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Title: Aristotle's History of Animals

Author: Aristotle

Contributor: Johann Gottlob Schneider

Translator: Richard Cresswell

Release date: March 14, 2019 [eBook #59058]

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARISTOTLE'S
HISTORY OF ANIMALS ***

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

Inconsistencies in hyphenation and punctuation have not been corrected.
Punctuation and Greek text in the index has been silently corrected. A list of
other corrections can be found at the end of the document.

ARISTOTLE'S
HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
IN TEN BOOKS.

TRANSLATED BY
RICHARD CRESSWELL, M.A.,
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.

LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
1887.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.
The following Translation of Aristotle's History of Animals has been made
from the text of Schneider. In a work of considerable difficulty it is hardly
possible entirely to avoid errors; but it is hoped that those which have
escaped are neither numerous nor important. The notes of Schneider have
been consulted throughout; and in places of difficulty the English
translation by Taylor, the French of Camus, and the German of Strack, have
been severally referred to.
The work itself is the most ancient and celebrated contribution to science
which has come down to us; and it is hardly possible, when we consider the
means of observation which were accessible at the time, to imagine a work
of more accurate observation. From the numerous quotations in which our
author avails himself of the experience of his predecessors in the same field,
as well as corrects their errors, there can be no doubt that Aristotle had the
advantage of many works which have perished in the lapse of ages. In the
Appendix to the present Translation will be found the Essay of Schneider
on the sources whence Aristotle derived his knowledge of the animals he
describes; and these sources, together with his own accurate observations,
are probably sufficient to account for the correct knowledge of the history
of animals displayed throughout the work.
It is right, perhaps, to observe in this place, that Dr. Smith, in his Dictionary
of Biography, speaks of the 'History of Animals' as partly the result of the
royal liberality of Alexander; and doubtless Aristotle would gladly have
introduced into his work any fresh materials which might have been made
available to him either during his residence at the Macedonian court, or by
the subsequent victories of Alexander in the East, if the information so
obtained had reached Athens in sufficient time to be incorporated. But in
the first instance he would naturally use the materials ready to his hand in
the works of his predecessors, and these were not few. The animals also
which he describes are principally those of Greece and of the countries with
which the enterprising Greeks had frequent and commercial intercourse. He
says little of the animals of the interior of Asia and of India, and speaks

very cautiously of such as he does mention; and one who quotes his
authorities so freely would hardly have failed to notice the sources of his
information.
The study, or at least the knowledge of the classification of animals appears
to have been carefully pursued in the earliest period of man's history. The
oldest records that we possess contain abundant notices of the peculiarities
of animals. The Mosaic law abounds in them, in its distinctions between the
clean and the unclean, a distinction not then first established, but of the
most remote antiquity. Indeed it could hardly be otherwise than that men
engaged in the pursuits of agriculture and the chase should study the habits
of the animals that were valuable to them, as well as those which were
injurious. A study thus commenced by necessity, would eventually be
pursued for its own sake; and not a few would be found who would
investigate, and, as far as they could, record the various phenomena they
observed. The paintings of Egypt and the sculptures of Assyria are our
witnesses of the skill with which animals and plants were drawn, and of the
minute perception of their external forms; and the knowledge thus gained in
the ancient centres of civilization would be sure to circulate and increase
when the intercourse with foreign nations spread the knowledge and
philosophy so acquired.
In the writings of Homer we find that the knowledge of the anatomy of the
human body had already made considerable progress; and the inspection of
the animals offered in sacrifice cannot fail to have added much to the
general knowledge of their history. A century later, we have the poems of
Hesiod, devoted to the encouragement of agriculture and rural pursuits.
Pythagoras, in the seventh century B.C., may perhaps have left no writings,
but we know that he was an eminent student and exponent of natural
phenomena. His contemporary, Alcmæon of Crotona, is especially
mentioned by Aristotle; and he is eminent among natural philosophers as
the first who is said to have recommended to his followers the practice of
dissection. Empedocles of Agrigentum left a work on the phenomena of
nature, of which a few fragments still remain, and there were also others
who, if they did not enter into the details of what we now call natural
history, treated generally of the nature of things, and opened the field to
those who would study the subject in its particular parts. The empire of
Persia was still the dominant power, and was carrying the civilization of the

East to every part of the known world when Ctesias wrote his great works,
of which, unhappily, only a few fragments remain. He described not only
the history of his own time, but also the natural history of Persia and of
India, and that probably with more accuracy than has been usually
attributed to him. India he had not visited personally, so that he could only
describe it from the information of others; but this implies that he was not
alone in the studies which he devoted to natural objects. With such
predecessors and aided by his own acute observations, we need not wonder
that Aristotle produced a work which has ever been admired by naturalists,
and must continue to rise in their estimation the longer it is in their hands.
The Index to the present volume has been formed on the basis of that of
Schneider, and considerable pains have been taken to add as many names as
possible from other sources, especially the Index of Strack, and Külb's
recent translation of the History of Animals, both of which contain
identifications of a great many animals. A few identifications have also
been added from Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, as well as from Professor
Bell's Catalogue of Animals in Captain Spratt's work on Lycia; and the
cephalopods are named from Professor Owen's article on that class, in the
Cyclopædia of Anatomy. It is hoped, therefore, that the Index will be found
to contain a greater number of suggestions for the identification of the
animals mentioned by Aristotle than have been hitherto published
collectively. It is also right to add, that it has been compiled after the
translation was completed; and, therefore, in any differences which may be
found between the identifications at the foot of the page and those given in
the Index, the reader will rather prefer the latter, as the result of later
research in works which were not accessible when the translation was
made.
April 30, 1862. R. C.

Analytical Table of Contents.
Book I.—The work commences with a general review of the animal
kingdom, and several suggestions for a natural arrangement of animals in
groups, according to their external form or their mode of life, a comparison
of animals among themselves, and a description of some of their habits.
Aristotle then introduces the human form, the best known to man, as the
standard of comparison to which he refers the rest of the animal kingdom.
The concluding chapters of this book are occupied with a description of the
several parts of the human body, both internal and external.
Book II.—In the second book the different parts of animals are described.
The animals are arranged in various groups, viviparous and oviparous
quadrupeds, fish, serpents, birds. The only animals described are those with
red blood: the description of the rest being reserved for the fourth book.
Their internal organs are also described; and in the course of the book a few
animals, as the ape, elephant, and chameleon, are especially noticed.
Book III.—The third book commences with a description of the internal
organs, beginning with the generative system. A considerable portion of the
book is devoted to the course of the veins; and Aristotle quotes from other
writers, as well as states the result of his own observations. He then
describes the nature of other constituent parts of the body, sinews, fibres,
bone, marrow, cartilage, nails, hoofs, claws, horns, and beaks of birds, hair,
scales, membranes, flesh, fat, blood, marrow, milk, and the spermatic fluid.
Book IV.—Animals without blood, and first, the cephalopods, are
described; then the crustaceans, testacea, echinidæ, ascidians, actiniæ,
hermit crabs, insects. In the eighth chapter the organs of sense are
considered, and afterwards, the voice, sleep, age, and differences of the
sexes in animals are described.
Book V.—In the former books animals are for the most part described with
reference to their several parts. In the fifth book they are treated as entire,
and especially with regard to their mode of reproduction. First of all, our
author treats of spontaneous reproduction, and then of those animals which
spring from a union of the sexes; and from this he proceeds to some detail

with respect to different groups of animals, testacea, crustacea, insects. The
book concludes with a long description of bees and their habits.
Book VI.—In this book the same subject is continued through the several
classes of birds, fish, and quadrupeds. This account of the reproduction of
animals includes also the consideration of the seasons, climates, and ages of
animals, and how far these influence their reproduction.
Book VII.—The seventh book is almost entirely devoted to the
consideration of the reproduction of man, and an account of man from his
birth to his death. This book ends abruptly, and is probably imperfect.
Book VIII.—In the eighth book Aristotle passes on to the most interesting
part of his work, the character and habits of the whole animal world, as it
was known to him. The amount of detail which he has collected and
arranged on this subject is most interesting. He treats, first of all, of the food
of animals, of their migrations, their health and diseases, and the influence
of climate upon them.
Book IX.—The subject of the eighth book is continued, with an account of
the relations in which animals stand to each other, and especially the
friendship and hostility of different species; and these are for the most part
referred to the nature of their food, and their mode of procuring it. The
notices of fish are not so numerous as those of other groups: this would
necessarily arise from the difficulty of observation. At the conclusion of the
book, an essay on bees and their congeners is given at considerable length.
Book X.—This book, in all probability erroneously ascribed to Aristotle, is
occupied with a treatise on the causes of barrenness in the human species. It
appears to be rather a continuation of the seventh book, which ends
abruptly; but it is well placed at the end, as no genuine work of our author.

THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS.

BOOK THE FIRST.
Chapter I.

1. Some parts of animals are simple, and these can be divided into like
parts, as flesh into pieces of flesh; others are compound, and cannot be
divided into like parts, as the hand cannot be divided into hands, nor the
face into faces. Of these some are not only called parts, but members, such
as those which, though entire in themselves, are made up of other parts, as
the head and the leg, the hand and the entire arm, or the trunk; for these
parts are both entire in themselves, and made up of other parts.
2. All the compound parts also are made up of simple parts, the hand, for
example, of flesh, and sinew, and bone. Some animals have all these parts
the same, in others they are different from each other. Some of the parts are
the same in form, as the nose and eye of one man is the same as the nose
and eye of another man, and flesh is the same with flesh, and bone with
bone. In like manner we may compare the parts of the horse, and of other
animals, those parts, that is, which are the same in species, for the whole
bears the same relation to the whole as the parts do to each other. And in
animals belonging to the same class, the parts are the same, only they differ
in excess or defect. By class, I mean such as bird or fish, for all these differ
if either compared with their own class or with another, and there are many
forms of birds and fishes.
3. Nearly all their parts differ in them according to the opposition of their
external qualities, such as colour or shape, in that some are more, others are
less affected, or sometimes in number more or less, or in size greater and
smaller, or in any quality which can be included in excess or defect. For
some animals have a soft skin, in others the skin is shelly; some have a long
bill, as cranes, others a short one; some have many feathers, others very
few; some also have parts which are wanting in others, for some species
have spurs, others have none; some have a crest, others have not. But, so to
say, their principal parts and those which form the bulk of their body, are
either the same, or vary only in their opposites, and in excess and defect.

4. By excess and defect I mean the greater and the less. But some animals
agree with each other in their parts neither in form, nor in excess and defect,
but have only an analogous likeness, such as a bone bears to a spine, a nail
to a hoof, a hand to a crab's claw, the scale of a fish to the feather of a bird,
for that which is a feather in the birds is a scale in the fish. With regard then
to the parts which each class of animal possesses, they agree and differ in
this manner, and also in the position of the parts. For many animals have the
same parts, but not in the same position, as the mammæ which are either
pectoral or abdominal. But of the simple parts some are soft and moist,
others hard and dry.
5. The soft parts are either entirely so, or so long as they are in a natural
condition, as blood, serum, fat, tallow, marrow, semen, gall, milk (in those
animals which give milk), flesh, and other analogous parts of the body. In
another manner also the excretions of the body belong to this class, as
phlegm, and the excrements of the abdomen and bladder; the hard and dry
parts are sinew, skin, vein, hair, bone, cartilage, nail, horn, for that part
bears the same name, and on the whole is called horn, and the other parts of
the body which are analogous to these.
6. Animals also differ in their manner of life, in their actions and
dispositions, and in their parts. We will first of all speak generally of these
differences, and afterwards consider each species separately. The following
are the points in which they vary in manner of life, in their actions and
dispositions. Some animals are aquatic, others live on the land; and the
aquatic may again be divided into two classes, for some entirely exist and
procure their food in the water, and take in and give out water, and cannot
live without it; this is the nature of most fishes. But there are others which,
though they live and feed in the water, do not take in water but air, and
produce their young out of the water. Many of these animals are furnished
with feet, as the otter and the latax[1] and the crocodile, or with wings, as
the seagull and diver, and others are without feet, as the water-serpent.
Some procure their food from the water, and cannot live out of the water,
but neither inhale air nor water, as the acalephe[2] and the oyster.
7. Different aquatic animals are found in the sea, in rivers, in lakes, and in
marshes, as the frog and newt, and of marine animals some are pelagic,
some littoral, and some saxatile. Some land animals take in and give out air,
and this is called inhaling and exhaling; such are man, and all other land

animals which are furnished with lungs; some, however, which procure
their food from the earth, do not inhale air, as the wasp, the bee, and all
other insects.[3] By insects I mean those animals which have divisions in
their bodies, whether in the lower part only, or both in the upper and lower.
Many land animals, as I have already observed, procure their food from the
water, but there are no aquatic or marine animals which find their food on
land. There are some animals which at first inhabit the water, but afterwards
change into a different form, and live out of the water; this happens to the
gnat in the rivers, and ...[4] which afterwards becomes an œstrum.[5]
8. Again, there are some creatures which are stationary, while others are
locomotive; the fixed animals are aquatic, but this is not the case with any
of the inhabitants of the land. Many aquatic animals also grow upon each
other; this is the case with several genera of shell-fish: the sponge also
exhibits some signs of sensation, for they say that it is drawn up with some
difficulty, unless the attempt to remove it is made stealthily. Other animals
also there are which are alternately fixed together or free, this is the case
with a certain kind of acalephe; some of these become separated during the
night, and emigrate. Many animals are separate from each other, but
incapable of voluntary movement, as oysters, and the animal called
holothuria.[6] Some aquatic animals are swimmers, as fish, and the
mollusca,[7] and the malacostraca, as the crabs. Others creep on the bottom,
as the crab, for this, though an aquatic animal, naturally creeps.
9. Of land animals some are furnished with wings, as birds and bees, and
these differ in other respects from each other; others have feet, and of this
class some species walk, others crawl, and others creep in the mud. There is
no animal which has only wings as fish have only fins, for those animals
whose wings are formed by an expansion of the skin can walk, and the bat
has feet, the seal has imperfect feet. Among birds there are some with very
imperfect feet, which are therefore called apodes; they are, however,
provided with very strong wings, and almost all birds that are similar to this
one have strong wings and imperfect feet, as the swallow and drepanis;[8]
for all this class of birds is alike both in habits and in the structure of their
wings, and their whole appearance is very similar. The apos[9] is seen at all
times of the year, but the drepanis can only be taken in rainy weather during
the summer, and on the whole is a rare bird.

10. Many animals, however, can both walk and swim. The following are the
differences exhibited by animals in their habits and their actions. Some of
them are gregarious, and others solitary, both in the classes which are
furnished with feet, and those which have wings, or fins. Some partake of
both characters, and of those that are gregarious, as well as those that are
solitary, some unite in societies and some are scattered. Gregarious birds are
such as the pigeon, stork, swan, but no bird with hooked claws is
gregarious. Among swimming animals some fish are gregarious, as the
dromas,[10] tunny, pelamis,[11] amia.[12]
11. But man partakes of both qualities. Those which have a common
employment are called social, but that is not the case with all gregarious
animals. Man, and the bee, the wasp, and the ant, and the stork belong to
this class. Some of these obey a leader, others are anarchical; the stork and
the bee are of the former class, the ant and many others belong to the latter.
Some animals, both in the gregarious and solitary class, are limited to one
locality, others are migratory. There are also carnivorous animals,
herbivorous, omnivorous, and others which eat peculiar food, as the bee and
the spider; the former eats only honey and a few other sweet things, while
spiders prey upon flies and there are other animals which feed entirely on
fish. Some animals hunt for their food, and some make a store, which others
do not. There are also animals which make habitations for themselves, and
others which do not. The mole, the mouse, the ant, and the bee, make
habitations, but many kinds both of insects and quadrupeds make no
dwelling.
12. With regard to situation, some are troglodite, as lizards and serpents,
others, as the horse and dog, live upon the surface of the earth. Some kinds
of animals burrow in the ground, others do not; some animals are nocturnal,
as the owl and the bat, others use the hours of daylight. There are tame
animals and wild animals. Man and the mule are always tame, the leopard
and the wolf are invariably wild, and others, as the elephant, are easily
tamed. We may, however, view them in another way, for all the genera that
have been tamed are found wild also, as horses, oxen, swine, sheep, goats,
and dogs.
13. Some animals utter a loud cry, some are silent, and others have a voice,
which in some cases may be expressed by a word, in others it cannot. There
are also noisy animals and silent animals, musical and unmusical kinds, but

they are mostly noisy about the breeding season. Some, as the dove,
frequent fields, others, as the hoopoe, live on the mountains; some attach
themselves to man, as the pigeon. Some are lascivious, as the partridge and
domestic fowl, and others are chaste, as the raven, which rarely cohabits.
14. Again, there are classes of animals furnished with weapons of offence,
others with weapons of defence; in the former I include those which are
capable of inflicting an injury, or of defending themselves when they are
attacked; in the latter those which are provided with some natural protection
against injury.
15. Animals also exhibit many differences of disposition. Some are gentle,
peaceful, and not violent, as the ox. Some are violent, passionate, and
intractable, as the wild boar. Some are prudent and fearful, as the stag and
the hare. Serpents are illiberal and crafty. Others, as the lion, are liberal,
noble, and generous. Others are brave, wild, and crafty, like the wolf. For
there is this difference between the generous and the brave—the former
means that which comes of a noble race, the latter that which does not
easily depart from its own nature.
16. Some animals are cunning and evil-disposed, as the fox; others, as the
dog, are fierce, friendly, and fawning. Some are gentle and easily tamed, as
the elephant; some are susceptible of shame, and watchful, as the goose.
Some are jealous, and fond of ornament, as the peacock. But man is the
only animal capable of reasoning, though many others possess the faculty
of memory and instruction in common with him. No other animal but man
has the power of recollection. In another place we will treat more accurately
of the disposition and manner of life in each class.

Chapter II.

1. All animals possess in common those parts by which they take in food,
and into which they receive it. But these parts agree or differ in the same
way as all the other parts of bodies, that is, either in shape or size, or
proportion or position; and besides these, almost all animals possess many
other parts in common, such as those by which they reject their excrements,
(and the part by which they take their food,)[13] though this does not exist in
all. The part by which the food is taken in is called the mouth, that which

receives the food from the mouth is called the stomach. The part by which
they reject the excrement has many names.
2. The excrement being of two kinds, the animals which possess receptacles
for the fluid excrement have also receptacles for the dry; but those which
have the latter are not always furnished with the former. Wherefore all
animals which have a bladder have a belly also, but not all that have a belly
have a bladder; for the part appropriated to the reception of the liquid
excrement is called the bladder, and that for the reception of the dry is
called the belly.
3. Many animals possess both these parts, and that also by which the semen
is emitted. Among animals that have the power of generation, some emit the
semen into themselves, and some inject it into others. The former are called
female, the latter male. In some animals there is neither male nor female,
and there is a diversity in the form of the parts appropriated to this office.
For some animals have a uterus, others have only something analogous to
the uterus. These are the most essential organs; some of which exist in all
animals, others in the majority only.

Chapter III.

1. There is only one sense, that of touch, which is common to all animals;
so that no exact name can be given to the part in which this sense resides,
for in some animals it is the same, in others only analogous.
2. Every living creature is furnished with moisture, and must die, if
deprived of this moisture either in the course of nature or by force. But in
what part of the body this moisture resides is another question. In some
animals it is found in the blood and veins, in others the situation is only
analogous, but these are imperfect, as fibres and serum.[14] The sense of
touch resides in the simple parts, as in the flesh and in similar places, and
generally in those parts which contain blood, at least in those animals which
have blood; in others it resides in the analogous parts, but in all animals in
the simple parts.
3. The capacity of action resides in the compound parts, as the preparation
of food in the mouth, and the power of locomotion in the feet or wings, or
the analogous parts. Again, some animals are sanguineous, as man, the

horse, and all perfect animals, whether apodous, bipeds, or quadrupeds; and
some animals are without blood, as the bee and the wasp, and such marine
animals as the sepia and the carabus,[15] and all animals with more than four
legs.

Chapter IV.

1. There are also viviparous, oviparous, and vermiparous animals. The
viviparous, are such as man, and the horse, the seal, and others which have
hair, and among marine animals the cetacea, as the dolphin and those which
are called selache.[16] Some of these are furnished with a blow-hole, but
have no gills, as the dolphin and the whale. The dolphin has its blow-hole
on the back, the whale in its forehead; others have open gills, as the selache,
the galeus,[17] and the batus.[18] That is called the egg of the perfect fœtus,
from which the future animal is produced, from a part at first, while the
remainder serves for its food. The worm is that from the whole of which the
future animal is produced, and the fœtus afterwards acquires parts and
increases in size.
2. Some viviparous animals are internally oviparous, as the selache; others
are internally viviparous, as mankind and the horse. In different animals the
fœtus assumes a different form, when first brought into the world, and is
either a living creature, an egg, or a worm. The eggs of some animals, as
birds, are hard-shelled, and are of two colours. Those of the selache and
some other animals are soft-skinned, and have only one colour. Some
species of the vermiform fœtus are capable of motion, others are not. But in
another place, when we treat of generation, we will dwell more accurately
on these subjects.

