and frequently they collect and bring
them together for this purpose, that they may mix a great deal of
salt with their food; for when thirsty they drink the more. And in
the autumn they feed them with gourds which they have sprinkled with
salt, for this makes them give more milk. When driven about in the heat
of the day they drink more towards evening. If fed with salt after
parturition, the udder becomes larger.
2. Sheep fatten on green shoots, vetches, and all kinds of grass, and
they fatten more rapidly when their food is salted. They fatten more
rapidly if previously starved for three days. During autumn northern
water is better for sheep than southern, and pastures towards the
west are good for them. Long journeys and weariness make them lean.
Shepherds distinguish the strong sheep during winter by the frost
adhering to their wool, which is not the case with those that are sick;
for those that are not strong move about in their weakness and shake it
off.
3. The flesh of all quadrupeds which feed in marshy grounds is
inferior to that of those which live on high ground. Sheep with wide
tails endure the winter better than those with long tails, and short
woolled-sheep better than long-woolled, and those with curly wool are
more affected by the cold. Sheep are more healthy than goats, though
goats are the stronger. The fleece and the wool of sheep which have
been devoured by wolves, and garments made of such wool are more
subject to vermin than others.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. Those insects which have teeth are omnivorous, but those which have
a tongue only live upon fluids, which they collect from all sources
with this organ. Some of these are omnivorous, for they feed upon all
kinds of fluids, as the fly. Others only suck blood, as the myops and
œstrus. Others, again, live upon the juices of plants and fruit. The
bee is the only insect that never touches anything putrid. It uses
no food that has not a sweet taste. They also take very sweet water,
wherever they fall upon any that is pure. The different kinds of
animals then use these kinds of food.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. All the actions of animals are employed either in sexual
intercourse, or in rearing their young, or in procuring food for
themselves, or in providing against excessive heat and cold, and the
changes of the seasons. For they all have naturally a sensitiveness
respecting heat and cold, and, like mankind, who either change their
abodes in cold weather, or those who have large estates, pass their
summer in cold countries and their winter in warm ones; so animals,
also, if they can, migrate from place to place. Some of them find
protection in their accustomed localities, others are migratory; and at
the autumnal equinox, escape at the approach of winter, from the Pontus
and other cold places; and in spring retreat again before the approach
of summer from hot to cold countries, for they are afraid of excessive
heat. Some migrate from places close at hand, and others from the very
ends of the earth.
2. The cranes do this, for they travel from Scythia to the marshes in
the higher parts of Egypt, from which the Nile originates. This is
the place where the Pygmies dwell; and this is no fable, for there is
really, as it is said, a race of dwarfs, both men and horses, which
lead the life of troglodites. The pelicans also are migratory, and
leave the river Strymon for the Ister, where they rear their young.
They depart in great crowds, and those that are before wait for those
behind, for in flying over the mountains those behind cannot see the
leaders.
3. The fish also, in the same manner, migrate either from or to the
Pontus, and in winter they leave the deep water for the sake of the
warmth of the shore, and in summer they escape from the heat by
migrating from the shore into deep water. Delicate birds, also, in
winter and frosty weather, descend from the mountains to the plains,
for the sake of the warmth; and in summer they return again to the
mountains for fear of the heat.
4. Those that are the most delicate are the first to make the change
at each extreme of heat and cold, such as the mackerel migrate sooner
than the tunnies, and the quails than cranes; for some migrate in
August, others in September. They are always fatter when they migrate
from cold countries, than when they leave warm countries, as the quail
is more fat in the autumn than the spring: and so it happens that they
migrate alike from cold countries and from warm seasons. Their sexual
desires are also more violent in the spring, and when they leave warm
countries.
5. Among birds, as it was previously remarked, the crane migrates from
one extremity of the earth to the other, and they fly against the wind.
As for the story about the stone, it is a fiction, for they say that
they carry a stone as ballast, which is useful as a touchstone for
gold, after they have vomited it up. The phatta and the peleias leave
us, and do not winter with us, nor does the turtle; but the pigeon
stays through the winter. The same is the nature of the quail, unless
a few individuals both of the turtle and quail remain behind in sunny
spots. The phatta and turtle assemble in large flocks when they depart,
and again at the season of their return. The quails, when they commence
their flight, if the weather is fine and the wind in the north, go in
pairs, and have a successful voyage. If the wind is south it goes hard
with them, for their flight is slow, and this wind is moist and heavy.
Those that hunt them, therefore, pursue them when the wind is in the
south, but not in fine weather. They fly badly on account of their
weight, for their body is large. They therefore make a noise as they
fly, for it is a toil to them.
6. When they come hither they have no leader, but when they depart
hence, the glottis, ortygometra, otus, and cychramus, which calls them
together at night, accompany them; and when the fowlers hear this
sound, they know that they will not remain. The ortygometra in form
resembles the birds which inhabit marshes. The glottis has a tongue
which it projects to a great length. The otus resembles an owl, and has
small feathers at its ears. Some persons call it the nycticorax, it is
mischievous and imitative, it is taken like the owl, as it dances from
side to side, one or other of the fowlers compassing it about. On the
whole birds with crooked claws have short necks, broad tongues, and a
capacity for imitation. And so has the Indian bird, the parrot, which
is said to have a tongue like a man. It becomes the most loquacious
when intoxicated. The crow, the swan, the pelican, and the small goose,
are gregarious birds.
