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Aristotle's History Of Animals

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ARISTOTLE'S HISTORY OF ANIMALS.

ARISTOTLE'S HISTORY OF ANIMALS.

IN TEN BOOKS. TRANSLATED BY RICHARD CRESSWELL, M.A., ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD. LONDON: GEORGE BELL &amp; SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1887. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited , STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 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 im

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PREFACE.

PREFACE.

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

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Chapter I.

Chapter I.

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

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Chapter II.

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

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Chapter III.

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

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Chapter IV.

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 call

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Chapter V.

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 a

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Chapter VI.

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 cl

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Chapter VII.

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 ben

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Chapter VIII.

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 eyebr

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Chapter IX.

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

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Chapter X.

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

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Chapter XI.

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 ha

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Chapter XII.

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

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Chapter XIII.

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

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Chapter XIV.

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 portio

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Chapter I.

Chapter I.

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 bip

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Chapter II.

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

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Chapter III.

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 sm

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Chapter IV.

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 abo

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Chapter V.

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 lik

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Chapter VI.

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

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Chapter VII.

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. 2. Each of its feet is div

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Chapter VIII.

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 a

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Chapter IX.

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

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Chapter X.

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

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Chapter XI.

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

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Chapter XII.

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. 2. The position which these parts occupy is the same in all animals, and the heart is in

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Chapter I.

Chapter I.

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

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Chapter II.

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 f

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Chapter III.

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: The

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Chapter IV.

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

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Chapter V.

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

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Chapter VI.

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,

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Chapter VII.

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 s

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Chapter VIII.

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 thei

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Chapter IX.

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

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Chapter X.

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

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Chapter XI.

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 af

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Chapter XII.

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

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Chapter XIII.

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 an

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Chapter XIV.

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 bloo

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Chapter XV.

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 b

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Chapter XVI.

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, se

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Chapter XVII.

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 an

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Chapter I.

Chapter I.

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

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Chapter II.

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. 2. The family of carcini is more various, and not so easily enumerated; the large

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Chapter III.

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 th

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Chapter IV.

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, exc

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Chapter V.

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,

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Chapter VI.

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 me

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Chapter VII.

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

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Chapter VIII.

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

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Chapter IX.

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

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Chapter X.

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,

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Chapter XI.

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

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Chapter II.

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 in

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Chapter III.

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

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Chapter IV.

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 t

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Chapter V.

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 contai

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Chapter VI.

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

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Chapter VII.

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

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Chapter VIII.

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,

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Chapter IX.

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. 2. The scorpi

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Chapter X.

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 l

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Chapter XI.

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

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Chapter XII.

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

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Chapter XIII.

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 neithe

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Chapter XIV.

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 spid

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Chapter XV.

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

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Chapter XVI.

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 polypu

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Chapter XVII.

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

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Chapter XVIII.

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 co

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Chapter XIX.

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 ther

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Chapter XX.

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 pr

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Chapter XXI.

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. 2. The ants also have sexual intercourse, and produce maggots which

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Chapter XXII.

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

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Chapter XXIII.

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 the

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Chapter XXIV.

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

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Chapter XXV.

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 littl

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Chapter XXVI.

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

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Chapter XXVII.

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 y

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Chapter XXVIII.

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 o

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Chapter II.

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

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Chapter III.

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

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Chapter IV.

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. Ver

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Chapter V.

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 observ

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Chapter VI.

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 t

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Chapter VII.

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 t

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Chapter VIII.

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

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Chapter IX.

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

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Chapter X.

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,

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Chapter XI.

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 Pont

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Chapter XII.

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 treat

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Chapter XIII.

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, a

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Chapter XIV.

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

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Chapter XV.

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

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Chapter XVI.

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 per

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Chapter XVII.

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

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Chapter XVIII.

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 coitio

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Chapter XIX.

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 gen

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Chapter XX.

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 mor

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Chapter XXI.

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 lascivi

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Chapter XXII.

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 an

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Chapter XXIII.

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 f

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Chapter XXIV.

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 fro

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Chapter XXV.

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 im

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Chapter XXVI.

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

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Chapter XXVII.