Chapter V.

1. Some animals have feet, others have none; of the former some have two
feet, as mankind and birds only; others have four, as the lizard and the dog;
others, as the scolopendra and bee, have many feet; but all have their feet in
pairs.
2. And among apodous swimming animals some have fins, as fish; and of
these some have two fins in the upper and two in the lower part of their

bodies, as the chrysophys[19] and labrax;[20] others, which are very long and
smooth, have only two fins, as the eel and conger; others have none at all,
as the lamprey and others, which live in the sea as serpents do on land, and
in like manner swim in moist places; and some of the genus selache, as
those which are flat and have tails, as the batos and trygon, have no fins;
these fish swim by means of their flat surfaces; but the batrachus[21] has
fins, and so have all those fish which are not very thin in proportion to their
width.
3. But the animals which have apparent feet, as the cephalopods, swim both
with their feet and fins, and move quickly upon the hollow parts of their
bodies, as the sepia, teuthis, and polypus: but none of them can walk except
the polypus. Those animals which have hard skins, as the carabus, swim
with their hinder parts, and move very quickly upon their tail, with the fins
which are upon it, and the newt both with its feet and tail, and (to compare
small things with great) it has a tail like the glanis.[22]
4. Some winged animals, as the eagle and the hawk, are feathered; others,
as the cockchafer and the bee, membranaceous wings; and others, as the
alopex[23] and the bat, have wings formed of skin. Both the feathered and
leather-winged tribes have blood; but the insects, which have naked wings,
have no blood. Again, the feathered and leather-winged animals are all
either bipeds or apodous, for they say that there are winged serpents in
Ethiopia.[24]
5. The feathered tribe of animals is called birds; the other two tribes have no
exact names. Among winged creatures without blood some are
coleopterous, for they have elytra over their wings, as the cockchafer and
the beetles, and others are without elytra. The animals of this class have
either two or four wings. Those with four wings are distinguished by their
greater size or a caudal sting. The diptera are either such as are small, or
have a sting in their head. The coleoptera have no sting at all; the diptera
have a sting in their head, as the fly, horse-fly, gad-fly, and gnat.
6. All bloodless animals, except a few marine species of the cephalopoda,
are smaller than those which have blood. These animals are the largest in
warm waters, and more so in the sea than on the land, and in fresh water.
All creatures that are capable of motion are moved by four or more limbs.
Those with blood have four limbs only, as man has two hands and two feet.

Birds have two wings and two feet; quadrupeds and fishes have four feet or
four fins. But those animals which have two wings or none at all, as the
serpent, are nevertheless moved by four limbs; for the bendings of their
body are four in number, or two when they have two wings.
7. Those bloodless animals which have more than four feet, whether
furnished with feet or wings, always have more than four organs of
locomotion, as the ephemera, which has four feet and four wings; and in
this it not only agrees with its peculiar manner of life, from which also it
derives its name, but also that it is winged and four-footed; and all
creatures, whether they have four feet or many feet, move in the same
direction, for they all move in the long way of their bodies. All other
animals have two leading feet, the crab alone has four.

Chapter VI.

1. The following are the principal classes which include other animals—
birds, fishes, cetacea. All these have red blood. There is another class of
animals covered with a shell, and called shell fish, and an anonymous class
of soft-shelled animals (malacostraca), which includes carabi, carcini, and
astaci; and another of mollusca, such as teuthis, teuthos, and sepia; and
another class of annulose animals. All these are without blood, and the
species with feet have many feet. There are no large classes of other
animals; for there are many forms which are not included under a single
form, but either stand alone, having no specific difference, as man, or have
specific differences, but the classes are anonymous.
2. All animals with four feet and no wings have blood. Some of these are
viviparous, others oviparous. The viviparous are not all covered with hair,
but the oviparous have scales. The scale of a reptile is similar in situation to
the scale of a fish. The class of serpents, sanguineous land animals, is
naturally without feet. Though some have feet, this class is also covered
with scales. All serpents, except the viper, are oviparous. The viper alone is
viviparous, so that not all viviparous animals have hair; for some fishes also
are viviparous. All animals, however, that have hair are viviparous; for we
may consider the prickles of the hedgehog and porcupine as analogous to
the hair of animals; for they answer the purpose of hair, and not, as in
marine animals that are so covered, of feet.[25]

3. There are also many classes of viviparous quadrupeds, but they have
never received names. Each kind must, therefore, be taken separately, as
man, as we speak of lion, stag, horse, dog, and of others in like manner.
There is, however, one class of those that have a mane called lophuri,[26] as
the horse, ass, mule, ginnus,[27] hinnus, and those which in Syria are called
mules,[28] from their resemblance, though not quite of the same form. They
copulate and produce young from each other, so that it is necessary to
consider well the nature of each of them separately.
4. We have now treated of these things in an outline, for the sake of giving a
taste of what we are afterwards to consider, and of how many. Hereafter we
will speak of them more accurately, in order that we may first of all
examine into their points of difference and agreement; and afterwards we
will endeavour to inquire into the causes of these things, but it will be a
more natural arrangement to do so when we treat of the history of each. For
it is evident from these things what they are, and what we have to
demonstrate.
5. Our first subject of consideration must be the parts of which animals are
made up, for these constitute the chief and the whole difference among
them; either because they have them or are without them, or these parts
vary in position or arrangement, or in any of the differences mentioned
before, in form, size, proportion, and difference of accidents. First of all,
then, we will consider the parts of the human body; for, as every one can
best understand the standard of money with which he is most familiar, so it
is in other things. And of necessity, man must be the best known to us of all
animals. The parts of the body are, indeed, plain enough to every one's
common sense; but, that we may not forsake our arrangement, and may
have reason as well as perception, we will speak, first of all, of the organic,
and afterwards of the simple, parts.

Chapter VII.

1. These are the principal parts into which the whole body is divided. The
head, neck, trunk, two arms, and two legs. The whole cavity, from the neck
to the pudenda, is called the trunk. That part of the head which is covered
with hair is called the cranium, the fore part of this is called the sinciput.
This is the last formed, being the last bone in the body which becomes hard;

the hinder part is the occiput, and between the occiput and sinciput is the
crown of the head. The brain is placed beneath the sinciput, and the occiput
is empty;[29] the cranium is a thin spherical bone covered with a skin
without flesh. The skull has sutures: in women there is but one placed in a
circle; men have generally three joined in one, and a man's skull has been
seen without any sutures at all. The middle and smooth part of the hair is
called the crown of the head; in some persons this is double, for there are
some people double-crowned, not from any formation of the bone, but only
from the division of the hair.

Chapter VIII.

1. The part immediately beneath the cranium is called the face in mankind
alone, for we do not speak of the face of a fish or of an ox; the part
immediately beneath the sinciput and between the eyes is called the
forehead. Those in whom this feature is large are tardy; those who have a
small forehead are easily excited; a broad forehead belongs to those who
are liable to be carried away by their feelings; a round forehead is a sign of
a passionate disposition.
2. Under the forehead are two eyebrows; if they are straight, it is a mark of
a gentle disposition; the eyebrows bent down to the nose are an evidence of
an austere temper; if they incline towards the temples, of a mocker and
scoffer; if they are drawn down, it is a sign of an envious person. Beneath
these are the eyes, which by nature are two in number: the parts of each eye
are, first, the upper and under eyelid, the edges of which are furnished with
hair. Within the eye, the moist part with which we see is called the pupil;
round this is the iris, and this is surrounded by the white. Two corners of the
eye are formed at the junction of the eyelids, one in the direction of the
nose, the other towards the temple. If these corners are large, they are a sign
of an evil disposition; if those near the nose are fleshy, and have a swollen
appearance, they are an evidence of wickedness.
3. All other classes of animals have eyes, except shell-fish, and some other
imperfect creatures, and all viviparous animals except moles have eyes. A
person might, however, conclude from the following observation, that it has
eyes, though it is quite without them, for it certainly does not see at all, nor
has it any external eyes; but, when the skin is taken off, there is a place for

the eyes, and the iris of the eye is in the place which it would naturally
occupy on the outside, as if they had been wounded in their birth, and the
skin had grown over the place.
4. The white of the eye is generally the same in all animals, but the iris is
very different. In some it is black, in others decidedly grey, in others dark
grey, and in some it is the colour of the goat's eye, and this is a sign of the
best disposition, and is most to be prized for acuteness of vision. Man is
almost the only animal which exhibits a variety of colouring in the eye;
there are, however, some horses with grey eyes.
5. The eyes of some persons are large, others small, and others of a
moderate size—the last-mentioned are the best. And some eyes are
projecting, some deep-set, and some moderate, and those which are deep-
set have the most acute vision in all animals; the middle position is a sign of
the best disposition. Some people have an eye which is perpetually opening
and closing, others have an eye always intent, and others a moderately-
intent eye: this last is the best disposed; of the others, the one is impudent,
and the other a sign of infirmity.

Chapter IX.

1. The part of the head by which we hear, but do not breathe, is the ear; for
Alcmæon is mistaken when he says that goats breathe through their ears.
One part of the ear has not received any name, the other part is called the
lobe. The whole ear is made up of cartilage and flesh. Internally, the ear has
the nature of a shell, and the last bone is similar to the ear itself. The sound
reaches this part last, as it were in a chamber. There is no passage from the
ear into the brain, but there is to the roof of the mouth; and a vein extends
from the brain to each ear.[30] The eyes also are connected with the brain,
and each eye is placed upon a vein.
2. Man is the only animal with ears that cannot move them. Among animals
which have the faculty of hearing; some have ears, and others, as winged
and scaly creatures, have no ear, but an open orifice in the head; all
viviparous animals, except the seal, and the dolphin, and other cetacea, have
ears; the selache also are viviparous. The seal has open orifices by which it
hears; the dolphin can hear, though it has no ears; all other animals can
move their ears, but man alone does not move them.

3. The ears (of man) lie in the same circle with his eyes, and not above
them, as in some quadrupeds. The ears are either smooth, hairy, or
moderate. These last are the best for hearing, but they do not in any way
indicate the disposition. They are large, or small or middling, or they are
erect, or not at all, or only moderately erect. The moderately erect are a sign
of the best disposition; large and erect ears are an evidence of foolish
talking and loquacity. The part of the head between the eye and the ear is
called the temple.
4. In the middle of the face is the nose, the passage for the breath, for
through this animals inhale and exhale, and through it also they sneeze; this
is the expulsion of a concentrated breath, and is the only kind of breathing
which is esteemed ominous or sacred: moreover, inhaling and exhaling is
into the chest, and without the nostrils it is impossible to inhale or exhale,
for inhaling and exhaling is from the breast by the windpipe, and not from
any part of the head. But it is possible to live without this respiration
through the nostrils. The smell also resides in this part; this is the sense of
odour. The nostril is very moveable, and not naturally immoveable like the
ear.
5. One part of the nose, namely, the division between the nostrils, is
cartilaginous, but the passage is empty, for the nose is formed of two
divisions. In the elephant, the nostril is very large and strong, and it answers
to the purpose of a hand, for the animal can extend it, and with it take its
food, and convey it to its mouth, whether the food is moist or dry. This is
the only animal that can do so.
6. There are also two jaws, the upper and the under. All animals move the
lower jaw, except the river-crocodile, and this moves the upper jaw only.
Below the nose are two lips, the flesh of which is very moveable. The
mouth is the centre of the jaws and the lips. The upper part is called the roof
of the mouth, the lower, the pharynx. The tongue is the organ of taste. This
sense resides in the tip, and, if food is placed on the broad part of the
tongue, the taste is less acute. The tongue partakes of all the other
sensations, as harshness, heat, and cold, as well as that of taste, in common
with the rest of the flesh.
7. The flat part of the tongue is either narrow or moderate in size, the
moderate is the best, and most apt for clear elocution. The tongue may be

either too loose, or tied down, as in stammerers and inarticulate speakers.
The flesh of the tongue is porous and spongy. The epiglottis is a portion of
the tongue, the double part of the mouth is the tonsils; that in many
divisions the gums, they are fleshy, and in them are fixed the bony teeth.
Within the mouth there is another part, the uvula, a pillar filled with blood.
If this part is swelled with relaxation, it is called a grape, and chokes.

Chapter X.

1. The neck is the part between the head and the trunk; the front part is
called the larynx, behind this is the œsophagus. The voice and the breath
pass through the front part, the trachea, which is cartilaginous, but the
œsophagus is fleshy, and placed farther in, near the vertebra of the neck.
The back of the neck is called the epomis. These are the parts as far as the
thorax. The parts of the thorax are some before and some behind. First of
all, below the neck is the breast with two mammæ; on these are two nipples,
through which the milk of the female passes. The mamma is porous. There
is also milk in the breasts of men. The flesh of the mamma in men is thick,
in women it is spongy and full of pores.
2. The part below the thorax, in front, is the belly, and of this the navel is
the centre. Beneath this centre, the part on each side is called the iliac
region; the part in the centre, beneath the navel, is called the hypogastric
region; the lowest part of this is called pubes; above the navel is the
epigastric region; the lumbar region is situated between the epigastric and
iliac regions.
3. Of the hinder parts the loin forms the division of the body, whence also
its name is derived (ὀσφύς quasi ἰσοφύς). The part of the central region
which is like a seat is the buttock; that on which the thigh turns, the
cotyledon. The peculiar part of women is the uterus; of men the penis, it is
external, at the extremity of the trunk in two parts; the upper part is fleshy
and smooth, and is called glans; this is covered with an anonymous skin,
which, if it is cut asunder, does not unite again, neither does the cheek nor
the eyelid.
4. Common to this and the glans is the prepuce, the remaining part is
cartilaginous, readily increases in size, and it is drawn in and out, contrary
to that of the class of animals called lophuri. Beneath the penis are two

testicles, surrounded by a skin called the scrotum; the testicles are not of the
same nature as flesh, nor are they made of flesh. In another place we shall
treat of the nature of all these parts more accurately.
5. The pudendum muliebre is contrary to that of the male, for it is hollow
under the pubes, not projecting like that of the male, and the urethra is
outside the womb, for the passage of the semen of the male, and for the
fluid excrement of both. The part of the body which joins the neck and the
breast is called the jugulum; that which unites the side, the arm, and the
shoulder is the arm-pit. The region between the thigh and the hypogastric
region is called the groin; the part common to the thigh and the buttock on
the inside is the perineum, that of the thigh and buttock on the outside is
called hypoglutis.
6. We have previously treated of the trunk. The hinder part of the breast is
called the back: the parts of the back are two shoulder blades and the back-
bone; below the thorax, and opposite the stomach, are the loins; the ribs
belong both to the back and the front of the trunk, and are eight on each
side, for we have never heard anything worthy of credit concerning the
Ligyes, who are said to have seven ribs.

Chapter XI.

1. Man has upper and lower side, the front and the back, and right and left
side. The right and the left are nearly alike in their parts and in every
particular, except that the left side is the weaker; but the back parts are not
like the front; nor the lower parts to the upper, except in this particular, that
the parts below the hypogastric region are full-fleshed or lean in proportion
to the face, and the arms also answer to the proportion of the legs. Those
persons who have a short humerus have also generally a short thigh: those
who have small feet have also small hands.
2. One of the double parts of the body is the arm. The parts of the arm are
the shoulder, humerus, elbow, cubitus, and the hand; the parts of the hand
are the palm and five fingers; the jointed part of the finger is the condyle,
the unjointed part the phalanx. The thumb has but one joint, all the rest have
two. The bending of the arm and finger is always inwards. The arm is also
bent at the elbow: the inner part of the hand is called the palm; it is fleshy,
and divided by strong lines. Long-lived persons have one or two lines

which extend through the whole hand; short-lived persons have two lines
not extending through the whole hand. The joint of the hand and arm is the
wrist. The outside of the hand is sinewy, and has not received any name.
3. The other double part of the body is the leg. The double-headed part of
the leg is called the thigh, the moveable part is called the patella, that which
has two bones the tibia; the front of this part is the shin, the hind part the
calf of the leg. The flesh is full of sinews and veins; in those persons who
have large hips, the flesh is drawn upwards towards the hollow part under
the knee, in those who have not it is drawn down. The lowest part of the
shin is the ankle, and this is double in each leg. The part of the leg with
many bones is called the foot, the hind part of which is the heel. The front
part is divided into five toes; the under part, which is fleshy, is called the
sole of the foot; the upper part, (the instep,) is sinewy, and has not received
any name. One part of the toe is the nail, the other is the joint; the nail is on
the extremity of the toe, and the toes are bent inwards. Those who have the
sole of the foot thick, and not hollow, but walk upon the whole of the foot,
are knavish. The common joint of the thigh and the leg is the knee.

Chapter XII.

1. These parts are possessed in common by the male and female; the
position of the external parts, whether above or below, before or behind, on
the right side or the left, will appear on mere inspection. It is necessary,
however, to enumerate them, for the reasons which I have mentioned
before, that its proper place being assigned to each part, any difference in
their arrangement in man and other animals may be less likely to escape our
notice.
2. In man, the parts of the body are more naturally divided into upper and
lower than in any other animal, for all the upper and lower parts of his body
are arranged according to the order of nature above and below; in the same
way, also, the fore and hind parts, and those on the right and left, are placed
naturally. But in other animals some of these parts are either not at all so
placed, or they are much more confused than in man. The head is placed
above the body in all animals, but in man alone, as we have said, is this part
corresponding to the order of all things.

3. Next to the head is the neck, then the breast and the back, the one before
and the other behind; and each of them in the following order:—the
stomach, loins, pudenda, haunch, then the thigh and leg, and, last of all, the
foot. The legs have the joint bent forwards, in which direction also is their
manner of walking, and the more moveable part of the legs as well as the
joint is bent forward: the heel is behind. Each of the ankles is like an ear.
From the right and left side come arms, having the joint bent inwards, so
that the flexures both of the legs and arms are towards each other, especially
in man.
4. The senses and the organs of sense, the eyes, nostril, and tongue are in
the same position, and in the anterior part of the body; but the hearing, and
its organ, and the ears are at the side, and upon the same circumference as
the eyes. Man has the eyes closer together, in proportion to his size, than
other animals. The sense of touch is the most accurate of the human senses,
and next to this the taste. In the rest of his senses he is far surpassed by
other animals.

Chapter XIII.

1. The external parts of the body are arranged in this manner; and, as I have
said, are for the most part named and known from habit. But the internal
parts are not so well known, and those of the human body are the least
known. So that in order to explain them we must compare them with the
same parts of those animals which are most nearly allied.
2. First of all, the brain is placed in the fore-part of the head, and it occupies
the same position in all animals that have this part, which belongs to all
sanguineous and cephalopodous animals. In proportion to his size, man has
the largest brain of all animals, and the moistest. Two membranes enclose
the brain: that outside the skull is the strongest; the inner membrane is
slighter than the outer one. In all animals the brain is in two portions. The
cerebellum is placed upon the brain at its lowest extremity. It is different
from the brain both to the touch and in appearance.
3. The back of the head is empty and hollow in all animals in proportion to
their size, for some have a large head, but the part lying under the face is
less in those animals which have round faces; others have a small head and
large jaws, as the whole tribe of Lophuri. In all animals the brain is without

blood, nor does it contain any veins, and it is naturally cold to the touch.
The greater number of animals have a small cavity in the centre of the
brain. And round this a membrane filled with veins: this membrane is like
skin, and encloses the brain. Above the brain is the smoothest and weakest
bone in the head—it is called sinciput.
4. Three passages lead from the eye to the brain; the largest and the middle-
sized to the cerebellum, the least to the brain itself. The least is that which is
nearest the nostril; the greater are parallel, and do not meet; but the middle-
sized passages meet: this is most evident in fishes, and these passages are
nearer to the brain than the larger, but the least separate from each other,
and do not meet.
5. Within the neck is the œsophagus, which also derives its additional name,
the isthmus, from its length and narrowness, and the trachea. The trachea
lies in front of the œsophagus in all animals which possess this part, that is,
all animals which breathe from the lungs. The trachea is cartilaginous in its
nature, and contains but little blood: it is surrounded with many smooth
rings of cartilage, and it lies upon the upper part towards the mouth,
opposite the passage from the nostril to the mouth, wherefore, also, if any
liquid is drawn into it in drinking, it passes out of the mouth through the
nostrils.
6. Between the passages is the epiglottis, which can be folded over the
passage which extends from the trachea to the mouth; by the epiglottis the
passage of the tongue is closed, at the other extremity the trachea reaches to
the middle of the lungs, and afterwards divides to each side of the lungs.
For the lung is double in all animals which possess this part, though the
division is not so marked in viviparous animals, and least of all in man. The
human lungs are anomalous, neither being divided into many lobes, as in
other animals, nor being smooth.
7. In oviparous animals, such as birds and the oviparous quadrupeds, the
parts are very widely separated, so that they appear to have two lungs; they
are, however, only two divisions of the trachea extending to each side of the
lungs; the trachea is also united with the great vein and with the part called
the aorta. When the trachea is filled with air, it distributes the breath into the
cavities of the lungs, which have cartilaginous interstices ending in a point;

the passages of these interstices go through the whole lungs, always
dividing from greater into less.
8. The heart is connected with the trachea by fatty and cartilaginous
muscular bands. There is a cavity near the junction, and in some animals,
when the trachea is filled with breath, this cavity is not always
distinguishable, but in larger animals it is evident that the breath enters it.
This then is the form of the trachea, which only inhales and exhales breath,
and nothing else either dry or moist, or it suffers pain till that which has
passed down is coughed up.
9. The œsophagus is joined to the mouth from above, near the trachea,
being united both to the spine and the trachea by membranaceous
ligaments. It passes through the diaphragm into the cavity of the stomach, is
fleshy in its nature, and is extensible both in length and breadth. The human
stomach is like that of a dog, not a great deal larger than the entrail, but like
a wide bowel; after this there is an entrail simply rolled together, then an
entrail of moderate width. The lower part of the abdomen is like that of a
hog, for it is wide, and from this to the seat it is short and thick.
10. The omentum is united to the abdomen in the middle, and is in its nature
a fatty membrane, as in other animals with a single stomach and teeth in
both jaws. The mesenterium is over the bowels; it is membranaceous,
broad, and fat; it is united to the great vein and the aorta: through it extend
many numerous veins at its junction with the intestines, reaching from
above downwards. This is the nature of the œsophagus, trachea, and the
parts of the abdominal cavity.