CHAPTER XV.
1. It has already been observed that fish migrate from the deep water
to the coast, and from the coast to the deep water, in order to avoid
the excesses of cold and heat. Those that frequent the neighbourhood
of the coast are better than those from deep water, for the feeding
grounds are better and more abundant. For wherever the sun strikes
the plants are more frequent, and superior, and more delicate, as in
gardens, and the black shore-weed grows near the land, and the other
kinds rather resemble uncultivated plants. The neighbourhood of the
coast is also more temperate, both in heat and cold, than the rest of
the sea; for which reason the flesh of fish which live near the shore
is more compact, while that of fish from deep sea is watery and soft.
The sinodon, cantharus, orphos, chrysophrys, cestreus, trigla, cichla,
dracon, callionymus, cobius, and all the rock fish live near the shore.
The trygon, selache, the white congers, the channa, erythrinus, and
glaucus inhabit deep water. The phagrus, scorpius, the black conger,
the muræna, and coccyx occupy either situation indifferently.
2. They vary also in different places; as in the neighbourhood of Crete
the cobius and all the rock fish are fat. The tunny also becomes good
again after Arcturus, for it is not tormented by the œstrus after that
period; for which reason also it is inferior during the summer. In
lakes near the sea also there are several kinds of fish, as the salpa,
chrysophrys, trigla, and nearly all the rest. The amia also is found in
such situations as in the vicinity of Alopeconnesus, and in the lake
of Bistonis there are many fish. Many of the coliæ do not enter the
Pontus; but they pass the summer and rear their young in the Propontis,
and winter in the Ægean. The thynnus, pelamis, and amia enter the
Pontus in the spring and pass the summer there, and so do nearly all
the rhyades and the gregarious fish. Many fish are gregarious, and
gregarious fish have a leader of the shoal.
3. They all enter the Pontus for the sake of the food (for the pasture
is more abundant and superior, on account of the fresh water), and
for fear of the large creatures, which are smaller there; and except
the phocona and dolphin, there is no other found in the Pontus; and
the dolphin is small, but when we leave the Pontus we find a larger
dolphin. They enter this sea for the sake of food and rearing their
young; for the situation is better for this purpose, and the fresh
sweet water nourishes the young fry. When they have reared their young,
and the fry begin to grow, they migrate immediately after the Pleiades.
If the south wind blow during the winter, they leave the place more
slowly; but with a north wind they swim faster, for then the wind
helps them along. The small fry is captured in the neighbourhood of
Byzantium, for they make no long stay in the Pontus.
4. The other fish are seen both in their egress and ingress. The
trichia is only seen as it enters, and is not observed to leave again;
and if one is captured at Byzantium, the fishermen purify their nets,
for it is unusual for them to return. The reason is this: these are the
only fish that swim up into the Ister, and when this river divides they
swim down into the Adriatic. The following is a proof; for the converse
happens here, and they are never captured entering the Adriatic, but as
they leave it.
5. The tunnies, as they enter, swim with their right side to the shore,
and leave with their left side to the shore; and some persons say
that they do this because they see better with their right eye, and
their sight is naturally dim. The rhyades move during the day, and in
the night remain quiet and feed, unless the moon is bright, in which
case they continue their journey and do not rest themselves. And some
persons engaged about the sea say that after the winter solstice they
do not move, but remain quiet wherever they may be till the equinox.
6. The coliæ are taken as they enter, but not as they return. The
best are taken in the Propontis before the breeding season. The other
rhyades are captured more frequently as they leave the Pontus, and are
then in perfection. Those that swim near the shore are the fattest
when captured; and the farther they are away, the more lean they are;
and frequently, when the south wind blows, they swim out in company
with the coliæ and mackerel, and are taken lower down rather than at
Byzantium. This is the nature of their migrations.
CHAPTER XVI.
1. Land animals have also the same disposition for concealment. For in
winter they all hasten to conceal themselves, and appear again when
the season becomes warmer. Animals conceal themselves to guard against
the excesses of temperature. In some the whole race is concealed; in
others only a part of them. All the testacea conceal themselves, as
those which are marine, the purpura, whelk, and all that class; but the
state of concealment is more conspicuous in those which do not adhere
to rocks; for these also conceal themselves, as the pectens. Some have
an operculum on their exterior, as the land snails; and the alteration
of those that are not free is inconspicuous. They do not all conceal
themselves at the same period; for the snails are torpid during the
winter, the purpura and whelk for thirty days under the dog star, and
the pectens at the same period. Most of them conceal themselves in very
cold and very hot weather.
2. Almost all insects become torpid, except those which dwell in the
habitations of men, and those that perish and do not survive for a
year. They are torpid in the winter. Some conceal themselves for a
good while, others only in the coldest days, as the bees, for these
also conceal themselves. This is shown by their not touching the food
which is prepared for them; and if any of them creep out, they appear
transparent, and plainly have nothing in their stomach. They remain at
rest from the setting of the Pleiades until the spring. Animals pass
their torpid state in warm places, and in the spots they are accustomed
to inhabit.