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 inte

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Chapter XXVIII.

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

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Chapter XXIX.

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, a

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Chapter XXX.

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

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Chapter I.

Chapter I.

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

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Chapter II.

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

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Chapter III.

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

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Chapter IV.

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

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Chapter V.

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

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Chapter VI.

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 sm

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Chapter VII.

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 vivi

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Chapter VIII.

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

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Chapter IX.

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 ligatur

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Chapter X.

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

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Chapter XI.

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 mo

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Chapter II.

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 breat

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Chapter III.

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 whic

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Chapter IV.

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

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Chapter V.

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 vu

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Chapter VI.

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

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Chapter VII.

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

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Chapter VIII.

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, a

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Chapter IX.

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 su

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Chapter X.

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

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Chapter XI.

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 eleph

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Chapter XII.

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

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Chapter XIII.

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 fa

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Chapter XIV.

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 p

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Chapter XV.

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 resem

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Chapter XVI.

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; f

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Chapter XVII.

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 lampre

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Chapter XVIII.

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

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Chapter XIX.

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 invis

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Chapter XX.

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;

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Chapter XXI.

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 swineher

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Chapter XXII.

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 flat

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Chapter XXIII.

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

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Chapter XXIV.

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....

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Chapter XXV.

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,

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Chapter XXVI.

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 w

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Chapter XXVII.

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 coun

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Chapter XXVIII.

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 f

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Chapter XXIX.

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 earl

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Chapter II.

Chapter II.

1. Animals often fight with each other, particularly those which inhabit the same places and eat the same food; for when food becomes scarce, congeners fight together. They say that seals which occupy the same locality will fight, the males with the males and the females with the females, until one party is either killed or ejected by the other, and their cubs also will fight in the same way. All animals also will fight with carnivorous creatures, and these will fight with other animals, for the

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Chapter III.

Chapter III.

1. Some fish are gregarious and friendly together, others that are less gregarious are hostile. Some are gregarious while they are pregnant, others during the season of parturition. On the whole, the following are gregarious: the tunny, mœnis, cobius, box, saurus, coracinus, sinodon, trigla, muræena, anthia, eleginus, atherinus, sarginus, belona, (mecon,) teuthus, iulus, pelamis, scombrus, and colias. Some of these are both gregarious, and live in pairs, for all the others pair together; and som

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Chapter IV.

Chapter IV.

1. It has been already observed, that the dispositions of animals vary in cowardice, mildness, courage, gentleness, intelligence, and folly. The disposition of sheep, as I have said before, is foolish, and without sense; they are the most cowardly of all animals, and steal away into desert places for no purpose, and in winter often escape from their fold. When overtaken by a snow-storm, they will not get away, unless the shepherd drives them, but will stay behind and perish, unless the shepherds

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Chapter V.

Chapter V.

1. Cows pasture in herds, and in companies, and if one of them wanders to a distance, all the rest follow, so that the herdsmen, if they do not find her, immediately examine all the herds. Mares in herds, if one of them happens to die, will bring up her foal among them, and the whole race of horses appears to have warm natural affections, of which the following is a proof: the barren mares will take away the foals from their mothers, and treat them with affection, though they soon die for want o

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Chapter VI.

Chapter VI.

1. Of all wild quadrupeds, the deer appears to be one of the most prudent in producing its young by the wayside (where wild beasts do not come, for fear of men); as soon as the young is born, the dam eats the chorion, and runs to the plant called seselis, which she eats, and having so done, returns to her kid. She then leads her kid to the station, to which it may learn to retreat in case of danger; this is usually a chasm in a rock with a single entrance, which they say that it stays and defend

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Chapter VII.

Chapter VII.

1. When bears are in flight, they drive their cubs before them, or take them up and carry them. When nearly overtaken, they climb up into trees. When they first come from their hiding place they eat the arum, as it has been already observed, and gnaw the trees as if they were cutting teeth. Many other animals also prudently provide themselves with remedies, for they say that the wild goats in Crete, when struck with an arrow, seek out the dittany, for this plant assists in working the arrow from

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Chapter VIII.

Chapter VIII.