Chapter XIV.

1. The heart has three cavities: it lies above the lungs, near the division of
the trachea. It has a fat and thick membrane, by which it is united to the
great vein and the aorta, and it lies upon the aorta near the apex; and the
apex is placed in the same situation in all animals which have a chest; and
in all animals, whether they have or have not a chest, the apex of the heart
is forwards, though it often escapes notice by the change of position in the
parts when dissected. The gibbous portion of the heart is upwards; its apex
is generally fleshy and thick, and there is a sinew in the cavities.

2. In all other animals which have a chest the heart is placed in the centre;
in man it is rather on the left side, inclining a little from the division of the
mammæ towards the left breast in the upper part of the chest; it is not large;
its whole form is not long, but rather round, except that the extremity ends
in a point. It has three cavities, as I have said. The greatest is that on the
right, the least on the left, the middle one is of intermediate size. They are
all perforated towards the lungs. It has both the two smaller, and all of them
perforated towards the lungs, and this is evident in one of the cavities
downwards from its point of attachment.
3. Near the principal cavity it is attached to the great vein to which also the
mesenterium is united, and in the middle it is attached to the aorta. Passages
lead from the lungs to the heart, and they are divided in the same way as the
trachea, following the passages from the trachea throughout the whole
lungs, and the passages leading from the heart are on the upper part. There
is no passage which is common to them both, but by their union they
receive the breath and transmit it through the heart; for one of the passages
leads to the right cavity, and the other to the left. We will hereafter speak of
the great vein and the aorta in the portion of our work which treats of these
parts.
4. In all animals which have lungs and are viviparous, either internally or
externally, the lung has more blood than all the other parts; for the whole
lung is spongy, and through each perforation branches of the great vein
proceed. Those persons are deceived who say that the lungs are empty,
drawing their conclusion from dissected animals, from which all the blood
has escaped. Of all the viscera the heart alone contains blood, and in the
lungs the blood is not in the lungs themselves, but in the veins by which
they are perforated. But in the heart itself the blood is in each of the
cavities, but the thinnest blood is in the middle cavity.
5. Beneath the lungs is that division of the trunk which is called the
diaphragm. It is united to the ribs, the hypochondriac region, and the spine.
In the centre is a smooth membranous part, and there are veins extending
through it. The human veins are thick in proportion to the size of the body.
Under the diaphragm, on the right side is the liver, on the left the spleen,
alike in all animals which are furnished with these parts in their natural
form and without monstrosity, for already there has been observed an

altered order in some quadrupeds. They are joined to the abdomen near the
omentum.
6. The appearance of the human spleen is narrow and long, like that of the
hog. Generally speaking, and in most animals, the liver is not furnished
with a gall, though this is found in some animals. The human liver is round,
like that of the ox. This is the case also in animals offered for sacrifice, as in
the district of Chalcis, in Eubœa, where the sheep have no gall, and in
Naxos it is so large in nearly all the animals, that strangers who come to
sacrifice are surprised, and think that it is ominous, and not at all natural.
The liver is united with the great vein, but has no part in common with the
aorta. For a vein branches off from the great vein through the liver, at the
place where the gates of the liver, as they are called, are situated. The spleen
also is only connected with the great vein, for a vein extends from this to
the spleen.
7. Next to these are the kidneys, which lie close to the spine. In their nature
they are like the kidneys of oxen. In all animals that have kidneys the right
kidney lies higher than the left, and is covered with less fat, and is more dry
than the left. This is the same in all animals. Passages lead from them to the
great vein and to the aorta, but not to the cavity; for all animals, except the
seal, have a cavity in their kidneys, though it is greater in some than in
others. The human kidneys; though similar to those of oxen, are more solid
than in other animals, and the passages that lead to them end in the body of
the kidney; and this is a proof that they do not pass through them, that they
contain no blood in the living animal, nor is it coagulated in them when
dead; but they have a small cavity, as I said before. From the cavity of the
kidneys two strong passages lead to the bladder, and two others, strong and
continuous, lead to the aorta.
8. A hollow, sinewy vein is attached to the middle of each kidney, which
extends from the spine through small branches, and disappears towards the
hip, though it afterwards appears again upon the hip. The branches of these
veins reach to the bladder; for the bladder is placed lowest of all, being
united to the passages which proceed from the kidneys by the neck which
reaches to the urethra; and nearly all round its circumference it is united by
smooth and muscular membranes, very similar in form to those upon the
diaphragm of the chest.

9. The human bladder is moderately large in size, and the pudendum is
united to the neck of the bladder, having a strong passage above and a small
one below. One of these passages leads to the testicles; the other, which is
sinewy and cartilaginous, to the bladder. From this are appended the
testicles of the male, concerning which we will treat in the part devoted to
their consideration. These parts are the same in the female, who differs in
none of the internal parts except the womb, the appearance of which may be
learned from the drawings in the books on anatomy. Its position is upon the
entrails. The bladder is above the uterus. In a future book we will speak of
the nature of the uterus generally; for it is not alike, nor has it the same
nature in them all.
These are the internal and external parts of the human body, and this is their
nature and their manner.

BOOK THE SECOND.
Chapter I.

1. Of the parts of other animals some are common to them all, as I have said
before, and some belong to particular classes, and they agree and differ in
the manner often before mentioned. For almost all animals which differ in
kind, have also their parts different in form, and there are some which have
only a proportionate resemblance, but differ in kind, and others agree in
kind, but not in form, and many parts belong to some which others have
not. Viviparous quadrupeds have a head and neck, and all the parts of the
head, but they differ from each other in their forms. The lion has one bone
in the neck, but has no vertebræ, and when laid open its internal parts are
like those of a dog.
2. Viviparous quadrupeds have fore-legs instead of arms, and in all
quadrupeds, especially those which have the fore-feet much divided, they
are analogous to hands, for they use them as hands, and the left legs are less
at liberty than in men, except in the elephant, and this animal has the toes
less perfectly jointed, and its fore-legs much larger than the hind ones; it has
five toes, and short ankles to its hind legs. It has a trunk of such a nature
and length as to be able to use it for a hand, and it drinks and eats by
stretching this into its mouth; this also it lifts up to its driver, and pulls up
trees with it; with this organ it breathes as it walks through the water. The
extremity of the proboscis is curved, but without joints, for it is
cartilaginous.
3. Man is the only ambidextrous animal. All animals have their chest
analogous to man, but not similar to his, for he has a wide chest, and theirs
is narrow: no animal but man has pectoral mammæ; the elephant has two
mammæ, but not on the breast, though they are in that direction.
4. All animals, excepting the elephant, bend both their fore and hind legs in
contrary directions, and also contrary to the way in which a man's limbs are
bent. For in viviparous quadrupeds, except the elephant, the joints of the
fore-legs are bent forwards, and those of the hind-legs backwards, and they

have the hollow part of their circumference opposite to each other: the
elephant is not constructed as some have said, but is able to sit down, and
bend his legs, but, from his great weight, is unable to bend them on both
sides at once, but leans either to the right side or the left, and sleeps in this
position, but its hind legs are bent like a man's.
5. In oviparous quadrupeds, as the crocodile, lizard, and such like, both the
fore and hind legs are bent forwards, inclining a little to the side, and
likewise also in other animals with more than four feet, except that the
middle joint of their last pair of legs is always doubtful, and is rather bent
towards the side. And man also has both the flexures of his limbs in the
same direction, and those of his arms and legs contrary to each other, for he
bends the arm backwards, except that the external part of the arm is a little
inclined inwards, towards the side; the legs bend forwards.
6. No animal bends the joints both of its fore and hind legs backwards. The
flexure of the cubitus and fore-leg is in a contrary direction to the flexure of
the shoulder in all animals, and the flexure of the knee is contrary to that of
the hip; so that since man bends his joints in the contrary direction to many
animals, those which have such joints as man's also bend them in a contrary
direction to many animals. Birds bend their limbs in a direction similar to
that of quadrupeds, for being bipeds, they bend their legs backwards, and
have wings instead of arms, or fore-legs, and these bend forwards.
7. The seal is like a maimed quadruped, for immediately beneath the
scapula it has feet like hands, as are also those of the bear, for they are five-
fingered, and each of the fingers has three joints, and a small claw: the hind
feet are five-fingered, and each of the fingers has joints and claws like those
upon the fore-feet; in shape they are very like the tail of a fish.
8. The movements of animals, whether they have four feet or more, are in
the direction of the longer diameter of their bodies, and thus also they stand,
the commencement of motion is always on the right side of their bodies.
The lion and the camel, both the Arabian and Bactrian, walk with the hind-
foot following the fore-foot on the same side, and this means that the right
foot is not put before the left, but follows it.

Chapter II.

1. Whatever parts a man has before, a quadruped has beneath: those that are
behind in man, form the quadruped's back; most animals have a tail, the seal
has a small one, like that of a stag; hereafter we shall speak of apelike
animals. All viviparous quadrupeds are, so to say, rough, with hair, and not
like man, who, except on his head, has not much hair on his body, and what
there is, is very fine; but his head is more massy than that of other animals.
2. And all creatures that have their upper part rough with hair, are quite
smooth, or only slightly rough beneath; but man is contrary to this: and
again, each eyelid in man is furnished, with lashes, and he has hair on the
cheek, and pubes; other animals are not so furnished, having no hair on the
lower eyelid, or only a few hairs under the eyelid.
3. But some hairy quadrupeds are rough all over, as the hog, the bear, and
the dog; the neck of others is the roughest part, as in those which have a
mane, like the lion; in others which have a mane, the back of the neck from
the head to the point of the shoulder is hairy, as the horse and the mule, and
among wild animals with horns, the bonassus. The hipellaphus,[31] as it is
called, has a mane upon the point of its shoulder, and so has the pardium,[32]
though both these have a thin mane from the head to the shoulder, and the
hipellaphus has a beard upon its larynx.
4. Both of these are horned, and have a cloven hoof: the female hipellaphus
has no horns, it is about the size of a stag; there are hipellaphi in the country
of the Arachotæ, where also are buffaloes. The wild differ as much from
domesticated oxen, as wild hogs from tame ones; for they are black, and of
great strength; their nose is curved like an eagle's beak, and their horns lie
backwards; the horns of the hipellaphus are very like those of the dorcas:[33]
the elephant is the least hairy of all quadrupeds. The tails of animals are like
their bodies in roughness, and smoothness, in as many as have tails in
proportion to their size, for some have very small tails.
5. Camels have a part peculiar to themselves, called the hump upon the
back; the Bactrian camel differs from the Arabian; the one has two humps,
the other but one; and they have another hump below, like the one on their
back, upon which the rest of their body is supported, when they go down
upon their knees. The camel has four mammæ, like the cow, and a tail like
an ass, and the pudendum is behind; it has but one knee in each leg, and not
many joints, as some persons say; this appearance arises from the position

of the abdomen. It has a talus like that of an ox, misshapen, and small in
proportion to its size.
6. The hoof is cloven; it has not teeth in both jaws. The cloven hoof is
formed in this manner; the lower part is somewhat cloven, as far as the
second joint of the toes, but the upper part is four-cleft as far as the first
joint of the toes; there is a membrane uniting the cloven parts as in geese,
the foot is fleshy underneath like that of a bear, wherefore, when camels are
used in war, and become footsore, their drivers put them on leather shoes.
All quadrupeds have their legs bony and sinewy and without flesh, that is
all animals with feet are so formed, excepting man, and they are without
hips; this is particularly the case with birds. But on the contrary, the hips,
thighs, and legs of man are more fleshy than almost any other part of his
body, for even the calf of his leg is fleshy.
7. Some sanguineous and viviparous quadrupeds have many divisions in the
foot, like the hands and feet of man; for some, as the lion, the dog, and the
panther, have many divisions of the foot; others are cloven-footed, and
instead of nails have hoofs, as the sheep, the goat, the stag, and the river-
horse. Some are without divisions in the foot, as the solidunguli, the horse,
and the mule. The genus of swine belongs to both classes; for in Illyria,
Pæonia, and other places, there are swine with a solid hoof. Those with a
two-cleft hoof have two divisions, before and behind; in those with a solid
hoof this is continuous.
8. Some animals have horns, others have none; most of those with horns
have also cloven feet, as the ox, the stag, and the goat. We have never seen
an animal with a solid hoof with two horns, and there are only a few that
have a solid hoof and one horn, as the Indian ass, and the oryx.[34] Of all
animals with a solid hoof, the Indian ass alone has a talus. Swine, as I said
before, belong to both classes, so that they have not a well-formed
astragulus.
9. Many animals with cloven hoofs have a talus; no animals with their feet
in many divisions have a talus, nor has man. The lynx has as it were half a
talus, and so has the lion, but it is more intricate, as some pretend. The talus
is always in the hind leg, and it is placed upright upon the gamb, with the
lower part outwards, and the upper part inwards; the parts called Coa[35]
turned inwards towards each other, and the Chia turned outwards, and the

projecting portions upwards. This is the position of the talus, in all animals
which are furnished with this part. Some animals have a cloven hoof, and a
mane, and two horns turned towards each other, as the bonassus, an animal
which inhabits the country between Pæonia and Media.
10. All animals with horns are four-footed, unless there is any animal which
metaphorically, and for the sake of a word, is said to have horns, as they say
that the serpents in the neighbourhood of Thebes in Egypt have, though it is
nothing more than an appendage, that is called a horn. The stag is the only
animal that has solid horns, the horns of all other animals are hollow for a
part of their length, and solid at the extremity; the hollow part is principally
formed of skin, and round this is arranged the solid part, as in the horns of
oxen. The stag is the only animal which casts its horns; they are reproduced;
this takes place every year after the animal has attained the age of two
years; other animals never lose their horns unless destroyed by violence.

Chapter III.

1. The parts of the mammæ also, and the organs of generation, are different
in man and in other animals. For some have the mammæ forward on or near
the breast, and two mammæ with two nipples, as man and the elephant, as I
said before, for the elephant has two mammæ near the arm-pits; in the
female they are small, and do not bear any proportion to the size of the
animal, so that they are scarcely visible in a side view; the males also have
mammæ as well as the females, but they are exceedingly small.
2. The bear has four, other animals have two mammæ upon the thighs, and
two nipples like sheep; others have four nipples, as the cow; some animals
have not their nipples on the breast and thighs, but on the abdomen, as the
dog and the hog, they have many nipples, but not all of the same size; other
animals also have more than two, as the panther, which has four on the
abdomen; the lioness has two on the abdomen, the camel has two mammæ
and four nipples, like the cow.
3. Among animals with a solid hoof the males have no mammæ, except
some horses which bear a resemblance to their dams. Some males have the
penis external, as man, and the horse, and many others; some internal, as
the dolphin. Of those animals in which it is external, some have it in front,
as those which I have named; and some of these have both the penis and

testicles loose, as in man; others have them close to the abdomen; some
have them more, others less loose, for this part is not equally free in the
boar and the horse.
4. The elephant has a penis like a horse, but small and less in proportion to
the size of its body; its testicles are not external but internal, and near the
kidneys, wherefore also the work of copulation is quickly performed. The
female has the pudendum in the same position as the udder of the sheep,
and when excited with desire, it is lifted up outwards, so as to be ready for
copulation with the male; and the orifice of the pudendum is very wide.
Most animals have the penis in the same direction, but some are
retromingent, as the lynx, lion, camel, and hare. In some males, as I have
said, the direction of the penis is different, but all females are retromingent,
for even in the female elephant the pudendum is placed under the thighs, as
in other animals.
5. The penis is very different in different animals, for in some it is
cartilaginous and fleshy, as in man; the fleshy part does not swell, but the
cartilaginous portion is erected; in others it is sinewy, as the camel and the
stag; in others it is bony, as the fox and the wolf, the weasel and the martin,
for the martin also has a bony penis.
6. Again, man being a perfect animal, has the upper part of his body less
than the lower part; the contrary is the case with other sanguineous animals:
by the upper portion of his body we mean the portion of his body from the
head to the anus, and by the lower, the parts from hence downwards. In
those animals which have feet the hind leg is the lower part of the body in
point of size; and in those without legs, the same relation is observed in
their various kinds of tails. Such is the nature of perfected animals, but they
differ in the development of their parts. Man in the young state has the
upper part of his body greater than the lower; but as he grows the
proportion of his parts changes, wherefore also he is the only animal which
does not move in the same way when young and when grown up, for at first
a child crawls like a four-footed animal.
7. Some animals grow in the same proportion throughout, as the dog—
others when they are first born have their upper part proportionally less than
the lower, but as they approach maturity, the upper parts increase in size, as

in the lophuri, for in these animals the part from the hoof to the haunch
never grows after their birth.
8. There is a great difference in the teeth of animals, both among
themselves and from the human type; all viviparous and sanguineous
quadrupeds have teeth; some have teeth in both jaws, which others have
not; this is the first distinction. Those which have horns do not possess teeth
in both jaws, for they have no front teeth in the upper jaw. There are others,
as the camel, which, though it has no horns, has not teeth in the upper jaw.
9. Some animals have tusks like the boar, others have not; some have
pointed teeth, as the lion, panther, and dog; the teeth of others have an even
surface, as the ox and the horse. Animals with pointed teeth have their teeth
fitting into each other; no animal has both tusks and horns, neither those
with pointed teeth nor any others. Most animals have their front teeth sharp,
and their hind teeth flat; all the teeth of the seal are sharp pointed, showing
an approximation to the race of fishes, for all fishes have pointed teeth.
10. None of these genera have a double row of teeth. But, if we may believe
Ctesias, there are some which have this peculiarity, for he mentions an
Indian animal called martichora, which had three rows of teeth in each jaw;
it is as large and as rough as a lion, and has similar feet, but its ears and face
are like those of a man; its eye is grey, and its body red; it has a tail like a
land scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the spines with which
it is covered instead of hair, and it utters a noise resembling the united
sound of a pipe and a trumpet; it is not less swift of foot than a stag, and is
wild, and devours men.
11. Man sheds his teeth, and so do other animals, as the horse, the mule, and
the ass; man sheds his front teeth, but no animal sheds the molar teeth;
swine do not shed any of their teeth. About dogs, there is some doubt; some
persons think they do not shed their teeth at all, others that they shed only
the canine teeth; but it has been observed that they do shed their teeth like
men: perhaps it has escaped notice, because they do not shed them before
the inner ones, which are similar, are grown up.
12. And it is probable that the same takes place in other wild animals, since
they are said only to shed their canine teeth. Young dogs are known from
old ones by their teeth, for young dogs have sharp white teeth, old dogs
have them black and blunted. The horse is in this respect different from all

other animals; for while the teeth in other animals become darker as they
grow older, in the horse they become more white.
13. Those which are called canine teeth are placed between the cutting and
the molar teeth, and partake of the nature of both, for they are wide below,
but sharp at the top. The male has more teeth than the female in mankind,
and sheep, and goats, and swine. This has not been observed in other
animals. Those persons which have the greatest number of teeth are the
longest lived; those which have them widely separated, smaller, and more
scattered, are generally more short lived.
14. The last molar teeth, which are called wisdom teeth, appear, both in the
male and female about the age of twenty, and some women cut the molar
teeth at eighty years of age, causing great pain in the extremity of the jaw,
and some men also: this happens with persons who do not cut their wise
teeth at the proper age.
15. The elephant has four teeth on each side, with which he grinds his food,
for he reduces his food very small, like meal. Besides these, he has two
tusks: in the male these are large, and turned upwards; in the female they
are small, and bent in the contrary direction. The elephant has teeth as soon
as it is born; but the tusks are small, and therefore inconspicuous at first. It
has so small a tongue within its mouth, that it is difficult to see it.