CHAPTER XVII.
1. Many sanguineous animals become torpid, as those which are furnished
with scales, the serpent, lizard, gecko, and the river crocodile,
during the four winter months in which they eat nothing. Other serpents
conceal themselves in the earth, but the viper lies hidden among
stones. Many fish also become torpid, especially the hippurus and
coracinus during the winter; for these alone are never taken but at
certain seasons, which never vary. Almost all the rest are taken at all
seasons. The lamprey, orphus, and conger conceal themselves. The rock
fish conceal themselves in pairs, as the cichla, cottyphus, and perca,
the male with the female, in which way also they prepare for their
young.
2. The tunny conceals itself during winter in deep places, and they
become fattest at this season. The season of capturing them commences
with the rising of Pleiades, and continues to the end of the setting of
Arcturus. All the rest of their time they remain quiet in concealment.
A few of these are taken during the period of their concealment, and
so are some other hybernating creatures, if they are disturbed by the
warmth of their abode or the unusual mildness of the season. For they
come out a little from their holes to feed, and also when the moon is
full. Most fish are better tasted during the period of concealment. The
primades bury themselves in the mud. This is shown by their not being
taken, or their seeming to have a great deal of mud on their backs and
their fins pressed down.
3. In spring, however, they begin to move and come to the shore to
copulate and deposit their ova. At this season they are captured full
of ova, and then also they appear to be in season, but are not so good
in autumn and winter. At the same season also the males appear to be
full of melt. When their ova are small they are taken with difficulty;
but as they grow larger many are taken when they are infested by the
œstrus. Some fish bury themselves in sand, others in mud, with only
their mouths above the surface. Fishes usually conceal themselves
only in the winter. The malacostraca, the rock fishes, the batus,
and selache only in the most severe weather. This is shown by the
difficulty of capturing them in cold weather.
4. Some fish, as the glaucus, conceal themselves in summer time; for
this fish hides itself for sixty days in the summer time. The onus and
the chrysophrys hide themselves. The reason for supposing that the onus
hides itself for a long while appears to be that it is captured at long
intervals; and the influence of the stars upon them; and especially of
the dog-star, appears to be the cause of their hiding themselves in
summer time, for the sea is then disturbed. This is most conspicuous in
the Bosphorus; for the mud is thrown up, and the fish are thus brought
to the surface; and they say that, when the bottom is disturbed, more
fish are often taken in the same cast the second than the first time;
and after much rain animals make their appearance which before were
either not seen at all or but seldom.
CHAPTER XVIII.
1. Many kinds of birds also conceal themselves, and they do not all,
as some suppose, migrate to warmer climates; but those which are near
the places of which they are permanent inhabitants, as the kite and
swallow, migrate thither; but those that are farther off from such
places do not migrate, but conceal themselves; and many swallows have
been seen in hollow places almost stripped of feathers; and kites,
when they first showed themselves, have come from similar situations.
Birds with crooked claws, and those also with straight claws, conceal
themselves indiscriminately; for the stork, blackbird,[217] turtle
dove, and lark hide themselves, and by general agreement the turtle
dove most of all, for no one is ever said to have seen one during the
winter. At the commencement of hybernation it is very fat, and during
that season it loses its feathers, though they remain thick for a long
while. Some of the doves conceal themselves; others do not, but migrate
along with the swallows. The thrush and the starling also conceal
themselves, and among birds with crooked claws the kite and the owl are
not seen for a few days.
[217] Κόττυφος, Turdus merula, _Strack_, blackbird, but probably more
than one kind of bird is included under the same name. Compare 9, 36, 2.
CHAPTER XIX.
1. Among viviparous quadrupeds the porcupines and bears hybernate. It
is evident that the wild bears conceal themselves; but there is some
doubt whether it is on account of the cold or from any other cause,
for at this season both the males and females are so fat that they
cannot move easily. The female also produces her young at this season,
and hides herself until the cubs are of an age to be led forth. This
she does in the spring, about three months after the solstice, and she
continues invisible for at least forty days. During fourteen days of
this period they say that she does not move at all. For more than this
period afterwards she remains invisible, but moves about and is awake.
A pregnant bear has either never or very rarely been captured; and it
is quite plain that they eat nothing during the whole of this period;
for they never come out; and if they are captured, their stomach and
entrails appear to be empty; and it is said that, because nothing
is presented to it, the intestine sometimes adheres to itself; and,
therefore, at their first emergence, they eat the arum, in order to
open the entrail and make a passage through it.
2. The dormouse hybernates in trees and is then very fat, and the
white Pontic mouse. (Some hybernating animals cast their old age, as
it is called. This is the outer skin and the coverings at the period
of birth.) It has already been observed, that among viviparous animals
with feet there is some doubt as to the cause of the hybernation of
bears; but almost all animals with scales hybernate and cast their old
age; that is, all that have a soft skin and no shell, as the tortoise;
for both the tortoise and the emys belong to the class of animals with
scales; but all such as the gecko, lizard, and especially the serpents,
cast their skins; for they do this both in the spring, when they first
emerge, and again in the autumn.