1. Many animals in their mode of life appear to imitate mankind, and one may observe greater accuracy of intellect in small than in large animals; as the manufacture of its dwelling by the swallow is remarkable among birds; it has the same method of combining chaff with mud, for it mixes the mud with straw, and if mud is not to be found, it dips in the water and rolls itself in the dust; it uses straw in making its nest as men use it, for it places the largest at the bottom, and makes it commens

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Chapter IX.

Chapter IX.

1. The heavy birds do not make nests, for it does not agree with their mode of flight, as the quail, partridge, and all such birds; but when they have made a hole in the smooth ground (for they never produce their young in any other place), they collect together some thorns and sticks for a defence against the hawks and eagles, and there lay their eggs and incubate. As soon as the young are hatched, they lead them out, because their slow flight prevents them from procuring food for them. The qua

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Chapter X.

Chapter X.

1. This is the mode of the sexual intercourse of the partridge, and the way in which they are caught, and the nature of the rest of their crafty disposition. Quails, and partridges, and some other birds make their nest upon the ground, as it has been already observed. Of such birds the lark, woodcock, and quail do not perch upon trees, but upon the ground. 2. The woodpecker does not settle upon the ground, but it strikes trees in order to drive out the worms and flies which they contain, and it

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Chapter XI.

Chapter XI.

Many prudent actions appear to be performed by cranes; for they travel great distances, and fly at a great elevation, in order that they may see farther; and if they see clouds and wintry weather, they descend and rest themselves. They have also a leader in front; and in the rear are those which give a signal by whistling, so that their voice may be heard. When they settle on the ground, the rest sleep with their head under the wing, first on one foot, then on the other; but the leader watches w

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Chapter XII.

Chapter XII.

1. The habitations of wild birds are contrived with relation to their mode of life and the preservation of their young. Some of them are kind to their young and careful of them: others are of a different disposition. Some manage well in their mode of life: others do not. Some dwell in clefts, and holes, and in rocks, as the birds called charadrius. This bird is faulty both in its colours and its voice. It appears during the night, and escapes in the day time. 2. The hawk also builds in precipito

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Chapter XIII.

Chapter XIII.

1. There are some which live near the sea, as the cinclus. In disposition this bird is cunning and difficult of capture, and when taken easily tamed. It appears to be lame, for its hinder parts are weak. All birds with webbed feet live near the sea, or near rivers and ponds, for their nature teaches them to seek what is advantageous for them. Many of those with divided feet live near waters and marshes, as the anthus in the neighbourhood of rivers. Its colour is beautiful, and its mode of life g

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Chapter XIV.

Chapter XIV.

1. The jay changes its voice frequently, for it utters a different one, as we may say, almost every day; it lays about nine eggs; it makes its nest upon trees, of hair and wool; when the acorns fall, it conceals and stores them up. Many persons have reported that the stork is fed by its young, and some people say the merops also, and that they are fed by the young, not only in their old age, but as soon as the young birds are able to do so, and that the parents remain within the nest; in appeara

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Chapter XV.

Chapter XV.

1. The halcyon is not much larger than a sparrow; its colour is blue and green, and somewhat purple; its whole body is composed of these colours as well as the wings and neck, nor is any part without every one of these colours. Its bill is somewhat yellow, long, and slight; this is its external form. Its nest resembles the marine balls which are called halosachnæ, [227] except in colour, for they are red; in form it resembles those sicyæ (cucumbers) which have long necks; its size is that of a v

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Chapter XVI.

Chapter XVI.

1. The hoopoe generally makes its nest of human ordure. It changes its appearance in summer and winter, like most other wild birds. The titmouse, as they say, lays the greatest number of eggs, some say that the bird called melancoryphus lays the greatest number of eggs after the Libyan sparrow, seventeen have been observed, but it will produce more than twenty, and, as they say, it always lays a great many. This bird also builds in trees, and lives upon worms. It is characteristic of this bird a

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Chapter XVII.

Chapter XVII.

1. Among the herons, as it was before observed, the black heron copulates with difficulty, but it is an ingenious bird. It carries its food about, and is skilful in procuring it. It works during the day. Its colour, however, is bad, and its stomach always fluid. Of the other two (for there are three kinds of them), the white heron is beautifully coloured and copulates without pain, and builds its nest and attends its young carefully in trees. It inhabits marshes and lakes, plains and meadows. Th

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Chapter XVIII.