Chapter IV.

1. Animals have very differently-sized mouths, for some have wide, open
mouths, as the dog, the lion, and all animals with pointed teeth; other
animals have a small mouth, as man, or a moderately-sized one, as the
swine. The Egyptian river-horse has a mane like a horse, and a cloven hoof
like the ox; it has a flat face; the talus is like that of other animals with
cloven hoofs, and it has large projecting teeth; it has a tail like a hog, and
utters a sound like the neighing of a horse; it is about the size of an ass, and
its skin is so thick that shields are made of it; its intestines are like those of
a horse or ass.

Chapter V.

1. Some animals unite in their nature the characteristics of man and
quadrupeds, as apes, monkeys, and cynocephali. The monkey is an ape with
a tail; cynocephali have the same form as apes, but are larger and stronger,
and their faces are more like dogs' faces; they are naturally fierce, and their
teeth are more like dogs' teeth, and stronger than in other genera.
2. The apes are hairy in their upper parts, so as to bear some resemblance to
quadrupeds, and also in the lower, because they are like men, for in this
particular, as I said before, there is a difference in men and brutes; their hair
is coarse, and apes are rough both above and below. They bear a strong
likeness to men in their face, for their nostrils, ears, and teeth, both the fore
and back teeth, are like his; and as for eye-lashes, though other animals are
entirely without them, the ape has them on the lower eye-lid; they are,
however, very thin, and altogether small.
3. Upon the breast are two small mammæ, with two nipples; the arms are
like those of man, but hairy; both the arms and legs are bent like those of
man, the curves of the limbs being turned towards each other. Besides these,
it has hands, fingers, and nails like those of man, but all indicating an
approximation to the brute; their feet are peculiar, for they are like great
hands. The fingers upon them are like those on the hands, and the middle
one is the longest; the sole of the foot is like a hand, except that it extends
the whole length of the hand like a palm, and is hard at the extremity, and is
a bad and obscure representation of a heel.
4. The feet are used for both the purposes of hands and feet, and are bent
like hands. The humerus and the femur are short compared with the cubitus
and the leg. The navel is not prominent, and there is a hard place about the
region of the navel. Like quadrupeds, the upper part of the body is much
larger than the lower, almost in the proportion of five to three, and the feet
are like hands, and as it were made up of hands and feet, a foot as far as the
extremity of the heel, and the remainder like a hand, for the fingers are
furnished with something like a palm.
5. The ape passes more of its time as a quadruped than a biped, and like a
quadruped, it has no nates, nor has it a tail like a biped, but only something
in representation of a tail. The pudendum of the female resembles that of a
woman; that of the male is more like a dog's. The monkey, as I said before,

has a tail, and all the internal parts of the body are like those of man. The
external parts of viviparous quadrupeds are of this nature.

Chapter VI.

1. Oviparous and sanguineous quadrupeds (for no sanguineous land animal
that is not either a quadruped or apodal is oviparous) have a head, neck,
back, upper and lower parts of the body, and fore and hind legs, and
something resembling a breast, like oviparous quadrupeds: most of them
also have a large tail, some a small one; all of them have many toes and
divided feet, and all the organs of sense, and a tongue, except the Egyptian
crocodile. And in this respect it resembles some fishes, for the tongue of
fishes is thorny, and not free, and in some the place for the tongue is
altogether smooth, and without division (so that nothing is visible), unless
the lips are drawn aside.
2. They have no ears, only a passage for hearing; neither have they any
mammæ, and the penis and testicles are internal, and not external. They
have no hair, but are covered with scales, and all are furnished with sharp
teeth. The river-crocodiles have eyes like hogs, and great sharp teeth, strong
claws, and an unbroken scaly skin. In the water their sight is imperfect, but
very good on land. They pass the greatest part of the day on land, and of the
night in the water, for they cannot bear the cold air.

Chapter VII.

1. The chameleon has the whole of its body like that of a lizard, and the
ribs, descending downwards, are joined together on the hypogastric region,
like those of fish, and the back-bone stands up, like that of a fish; its face is
like that of the chœropithecus.[36] It has a very long tail; the extremity is
very smooth, and rolled together like a thong. It is raised, upon longer legs
than a lizard; the joints of the legs are bent in the same direction as the
lizard's.
2. Each of its feet is divided into two parts, having the same relation to each
other as our thumbs have to the rest of the hand: and, for a short distance,
each of these is divided into toes; in the fore-feet the internal part has three,
the external two toes; in the hind feet the internal part has two, and the

external three toes; there is a claw upon each of its toes like that of birds of
prey; its whole body is rough, like the crocodile.
3. Its eyes are placed in a hollow, and are very large and round; surrounded
with skin like the rest of its body, and in the middle is left a small aperture
through which it sees; this is never covered with skin. The eye is turned
round in a circle, and it can direct its vision to any side, so that it can see
where it will. The change in the colour of its skin takes place when it is
filled with air. It can acquire either a black colour, like that of the crocodile,
or ochreous, like that of the lizard, or spotted with black, like the panther;
and this change takes place over the whole body, for the eyes also change
like the rest of the body, and so does the tail.
4. Its movements are slow, like those of the tortoise; when dying, it
becomes ochreous, and retains this colour after death. The œsophagus and
trachea of the chameleon are similar to the same parts in lizards; it has no
flesh, except a little on the head and cheeks, and upon the appendage at the
end of its tail. It has no blood, except about the heart, and eyes, and the
parts above the heart, and the veins that extend from these: and even in
these there is very little blood.
5. The brain lies a little above the eyes, and is continuous with them; and
when the outside skin of the eye is taken away, a bright object shines
through it, like a bright ring of brass. Through the whole of its body many
strong membranes are extended, which are much stronger than in other
animals. It breathes strongly for some time after it has been dissected, and
there are some slight movements of the heart; it also continues to contract
its sides, but not the other parts of the body. It has no distinct spleen; and it
hides itself in rocks like the lizard.

Chapter VIII.

1. Birds also have many parts like the animals described above. For all
these have a head, neck, back, and under parts of the body, and something
resembling a breast. They have two legs, and thus resemble men more than
other animals, except that the joints bend backwards like those of
quadrupeds, as I said before. They have neither hands, nor fore-feet, but
wings; herein they differ from all other animals. Again, the hip is like a
thigh, large and united as far as the middle of the abdomen, so as to look

like a thigh, when it is separated from the rest of the body; and the thigh
where it is joined to the leg is another part. The class of birds with crooked
claws have the largest thigh, and stronger breasts than others.
2. All birds have claws and many divisions of the foot; in most of them the
toes are quite separate; but the swimmers have their feet covered with a
web, but even these have distinct and jointed toes. All birds that fly high in
the air have four toes; and, generally, these are placed three forwards, and
one backward, like a heel; a few birds have two toes turned forwards and
two backwards, as the bird called jynx.[37] This bird is somewhat larger than
the spize,[38] and is variegated in appearance. The formation of its toes is
peculiar, and so is that of its tongue, which is like a serpent's. This it can
project from its mouth, as much as the width of four fingers, and draw it in
again. Like a snake it can turn its neck quite round, whilst the rest of its
body is perfectly still. It has large claws, like those of the colius,[39] and it
hisses with its voice.
3. Birds have a mouth, but its construction is peculiar, for they have neither
lips nor teeth, but a beak, and neither ears nor nostrils, but only passages for
these organs, for the nostrils in the beak, and for the ears in the head. They
have two eyes like other animals, without eyelashes; when heavy with
sleep, they close their eyes with the lower eyelid; and all possess a
nictitating membrane, which closes the eye. The owl-like birds also use the
upper eyelid. The same is the nature of the scaly animals, as the saurians,
and others of this class; all of them close their eyes with the lower eyelid,
but they do not all wink like birds. Again, birds have neither scales nor hair,
but feathers; all the feathers have a stem.
4. Birds have no tail, but a rump; in birds with long legs, or palmated feet,
this is short, in others it is large. These last, when they fly, keep their legs
close to the body, but the others stretch them out behind them. All birds
have a tongue, but this differs in various kinds: some have it large, others
small. Next after man, some birds articulate words better than any other
animals; this is particularly the case with those with broad tongues. No
oviparous animal has an epiglottis on its trachea: but it can close and open
the passage, so as to prevent any heavy thing finding its way into the lungs.
5. Some tribes of birds have spurs; this is never the case with those which
have crooked claws. Those with crooked claws are more active in flight;

those which have spurs, are heavier in their make.
6. Some birds have a crest, mostly formed of erect feathers; the domestic
fowl, alone, is peculiar, for its crest is neither flesh, nor very unlike flesh.

Chapter IX.

1. Among aquatic animals, there is one class of fish, which embraces many
forms, and is separated from other animals, for it has a head, and upper and
lower parts, in which last are the stomach and bowels, and a continuous and
undivided tail. This is not alike in all. They have neither neck nor limb, nor
internal and external testicles, nor mammæ, nor has any other animal
mammæ that is not viviparous, nor indeed all viviparous animals, but those
only that are internally viviparous, and not first of all oviparous. For the
dolphin is a viviparous animal, wherefore it has two mammæ, not indeed
above, but near the organs of reproduction. It has not evident nipples, but,
as it were, a stream flowing from each side. From these the milk exudes,
and the young ones suck as they follow the mother. This has been distinctly
observed by some persons.
2. But fish, as we have observed, have neither mammæ nor any external
passage for the genital organs. In the branchia they have a distinctive organ,
through which they eject the water they have received into their mouths;
and they have fins, most fishes have four, but the long fishes, as the eel,
have only two placed near the branchia, and in this respect the cestreus,[40]
a fish in the lake of Siphæ, is similar to the eel,[41] and so is the fish called
tænia.[42] Some of these long fish have no fins, as the muræna, nor have
they divided branchia like other fish.
3. Some fish with branchia have coverings over their branchi; in all the
cartilaginous fishes they are uncovered. All fishes that have coverings have
the branchia placed on their sides; among the cartilaginous fishes some are
broad in the lowest part, as the narce[43] and the batos;[44] some very long in
the sides, as all the galeodea.[45] In the batracus,[46] although the branchia
are on the sides, they are covered with a coriaceous, not a prickly
membrane, like those of fishes which are not cartilaginous.
4. In some fishes with branchia they are single, in others double, but the last
towards the body is always single. Some have but few branchia, others have

many; but their number is always equal on both sides, and those with the
smallest number have always one on each side; this is double in the capros;
[47] others have two on each side, sometimes these are single, sometimes
double, as in the conger[48] and the scarus;[49] others have four simple
branchia on each side, as the ellops,[50] synagris, muræna, and eel; others
have four, all divided except the last, as the cichle,[51] perca,[52] glanis,[53]
and cyprinus;[54] all the galeodea have five double branchia on each side,
the xiphias[55] has eight, which are double. This is the manner and number
of the branchia of fishes.
5. And fish differ in other respects besides their gills, for they have no hair
like viviparous quadrupeds, nor scaly plates like oviparous quadrupeds, nor
feathers like birds, but the greater number of them are covered with scales;
some of them are rough, and a very few are smooth. Some cartilaginous
fishes are rough, others smooth. Congers, eels, and tunnies are smooth. All
fish except the scarus have pointed teeth, and all have sharp teeth, some
several rows of them, and teeth on the tongue; they have also a hard prickly
tongue, so united to the mouth as sometimes to appear without a tongue.
6. The mouth of some fishes is wide, like viviparous quadrupeds. They have
no external organs of sense, nor even passages for smelling or hearing; but
all have eyes without eyelids, though their eyes are not hard. All fishes are
sanguineous; some are oviparous, others viviparous; all those that are
covered with scales are oviparous. The cartilaginous fishes are all
viviparous, except the batrachus.

Chapter X.

1. The remaining class of sanguineous animals is that of serpents; these
partake of both characters. The greater portion of them inhabit the land, a
few inhabiting water are found in rivers. There are also serpents in the sea
very like those on land, except in their head, which is more like that of the
conger. There are many genera of sea-serpents, and they are of all kinds of
colours; they do not exist in the deepest part of the ocean. Serpents are
apodal, like fishes.
2. There are also marine scolopendræ,[56] very like those on land, but rather
less; they live in rocky places; in colour they are redder, and they have more

feet, and slighter legs than in the terrestrial species. These also, like the
serpents, are not found in deep places.
3. And there is a small fish which lives among the rocks, which some call
echineis;[57] some people use it for trials and philtres; it is not fit for food.
Some people say it has feet, but it has none; the fins, however, are like feet,
which gives it this appearance. I have now described the external parts of
sanguineous animals, their nature, and their number, and the differences
which occur amongst them.

Chapter XI.

1. First of all we will speak of the internal parts of sanguineous animals, for
the greatest number of genera differ from other animals, some being
sanguineous, others ex-sanguineous. The sanguineous genera are man,
viviparous and oviparous quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and whales, and
perhaps others that are anonymous, because they do not form a genus, but
simply species amongst each other, as the serpent and the crocodile.
2. All viviparous quadrupeds have an œsophagus and trachea, situated as in
man, and so have oviparous quadrupeds and birds, though there is some
difference in the formation of these parts; all that breathe by inhaling and
exhaling air have lungs, trachea, and œsophagus. The position of the
œsophagus and trachea, though similar, is not the same, nor are the lungs
alike in all, nor similar in position.
3. All sanguineous animals have a heart, and a division in the middle of the
body, called a diaphragm. In small animals its smallness and thinness render
it less apparent. The heart of the ox is peculiar; for there is a kind of ox,
though not the whole genus, which has a bone in its heart, and there is also
a bone in the heart of the horse.
4. Not all animals have lungs, fish and those with gills have no lungs. All
sanguineous animals have a liver, generally a spleen also; but in oviparous
animals that are not viviparous, the spleen is so small as nearly to escape
notice, as in most birds, the pigeon, kite,[58] hawk,[59] and owl. The
ægocephalus[60] has none at all. Oviparous quadrupeds are of the same
nature, for they have a very small spleen, as the tortoise, emys,[61] phryne,
lizard, crocodile, and frog.

5. Some animals have a gall upon the liver, others none. Among viviparous
quadrupeds the stag[62] has none, nor the deer,[63] horse, mule, ass, seal, and
some swine. The Achaïnian stag appears to have the gall in the tail; that
which they call gall in these animals resembles it in colour, but it is not
liquid like gall, but more like the spleen in its internal structure.
6. All, while they are alive, have worms[64] in the head; they are produced
in the hollow part under the hypoglottis, and near the vertebræ, where the
head is joined on. In size they resemble very large maggots; they are
numerous, and continuous, in number not generally more than twenty.
Stags, as I have observed, have no gall, but their intestines are so bitter that
dogs will not eat them if the deer are fat.
7. The elephant also has a liver without a gall, but when the part where the
gall is attached in other animals, is cut open, a quantity of fluid like bile,
more or less abundant, runs out. Among those animals which inhale sea-
water, and have lungs, the dolphin has no gall. All birds and fishes have
galls, and all oviparous quadrupeds, to speak of them at once, have a gall,
greater or less; but in some fishes it is placed upon the liver, as the
galeodea, glanis, rine,[65] leiobatus,[66] narce, and in some long fish, as the
eel, belone,[67] and zygæna;[68] and the callionymus[69] has a gall upon the
liver, larger in proportion to its size than any other fish. Others have a gall
upon the intestines, extending from the liver by several thin passages; the
amia[70] has it stretched out upon the intestines, and equal to them in length,
and many times folded upon it. Other fish have the gall upon the intestines,
some at a greater, others at a less distance, as the batrachus, elops, synagris,
muræna, xiphias.
8. And the same genus often appears to have the gall extended in both
directions, as the conger, in some individuals it is turned towards the liver,
in others suspended before the liver. The same structure is observed in
birds, for some have the gall turned towards the stomach, and others
towards the entrails, as the pigeon, crow, quail, swallow, sparrow; in others
it is directed both towards the liver and the stomach, as the ægocephalus; in
others, as the hawk and kite, it is directed towards the liver and the
intestines.

Chapter XII.

1. All viviparous quadrupeds have kidneys and a bladder, but some
oviparous animals have neither, as birds and fishes, and among oviparous
quadrupeds the marine turtle is the only one that has them at all
proportionate to its size. The marine turtle has the kidneys like those of
oxen, and that of the ox is like a great many kidneys joined together. In all
its internal parts, the bonassus[71] is like the ox.
2. The position which these parts occupy is the same in all animals, and the
heart is in the middle of the body of all creatures, except man. In him it is
inclined towards the left side; and, as it was before observed, the apex of
the heart is directed forward in all, but in fishes it does not appear to be so,
for the apex of the heart is not directed towards the chest, but towards the
mouth and head, and the top of the heart is suspended from the place where
the right and left branchia are joined to each other, and there are also other
passages which extend from the heart to each of the branchia, greater
towards the larger branchia, and less towards the smaller; but that to the top
of the heart in great fishes is a thick white tube.
3. A few fishes, as the conger and the eel, have an œsophagus, but even in
these it is very small; in some of the fish that have a liver, it is placed on the
right side, and has no lobes; in others, it is divided from the
commencement; and the greater part is on the right side. For in some fish
each part of the liver hangs down, and the divisions are not united at their
origin, as in the tribe of fish called galeodea, and in a species of hare which
is found near the lake of Bolba, in the place called Sycine, and in other
places, so that one might suppose that they had two livers, on account of the
distances at which the passages unite, as in the lungs of birds.
4. In all animals the spleen is naturally situated on the left side. The case
has occurred that an animal having been opened, has been observed to have
the spleen on the right side and the liver on the left, but such appearances
are considered ominous. In all animals the trachea reaches to the lungs (its
nature will be described in another place); and the œsophagus, in all that
have this part, reaches to the stomach through the diaphragm. For most
fishes (as I observed before) have no œsophagus, but the stomach is united
directly with the mouth. So that it often happens that, when great fishes are
pursuing small ones, the stomach falls forward into the mouth.