3. The viper also casts its skin both in the spring and autumn, and is
not, as some persons say, the only serpent that does not cast its skin.
When serpents begin to cast their skin, it is first of all separated
from their eyes; and to those who do not know what is about to happen
they appear to be blind. After this it is separated from the head, for
first of all it appears entirely white. In a night and day the whole
of the old skin is separated from the commencement at the head to the
tail; and when cast it is turned inside out, for the serpent emerges as
the infant does from the chorion.
4. Insects which cast their skins do it in the same way as the silpha,
empis, and the coleoptera, as the beetle. All creatures cast it after
birth; for in viviparous animals the chorion is separated, and in
the vermiparous, as bees and locusts, they emerge from a case. The
grasshoppers, when they cast their skins, sit upon olives and reeds.
When the case is ruptured, they emerge, and leave a little fluid behind
them, and after a short time they fly away and sing.
5. Among marine creatures the carabi and astaci cast their skins either
in spring or autumn, after having deposited their ova; and carabi
have been sometimes taken with a soft thorax, because their shell was
ruptured, while the lower part, which was not ruptured, was hard. For
the process is not the same in them as in serpents. The carabi remain
in concealment for about five months. The crabs also cast their old
skin, certainly those which have soft shells; and they say that those
which have hard shells do the same, as the maia and graus. When they
have cast their shells, the new shells are first of all soft, and the
crabs are unable to walk. They do not cast their skins once only,
but frequently. I have now described when and how animals conceal
themselves, and what creatures cast their skin, and when they do so.
CHAPTER XX.
1. Animals are not all in good health at the same season, nor in the
same degrees of heat and cold. Their health and diseases are different
at different seasons in various classes, and on the whole are not alike
in all. Dry weather agrees with birds, both in respect of their general
health and the rearing of their young, and especially with pigeons; and
wet weather, with few exceptions, agrees with fish. On the contrary,
showery weather generally disagrees with birds, and dry weather with
fish; for, on the whole, abundance of drink does not agree with birds.
2. For the birds with crooked claws, generally speaking, as it was
before remarked, do not drink. But Hesiod was ignorant of this
circumstance; for in relating the siege of Nineveh he represents the
presiding eagle of the augury drinking. Other birds drink, but not
much; neither do any other oviparous animals with spongy lungs. The
sickness of birds is manifest in their plumage; for it is uneven, and
has not the same smoothness as when they are well.
3. The generality of fish, as it was observed, thrive the most in rainy
years; for not only in such seasons do they obtain a greater supply of
food, but the wet weather agrees with them as with the plants that grow
on land; for potherbs, even if watered, do not grow so well as in wet
weather. The same is the case with the reeds that grow in ponds; for
they never grow, as we may say, except in rainy weather.
4. And this is the reason why so many fish migrate every summer into
the Pontus; for the number of rivers which flow into it render the
water fresh, and also bring down a supply of food, and many fish also
ascend the rivers, and flourish in the rivers and lakes, as the amia
and mullet. The cobii also become fat in the rivers; and on the whole,
those places which have the largest lakes furnish the most excellent
fish.
5. Of all kinds of water, summer showers agree best with fish; and if
the spring, summer, and autumn have been wet, a fine winter. And to
speak generally, if the season is healthy for mankind, it will be the
same for fish. They do not thrive in cold places. Those which have
a stone in their head, as the chromis, labrax, sciœna, and phagrus,
suffer most in the winter; for the refrigeration of the stone causes
them to freeze and be driven on shore.
6. Abundant rain confers health on most fish; but the contrary is the
case with the mullet and cephalus, which some call marinus; for if
there is a great supply of rain water, they soon become blind. The
cephali are particularly liable to this disease in the winter; for
their eyes become white. When captured they are lean, and at last
perish altogether. They do not, however, appear to suffer so much from
the wet as from the cold; for in other places, and especially in the
swamps in the neighbourhood of the Argive Nauplia, many are found blind
in severe weather, and many also are taken with white eyes.
7. The chrysophrys also suffers from the cold; the arachnas from the
heat, which makes it lean. Dry seasons agree better with the coracinus
than with any other fish, and for this reason, because it is generally
warm in dry weather. Particular localities are favourable to different
species, as either the neighbourhood of the land, or the deep waters to
those which only frequent one of these localities, or particular places
to those which frequent both. There are especial places in which each
of them thrive; but, generally speaking, they prefer places full of sea
weed; for those which inhabit places with plenty of food are generally
found to be fatter; for those that eat fuci obtain plenty of food,
while those that are carnivorous find an abundant supply of fish.
8. They are also affected by northern and southern aspects, for the
long fish thrive best in northern situations, and in northern places
in the summer time more long fish than flat fish are taken in the same
locality. The tunny and xiphia suffer from the œstrus, at the rising
of the dog-star, for both these fish at this season have beneath their
fins a little worm which is called œstrus, which resembles a scorpion,
and is about the size of a spider; they suffer so much from this
torment that the xiphias leaps out of the sea as high as the dolphin,
and in this manner frequently falls upon ships.