Chapter XVIII.

1. There are two kinds of cottyphus. The one is black, and is found everywhere; the other is white. In size they are alike, and their voice is very similar. The white one is found in Cyllene, in Arcadia, and nowhere else. The læus is similar to the black cottyphus, but is rather smaller. It makes its house upon rocks and tiles. It has not a dark beak, like the blackbird. 2. Of thrushes there are three forms. The one is called misselthrush, for it lives upon nothing but miseltoe and resin. It is

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Chapter XIX.

Chapter XIX.

1. The oriole is entirely of a yellowish green. This bird is not visible in the winter. It is seen in the greatest numbers at the summer solstice, and takes its departure when Arcturus rises. It is of the same size as the turtle. The malacocraneus always perches upon the same place, and is captured there. This is its appearance: its head is large, and has the form of cartilage; its size is smaller than the thrush; its beak is strong, small, and round; its colour is entirely cinereous; its feet a

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Chapter XX.

Chapter XX.

1. The cuckoo, as it has been already observed, makes no nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, especially in that of the phaps, and in those of the sparrow and lark on the ground, and in the nest of the chloris in trees. It lays one egg, upon which it does not sit, but the bird in whose nest it lays both hatches the egg and nurses the young bird; and, as they say, when the young cuckoo grows, it ejects the other young birds, which thus perish. 2. Others say that the mother bird ki

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Chapter XXI.

Chapter XXI.

1. That the swift, which some persons call cypsellus, resembles the swallow, has been already observed, and it is not easy to distinguish them apart, except that the legs of the apos are covered with feathers. These birds rear their young in small nests made of mud, which have a passage sufficient for their admission. The nest is constructed in a narrow place under rocks and caverns, so that it avoids both beasts and men. 2. The goatsucker, as it is called, is a mountain bird, larger than the bl

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Chapter XXII.

Chapter XXII.

1. There are several kinds of eagles. One which is called pygargus (hen-harrier), which is found in plains and groves, and in the vicinity of towns. Some persons call it nebrophonus. It is a courageous bird, and flies to mountains, and woods also. The other kinds rarely appear in plains and groves. There is another kind of eagle called plangus, the second in point of size and strength, which lives among thickets, and valleys, and marshes. It is called nettophonus and morphnus. Of this kind Homer

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Chapter XXIII.

Chapter XXIII.

1. The owl and nycticorax, and the other birds which see imperfectly by daylight, procure their food by hunting in the night. They do not this all the night, but in twilight and at early dawn. They hunt mice, and lizards, and beetles, and such other small animals. 2. The bird called asprey produces many young, is of a good habit of body, diligent in search of food, and gentle; and feeds both its own young and those of the eagle: for when the eagle turns out its young, the phene takes them up and

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Chapter XXIV.

Chapter XXIV.

1. The buzzard is the strongest of the hawks; next to this the merlin. The circus is less strong; the asterias and phassophonus, and pternis are different. The wide-winged hawks are called hypotriorches, others are called perci and spiziæ; others are the eleii and the phrynolochi; these birds live very easily, and fly near the ground. 2. Some persons say that there are no less than ten kinds of hawks; they differ from each other, for some of them kill the pigeon as it perches on the ground, and

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Chapter XXV.

Chapter XXV.

1. Marine animals also have many artful ways of procuring their food, for the stories that are told of the batrachus, which is called the fisher, are true, and so are those of the narce. For the batrachus has appendages above its eyes, of the length of a hair, with a round extremity to each like a bait; it buries itself in the sand or mud, and raises these appendages above the surface, and when the small fish strike them, it draws them down, till it brings the fish within reach of its mouth. 2.

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Chapter XXVI.

Chapter XXVI.

1. The most laborious of all insects, if compared with the rest, are the tribes of ants and bees, with the hornets, wasps, and their other congeners. Some of the spiders are more neat, graceful, and skilful than others in their mode of life. Every one may see the diligence of the ant; for it is on the surface, and that they always travel in one direction, and make a store and treasure-house of food, for they work even in the night when there is a full moon. 2. There are many kinds of spiders and

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Chapter XXVII.