5. All the animals that have been mentioned have a stomach, and in the
same situation, for it is universally placed under the diaphragm, and an
intestine follows it, and ends in the exit for the food which is called the
anus. But the stomach of different animals is variously formed, for in the
first place viviparous horned quadrupeds, which have not teeth in both jaws,
have four such passages, and those animals are said to ruminate. For the
œsophagus, commencing in the mouth, extends to the parts just below the
lungs, and passes through the diaphragm to the great stomach.
6. The internal part of this is rough, and folded together; and it is united,
near the junction of the stomach, to the part which, from its appearance, is
called the net, for the exterior is like a stomach, but the inside resembles the
meshes of a net; in point of size, the net is much less than the stomach. Next
to this is the part called echinus, because internally it is rough and
channelled; it is nearly the same size as the net. Next to the echinus is the
enystrum, which is both larger and longer than the echinus, and internally
covered with many large and smooth folds; after this are the entrails.
7. This is the nature of the stomach of animals with horns, and no teeth in
the upper jaw. But they differ from each other in the form and size of these
parts; and because the œsophagus is sometimes united to the middle, and
sometimes to the side of the stomach. Most animals which have teeth in
both jaws have but one stomach, as the man, dog, bear, lion, and the wolf.
The thos[72] has all its intestines like a wolf. All these have but one stomach,
to which the bowel is united. But in some of these the stomach is larger, as
the hog and the bear; that of the hog is marked with a few smooth lines. In
other animals the stomach is less, not indeed much larger than the intestine,
as the dog, lion, and man. In the forms of their bowels other animals are
divided into two classes, resembling these types; for in some the stomach
resembles a dog's, in others a hog's, both the greater and lesser animals in
the same way; and the stomachs of various animals differ in size, form,
thickness, thinness, and the position of the junction of the œsophagus.
8. And the nature of the bowels differs in the before-named animals, those,
namely, which have not, and those which have teeth in both jaws, in size,
thickness, and folding. The intestines of the ruminants are all large, and so
are the animals themselves; there are a few small animals of this class, and
there is no horned animal which is very small. And some have appendages
to the intestines, for none of the animals with teeth in both jaws have

straight intestines. There are enlargements in the bowels of the elephant,
which give it the appearance of having four stomachs; in these the food is
detained, and apart from these there is no receptacle for the food. Its
intestines are very like those of the hog, except that the liver is four times
greater than that of the ox, and other parts also; the spleen is small in
proportion to its size.
9. The stomach and intestines of oviparous quadrupeds bear a similar
proportion to each other, as in the land and marine tortoise, the lizard, and
both kinds of crocodiles,[73] and similar quadrupeds; for they have one
simple stomach, in some it is like that of the hog, in others like that of the
dog.
10. The class of serpents in almost every part of their body resemble the
saurians, which have feet, and are oviparous, if we add to their length, and
take away the feet; for snakes are covered with scales, and have their upper
and lower parts like saurians, except that they have no testicles, but, like
fish, two passages united in one, and a large and cloven uterus, but in other
respects their intestines are so like those of saurians, except that from their
elongated figure their intestines are long and narrow, that they might be
mistaken for them, from their similarity.
11. For the trachea is very long, and the œsophagus still longer, and the
commencement of the trachea is close to the mouth, so that the tongue
appears to lie beneath it. The trachea appears to be above the tongue
because this last can be retracted, and is not always in one position, as in
other animals. Their tongue is long, thin, and black, and can be put forth for
some distance. The tongue of serpents and saurians is distinct from that of
all other animals, for the extremity of the tongue is cloven; this is most
remarkable in serpents, for the extremities of their tongues are like hairs.
The seal also has a forked tongue. The serpent has a stomach like a very
wide entrail, like that of the dog, afterwards a very long and thin intestine,
which is alike to its extremity.
12. Behind the pharynx is a small kidney-shaped heart, so that at times the
apex does not appear to be directed towards the chest, next to this is a single
lung, divided by a muscular passage, very long, and descending a long
distance from the breast. The liver is long and simple, the spleen small and
round, like that of the saurians. The gall resembles that of fish, in water

serpents it is situated on the liver, in others generally upon the intestines.
They all have pointed teeth, and as many ribs as there are days in the
month, for they have thirty. Some persons say that in one respect serpents
resemble the young of the swallow, for if their eyes are pierced with a
pointed instrument, they will grow again, and if the tails of serpents or
lizards be cut off, they will be reproduced.
13. The same remarks will apply to the intestines and stomachs of fishes,
for they have one simple stomach, but it differs in form, for in some fishes
it is like a bowel, as in the one called scarus, and this is the only fish that
appears to ruminate, and the size of the intestines is simple and folded
together, for it can be resolved into one, by unfolding it. The appendages of
the stomach appear to be peculiar to fishes and birds, for birds have them
above the stomach, and few in number, but in fish they are above, and
around the stomach. Some have many appendages, as the gobius,[74] galeus,
[75] perca, scorpios,[76] citharus,[77] trigla,[78] and sparus.[79] But the cestreus
has many on one side of the stomach, and only one on the other. Some have
only a few, as the hepatus[80] and the glaucus,[81] and the chrysophrys[82]
also has only a few, but some individuals differ from others, for one
chrysophrys has many, another has only a few. There are some fish which
have none of them, as most of the cartilaginous genera; others have a few,
and some a great many, and all fish have these appendages very near the
stomach itself.
14. Birds have their internal parts different from each other and from other
animals; for some have before the stomach a crop, as the domestic fowl,
pigeon, dove, and partridge. The crop is a large and hollow skin, into which
the food is received before it is digested. Hence from the œsophagus it is
narrower, then wider, and where it descends into the stomach it is smaller.
15. In most birds the stomach is fleshy and thick, and on the outside there is
a strong skin, which is separated from the fleshy part. Some birds have no
crop, but instead of it a wide œsophagus, either wholly so, or in the part
extending to the stomach, as in the colœus,[83] raven, and crow. The quail
has the lower part of the œsophagus broad, the ægocephalus has it small but
wider, and so has the owl. But the duck, goose, gull, diver, and bustard,
have a wide and broad œsophagus, and so have many other birds.

16. And some have a part of the stomach itself like a crop, as the cenchreis;
[84] and there are some which have neither œsophagus nor a wide crop, but
a large stomach; these are small birds like the swallow, and the sparrow. A
few have neither a crop, nor a wide œsophagus, but a very long one; these
are birds with a long neck, as the porphyrion.[85] Almost all these emit a
moister excrement than other birds.
17. The quail has these peculiarities, for it has a crop, and before the
stomach a wide and broad œsophagus. And the crop is at a great distance
from the part of the œsophagus before the belly, considering the size of the
bird. Birds have generally a small intestine, which is single when unfolded,
and birds have appendages, a few, as I have said, and not placed above, as
in fish, but below, near the end of the intestine. Some birds have not these
appendages, though they generally have them, as the domestic fowl,
partridge, duck, night-raven,[86] localus,[87] ascalaphus,[88] goose, bustard,
owl. Some of the small birds have them, but they are very minute, as the
sparrow.

BOOK THE THIRD.
Chapter I.

1. We have treated of the other internal parts of animals, their number, their
nature and varieties. It now remains for us to speak of the organs of
generation. In females these are always internal; but there is much
difference in males, for some sanguineous animals have no testicles at all,
in others they are internal; and in some animals with internal testicles, they
are placed near the kidneys, in others near the abdomen; in other animals
they are external. The penis of these last is sometimes united to the
abdomen, in others it is loose as well as the testicles; but in promingent and
retromingent animals it is suspended from the abdomen in a different
manner. Neither fish nor any other animal with gills, nor the whole class of
serpents, have testicles; neither has any apodal animal which is not
internally viviparous.
2. Birds have testicles, but they are internal and near the loins, and so have
oviparous quadrupeds, as the lizard, tortoise, and crocodile, and among
viviparous animals, the hedgehog. In some viviparous animals they are
situated internally upon the abdomen, as the dolphin among apodal
creatures, and the elephant among quadrupeds. In other animals the testicles
are external. It has been previously observed, that the manner and position
of their junction with the abdomen is various, for in some they are joined on
and do not hang down, as in swine, in others they hang down as in man.
3. It has also been observed that neither fishes nor serpents have testicles,
but they have two passages hanging down on each side of the spine from
the diaphragm, and these unite in one passage above the anus, by above, we
mean nearer the spinal column. At the season of coition these passages are
full of semen, which exudes on pressure; the differences among these may
be seen by dissection, and in another place they will each be considered
more particularly.
4. All oviparous animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, have their testicles
placed in the loins below the diaphragm, some of a white colour, others

ochreous, but in all surrounded with small veins; from each of these a
passage is produced, which afterwards become united in one, and, as in
fish, open near the anus. This is the penis, which is inconspicuous in small
animals; but in the larger, as the goose and such like, it becomes more
conspicuous immediately after coition.
5. And these passages, both in fish and other animals, are joined to the loins
below the stomach and between the entrails and the great vein, from which
passages proceed to each of the kidneys; and, as in fish, the semen may be
seen entering them at the period of coition, when these passages become
very conspicuous, but when this season is passed the passages again
become invisible. So also the testicles of birds are either small or entirely
invisible when not excited, but when urged by desire they become very
large; this is so remarkable in pigeons and partridges, that some persons
have supposed that they had no testicles during winter.
6. In some of those animals in which the testicles are placed forwards, they
are internal and upon the abdomen, as in the dolphin; in others they are
externally conspicuous upon the extremity of the abdomen. These animals
are similar in other respects, but differ in this, for in some the testicles are
uncovered, and others that have external testes they are placed in a scrotum.
7. This is the nature of the testicles of all viviparous animals with feet: from
the aorta, passages like veins proceed to the head of each testicle, and two
others from the kidneys, these last are full of blood, but those from the aorta
contain no blood. From the head of each testicle to the testicle itself, there
proceeds a thicker and more muscular passage, which is in each testicle
reflected back to the head of the testicle, and from this point they again
unite upon the penis towards the fore-part of it.
8. And both these passages which are reflected back upon themselves, and
those which are seated upon the testicles, are covered with the same
membrane as the testes themselves, so that unless this membrane is taken
away, they all appear to be one passage. These last passages, which are
seated upon the testicle, contain sanguineous fluid, but less than those
above from the aorta; but in the reflected passages of the duct which is upon
the penis, the fluid is white. A passage also leads from the bladder, and is
united to the upper part of this duct, which is enclosed in the part called the

penis as in a husk. The accompanying diagram will illustrate the position of
these parts.
9. The origin of the passage from the trachea, a; the head of the testes and
the descending passages, b b; the passages which proceed from these, and
are seated upon the testicle, c c; the reflexed passages which contain the
white fluid, d d; the penis, e; the bladder f; the testicles, g g. But when the
testicles are cut out or otherwise destroyed, the upper passages are
retracted; in young animals castration is performed by bruising the testicles,
in older animals by excision. And it has happened that a bull has begotten
young if admitted to the female immediately after castration. This is the
nature of the testicles of animals.
10. The uterus of the females that possess this organ is not of the same
nature, nor alike in all, but they differ from each other both in viviparous
and oviparous animals. The uterus is double in all those animals in which it
is situated near the external organ of generation, one part lying on the right
side, the other on the left, but the origin is one, and there is but one os uteri,
which is like a very fleshy tube, and in most animals, especially those of a
large size, it is cartilaginous. One part of this organ is called the uterus and
delphys (whence the word adelphi, brothers), and the vagina and os uteri
are called metra.
11. In all viviparous animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, the uterus is
placed below the diaphragm, as in the human female, the bitch, sow, mare,
and cow, and it is the same in all horned animals. At the extremity of the
uterus most animals have a convoluted part called the horns; these are not
distinct in all oviparous animals; but in some birds they are placed near the
diaphragm, and in some fishes below, as in the viviparous bipeds and
quadrupeds. But they are thin, membranaceous, and long, so that in very
small fish each part of the roe appears as one ovum, as if the fish which are
said to have a crumbling roe had but two ova, for it is not one ovum but
many, and therefore it may be resolved into many.
12. In the uterus of birds the vagina is below, fleshy and tough, but the part
near the diaphragm membranaceous and very thin, so that the eggs appear
to be outside the uterus. In large birds the membrane is more conspicuous,
and if inflated through the vagina, it swells and enlarges at places; in small
birds these parts are not conspicuous. The uterus of oviparous quadrupeds,

as the tortoise, lizard, frog, and such like, is of the same nature, for the
vagina below is one and fleshy, but the division and the ova are higher up
and near the diaphragm.
13. In those apodal creatures which are outwardly viviparous and inwardly
oviparous, as the sharks and selachea—[The selachea are apodal, furnished
with gills, and viviparous]—the uterus is divided, and as in birds, it
commences below and extends towards the diaphragm. The ova are situated
between the division, and above near the diaphragm; and the animal is
produced from the ovum after this has descended into the open space.
14. The difference between the uteri of these fish and others may be studied
more accurately in drawings of dissections. Serpents also differ much both
among themselves and from other animals, for all serpents except the viper
are oviparous; this one is viviparous, though at first internally oviparous,
wherefore, in many respects, its uterus resembles that of the cartilaginous
fishes. The uterus of the serpent is long, like the body, and descends
downwards, beginning from one duct and continuing on either side of the
spine as far as the diaphragm, as if each were a passage, in which the ova
are placed in order; these ova are not extruded singly, but connected
together like a chain.
15. In all animals that are either internally or externally viviparous, the
uterus is situated above the abdomen; in all oviparous creatures it is placed
below, near the loins. Those that are externally viviparous, but internally
oviparous, partake of both characters, for the lower part in which the ova
are situated is near the loins, the other part whence the ova are extruded
above the intestines. And there is also this difference in the uteri of animals:
those which have horns and not teeth in both jaws have cotyledons in the
pregnant uterus, and some of those also with teeth in both jaws, as the hare,
the mouse, and the bat. But other viviparous animals with teeth in both
jaws, and with feet, have a smooth uterus. The embryo is not united to the
cotyledon, but to the womb. This is the manner of the internal and external
heterogeneous parts of animals.

Chapter II.

1. Of the homogeneous parts of animals, the blood is common to
sanguineous animals; and so is the part in which it is contained, which is

called a vein; analogous to these, in exsanguineous animals are the serum
and the fibre. That which especially constitutes the body is flesh or its
analogue: the bone and its analogue; the spine and the cartilage. Next to this
we place the skin, membranes, sinews, hair, nails, and their analogue; after
these, adeps, fat, and excrementitious matters; then are fæces, phlegm, and
bile, both the yellow and the black.
2. But inasmuch as the blood and the veins seem to occupy the chief place,
we will first of all speak of these, both for other reasons, and because
former writers do not appear to have described them rightly. The difficulty
of understanding them is the reason of their errors, for in dead animals, the
nature of the principal veins is obscure, for they collapse as soon as the
blood has escaped, and it pours out of them as from a vessel. No part of the
body, except the veins, contains any blood, except the heart, which has a
little; but it is all in the veins. In living creatures their nature cannot be
distinguished, for they are internal, and out of sight; so that those who
consider them only in dead and dissected animals, cannot see their principal
origins. But some, by the examination of emaciated persons, have
distinguished the origin of the veins, from the appearance of those which
are external.
3. For Syennesis,[89] a Cyprian physician, speaks thus: "The larger veins are
thus constituted. From the navel around the loins, through the back to the
lungs, under the breasts; that from the right to the left, and that from the left
to the right. That from the left, through the liver to the kidney and the
testicle; that from the right to the spleen, the kidney, and the testicle, and
from thence to the penis."
4. Diogenes[90] of Apollonia writes thus: "The veins are thus placed in man.
There are two very large ones, which extend through the stomach by the
spine of the back, one to the right and the other to the left, each to the leg
nearest itself, and upwards to the head by the collar-bone, and through the
neck. From these great veins others extend through the whole of the body,
from the right to the right side, and from the left to the left side. The largest
are two from the heart, surrounding the spine of the back; and others, a little
higher up, through the breasts under the arm-pits, each to the hand nearest
itself; and the one is called the splenetic, the other the hepatic vein.

5. "The extremity of these veins is divided, one branch goes to the thumb,
and another to the wrist, and from these many small branches are extended
upon each hand, and the fingers; and others, smaller still, branch off from
these first veins, from the right side to the liver, from the left to the spleen
and kidneys. The veins, which go to the legs, are divided near the junction,
and extend through the whole thigh; but the largest of these extends to the
back of the thigh, and appears thick; another, less thick, passes through the
inside of the thigh, and afterwards veins extend by the knee to the leg and
foot. As on the hands, they are distributed upon the tarsus of the foot, and
from thence to the toes.
6. "A number of small veins are distributed on the stomach and the lungs.
Those that extend to the head, through the jugular region, appear large in
the neck. From the extremity of each of these many veins are distributed
upon the head, some on the right side to the left, others on the left side to
the right, they all end near the ear. And there is a second vein upon the neck
on each side, somewhat less than the other, to which the principal veins of
the neck are united. These pass inwards, through the neck, and from each of
them veins pass beneath the shoulder-blade and to the hands; and near the
splenetic and hepatic veins there appear others a little less, which they
divide when any disease attacks the skin; but the hepatic and splenetic veins
are divided for any disease in the neighbourhood of the stomach.
7. "Other veins pass from these, beneath the breasts; and there are other
small ones, which proceed from each of these through the spinal marrow to
the testicles, and others beneath the skin, through the flesh, reach the
kidneys; in men they terminate upon the testicles, in women on the uterus.
The first veins from the stomach are wider, and afterwards become smaller,
until they pass over from the right to the left, and from the left to the right;
these are called the spermatic veins. The thickest blood is beneath the flesh,
but that which is in excess in these places becomes thin, and warm, and
frothy." These are the opinions of Syennesis and Diogenes.
8. Polybus[91] writes thus: "There are four pair of veins, one from the back
of the head through the neck, on the outside, near the spine on either side,
as far as the thighs and the legs, afterwards through the legs to the ancles,
on the outside, and to the feet. Wherefore, in complaints of the back and
thigh, they divide the veins upon the poplitic region, or ancles, on the
outside. Another pair of veins pass from the head, by the ears, through the

neck, these are called the jugular veins; and others within, near the spine,
lead by the loins to the testicles and the thighs, and through the poplitic
region on the inside, and through the leg to the inner part of the ancle, and
the feet; wherefore, in complaints of the loins and testicles, they bleed in the
poplitic region and ancles.
9. "The third pair of veins, from the temple through the neck, and beneath
the scapula, reach the lungs; those from the right to the left, under the
breast, to the spleen and kidneys; and those from the left to the right side,
from the lungs, under the breast, and liver, and kidney; and both end
beneath the testicles. The fourth pair from the forepart of the head and the
eyes, under the neck and collar-bones; from thence they extend through the
humerus to the elbow, and through the cubitus to the wrist and the fingers,
and through the lower part of the arm to the arm-pits, and the upper part of
the lungs. The one reaches as far as the spleen, the other to the liver;
afterwards they both pass over the abdomen to the pudendum."

Chapter III.

1. The opinions of other persons are nearly these; and there are other
physiologists, but they have not treated so accurately of the veins. But all
agree in placing their origin in the head and brain, in which they are
incorrect. But, as I have remarked before, it is difficult to discern the course
of the veins; indeed, it is impossible to understand them unless a person will
examine animals which, after emaciation, have been killed by strangulation.
The following is the nature of the veins: There are two veins in the interior
of the chest, near the spine; the larger of these is placed forward, the smaller
is behind; the larger is inclined to the right side, the smaller to the left; and
this by some persons is called the aorta, from the sinewy portion which is
seen in dead animals.
2. These veins have their origin in the heart, for they pass completely
through the other intestines, and always preserve the character of veins. The
heart is, as it were, a part of them, and especially of the more forward and
larger one, for these veins are above and below, and the heart is in the
middle of them. The heart of all animals contains cavities, but in the heart
of very small animals the largest cavity is scarcely perceptible, in
moderately sized animals the second cavity is scarcely visible, but in large

animals they are all three distinct enough. And when the apex of the heart is
turned forwards, as I have observed, the principal cavity is on the right side,
and above it the least is on the left side, and the middle-sized one is
between them; the two smaller are far less than the greater.
3. All these are perforated towards the lungs, but imperceptibly so from the
minuteness of the passage, except in one place. The great vein is suspended
from the upper portion of the principal cavity, and on the right side;
afterwards through the cavity a vein extends again, as if the vein were a part
of the cavity in which the blood stagnates. The aorta has its origin from the
middle cavity, but in a different manner from the vein, for it communicates
with the heart by a much narrower passage, and the vein is continued
through the heart. But the aorta passes from the heart, and the great vein is
membranous and like skin, but the aorta is narrow and very sinewy, and as
it is continued towards the head and the lower parts of the body, it becomes
narrow and quite sinewy.
4. A portion of the great vein is first of all extended upwards from the heart
to the lung, and to the junction of the aorta, this vein being undivided and
large; from this place it divides into two branches, the one towards the lung,
and the other to the spine and the lowest vertebra of the neck. The branch
which goes to the lungs is first divided into two branches, and afterwards it
is continued upon every tube and passage of the lungs, greater to the
greater, and less to the less, so as to leave no part in which there is not a
passage and a small vein. These last are invisible from their minute size, so
that the whole lung seems to be full of blood.
5. And the passages from the vein are above the tubes which extend from
the trachea. And the vein which is continued upon the vertebra of the neck,
and upon the spinal column, returns again to the spine, as Homer writes in
his poems: "He cut off the whole vein which passes up the back and returns
again to the neck;"[92] and from this vein branches extend to each rib and to
each vertebra; but that which is upon the vertebra near the kidneys branches
in two directions. These branches, then, of the great vein are subdivided in
this manner.
6. And above these, from that part which is continued from the heart, the
whole is again divided into two directions, for some reach to the sides and
the clavicles, and afterwards through the armpits to the arms, in the human

subject, but in quadrupeds to the fore-legs, to the wings in birds, and to the
pectoral fins in fishes. The commencements of these veins, when they are
first of all divided, are called jugular veins; and having branched off in the
neck from the great vein, they are continued to the trachea of the lungs. And
if these veins are held on the outside, men fall down dead with insensibility,
with closed eyes, but without choking.
7. Extending in this manner, and receiving the trachea between them, they
reach the place where the jaws unite with the head; and again from this
point they are divided into four veins, one of which bends backwards and
descends through the neck and shoulder, and meets the first division of the
vein by the joint of the arm; the other portion terminates in the hand and
fingers; and another branch extends from each part near the ear to the brain,
where it is divided into many small branches upon the membrane which
surrounds the brain.
8. The brain never contains blood in any animal, nor does any vein, small or
great, terminate upon it; but some of the other branches that extend from
this vein surround the brain in a circle, and others, end upon the organs of
sense and the teeth in very small veins. In the same manner, also, the
branches of the smaller vein, which is called the aorta, are divided: they are
continued beside those of the great vein, but the tubes are smaller and the
branches less than those of the great vein.

Chapter IV.