9. The tunny delights in warm weather more than any other fish, and
they resort to the sand near the sea-shore for the sake of the warmth,
and there they float on the surface; the small fish are safe because
they are overlooked, for large fish pursue those of a moderate size.
The greater portion of the ova and melt are destroyed ... by the heat,
for whatever they touch they entirely destroy.
10. The greatest number of fish are taken before sunrise and after
sunset, or just about sunrise and sunset, for the casts made at this
period are called seasonable. For this reason the fishermen take up
their nets at this time, for the sight of the fish is then most readily
deceived. During the night they remain quiet, and at mid-day, when the
light is strong, they see very well.
11. Fish do not appear to be subject to any of those pestilential
diseases which so often occur among men and quadrupeds, as the horse
and ox, and other animals, both domestic and wild. They appear,
however, to suffer from ill health, and the fishermen consider that
this is proved by the capture of some lean, and apparently weak
individuals, and others that have lost their colour, among a number of
fat ones of the same kind. This is the nature of sea-fish.
12. No pestilential disease attacks river and pond fish, though some of
them are subject to peculiar diseases, as the glanis, from its swimming
near the surface, appears to be star-struck by the dog-star, and it is
stupefied by loud thunder. The carp suffers in the same way, but not
so severely. The glanis, in shallow water, is often destroyed by the
dragon-serpent. In the ballerus and tilon a worm is produced, under
the influence of the dog-star, which makes them rise to the surface
and become weak, and when they come to the surface they are killed by
the heat; a violent disease attacks the chalcis, which is destroyed by
a number of lice, which are produced under its gills; no other fish
appear to be subject to such a disease.
13. Fishes are poisoned with the plant called mullein, for which reason
some persons capture them by poisoning the waters of rivers and ponds;
and the Phœnicians poison the sea in the same way. There are two other
plans which are adopted for the capture of fish; for since fish avoid
the deep parts of rivers in cold weather (for even otherwise the river
water is cold), they dig a ditch through the land to the river, which
they cover over with grass and stones so as to resemble a cave, with
one opening from the river, and when the frost comes on they capture
the fish with a basket. The other mode of fishing is practised both in
summer and winter. In the middle of the stream they raise a structure
with faggots and stones, leaving one part open for a mouth; in this a
basket is placed, with which they catch the fish, as they take away the
stones.
14. Rainy years agree with all the testacea except the purpura; this is
a proof of it, if placed near the mouth of a river, they take the fresh
water, and die the same day. The purpura will live about fifty days
after it has been taken. They are nourished by each other, for a plant
like a fucus or moss grows upon their shells. They say that whatever
is cast to them for food is done for the sake of weight, that they may
weigh the more.
15. Dry weather is injurious to other testacea, for it renders them
fewer in quantity and inferior in quality, and the pectens become more
red. In the Pyrrhæan Euripus the pectens perish, not only from the
instrument with which the fishermen scrape them together, but also from
dry weather. The other testacea thrive in wet weather, because it makes
the sea-water fresher. The cold of the Pontus and of the rivers that
flow into it renders bivalve shells rare. The univalves, however, are
frozen in cold weather. This is the nature of aquatic animals.
CHAPTER XXI.
1. Among quadrupeds, swine suffer from three diseases, one of these
is called sore throat, in which the parts above the jaws and the
branchia become inflamed; it may also occur in other parts of the
body, and frequently seizes upon the foot, and sometimes the ear. The
neighbouring parts then become putrid, until it reaches the lungs,
when the animal dies; the disease spreads rapidly, and the animal eats
nothing from the period of the commencement of the disease, be it where
it will. The swineherds have no other remedy but the excision of the
part before the disease has spread far.
2. There are two other diseases which are both called craura. One of
them consists in a pain and weight in the head, with which many of them
are afflicted; the other is an excessive alvine discharge. This appears
to be incurable. They relieve the former by the application of wine to
the nostrils, and washing them with wine. Recovery from this disease is
difficult, for it generally carries them off on the third or fourth day.
3. They suffer particularly from sore throat, when the summer bears
abundantly, and they are fat. The fruit of the mulberry is good for
them, and abundant washings with warm water, and scarification beneath
the tongue. If the flesh of swine is soft, it is full of small lumps
(chalazæ) about the legs, neck, and shoulders; for in these parts the
chalazæ are most frequent. If there are but a few, the flesh is sweet;
if many, it becomes very fluid and soft.
4. Those which have these chalazæ are easily distinguished; for they
exist in the greatest numbers under the tongue, and if the hair is
plucked from their mane it appears bloody underneath. Those which
have chalazæ cannot keep their hind legs still. They are not thus
affected as long as they suck. The grain called tipha, which also forms
excellent food, is the remedy for the chalazæ. Vetches and figs are
useful both for fattening and rearing pigs; and on the whole their
food should not be all of one sort, but varied; for swine, like other
animals, derive advantage from a change in their food; and they say
that at the same time their food ought to inflate them, and to cover
them both with flesh and fat. Acorns are good for their food, but
make their flesh watery; and if they eat too many while pregnant, they
produce abortions, as sheep also do; for these animals evidently suffer
this from eating acorns. The swine is the only creature that we know of
which has chalazæ in its flesh.