Chapter XXVII.

7. The bees collect the wax by climbing actively on the flowers with their fore feet. They cleanse these upon the middle pair of legs, and their middle legs again on the curved part of their hind legs, and thus loaded they fly away. They are evidently heavily loaded. During each flight the bee does not settle upon flowers of different kinds, but as it were from violet to violet, and touches no other species till it returns to the hive. There they are unloaded, and two or three bees follow every

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Chapter XXVIII.

Chapter XXVIII.

1. There are two kinds of wasps, of which the wild sort are rare; they are found in mountains, and do not build their nest in the ground, but on oak trees; in form they are larger, longer, and darker than the other sort; they are variegated, all of them have stings, and are strong, and their sting is more painful than that of the other sorts, for their sting is larger in proportion to their size. These live for two years, and in winter are observed to fly out of trees, when they are cut down; du

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Chapter XXIX.

Chapter XXIX.

1. The wild bees do not live by gathering honey from flowers like the bees, but are entirely carnivorous, for which reason they frequent the neighbourhood of dung; for they pursue large flies, and when they have taken them they tear off the head and fly away, carrying the rest of the body with them. They will also eat sweet fruit. This, then, is the nature of their food. They have rulers, like the bees and wasps; and in proportion to the size of the wild bee these rulers are larger than those of

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Chapter XXX.

Chapter XXX.

The humble bees produce their young under stones on the surface of the ground in two or a few more cells. The commencement of a kind of inferior honey is found in them. The tenthredo is like the wild bee, but it is variegated, and as broad as the bee. It is a dainty creature, and the only one which resorts to kitchens, and enjoys fish and such like things. It deposits its young under the earth like the wasps. It is a very productive creature, and its nest is much larger and longer than that of t

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Chapter XXXI.

Chapter XXXI.

1. It has been already observed that we can distinguish a difference in the dispositions of animals, especially in the courage and cowardice, and then in their mildness and fierceness, even in wild animals. The lion in his manner of feeding is very cruel; but when he is not hungry, and is full fed, his disposition is gentle. He is not either jealous or suspicious. He is fond of playing with and affectionate towards those animals which have been brought up with him, and to which he has become acc

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Chapter XXXII.

Chapter XXXII.

1. The bonassus is found in Pæonia, in Mount Messapius, which forms the boundary between Pæonia and Mædia. The Pæonians call it monapus. It is as large as a bull, and more heavily built; for it is not a long animal, and its skin, when stretched out, will cover a couch for seven persons to recline upon. In form it resembles a bull, but it has a mane as far as the point of the shoulder like the horse, but its hair is softer than that of the horse, and shorter. The colour of its hair is red. The ha

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Chapter XXXIII.

Chapter XXXIII.

Of all wild animals the elephant is the most tame and gentle; for many of them are capable of instruction and intelligence, and they have been taught to worship the king. It is a very sensitive creature, and abounding in intellect. The male never again touches a female that he has once impregnated. Some persons say that the elephant will live for two hundred years, others an hundred and twenty, and the female lives nearly as long as the male. They arrive at perfection when sixty years old. They

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Chapter XXXIV.

Chapter XXXIV.

Camels refuse to have sexual intercourse with their dams, even when forced; for once a camel driver, who was in want of a male camel, veiled the dam and introduced her young to her. When the covering fell off in the act of copulation, he finished what he was about, and soon afterwards bit the camel driver to death. It is said also that the king of Scythia had an excellent mare, which always produced good colts. He wished to have a colt out of the mare by the best of these horses, and introduced

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Chapter XXXV.

Chapter XXXV.

1. Among marine animals there are many instances reported of the mild, gentle disposition of the dolphin, and of its love of its children, and its affection, in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, Caria, and other places. It is said that when a dolphin was captured and wounded on the coast of Caria, so great a number came up to the harbour, that the fishermen let him go, when they all went away together. And one large dolphin, it is said, always follows the young ones, to take care of them; and somet

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Chapter XXXVI.