1. The veins, then, are thus distributed in the parts above the heart, but the
part of the great vein which is below the heart passes through the middle of
the diaphragm, and is united to the aorta and spinal column by membranous
flaccid passages. From this a short and wide vein passes through the liver,
from which many similar branches extend to the liver, and disappear upon
it. There are two branches of the vein, one of which terminates upon the
diaphragm, and what is called the præcordia, the other returns through the
arm-pit to the right arm, and unites with the other veins near the interior
part of the elbow. For this reason physicians treat certain diseases of the
liver by venesection in this vein.
2. From the left of this there is a short and wide vein, which reaches to the
spleen, and the branches of this vein are lost upon this organ, and another

portion branching off in the same way from the left the great vein passes up
to the left arm, except that the last-mentioned pass through the liver, but this
one through the spleen. Other branches also separate from the great vein,
the one to the omentum, the other to the pancreas; and from this many veins
extend through the mesenterium, and all end there in one great vein, which
passes through the whole intestine and the stomach, as far as the
œsophagus; and many veins branch off from them around these parts.
3. Both the aorta and the great vein continue as far as the kidney each as a
single duct; from this point they are more closely united to the spinal
column, and are each divided into two parts, like the letter lambda (Λ), and
the great vein is placed farther back than the aorta. The aorta is more
closely united to the spinal column, near the heart, and the junction is
formed by small sinewy veins.
4. The aorta leaves the heart as a large hollow passage, but as it advances it
becomes narrower and more sinewy. From the aorta, veins extend also to
the mesenterium, like those from the great vein, but far inferior in size, for
they are narrow and muscular. They terminate in small hollow muscular
veins. No branch of the aorta extends to the liver and the spleen, but the
branches of either vein extend to each hip, and both touch upon the bone.
Branches reach the kidney both from the great vein and the aorta; they do
not, however, enter the cavity, but are taken up in the substance of the
kidney.
5. Two other strong and continuous passages reach from the aorta to the
bladder, and others from the cavity of the kidney; but these do not
communicate with the great vein. From the centre of each kidney a hollow
sinewy vein passes through the other veins to the spinal column; first of all
they disappear upon each hip, and then appear again in branches towards
the hip; their extremities are distributed upon the bladder and penis in the
male, and upon the uterus in the female; no branch of the great vein passes
to the uterus, but many and thick ones reach it from the aorta.
6. From the aorta and great vein branches are distributed to the nates; at first
they are large and hollow, afterwards they pass through the legs, ending
upon the feet and toes; and others again pass through the nates and thighs,
alternately from right to left, and they join with other veins below the knees.

7. The nature and origin of the veins are evident from this description. In all
sanguineous animals, the nature and origin of the principal veins are the
same, but the multitude of smaller veins is not alike in all, for neither are
the parts of the same nature, nor do all possess the same parts. Nor are the
veins equally apparent in all animals; but they are more manifest in those
which have most blood, and in the largest creatures; but in those animals
which are small, and have not much blood, either by nature or from excess
in fat, they are not so easily investigated, for some of the passages are
confused, like rivulets that are lost in beds of mud; and there are some
animals which have but few, and these fibres instead of veins. The great
vein is very conspicuous in all, even the smallest animals.

Chapter V.

1. The following is the nature of the sinews of animals. The origin of these,
also, is in the breast, for there is a sinew in the principal cavity of the heart
itself; and that which is called the aorta is a sinewy vein, for its terminations
are always sinewy, for they are not hollow, and are extensible, like the
sinews which end upon the bending of the bones: for it is not the nature of
sinews to be continuous from one origin, like the veins, for the veins have
the whole form of the body as in outline sketches, so that in emaciated
subjects the whole mass appears full of veins, for the same place is
occupied by veins in lean persons that in fat ones is flesh.
2. The sinews are drawn round the joints and flexures of the bones; but, if
their nature were continuous, the continuation would be evident in
emaciated persons. The principal parts of the sinews are around the part of
the body appropriated to leaping, and this is called the poples. Another
double sinew is the tendon of the neck, and the epitonus and the sinew of
the shoulder, which aid in the support of the body. The sinews around the
joints have not received any name, for all the bones where they are
contiguous are bound together by the sinews.
3. And there are many sinews round all the bones; there are none in the
head; but the sutures of the skull are adapted to each other. It is the nature of
sinew to tear readily lengthwise, but across the fibre it is indivisible, and it
is very extensible. The sinews are surrounded by a mucous, white, and
gelatinous fluid, by which they are nourished, and from which they seem to

derive their origin. The vein does not alter its form by combustion, but the
sinew is entirely destroyed. Neither does it unite after division.
4. Numbness does not take place in those parts of the body which contain
no sinews. The sinews are most abundant on the hands and feet, and on the
ribs and shoulder-blades, and round the neck and arms. All sanguineous
animals have sinews; but in those which have not jointed limbs, and are
without feet and hands, the sinews are small and inconspicuous, so that in
fishes they are most distinct near the fins.

Chapter VI.

1. The fibres are between the sinews and the veins; but some of them are
moistened with serum, and they extend from the sinews to the veins, and
from the veins to the sinews. There is also another kind of fibre, which is
produced in the blood of most, but not of all animals. When this is extracted
from the blood, it does not coagulate, but if it is not taken out of the blood it
coagulates. These fibres are present in the blood of most animals, but not in
that of the stag, prox,[93] and bubalis,[94] and some others; so that their
blood does not coagulate like that of other animals: the blood of stags is
very like that of hares; for in both of these coagulation takes place; not firm,
as in other animals, but trembling, like that of milk, if no coagulating
substance is put into it. The blood of the bubalis coagulates more thickly,
only a little less so than that of sheep. This is the nature of veins, sinews,
and fibres.

Chapter VII.

1. The bones of animals depend upon one bone, and are connected with
each other, like the veins; and there is no such thing as a separate bone. In
all animals with bones the spinal column is their origin. The spinal column
is made up of vertebræ, and extends from the head to the hips. All the
vertebræ are perforated; the upper part of the head is a bone joined to the
last vertebra, and is called the skull, the saw-like part is the suture.
2. This is not alike in all animals, for the cranium of some consists of a
single bone, as in the dog; in others it is compound, as in the human subject.
The female has one suture, in a circle; the male has three, meeting at the top

of the head, like a triangle; and human skulls have been seen without
sutures. The head is not composed of four bones, but of six; two of these are
placed above the ears, and are small compared with the rest.
3. From the head the jaw-bones descend. All other animals move the lower
jaw, the river-crocodile alone moves the upper jaw. In the jaws are the order
of the teeth, which are bony, in some parts they are perforated, in others
they are not. These are the only bones too hard to be engraved.
4. From the spinal-column, which is the point of union, originate the
clavicles and ribs; the breast also is placed upon the ribs, and some of these
are united, others are not, for no animal has a bone round the stomach.
There are also the scapulæ upon the shoulders, and these are continued
upon the arms, and those again to the hands; and in all animals with fore
legs the nature of the bone is the same.
5. At the extremity of the lower part of the spinal column, and next to the
hip, is the socket, and the bones of the lower extremity, with those of the
thigh and leg, which are called the colenes. The ancles form a portion of
these, and the part called the spur in all creatures with ancles. Continuous
with these are the bones of the feet. Viviparous animals with blood and feet
do not differ much in their bones, but rather by analogy, in hardness,
softness, and size. Again, some of the bones contain marrow, whilst others,
in the same animal, have none.
6. Some animals do not appear to have any marrow at all in their bones, as
the lion, whose bones are very small and slight: or there may be marrow in
a few of its bones, as in those of the thigh and fore leg; otherwise, in the
lion, the bones are particularly solid, for they are sufficiently hard to emit
fire like stones on concussion. The dolphin also has bones, but it has no
spine, like fish. Some sanguineous animals differ partially from these, as the
class of birds. In others, as fish, the bones are only analogous, for
viviparous fish have a cartilaginous spine, like those which are called
selachea; the oviparous fish have a spine, which is like the backbone of
quadrupeds.
7. It is a peculiarity in fish that some species have small spines in the flesh
separated from each other. Serpents are like fish, for their back-bone is
spinous; among oviparous quadrupeds the greater animals have a bony
vertebral column; the lesser have a spinous one.

8. For all sanguineous animals have either a bony, or a spinous column. The
remainder of the bones exist in some animals, but not in others, for if they
have the limbs, they have the bones belonging to them; for those that have
not hind and fore legs have not hams, nor are they present in those animals
which possess limbs unlike those of quadrupeds, for in these they vary in
size and proportion. This is the nature of the bones of animals.

Chapter VIII.

1. Cartilage is of the same nature as bone, but it differs in the greater and
less, and neither bone nor cartilage are reproduced if they are cut off. In
sanguineous and viviparous animals living on the land the cartilage is
imperforate, and does not contain marrow, like the bones; but the flat
selachea, which have a cartilaginous spine, have a cartilage analogous to
bone containing a liquid marrow. Viviparous animals, with feet, have
cartilage about their ears, nostrils, and extremities of their bones.

Chapter IX.

1. There is another class of parts, which, though not the same as these, are
not very different, as nails, hoofs, claws, and horns, and besides these, the
beak of birds which alone possess this part. For these are both flexible and
fissile. But bone is neither flexible nor fissile, but brittle; and the colour of
horns, nails, claws, and hoofs follow the colour of the skin and the hair: for
in black animals the horns are black, and so are the claws and hoofs in those
with claws; in white animals they are white. There are also intermediate
colours, the nails also are of the same nature.
2. But the teeth are like bones; wherefore, in black men, Ethiopians, and
such like, the teeth and the bones are white, but the nails are black, like the
rest of the skin. The horns of most animals are hollow at their base, and
surround a bony process on their heads; but at the extremity the horn is
solid and single. The stag's horns are solid throughout, and divided; and
these animals alone cast their horns; this is done annually, if they are not cut
off. Concerning those that are cut off, we shall speak hereafter.
3. The horns are more nearly allied to skin than to bone, so that in Phrygia
and elsewhere there are oxen which have the power of moving their horns,

as they do their ears; and of those which have nails (and all that have toes
have nails, and those that have feet have toes, except the elephant, which
has its toes undivided, and scarcely distinguished, and no nails at all)—and
of those with nails, some have straight nails, like men, others crooked, as
the lion among beasts, and the eagle amongst birds.

Chapter X.

1. This is the nature of hair and its analogues and skin. All viviparous
animals, with feet, have hair; oviparous animals, with feet, have scaly
plates; and those fish alone which produce friable ova are covered with
scales; for the conger and muræna among long fish have not such ova, and
the eel produces no ova. The hair differs in thickness, thinness, and size,
according to its situation, both in the parts of the body which it occupies,
and the nature of the skin, for upon thick skins the hair is generally harsh
and thick, the hair is both thicker and longer in the hollow and moist parts
of the body, if they are such as to be covered with hair.
2. And the case is similar in those animals which are covered with plates or
scales. If animals covered with soft hair are placed in good pastures their
hair will become coarser; and, on the contrary, it becomes finer and less in
those that have coarse hair. Warm and cold situations also make a
difference, for the hair of natives of warm climates is harsh, but it is soft in
those of colder climates. Straight hair is soft, crisped hair is harsh.
3. It is the nature of hair to split; and different kinds of hair are dissimilar in
excess and deficiency; some are so changed by harshness as to bear slight
resemblance to hair, and are more like spines, as in the hedgehog, wherein
they resemble nails. So again the nails in some animals are not different
from bones in point of hardness.
4. Man has the thinnest skin in proportion to his size. There is a mucous,
glutinous fluid in the skin of all animals, less in some, more in others, as in
the skins of oxen, from which glue is made; and sometimes glue is made
from fishes. When the skin alone is cut it is insensible, especially that upon
the head, from the absence of flesh between that and the bone. Wherever
the skin is without flesh it does not unite again after being cut, as the thin
part of the cheek, the prepuce, and the eyelid. In all animals the skin is
continuous, and it is only wanting in places where there are natural passages

for exudation, and at the mouth and nails. All sanguineous animals have a
skin: all, however, have not hair, but those which are described above.
5. The colour of the hair changes in men as they grow old, and the hair
becomes grey. This takes place in other animals, but not so remarkably as in
the horse. The hair begins to grow white from the extremity. Most white
animals are white from their birth, wherefore it is plain that whiteness does
not arise from dryness, as some persons suppose, for no animal is born dry.
In the exanthematous disease, called whiteness, all the hair becomes hoary;
and some patients, who have suffered from illness, after the hair has fallen
off on recovery, have regained their dark-coloured hair. Hair which is
covered up becomes white more readily than that which is exposed to the
air; in man the temples are the first to grow grey, and the fore part of the
head before the hind part, and last of all the hair on the pubes.
6. Some of the hair exists on the body at the period of birth, and some
appears afterwards. In man alone the hair on the head, eyelashes, and
eyebrows exist at birth. The hair on the pubes, in the armpits, and on the
chin appear successively after birth, so that the parts on which the hair
appears at birth, and those on which it grows afterwards are the same in
number. In old age the hair on the head especially is the first to fail, and
falls off. This is only in front, for no one ever becomes bald on the back of
the head. The smoothness on the crown of the head is called baldness, that
upon the eyebrows depilation; neither of these takes place before the
commencement of puberty.
7. Children, women, and eunuchs never become bald. If a person be
castrated before puberty, the hair which grows after birth never makes its
appearance; if after puberty these alone fall off, except the hair on the
pubes. Women have no hair upon the chin, excepting a few of those in
whom the catamenia have ceased, and the priestesses in Caria: and this
appears ominous of future events. Women also have other hair, but not
much. There are some persons, both male and female, who from their birth
are without the hair which grows after birth; but those persons are barren
who have not hair on the pubes.
8. The rest of the hair grows proportionally, either more or less. That upon
the head grows the most, then that on the chin, and thin hair most of all. The
eyebrows grow so thick upon some aged persons as to be cut off, for they

are placed upon the symphysis of the bone; and this being separated in old
persons, a more abundant moisture exudes. Those on the eyelids do not
grow, but they fall off, when persons come to puberty, and especially in
those of warm sexual desires; they become grey very slowly. If the hair is
plucked out during the period of growth, it comes again, but not after it has
done growing.
9. Every hair has at its root a glutinous moisture, which will adhere to
anything with which it comes in contact, soon after it is drawn out. In
spotted animals the spots exist both in the hair and upon the skin, and upon
the skin of the tongue. As for the beard, some persons have a thick one,
both beneath the chin and upon it; in others, these parts are smooth, and the
beard is on the cheeks. Those who have smooth chins are least likely to
become bald. The hair grows in some diseases, as in phthisis especially, and
in old age, and upon dead bodies, and the hair becomes harder instead of
softer. The same is the case with the nails. In persons of strong passions, the
hair that is born with them decreases, while that which comes after birth
increases.
10. Those who suffer from enlarged veins are less likely to become bald;
and if they have this disease after they are bald, the hair sometimes grows
again. The hair, when cut off, does not grow again from the extremity, but
increases by growth from the root. The scales of fishes become harder and
thicker, and in those that are growing thin and old they become still harder.
The hair and wool of old animals becomes thicker, though the quantity
decreases; and the hoofs and claws enlarge as they grow old, and the beaks
of birds. And the claws grow in the same way as the nails.
11. Feathered animals, like birds, do not change their colour by age,
excepting the crane, for this bird is ash-coloured, and becomes black by
age. But from the change of season, when it becomes cold, some of those
having but one colour, black or grey, become white, as the crow, sparrow,
and swallow; but none of those which are white become black. At different
seasons of the year many birds change the colour of their plumage, so as to
render it difficult for those who are not acquainted with them to recognise
them.
12. And many animals change their colour with a change of water; for in
one place they are black, and in another white; and the same thing takes

place at the season of coition. There are many waters of such a nature that if
sheep drink of them before sexual intercourse, they produce black lambs; as
at that which is called the cold river in the Thracian Chalcis (in Astyritis).
And in Antandria there are two rivers, one of which turns the sheep white,
the other black; and the Scamander appears to make the sheep yellow,
wherefore some people think that Homer called the Scamander the Xanthus.
13. Other animals have no hair internally, nor upon the bottom of their feet,
though it is on the upper part. The hare alone has hair on the inside of its
cheeks, and upon its feet, and the mysticetus[95] has no teeth in its mouth,
but hairs, like hog's bristles. The hair, if it is cut off, increases below, but not
above. Feathers do not grow either above or below, but fall out. The wing of
the bee, if it is plucked off, does not grow again, nor that of any other
creature which has an undivided wing; nor does the sting of the bee grow
after it is plucked out, but the animal dies.

Chapter XI.

1. There are membranes in all sanguineous animals. Membrane is like a
dense thin skin, but it differs in kind, for it is neither divisible nor
extensible. There is a membrane round every bone and every intestine, both
in the greater and smaller animals; they are inconspicuous in small animals,
owing to their thinness and small size. The principal membranes are two,
which surround the brain, one round the bones of the head, and this is
stronger and thicker than that round the brain itself; and after these, the
membrane which surrounds the heart. A thin membrane does not unite after
it has been cut asunder, and the bones, when deprived of their membranes,
become inflamed.
2. The omentum is a membrane. All sanguineous animals have an
omentum; in some it is fat, in others it contains no fat. In viviparous
animals, with cutting teeth in both jaws, it has its origin and is suspended
from the middle of the stomach, where it appears like a suture of this organ.
In those that have not teeth in both jaws, it is suspended in the same way
from the principal stomach.
3. The bladder also is membranous, but its character is different, for it is
extensible. All animals have not a bladder, but all viviparous animals have
this organ, and the tortoise alone of oviparous animals. When the bladder is

cut it does not re-unite, except at the very origin of the urethra, or only very
rarely, for it has happened sometimes. No moisture passes into the bladder
of dead animals; but in living creatures there are dry compounds, from
which are formed the stones that are found in persons labouring under this
disease; sometimes they are of such a nature in the bladder as to differ in
nothing from shells. This, then, is the nature of veins, sinews, and skins, and
of muscle and membrane; and of hair, nails, claws, hoofs, horns, teeth and
beaks, and of cartilage, bone, and their analogues.

Chapter XII.

1. In all sanguineous animals, flesh, and that which is like flesh, is between
the skin and the bone, or what is analogous to bone: for the same relation
which a spine bears to a bone, is also borne by flesh to that which is like
flesh, in animals possessing bones and spines. The flesh can be divided in
every direction, and so is unlike sinews and veins, which can only be
divided in their length. The flesh disappears in emaciated animals, giving
place to veins and fibres. Those animals which can obtain abundance of
good food have fat instead of flesh.
2. Those that have much flesh have smaller veins and redder blood, and
their intestines and stomachs are small; but those which have large veins
and dark blood, and large intestines and great stomachs, have also less
flesh, for those that have fat flesh have small intestines.

Chapter XIII.

1. Adeps and fat differ from each other, for fat is always brittle, and
coagulates upon cooling, but adeps is liquid, and does not coagulate; and
broths made from animals with adeps do not thicken, as from the horse and
hog, but that made from animals with fat thickens, as from the sheep and
goat. These substances also differ in situation, for the adeps is between the
skin and the flesh; but the fat only exists upon the extremity of the flesh. In
adipose animals the omentum is adipose, in fat animals it is fatty: for the
animals with cutting teeth in both jaws are adipose, those that have not
cutting teeth in both jaws are fat.

2. Of the viscera in some animals the liver is full of adeps, as in the
cartilaginous fishes, for oil is procured from these during the process of
decomposition, the cartilaginous fish are particularly free from adeps on
their flesh, but the adeps is separated on the stomach. The fat also of fishes
is adipose, and does not coagulate; and some animals are furnished with
adeps on the flesh, and others apart from the flesh; and those creatures in
which the adeps is not separated from the flesh have less of this substance
on the stomach and omentum, as the eel: for these creatures have little fat
on the omentum. In most animals the adeps collects principally upon the
abdomen, especially in those which take little exercise.
3. The brain of adipose animals is unctuous, as in swine; that of fatty
animals is dry. Of all the viscera the kidneys are surrounded by the greatest
quantity of adeps in all animals; that on the right side is always the least
adipose; and let there be ever so much adeps, there is always a space left
between the kidneys. They are also the most fatty of the viscera, and
especially in sheep, for this animal sometimes dies from the entire
concealment of its kidneys in fat. This excessive fat around the kidneys
arises from good pasture, as in the Leontine territory of Sicily; wherefore
also in the evening they drive away the sheep which have been feeding
during the day, in order that they may take less food.
4. The fat around the pupil of the eye is common to all animals; for all have
fat in this part, that possess it, and are not hard-eyed. Fat animals, both male
and female, are more inclined to be barren, and all old animals become fat
more readily than young ones, especially when they increase in depth,
having obtained their proper width and length.

Chapter XIV.