CHAPTER XXII.
1. Dogs suffer from these diseases which have received these names,
lytta, cynanche, podagra. The lytta produces madness, and they
infect every creature which they bite, except mankind, with the same
disease. This disease is fatal to dogs and to any other animal they
may bite except man. The cynanche also is fatal to dogs; and there
are comparatively few which recover from the podagra. Camels also are
seized with lytta. (The elephant does not appear to suffer from any
other infirmity except flatulency.)
2. Gregarious oxen suffer from two diseases, one called podagra, the
other craurus. The podagra affects their feet; but it is not fatal, nor
do they lose their hoofs. They derive benefit from their horns being
smeared with warm pitch. When attacked with craurus, their breathing
becomes warm and thick. Fever in mankind is the same as craurus in
cattle. It is a sign of this disease, when they hang down their ears
and will not eat. It soon proves fatal, and when dissected, their lungs
appear putrid.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1. Horses when grazing are free from all diseases except podagra; from
this they suffer, and sometimes lose their hoofs, which grow again as
soon as they are lost, and the loss of the hoof usually takes place as
soon as the first recommences its growth. It is a sign of the disease
when the right testicle throbs, or when a wrinkled hollow place appears
a little below the middle of the nose. Horses that are brought up in a
domestic state suffer from several other diseases; they are attacked
with a disorder in their bowels, and it is a sign of the disease when
they drag their hind legs up to their fore legs, and keep them under
in such a way that they almost strike together: if they go mad after
having abstained from food for several days, they are relieved by
bleeding and castration.[218]
[218] The passage is altogether corrupt.
2. The tetanus is another disease of horses, which is thus recognised;
all the veins, and the head and neck are extended, and their legs
are stiff when they walk; the horses also become full of corrupt
matter. They are also attacked by another disease in which they
are said to have the crithia;[219] the softness of the roof of the
mouth, and heated breath, are the signs of this disease, which is
incurable, unless it stays of its own accord. Another disease is called
nymphia,[220] which is relieved by the sound of a flute; it causes them
to hang down their heads, and when anyone mounts they rush forward
until they run against something. The horse is always dejected if
afflicted with madness; this is a sign of it, if it lays down its ears
upon its mane, and then draws them forward, and pants and breathes hard.
[219] Indigestion caused by eating barley when heated.
[220] Phrensy.
3. These also are incurable if the heart is affected. It is a sign
of this disease if the animal suffers from relaxation. And if the
bladder alters its position, difficulty in making water is a sign
of this disease; it draws up the hoofs and loins. It is also fatal
for the horse to swallow the staphilinus, which is of the same size
as the spondyla. The bite of the shrew mouse is injurious to other
animals also; it causes sores, which are more severe if the creature
is pregnant when it bites, for the sores then break. If they are not
pregnant, the animal does not perish. The creature called chalkis by
some persons and zygnis by others, inflicts either a fatal or very
painful bite. It resembles a small lizard, and is of the same colour as
the serpent called the blind worm.
4. And, on the whole, those who understand horses say that both these
animals and sheep suffer from all the infirmities with which mankind is
afflicted. The horse, and every other beast of burden, is destroyed by
the poison of sandarach.[221] It is dissolved in water and strained.
The pregnant mare casts her young with the smell of a lamp going out.
This also happens to some pregnant women. This is the nature of the
diseases of horses.
[221] Red sulphuret of arsenic.
5. The hippomanes, as it is called, is said to be produced upon the
foals; the mares when they have bitten it off lick the foal and
cleanse it. The fables on this subject have been invented by women and
charmers. It is, however, agreed that mares before parturition eject
the substance called polion.
6. Horses recognise again the voices of any with which they may have
fought. They delight in meadows and marshes, and drink dirty water; and
if it is clean, they first disturb it with their hoof, and then drink
and wash themselves. And on the whole, the horse is an animal fond of
water, and still more fond of moisture; wherefore, also, the nature of
the river-horse is thus constituted. In this respect the ox is very
different from the horse, for it will not drink unless the water is
clean, cold, and unmixed.
CHAPTER XXIV.
1. Asses only suffer from one disease, which is called melis, which
first attacks the head of the animal, and causes a thick and bloody
phlegm to flow from the nostrils. If the disease extends to the lungs,
it is fatal; but that which first attacks the head is not so. This
animal cannot bear cold, for which reason there are no asses in the
vicinity of the Pontus and in Scythia.
CHAPTER XXV.
1. Elephants suffer from flatulent diseases, for which reason they can
neither evacuate their fluid or solid excrements. If they eat earth
they become weak, unless used to such food. If it is accustomed to
it, it does no harm. Sometimes the elephant swallows stones. It also
suffers from diarrhœa. When attacked with this complaint, they are
cured by giving them warm water to drink, and hay dipped in honey to
eat; and either of these remedies will stop the disease. When fatigued
for want of sleep, they are cured by being rubbed on the shoulders
with salt and oil, and warm water. When they suffer from pain in the
shoulders, they are relieved by the application of roasted swine's
flesh. Some elephants will drink oil, and some will not; and if any
iron weapon is struck into their body, the oil which they drink assists
in its expulsion; and to those which will not drink it, they give wine
of rice cooked with oil. This, then, is the nature of quadrupeds.