Chapter XXXVI.

1. As the actions of all animals agree with their dispositions, so also their dispositions will change with their actions, and some of their parts also. This takes place among birds; for hens, when they have conquered the cock, desire to copulate with others, and their crest and rump become elevated, so that it is difficult to say whether they are hens or not. In some, also, small spurs are found; and some males, after the death of the female, have been seen to take the same care of the young as

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Chapter XXXVII.

Chapter XXXVII.

1. Animals not only change their forms and dispositions at particular ages and seasons, but also when castrated. All animals that have testicles may be castrated. Birds and oviparous quadrupeds have internal testicles near their loins. In viviparous animals with feet, they are generally external, though sometimes internal; in all they are situated at the extremity of the abdomen. Birds are castrated near the rump, the part with which they touch the female in copulation, for if they are burnt in

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Chapter I.

Chapter I.

5. If the regularity and quantity of the discharge is subject to alteration, without any corresponding change in the rest of the body, which is sometimes in a more fluid, at other times in a more dry state, the uterus is not in fault, though it ought to follow the habit of the rest of the body, and receive and secrete in proportion. If the body is in a good state of health, but undergoing a change, when this takes place, and there is no need of medical treatment; but if the secretion is too smal

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Chapter II.

Chapter II.

We must, then, first of all inquire whether all these particulars are well ordered; and, next, we must learn the position of the body of the uterus; for it ought to be straight; and if it is not so, the seminal fluid can never reach it. And it is evident that women project their semen forwards, from what happens when they have lascivious dreams; for this part of them then requires attention, being moistened as though they had sexual intercourse, for they also project into the place where the sem

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Chapter III.

Chapter III.

These ought to be the symptoms of the uterus itself after purification. First of all, that the woman should dream of sexual intercourse, and project her seminal fluid readily, as if a man were lying with her; and if this symptom occur frequently, it is better. And when she has arisen, sometimes she should require the same treatment as if she had been with a man, sometimes she should be dry; but this dryness should not be immediate; but after awaking she should be fluid, sooner or later, about as

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Chapter IV.

Chapter IV.

1. Pregnancy is prevented also by spasm in the uterus. This complaint attacks the uterus when it is either distended with inflammation, or in the act of parturition. When any large quantity of matter suddenly enters it, and the os uteri is not open, spasm then arises from distension. It is a sign of the absence of spasm, if the uterus does not appear to reach inflammation in its functions: whereas, if spasm were present, there would be some signs of inflammation. Again, a swelling at the mouth o

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Chapter V.

Chapter V.

In order to understand of sterility in the male, we must take other symptoms. These will appear very easy, if he copulates with other women, and impregnates them. When the sexes do not appear to concur with each other, although all the before-mentioned circumstances are present, they do not have children together. For it is evident that this is the only reason of sterility: for if the woman contributes to the semen and generation, it is evident that both the sexes should be concurrent: for if th

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Chapter VI.

Chapter VI.

It is quite plain when animals desire sexual intercourse; for the female pursues the male, as hens pursue the cock and place themselves beneath him, if the male is not desirous. Other animals also do the same. But if all animals appear to have these affections with respect to sexual intercourse, it is plain that the causes must be the same throughout. This bird, however, has not only the desire of receiving, but also of emitting semen. This is a proof of it. If the male is not present, she will

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Chapter VII.

Chapter VII.

We must enquire whether women speak the truth, when they say that after a lascivious dream they find themselves dry; for it is plain that the uterus draws upwards. And if so, why do not females become pregnant spontaneously, since the male seminal fluid is drawn in, mixed with their own? And why do not she goats draw that part of it which extends outwards? for this affection takes place in some that have been pregnant many years; for they produce what is called myle (an amorphous mass of flesh),

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APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

These abundant supplies for the studies of Aristotle are not at all inconsistent, either with the liberality of Philip, or his love for his son and his son's tutor, nor do they surpass credibility. The gold mines of Philippi supplied the munificence and liberality of Philip. But there are difficulties in the narrative which make us question the credibility of the author of this munificence. For instance, the names of Plato and Theophrastus are mentioned; but the name of Theophrastus could not be

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