1. The following is the nature of the blood. This is most essential and
common to all sanguineous animals, and is not superadded, but exists in all
animals that are not in a perishing condition. All the blood is in a vessel
called the veins, but in no other part of the body, except the heart. The blood
of all animals has no sense of touch, nor has the excrementitious matter in
the stomach; neither have the brain, nor the marrow, any sensation of touch;
but wherever the flesh is divided, the blood flows in the living subject,
unless the flesh is perishing. It is the nature of the blood to have a sweet

juice, as long as it is healthy and a red colour, and that is bad which either
by nature or disease is black. The best kind of blood is neither very thick
nor thin, unless it is vitiated either by nature or disease.
2. In living animals it is always warm and moist, but when taken out of the
animal the blood of all creatures coagulates, except that of the stag and deer,
and perhaps some others of the same nature. The blood of all other creatures
coagulates, unless the fibre is taken out of it. Bullock's blood coagulates
faster than that of any other animals. Amongst sanguineous animals, those
which are both internally and externally viviparous, have the most blood,
and after them the oviparous sanguineous animals; those which are well
disposed, either by nature or by health, have not a great deal of blood, as in
those that have just drank; nor a very little, as in those which are very fat.
Fat animals have pure blood, though the quantity is small; as they become
more fat they lose a portion of their blood, for fat is free from blood. Fat is
not corruptible, but blood and the parts that contain blood are very
corruptible; of these the parts surrounding the bones are most corruptible.
3. Man has the thinnest and purest blood, that of the ox and ass is the
thickest and blackest of all viviparous animals. The blood is thicker and
blacker in the lower than in the upper part of animals. The blood palpitates
in the veins alike in all animals; this alone of all the fluids exists in every
part of the body of living subjects, and as long only as they are alive. The
blood first of all exists in the heart of all animals before it is distributed
through the body. When deprived of their blood, or if the greater part
escapes, they faint away; but when a very great deal is lost, they die. When
the blood becomes very much liquefied, illness ensues, for it becomes like
serum, and flows through in such a manner, that some have perspired blood;
and when taken out of the body, it does not coagulate into a mass, but into
separate and divided portions.
4. In sleeping animals, the blood in the extremities is diminished, so that it
does not flow freely when they are pricked. Blood is formed from serum,
and fat from blood. When the blood becomes diseased, hæmorrhoids are
produced, either in the nose or anus, and a disease called ixia.[96] When the
blood becomes corrupted in the body, pus is formed, and from pus a scab.
The blood in females differs from that of males, for it is more thick and
black in females of similar health and age. In the whole of the body the
quantity of blood is less in females, but internally they are more full of

blood. Of all females, women have the most blood, and the catamenia are
more abundant in them than in other females.
5. When this blood is diseased, it is called a flooding. Women have a less
share in other diseases; but a few are afflicted with ixia, and with
hæmorrhoids and bleeding from the nose; when any of these take place, the
catamenia decrease. The blood differs in proportion to the age in quantity
and appearance, for when very young, it is more like serum, and very
abundant; in the aged it is thick, black, and in less quantity; in those in the
prime of life it is between these. In aged persons the blood coagulates
quickly in the body, or on the surface; but in young persons this does not
take place. Serum is imperfect blood, because it has not ripened, or because
it has become more fluid.

Chapter XV.

1. Concerning marrow, for this is one of the fluids which exist in some
animals. All the natural fluids of the body are contained in vessels, as the
blood in the veins, and the marrow in the bones, and others in membranes,
skin, and cavities. The marrow is always full of blood in young animals; but
when they grow older, in the adipose it becomes adipose, in fat animals
fatty. There is not marrow in all the bones, but only in those that are hollow,
and not even in some of these, for some of the bones of the lion have no
marrow, others but little; wherefore some persons say the lion has no
marrow at all, as was before observed. In the bones of swine there is very
little marrow, in some none at all.

Chapter XVI.

1. These fluids are nearly always co-existent with animal life; but milk and
the spermatic fluid are produced afterwards. Of these the milk is always
secreted in those animals in which it is present. The spermatic fluid is not
secreted in all, but in some as in fishes are what are called melts. All
animals having milk have it in the mammæ. All animals that are both
internally and externally viviparous have mammæ, that is, all that have hair,
as man, and the horse, the cetacea, as the dolphin, seal, and whale, for these
also have mammæ and milk.

2. Those animals that are only externally viviparous, and oviparous animals,
have neither mammæ nor milk, as fish, and birds. All milk has a watery
serum, which is called whey, and a substantial part called curds; the thicker
kinds of milk have the most curds. The milk of animals without cutting
teeth in both jaws, coagulates, wherefore cheese is made from the milk of
domestic animals. The milk of those with cutting teeth in both jaws does not
coagulate, but resembles their adeps, and is thin and sweet; the milk of the
camel is the thinnest of all, next is that of the horse; in the third place that of
the ass. Cow's milk is thicker.
3. Under the influence of cold, milk does not coagulate, but becomes fluid;
by heat it is coagulated, and becomes thick. There is no milk in any animal
before it has conceived, or but rarely; but, as soon as it has conceived the
milk is produced; the first and last milk are useless. Sometimes milk has
come in animals not with young, from partaking of particular kinds of food;
and even in aged females it has been produced so freely when sucked, as to
afford nourishment for an infant. And the shepherds round Æta, when the
shegoats will not endure the approach of the males, cut their udders
violently against a thorn, so as to cause pain; at first, when milked, they
produce bloody, and afterwards putrid milk, but at last their milk is as good
as that of those which have young ones.
4. The males, both of man and other animals, rarely produce milk;
nevertheless, it is found in some cases: for in Lemnos, a he-goat has given
from the two nipples, which are always found on the penis, so much milk,
that cakes of cheese were made from it. The same thing happened to
another he-goat, which was produced from this one; but such things as these
are considered ominous: for, on inquiry being made of the god of Lemnos,
he replied that there should be an additional supply of cattle. A small
quantity of milk has been forced from some men after puberty; from others
a great quantity has been produced by suction.
5. There is a fatness in milk which becomes oily when it is cooked. In
Sicily, and other countries, when there is an abundant supply of goat's milk,
they mix ewe's milk with it, and it coagulates readily, not only because it
contains abundance of curd, but also because it is of a drier nature. Some
animals have more milk than enough for the support of their offspring, and
this is useful for making cheese, and for putting aside. The best is that of the
sheep and goats, and next, that of the cow. Mare's milk and ass's milk are

combined with the Phrygian cheese. There is more cheese in the milk of the
cow than of the goat: for the shepherds say, from an amphora of goat's milk
they can make nineteen cakes of cheese, each worth an obolus, and thirty
from cow's milk. Other creatures have only enough for their young, and no
superabundance useful for making cheese, as all those animals which have
more than two mammæ, for none of these have a superabundance of milk,
nor will their milk make cheese.
6. Milk is coagulated by the juice of figs, and by rennet; the juice is placed
upon wool, and the wool is washed in a little milk; this coagulates upon
mixture. The rennet is a kind of milk, which is found in the body of sucking
animals. This rennet is milk, containing cheese, for the milk becomes
cooked by the heat of the body. All ruminating animals contain rennet, and
the hare among those with cutting teeth in both jaws. The older coagulum is
the better, for such rennet is useful in diarrhœa, and so is that of the hare.
The rennet of the fawn is the best.
7. The greater or less quantity of milk drawn from those animals which
have milk, differs in the size of the body, and the variety of the food. In
Phasis there are very small cows, each of which gives a great deal of milk;
and the large cows of Epirus give an amphora and half of milk from each of
their two mammæ; and the person who milks them stands up, or only leans
a little, because he cannot reach them sitting down. The other animals of
Epirus are large except the ass, but the largest are the cows and the dogs.
These large cattle require more pasture; but the country has a great deal so
excellent, that they can be changed to fit places every hour. The oxen are
the largest, and the sheep, called Pyrrhic; they have received this name from
king Pyrrhus.
8. Some kinds of food check the milk, as the medic grass, especially in
ruminating animals. The cytisus and orobus have a very different effect; but
the flower of the cytisus is unwholesome, and causes inflammation; the
orobus does not agree with pregnant cattle, for it causes difficulty of
parturition. On the whole, those animals which are able to eat the most
food, as they are better adapted for parturition, will also give the most milk,
if they have enough food. Some of the flatulent kinds of food, when given
to animals, increase the quantity of milk, as beans given freely to the sheep,
goat, ox, and chimœra,[97] for they cause the udder to be distended; and it is

a sign that there will be plenty of milk when the udder is seen below before
parturition.
9. The milk lasts a long time in those that have it, if they remain without
sexual intercourse, and have proper food; and in sheep it lasts longer than in
any other animals, for the sheep may be milked for eight months.
Altogether the ruminating animals produce milk in greater abundance, and
more fitted for making cheese. Around Torona the cows fail in their milk a
few days before calving, but give milk all the rest of the time. In women
dark-coloured milk is better for the children than that which is white; and
black women are better nurses than white women. The most nutritious milk
is that which contains the most cheese, but that which contains less cheese
is better for infants.

Chapter XVII.

1. All sanguineous animals eject the spermatic fluid; the office it performs
in generation, and how it is performed, will be treated of in another place.
In proportion to his size man ejects more than other animals. This fluid, in
animals covered with hair, is glutinous, in others it is not glutinous; in all it
is white, so that Herodotus is mistaken when he says that the Ethiopians
have black semen.[98] The semen comes out white and thick if it is healthy,
but after ejection it becomes thin and black; it does not thicken with cold,
but becomes thin and watery, both in colour and density. By heat it
coagulates and thickens, and when it has been ejected for any time into the
uterus, it comes out more thick, and sometimes dry and twisted together.
That which is fruitful sinks in water, but the barren mixes with it. All that
Ctesias said about the semen of the elephant is false.

BOOK THE FOURTH.
Chapter I.

1. We have hitherto treated of sanguineous animals, the parts possessed by
all as well as those which are peculiar to each class, and of their
heterogeneous and homogeneous, their external and internal parts. We are
now about to treat of ex-sanguineous animals. There are many classes of
these, first of all the mollusca.[99] These are ex-sanguineous animals, which
have their fleshy parts external, and their hard parts internal, like
sanguineous animals, as the whole tribe of cuttle-fish. Next the
malacostraca, these are animals which have their hard parts external, and
their interior parts soft and fleshy; their hard parts are rather liable to
contusion than brittle, as the class of carabi and cancri.
2. Another class is that of the testacea. These are animals which have their
internal parts fleshy, and their external parts hard, brittle, and fragile, but
not liable to contusion. Snails and oysters are instances of this class.
3. The fourth class is that of insects, which includes many dissimilar forms.
Insects are animals which, as their name signifies, are insected either in
their lower or upper part, or in both; they have neither distinct flesh nor
bone, but something between both, for their body is equally hard internally
and externally. There are apterous insects, as the julus and scolopendra; and
winged, as the bee, cockchafer, and wasp; and in some kinds there are both
winged and apterous insects; ants, for example, are both winged and
apterous, and so is the glowworm.
4. These are the parts of animals of the class mollusca (malacia); first the
feet, as they are called, next to these the head, continuous with them; the
third part is the abdomen, which contains the viscera. Some persons,
speaking incorrectly, call this the head. The fins are placed in a circle round
this abdomen. It happens in many of the malacia that the head is placed
between the feet and the abdomen.

5. All the polypi, except one kind, have eight feet, with a double row of
suckers. The sepia,[100] teuthis,[101] and teuthos[102] possess as a
characteristic part two long proboscidiform members, which have rough
suckers at their extremities, with which they seize their food and bring it to
their mouth; and when a storm arises they weather it out, fastening these
members upon a rock, like an anchor. They swim by means of the fin-like
members which are attached to the abdomen. There are suckers upon all
their feet.
6. The polypus[103] uses its tentacula both as feet and hands, for it brings its
food to its mouth with the two that are above the mouth, and it uses the last
of its tentacula, which is the sharpest of all, in the act of coition; this is the
only one which is at all white, and it is divided at the extremity, it is placed
upon the back; and the smooth part, in front of which are the acetabula, is
called the back. In front of the abdomen, and above the tentacula, they have
a hollow tube, by which they eject the sea-water which they have received
into the abdomen, if any enters through the mouth. This part varies in
position, and is sometimes on the right side, sometimes on the left, and by
this its ink is ejected.
7. It swims sideways upon the part called the head, stretching out its feet; as
it swims it is able to see forwards, for the eyes are upwards, and the mouth
is placed behind. As long as it is alive the head is hard, as if it were inflated;
it touches and holds with its tentacula bent downwards, a membrane is
extended throughout, between the feet, if it falls into the sand, it can no
longer hold by it.
8. The polypus and the above-mentioned malacia differ from each other; the
abdomen of the polypus is small, and the feet are large; but of the others,
the abdomen is large, and the feet small, so that they cannot walk upon
them. They have also differences among each other; the teuthis is the
smallest, the sepia wider; the teuthos is much larger than the teuthis, for it
reaches the length of five cubits. Some sepiæ are two cubits long, and the
tentacula of the polypus are as long, and even larger in size.
9. The class of the teuthos is rare, and differs in form from the teuthis, for
the extremity of the teuthos is wider; and, again, the fin is placed round the
whole abdomen, but it is wanting in the teuthis. It is a marine animal, as
well as the teuthis. After the feet, the head of all these animals is placed in

the middle of the feet, which are called tentacula; one part of this is the
mouth, in which are two teeth; above these are two large eyes; between
these is a small cartilage, containing a small brain.
10. In the mouth is a small piece of flesh, for these animals have no tongue,
but use this instead of a tongue. After this, on the outside, the abdomen is
apparent. The flesh of this can be divided, not in a straight line, but in a
circle. All the malacia have a skin around this part. After the mouth, they
have a long and narrow œsophagus; and continuous with this is a large
round crop, like that of a bird; this contains the stomach, like a net. Its form
is spiral, like the helix of a whelk; from this a thin intestine turns back, to
the vicinity of the mouth. The intestine is thicker than the stomach.
11. The malacia have no viscus, except that which is called the mytis,[104]
and the ink which is upon it. The most abundant and largest of all is that of
the sepia; all exclude this ink, when alarmed, but especially the sepia; the
mytis lies beneath the mouth; and through this the œsophagus passes; and
where the intestine turns back the ink is beneath, and the same membrane
surrounds both the ink and the intestine. The same orifice serves for the
emission of the ink and the fœces.
12. There are some appearances of hair[105] in their bodies; the sepia,
teuthis, and teuthos, have a hard part upon the forward part of the body; the
one is called sepium (the bone of the cuttle-fish), the other xiphus (the pen
of the loligo). These two are different; for that of the sepia is strong and
wide, partaking of the nature of spine and bone, and it contains a spongy,
friable substance; but the pen of the teuthis is thin, and cartilaginous. In
their form also they correspond with the differences of the animals
themselves. The polypus has no hard internal part, but a portion of cartilage
round the head, which becomes hard as they grow old.
13. The females also differ from the males, for the latter have a passage
beneath the œsophagus, extending from the brain to the lowest part of the
body. That part to which it reaches is like a teat. In the female there are two
such organs, which are placed above. In both sexes, some small red bodies
are placed under these. The polypus has one capsule of eggs, which is
uneven on the surface; it is large; internally it is all of a white colour, and
smooth. The multitude of the ova is so great as to fill a vessel larger than
the head of the polypus.

14. The sepia has two capsules, and many eggs are in them, like white
hailstones. The position of each of these parts may be seen in anatomical
diagrams. In all these creatures the male differs from the female, and
especially in the sepia. The fore part of the abdomen of the male is always
darker than the back; and more rough than in the female, and variegated
with stripes, and the extremity of the body is more acute.
15. There are many kinds of polypus; one, which is the largest of all, is very
common. Those near land are larger than those which are caught out at sea.
There are smaller kinds, which are variegated; these are not articles of food;
and two others, one of which is called eledone,[106] differs in the length of
its feet, and is the only one of the malacia with a single row of suckers, for
all the rest have two; the other is called bolitæna,[107] and sometimes ozolis.
16. There are two other kinds which dwell in shells, which some persons
call nautilus[108] (and nauticus), and others call it the egg of the polypus; its
shell is like that of the hollow pecten, and not like that which has its shells
close together.[109] This animal generally feeds near the land; when it is
thrown upon the shore by the waves, after its shell has fallen off, it cannot
escape, and dies upon the land. These animals are small in form, like the
bolitæna; and there is another,[110] which inhabits a shell like a snail. This
animal never leaves its shell, but remains in it, like the snail, and sometimes
stretches out its tentacula. Let thus much be said about the malacia.

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
largest genus is that called maia,[117] the next to this the pagurus,[118] and
the Heracleot carcini; and, again, those that live in rivers. The other genera
are small, and have not received any name. On the Phenician coast there are
some that they call horsemen, because they run so fast that it is difficult to
catch them, and when opened, they are empty, because they have no

pasture. There is another small genus like carcini, but in shape they
resemble astaci.
3. All these creatures, as I observed before, have their hard and shelly coats
on the outsides of their bodies in the place of skin, the fleshy part is
internal. Their under parts resemble plates, upon which the females deposit
their ova; the carabi have five feet on each side, including the claws; the
carcini, also, have in all ten feet, including the claws, which are last. Of the
carides, the cypha have five on each side; those near the head are sharp, and
five others on each side of the stomach have flat extremities; they have no
plates upon the under part of their body; those on the upper part are like the
carabi.
4. The crangon is different, for it has, first of all, four plates on each side,
and, afterwards, three slight ones, continuous with those on each side, and
the greater part of the remainder of its body is apodal; all the feet are
directed outwards to the side, like those of insects; but the claws, in those
that have them, all turned inwards. The carabus also has a tail, and five fin-
like appendages. The cypha, among the carides, has a tail, with four fin-like
appendages. The crangon has fin-like processes on each side of the tail, and
the middle of them is spinous on both sides; but this part is wide in the
crangon, and sharp in the cypha. The carcini alone are without a tail; the
body of the carabi and carides is elongated, that of the carcini is rounded.
5. The male carabus is different from the female, for the female has the first
foot divided; in the male it is formed of a single claw, and the fin-like
process on the lower part is large in the female, and interchanged with each
other in the neck; in the male they are small and not interchanged. In the
male, also, the last feet are furnished with large and sharp processes like
spurs; in the female these are small and smooth. They all have two large
and rough processes, like horns, before their eyes, and two, smaller and
smooth, below.
6. The eyes of all these animals are hard, and capable of motion, inwards,
outwards, and to the side; the same is the nature of the carcini, in which
they are even more moveable. In colour the astacus is all of a dull white,
sprinkled with black; it has eight small feet, as far as the large ones; after
these the large feet are far greater and wider at the extremity than in the
carabus, and they are unequal in size; for on the right side the broad part at

the end is long and smooth, on the left side the same part is thick and round;
they are both divided from the extremity like a jaw, with teeth above and
below, only that in those on the right the teeth are all small and sharp, and
they are sharp at the extremity of the left side; in the middle they are like
molar teeth; in the lower part are four close together, but in the upper part
three, but not close together.
7. In both claws the upper part is moved and pressed down upon the lower;
both are placed sideways in position, as if intended by nature for seizure
and pressure; above these large feet are two rough ones, a little below the
mouth; and still lower, the branchial organs around the mouth, which are
rough and numerous, and these are continually in motion; it bends and
approximates its two rough feet towards its mouth; the feet near the mouth
have smooth appendages.
8. It has two teeth like the carabus, above these the long horns, much
shorter and smoother than in the carabus; four others of the same form as
these, but still shorter and smoother; and above these are placed its eyes,
which are small and short, and not large like those of the carabus. The part
above the eyes is acute and rough, as it were a forehead, and larger than in
the carabus: on the whole, the head is sharper and the thorax much wider
than in the carabus, and its whole body is more fleshy and soft: of its right
feet, four are divided at the extremity, and four not divided.
9. The part called the neck is externally divided into five portions, the sixth
and last division is wide and has five plates; in the inside are four rough
plates, upon which the females deposit their ova. On the outside of each of
these which have been mentioned, there is a short and straight spine, and
the whole body, with the part called the thorax, is smooth, and not rough as
in the carabus. On the outside of the large feet there are great spines. The
female does not in any way differ from the male, for whether the male or
female have larger claws, they are never both of them equal.
10. All these animals take in sea-water through their mouths; the carcini
also exhale a small portion of that which they have taken in, and the carabi
do this through the branchiform appendages, for the carabi have many
branchiform appendages. All these animals have two teeth: the carabi have
two front teeth, and then a fleshy mouth instead of a tongue, from this an
œsophagus continued on to the stomach. And the carabi have a small

œsophagus before the stomach, and from this a straight intestine is
continued. In the caraboid animals and the carides, this is continued to the
tail in a straight passage, by which they eject their excrements, and deposit
their ova. In the carcini this is in the middle of the folded part, for the place
wherein they deposit their ova is external in these also.
11. All the females also, besides the intestines, have a place for their ova,
and the part called mytis[119] or mecon, which is greater or less, and the
peculiar differences may be learned by studying the individual cases. The
carabi, as I have observed, have two large and hollow teeth, in which there
is a juice resembling the mytis, and, between the teeth, a piece of flesh
resembling a tongue; from the mouth a short œsophagus extends to a
membranous stomach; in the part of this nearest the mouth are three teeth,
two opposite and one below.
12. And from the side of the stomach there is a simple intestine, which is of
equal thickness throughout, reaching to the anus. All these parts belong to
the carabi, carides, and carcini; and, besides these, the carabi have a passage
suspended from the breast and reaching to the anus; in the female this
performs the office of a uterus, in the male it contains the spermatic fluid.
This passage is in the cavity of the flesh, so as to appear to be between
portions of the flesh, for the intestine is toward the curved part, but the
passage towards the cavity in the same way as in quadrupeds. In the male
this part differs in nothing from the female, for both are smooth and white,
and contain an ochreous fluid, and in both sexes it is appended to the breast.
13. The ova and spirals occupy the same position in the carides. The male is
distinguished from the female by having in the flesh upon the breast two
distinct white bodies, in colour and position like the tentacula of the sepia;
these appendages are spiriform, like the mecon of the whelk; their origin is
from the acetabula, which are placed under the last feet. These contain a red
sanguineous flesh, which is smooth to the touch, and not like flesh. From
the whelk-like appendage there is another spiral fold, about as thick as a
thread, below which there are two sand-like bodies appended to the
intestine, containing a seminal fluid. These are found in the male, but the
female has ova of a red colour; these are joined to the abdomen, and on
each side of the intestine to the fleshy part of the body, enclosed in a thin
membrane. These are their internal and external parts.