CHAPTER XXVI.
1. Insects generally thrive when the year is of the same kind as
the season in which they were born, such as the spring, moist and
warm. Certain creatures are produced in beehives, which destroy the
combs, and a little spinning worm, which destroys the wax. It is
called clerus, or by some persons pyraustes. This creature produces
a spider-like animal like itself, which causes sickness in the hive,
and another creature like the moth, which flies round the candle. This
produces a creature filled with a woolly substance. It is not killed by
the bees, and is only driven out by smoking it. A kind of caterpillar
also, which is called teredo, is produced in the hives. The bees do not
drive it away. They suffer most from diseases when the woods produce
flowers infected with rust, and in dry seasons. All insects die when
plunged in oil, and most rapidly if their head is oiled, and they are
placed in the sun.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1. Animals also differ in their localities: for some are entirely
absent from some localities which exist in others, though small and
shortlived, and not thriving. And frequently there will be a great
difference even in adjoining places, as the grasshopper is found in
some parts of Milesia, and is absent from those in the immediate
vicinity. And in Cephalenia a river divides the country, on one side of
which the grasshopper is found, and not on the other.
2. In Poroselene a road divides the country, on one side of which the
weasel is found, and not on the other. In Bœotia there are many moles
in the neighbourhood of Orchomenus, but in the adjoining Lebadian
district there are none, nor if they are imported, are they willing
to burrow. If hares are taken into Ithaca they will not live, but are
seen dead on the sea coast, turned in the direction in which they were
brought. In Sicily the hippomyrmex is not found, and in Cyrene there
were formerly no croaking frogs.
3. In all Libya there is neither wild boar, nor stag, nor wild goat.
And in India, Ctesias, who is not worthy of credit, says, there are
neither domestic nor wild swine; but the exsanguineous and burrowing
tribes are all large. In the Pontus there are no malacia, nor all the
kinds of testacea, except in a few places; but in the Red Sea all the
testacea are of a great size. In Syria there are sheep with tails a
cubit in width, and the ears of the goats are a span and four fingers,
and some of them bring their ears down to the ground: and the oxen,
like the camels, have a mane upon the point of the shoulder. In Lycia
the goats are shorn as the sheep are in other places.
4. In Libya the horned rams are born at once with horns, and not the
males only, as Homer says, but all the rest also. In the part of
Scythia near the Pontus, the contrary is the case, for they are born
without horns. And in Egypt some of the cattle, as the oxen and sheep,
are larger than in Greece, and others are smaller, as the dogs, wolves,
hares, foxes, ravens, and hawks. Others are nearly of the same size,
as the crows and goats. This difference originates in the food which
is abundant for some, and scarce for others. For the wolves, hawks,
and carnivorous creatures food is scarce, for there are but few small
birds. For the dasypus and others which are not carnivorous, neither
the hard nor soft fruits are of any long continuance.
5. The temperature is also very influential; for in Illyria, Thrace,
and Epirus, the asses are small. In Scythia, and Celtic countries,
they do not occur at all, for in these places the winter is severe. In
Arabia the lizards are more than a cubit long, and the mice are much
larger than those which inhabit our fields, their fore legs being a
span long, and their hind legs as long as from the first joint of the
finger....
6. In Libya, the serpents, as it has been already remarked, are very
large. For some persons say that as they sailed along the coast, they
saw the bones of many oxen, and that it was evident to them that they
had been devoured by the serpents. And as the ships passed on, the
serpents attacked the triremes, and some of them threw themselves upon
one of the triremes and overturned it. There are more lions in Europe,
and especially in the country between the Achelous and the Nessus. In
Asia there are leopards which are not found in Europe.
7. On the whole, the wild animals of Asia are the fiercest, those of
Europe the boldest, and those of Libya the most varied in form; and it
has passed into a proverb that Libya is always producing something new.
For the want of water brings many heterogeneous animals together at
the drinking places, where they copulate and produce young, if their
periods of gestation happen to be the same, and their size not very
different. The desire of drinking makes them gentle to each other, for
they differ from the animals of other countries, in wanting to drink
more in winter than in summer; for on account of the great want of
water during the summer they are habituated to do without water; and if
the mice drink they die.
8. Other animals are produced by the intercourse of heterogeneous
creatures, as in Cyrene the wolves copulate with the dogs, and produce
young; and the Laconian dogs are bred between a dog and a fox. They
say that the Indian dogs are derived from the tiger and the dog; not
directly, but from the third mixture of the breeds; for they say that
the first race was very fierce. They take the dogs and tie them up in
the desert. Many of them are devoured, if the wild animal does not
happen to desire sexual intercourse.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1. Different localities produce a variety of dispositions, as
mountainous and rough places, or smooth plains. They are more fierce
and robust in appearance in mountains, as the swine of Athos; for the
males of those which inhabit the plains cannot endure even the females
of the other kind: and different situations have great influence on the
bite of wild animals. All the scorpions about Pharus and other places
are not painful, but in Caria and other localities they are frequent,
and large, and fierce, and their sting is fatal to either man or beast,
even to sows, which are but little influenced by the bite of other
creatures, and black sows are more easily affected than others. The
swine die very soon after being stung, if they come near the water.
2. The bite also of serpents varies much; for in Libya the asp is
found, from which they form a septic poison, which is incurable. In the
plant silphium[222] is found a small serpent, for the bite of which
a remedy has been discovered in a small stone, which is taken out of
the tomb of one of the ancient kings: this they drink dipped in wine.
In some parts of Italy the bite of the gecko is found to be fatal. If
one poisonous animal eats another, as, if a viper eats a scorpion,
its bite is the most fatal of all. The saliva of a man is hostile to
most of them. There is one small serpent, which some persons call
hierus, which is avoided even by large serpents. It is a cubit long,
and appears rough. Whatsoever it bites immediately becomes putrid in
a circle round the wound. There is also a small serpent in India, the
only one for which there is no remedy.
[222] Probably assafœtida.
CHAPTER XXIX.
1. Animals also differ in being in good condition or not during
gestation. The testacea, as the pectens and the malacostraca, as the
carabi and such like, are best when pregnant; for this word is also
used of the testacea. For the malacostraca have been observed both in
the act of copulation and oviposition; but none of the testacea have
ever been seen so occupied. The malacia, such as the teuthis, sepia,
and polypus, are most excellent when pregnant; and almost all fish are
good during the early part of the period; but as the time advances some
are good and some not so.
2. The mænis thrives during gestation. The form of the female is round,
that of the male longer and broader. And when the period of gestation
commences in the females, the males become black and variegated, and
are not fit to eat. Some persons call them tragi at this period. Those
which are called cottyphus and cichla also change their colour; and the
caris also changes at this season and some birds, which are black in
spring and afterwards become white.
3. The phycis also changes its colour; for it is white at all other
seasons, and variegated in the spring. This is the only sea fish that,
as they say, makes a nest in which it deposits its ova. The mænis,
as it was before observed, and the smaris also change their colours,
and from being white in summer become black. This is particularly
conspicuous about the fins and gills. The coracinus is best when
pregnant, and so is the mænis. The cestreus, labrax, and nearly all
creatures that swim are inferior at this season.
4. There are a few which are good, whether pregnant or not, as the
glaucus. Old fish also are inferior; and old tunnies are not even fit
for salting, for much of the flesh is dissolved. The same thing also
happens with other fish. The older fish are distinguished by the size
and hardness of their scales; an old tunny has been taken which weighed
fifteen talents, and the length of the tail was two cubits and a span.
5. River and pond fish are most excellent, after depositing their ova
and semen, and recovering their flesh. Some of them, however, are good
while pregnant, as the saperdis; and others bad, as the glanis. In all
the male is better than the female; but the female glanis is better
than the male. Those which they call female eels are better than the
males. They call them females, though they are not so, but only differ
in appearance.
BOOK THE NINTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. The dispositions of obscure and short-lived animals are less easily
observed than those of long-lived animals; for they appear to have a
certain inclination towards each natural affection of the soul, such as
prudence and folly, courage and cowardice, mildness and cruelty, and
such other habits. Some also, which have the sense of hearing, appear
to be capable of a certain degree of instruction and discipline, both
from one another and from mankind, for they not only distinguish the
difference of sounds but also of signs.
2. And in all animals in which there is a distinction of the sexes
nature has given a similar disposition to the males and to the females.
This is most conspicuous in man, and the larger animals, and in
viviparous quadrupeds; for the disposition of the female is softer, and
more tameable and submissive, and more ingenious; as the females of
the Lacedemonian dog are more gentle than the males. In the Molossian
race of dogs, those employed in hunting differ in no respect from other
dogs; while those employed in following sheep are larger and more
fierce in their attack on wild beasts. A mixture of the Molossian and
Lacedemonian races is both braver and more capable of enduring fatigue.
3. The females of all animals are less violent in their passions than
the males, except the female bear and pardalis, for the female of these
appears more courageous than the male. In other animals the females are
more soft and insidious, less simple, more petulant, and more active
in the care of their young. The disposition of the males is opposed to
this; for they are more passionate and fierce, more straightforward,
and less invidious. The vestiges of these dispositions exist, as we may
say, in all, but are more conspicuous in those which have the strongest
moral habits, and most of all in mankind; for the nature of the
human subject is the most complete, so that these habits appear more
conspicuous in mankind than in other animals.
4. Wherefore women are more compassionate and more readily made to
weep, more jealous and querulous, more fond of railing, and more
contentious. The female also is more subject to depression of spirits
and despair than the male. She is also more shameless and false, more
readily deceived, and more mindful of injury, more watchful, more idle,
and on the whole less excitable than the male. On the contrary, the
male is more ready to help, and, as it has been said, more brave than
the female; and even in the malacia, if the sepia is struck with a
trident, the male comes to help the female, but the female makes her
escape if the male is struck.