Chapter III.

1. It happens that all the internal parts of sanguineous animals have names,
for all these have the internal viscera; but the same parts of exsanguineous
animals have no names, but both classes have in common the stomach,
œsophagus, and intestines. I have before spoken of the carcini, and their
legs and feet, and how many they have, and in what direction, and that, for
the most part, they have the right claw larger and stronger than the left; I
have also mentioned their eyes, and that most of them are able to see
sideways. The mass of their body is undivided, and so is their head, and any
other part.
2. In some the eyes are placed immediately below the upper part, and
generally far apart; in some they are placed in the middle, and near together,
as in the Heracleot carcini and the maia. The mouth is placed below the
eyes, and contains two teeth, as in the carabus, but they are long and not
round, and over these there are two coverings, between which are the
appendages, which the carabus also possesses.
3. They receive water through their mouth, opening the opercula, and emit
it again by the upper passage of the mouth, closing the opercula by which it
entered; these are immediately beneath the eyes, and when they take in
water they close the mouth with both opercula, and thus eject again the sea-
water. Next to the teeth is a very short œsophagus, so that the mouth
appears joined to the stomach, and from this proceeds a divided stomach,
from the middle of which is a single thin intestine; this intestine ends
externally beneath the folding of the extremity, as I said before. Between
the opercula there is something resembling the appendages to the teeth of
the carabi; within the abdomen is an ochreous chyme, and some small
elongated white bodies, and other red ones scattered through it. The male
differs from the female in length and width, and in the abdominal covering,
for this is longer in the female, farther from the body, and more thick-set
with appendages, as in the female carabi. The parts of the malacostraca are
of this nature.

Chapter IV.

1. The testacea, as cochleæ,[120] and cochli,[121] and all that are called
ostrea,[122] and the family of echini, are composed of flesh, and this flesh is
like that of the malacostraci, for it is internal; but the shell is external, and
they have no hard internal part. But they have many differences amongst
themselves, both in regard to their external shells and their internal flesh,
for some of them have no flesh at all, as the echinus; in others it is entirely
internal and out of sight, except the head, as the land snails and those called
coccalia,[123] and in the sea the purpura[124] and the ceryx,[125] the cochlus,
and all the turbinated shells.
2. Of the rest some are bivalves, others univalves. I call those bivalves
which are enclosed in two shells; the univalves are enclosed in one shell,
and the fleshy part is uncovered, as the lepas.[126] Some of the bivalves can
open, as the pectens and mya, for all these are joined on one side, and
separated on the other, so as to shut and open. There are other bivalves
which are joined on both sides, as the solen; others which are entirely
enclosed in their shells, and have no external naked flesh, as those which
are called tethya.[127]
3. And there is a great difference amongst the shells themselves, for some
are smooth, as the solen, mya, and some conchæ, called by some persons
galaces;[128] other shells are rough, as the limnostrea,[129] pinnæ, some
kinds of conchæ, and the whelk; and of these some are marked with ridges,
as the pecten and a kind of concha, others are without ridges, as the pinna
and another species of concha. They also differ in thickness and thinness,
both in the whole shell and in certain parts of the shell, as about the edges,
for in some the edges are thin, as the mya; others are thick-edged, as the
limnostrea.
4. Some of them are capable of motion, as the pecten, for some persons say
that the pectens can fly, for that they sometimes leap out of the instrument
by which they are taken. Others, as the pinna, cannot move from the point
of attachment; all the turbinated shells can move and crawl; the lepas
(patella) also feeds by going from place to place. It is common to all those
with hard shells to have them smooth in the inside.
5. Both in univalves and bivalves the fleshy part is united to the shell, so
that it can only be separated by force; it is more easily separated from the
turbinated shells; it is a characteristic of all these shells, that the base of the

shell has the helix directed from the head. All of them from their birth have
an operculum; all the turbinated testacea are right-handed, and move, not in
the direction of the helix, but the contrary way.
6. The external parts of these creatures are thus distinguished; the nature of
their internal structure is similar in all, especially in the turbinated animals,
for they differ in size and in the relations of excess, the univalves and
bivalves do not exhibit many differences. Most of them have but few
distinctive marks from each other, but they differ more from the immovable
creatures. This will be more evident from the following considerations. In
nature they are all alike, the difference, as before said, is in excess; for in
larger species the parts are more conspicuous, and less so in those that are
smaller. They differ also in hardness and softness, and such like affections.
7. For all have on the outside of the shell, in the mouth, a hard piece of
flesh, some more, some less; from the middle of this are the head and the
two horns; these are large in larger species, in the little ones they are very
small. The head is protruded in the same manner in all of them, and when
the creature is alarmed it is again retracted; some have a mouth and teeth, as
the snail, which has small, sharp, and smooth teeth.
8. They have also a proboscis, like that of the fly, and this organ is like a
tongue. In the ceryx and the purpura this organ is hard, like that of the
myops and œstrus, with which they pierce through the skins of quadrupeds;
but this is more powerful in strength, for they can pierce through the shells
of the baits. The stomach is joined quite closely to the mouth; the stomach
of the cochlus is like the crop of a bird; below this there are two hard white
substances like nipples, which also exist in the sepia, but are much harder.
9. From the stomach a long, simple intestine reaches as far as the spiral,
which is on the extremity of the body. These are distinct, and in the purpura
and the ceryx are in the helix of the shell. The bowel is continuous with the
intestine. The intestine and bowels are joined together, and are quite simple,
to the anus. The origin of the bowel is around the helix of the mecon,[130]
and here it is wider. The mecon is, as it were, a superfluous part in all
testacea, afterwards another bend causes it to return to the fleshy part; the
end of the entrail, where the fæces are emitted, is near the head, and is alike
in all turbinated shells, whether terrestrial or marine.

10. In the larger cochli a long white passage, contained in a membrane, and
in colour resembling the upper mastoid appendages, is joined from the
stomach to the œsophagus, and it is divided into segments like the ovum of
the carabus, except that it is white, while the other is red. It has neither exit
nor passage, but it is contained in a thin membrane, which has a narrow
cavity. From the intestine black and rough bodies descend continuously, like
those in the tortoise, but they are less black.
11. Both these and white bodies occur in the marine cochli, but they are less
in the smaller kinds. The univalves and bivalves are in some respects like
these, and in others they are different, for they have a head, horns, and
mouth, and something like a tongue, though in smaller species these are
inconspicuous from their minute size, and they are not discernible when the
animals are dead or at rest. They all contain the mecon, but not in the same
position, nor of the same size, nor equally conspicuous. In the lepas it is in
the bottom of the shell, in the bivalves near the hinge.
12. They all have hair-like appendages placed in a circle, and so have the
pectens, and that which is called the ovarium in those that have it; where it
is possessed, it is placed in a circle on the other side of the circumference,
like the white portion in the cochli, for this is alike in all. All these parts, as
I have said, are conspicuous in the larger kinds, but in smaller not at all, or
scarcely so, wherefore they are most conspicuous in the larger pectens, and
these have one valve flat like an operculum.
13. The anus is placed in the side in some of these creatures, for this is
where the excrement passes out. The mecon, as I have said, is a superfluous
part enclosed in a thin membrane in all of them; that which is called the
ovarium has no passage in any of them, but it swells out in the flesh. This is
not placed upon the intestine, for the ovarium is on the right side and the
intestine on the left; the anus is the same as in others; but in the wild patella,
as some persons call it, or the sea-ear (haliotis), as it is named by others, the
excrement passes out below the shell, for the shell is perforated. The
stomach also is distinct behind the mouth, and so is the ovarium in this
animal. The position of all these parts may be seen in dissections.
14. The creature called carcinium[131] resembles both the malacostraca and
the testacea, for this in its nature is similar to the animals that are like
carabi, and it is born naked (not covered with a shell). But because it makes

its way into a shell, and lives in it, it resembles the testacea, and for these
reasons it partakes of the character of both classes. Its shape, to speak
plainly, is that of a spider, except that the lower part of the head and thorax
is larger.
15. It has two thin red horns, and two large eyes below these, not within nor
turned on one side, like those of the crab, but straight forwards. Below these
is the mouth, and round it many hair-like appendages; next to these, two
divided feet with which it seizes its prey, and two besides these on each
side, and a third pair smaller. Below the thorax the whole creature is soft,
and when laid open is yellow within.
16. From the mouth is a passage as far as the stomach; but the anus is
indistinct; the feet and the thorax are hard, but less so than those of the
cancri; it is not united with the shell like the purpura and ceryx, but is easily
liberated from it. The individuals which inhabit the shells of the strombus
are longer than those in the shells of the nerita.
17. The kind which inhabits the nerita is different, though very like in other
respects, for the right divided foot is small, and the left one large, and it
walks more upon this than the other; and a similar animal is found in the
conchæ, though they are united to their shells very firmly; this animal is
called cyllarus.[132] The nerita has a smooth, large, round shell, in form
resembling that of the ceryx, but the mecon is not black, but red; it is
strongly united in the middle.
18. In fine weather they seek their food at liberty, and if a storm arises, the
carcinia hide themselves under a stone, and the neritæ attach themselves to
it like the patella, the hæmorrhois, and all that class, for they become
attached to the rock, where they close their operculum, for this resembles a
lid; for that part which is in both sides in the bivalves is joined to one side
in the turbinated shells: the interior is fleshy, and in this the mouth is
placed.
19. The nature of the hæmorrhois, the purpura, and all such animals is the
same. But those which have the left foot greater are not found in the shells
of the strombus, but in the neritæ. There are some cochli which contain an
animal like the small astacus, which is found in rivers; but they differ from
them in having the inner part of the shell soft. Their form may be seen by
examining dissections.

Chapter V.

1. The echini contain no flesh, but this part is peculiar, for they are all of
them void of flesh, and are filled with a black substance. There are many
kinds of echinus, one of which is eatable; in this one the ova are large and
eatable, both in the greater and the less.
2. And there are two other kinds, the spatangus and that called bryttus; these
are inhabitants of the sea, and rare. Those which are called echinometræ[133]
are the largest of all. Besides this, there is another small species, which has
long and sharp spines; this is procured from the sea, in many fathoms water,
and some persons use it for stranguary.
3. Around Torona there are white marine echini, which have shells, and
prickles, and ova, and are longer than others; but the prickle is neither large
nor strong, but soft, and the black parts from the mouth are more in number,
and united to the outward passage, but distinct among themselves, and by
these the animal is as it were divided. The eatable kinds are particularly and
especially active, and it is a sign of them; for they have always something
adhering to their spines.
4. They all contain ova, but in some they are very small, and not eatable:
that which is called the head and mouth in the echinus is downwards, and
the anus placed upwards. The same thing occurs in the turbinated shells,
and the patella; for their food is placed below them, so that the mouth is
towards the food, and the anus at or on the upper part of the shell.
5. The echinus has five hollow internal teeth, in the midst of these a portion
of flesh like a tongue; next to this is the œsophagus; then the stomach, in
five divisions, full of fæculent matter: all its cavities unite in one, near the
anus, where the shell is perforated. Beneath the stomach, in another
membrane, are the ova, the same number in all, they are five in number, and
uneven.
6. The black substance is joined above to the origin of the teeth, this black
substance is bitter and not eatable; in many animals there is either this
substance or its analogue, for it is found in tortoises, toads, frogs, turbinated
shells, and in the malacia; these parts differ in colour, but are entirely or
nearly uneatable. The body of the echinus is undivided from beginning to
end, but the shell is not so when seen through, for it is like a lantern, with

no skin around it. The echinus uses its spines as feet, for it moves along by
leaning upon them and moving them.

Chapter VI.

1. The creatures called tethya[134] have a most distinct character, for in these
alone is the whole body concealed in a shell. Their shell is intermediate
between skin and shell, so that it can be cut like hard leather: this shell-like
substance is attached to rocks; in it there are two perforations, quite distant
from each other, and not easily seen, by which it excludes and receives
water, for it has no visible excrement as other testacea, neither like the
echinus, nor the substance called mecon.
2. When laid open, there is first of all a sinewy membrane lining the shell-
like substance, within this the fleshy substance of the tethyon. Unlike any
other creature, its flesh, however, is alike throughout, and it is united in two
places to the membrane and the skin from the side, and at its points of union
it is narrower on each side; by these places it reaches to the external
perforations which pass through the shell; there it both parts with and
receives food and moisture, as if one were the mouth, the other the anus, the
one is thick, the other thinner.
3. Internally there is a cavity at each end, and a passage passes through it;
there is a fluid in both the cavities. Besides this, it has no sensitive or
organic member, nor is there any excrementitious matter, as I said before.
The colour of the tethyon is partly ochreous, partly red.
4. The class acalephe[135] is peculiar; it adheres to rocks like some of the
testacea, but at times it is washed off. It is not covered with a shell, but its
whole body is fleshy; it is sensitive, and seizes upon the hand that touches
it, and it holds fast, like the polypus does with its tentacula, so as to make
the flesh swell up. It has a central mouth, and lives upon the rock, as well as
upon shell-fish, and if any small fish falls in its way, it lays hold of it as
with a hand, and if any eatable thing falls in its way it devours it.
5. One species is free, and feeds upon anything it meets with, even pectens
and echini; it appears to have no visible excrement, and in this respect it
resembles plants. There are two kinds of acalephe, some small and more
eatable, others large and hard, such as are found near Chalcis. During

winter their flesh is compact, wherefore in this season they are caught and
eaten; in summer time they perish, for they become soft; if they are touched
they soon melt down, and cannot by any means be taken away. When
suffering from heat, they prefer getting under stones. I have now treated of
malacia, malacostraca, testacea, and of their external and internal parts.

Chapter VII.

1. Insects must now be treated of in the same manner. This is a class which
contains many forms, and no common name has been given to unite those
that are naturally related, as the bee, anthrene,[136] and wasp, and such like;
again, those which have their wings enclosed in a case, as the melolontha,
[137] carabus,[138] cantharis, and such like. The common parts of all insects
are three—the head, the abdomen, and the third, which is between these,
such as in other animals is the breast and back. In many insects this is one,
but in the long insects with many legs, the middle parts are equal to the
number of segments.
2. All insects survive being divided, except those which are naturally cold,
or soon become so from their small size, so that wasps live after they are
cut asunder; either the head or the abdomen will live if united to the thorax,
but the head will not live alone. Those which are long, and have many feet,
will survive division for a considerable time; both the extremities are
capable of motion, for they walk both upon the part cut off and upon the
tail, as that which is called scolopendra. All of them have eyes, but no other
manifest organs of sense, except that some have a tongue. All the testacea
have this organ, which serves the double purpose of tasting and drawing
food into the mouth.
3. In some of them this organ is soft; in others very strong, as in the
purpura; in the myops and œstrus this member is strong, and in a great
many more; for this member is used as a weapon by all those that have no
caudal sting.
4. Those with this weapon have no small external teeth, for flies draw blood
by touching with this organ, and gnats sting with it. Some insects also have
stings, which are either internal, as in bees and wasps, or external, as in the
scorpion. This last is the only insect that has a long tail; it has claws, and so
has the little scorpion-like creature[139] found in books. The winged insects,

in addition to other parts, have wings. Some have two wings, as the flies;
others four, as the bees; none of the diptera have a caudal sting. Some of the
winged insects have elytra on their wings, as the melolontha; and others no
elytra, as the bee. Insects do not direct their flight with their tail, and their
wings have neither shaft nor division.
5. Some have a horn before their eyes, as the psychæ[140] and carabi. Of the
jumping insects, some have their hind-legs larger; others have the organs of
jumping bent backwards, like the legs of quadrupeds. In all, the upper part
is different from the lower, like other animals.
6. The flesh of their bodies is neither testaceous nor like the internal parts of
testacea, but between the two. Wherefore, also, they have neither spine nor
bone, as the sepia; nor are they surrounded with a shell. For the body is its
own protection by its hardness, and requires no other support; and they have
a very thin skin. This is the nature of their external parts.
7. Internally, immediately after the mouth, there is an intestine which in
most insects passes straight and simply to the anus, in a few it is
convoluted; these have no bones nor fat, neither has any other
exsanguineous animal. Some have a stomach, and from this the remainder
of the intestine is either simple or convoluted, as in the acris.[141] The tettix
(grasshopper) alone of this, or any other class of living creatures, has no
mouth; but, like those with a caudal sting, it has the appearance of a tongue,
long, continuous, and undivided, and with this it feeds upon the dew alone.
There is no excrement in the stomach. There are many kinds of these
creatures, they differ in being greater or less; those called achetae are
divided beneath the diaphragm, and have a conspicuous membrane, which
the tettigonia has not.
8. There are many other creatures in the sea which it is not possible to
arrange in any class from their scarcity. For some experienced fishermen
say they have seen in the sea creatures like small beams, black and round,
and of the same thickness throughout; others like shields, of a red colour,
with many fins; others[142] like the human penis in appearance and size, but
instead of testicles they had two fins, and that such have been taken on the
extremity of grappling irons. This is the nature of the internal and external
parts of all animals of every kind, both those which are peculiar to certain
species, and those which are common to all.

Chapter VIII.

1. We must now treat of the Senses: for they are not alike in all, but some
have all the senses, and some fewer. They are mostly five in number;
seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, touch, and besides these there are none
peculiar to any creatures. Man, then, and all viviparous animals with feet,
besides all sanguineous and viviparous animals, have all these, unless they
are undeveloped in any particular kind, as in the mole.
2. For this creature has no sight, it has no apparent eyes, but when the thick
skin which surrounds the head is taken away, in the place where the eyes
ought to be on the outside, are the undeveloped internal eyes, which have
all the parts of true eyes, for they have both the iris of the eye, and within
the iris the part called the pupil, and the white; but all these are less than in
true eyes. On the outside there is no appearance of these parts, from the
thickness of the skin, as if the nature of the eye had been destroyed at birth;
for there are two sinewy and strong passages proceeding from the brain,
where it unites with the spinal cord, reaching from the socket of the eye,
and ending upon the upper sharp teeth.
3. All other animals are endued with the perception of colours, sounds,
smells, and taste. All animals have the fifth sense, which is called touch. In
some animals the organs of sense are very distinct, and especially the eyes,
for they have a definite place, and so has the hearing. For some animals
have ears, and others open perforations: so also of the sense of smelling,
some animals have nostrils, others passages, as the whole class of birds. In
the same way the tongue is the organ of taste.
4. In aquatic animals and those called fish, the tongue is still the organ of
taste, though it is indistinct, for it is bony, and not capable of free motion. In
some fish the roof of the mouth is fleshy, as in some cyprini among river
fish, so that, without careful examination, it appears like a tongue. That they
have the sense of taste is quite clear, for many of them delight in peculiar
food, and they will more readily seize upon a bait formed of the amia and
other fat fishes, as if they delighted in the taste and eating of such baits.
5. They have no evident organ of hearing and smelling, for the passages
which exist about the region of the nostrils in some fish do not appear to
pass to the brain, but some of them are blind, and others lead to the gills; it

is evident, however, that they both hear and smell, for they escape from
loud noises, such as the oars of the triremes, so as to be easily captured in
their hiding-places.
6. For if the external noise is not loud, yet to all aquatic animals that are
capable of hearing, it appears harsh and very loud; and this takes place in
hunting dolphins, for when they have enclosed them with their canoes, they
make a noise from them in the sea, and the dolphins, crowded together, are
obliged to leap upon the land, and, being stunned with the noise, are easily
captured, although even dolphins have no external organs of hearing.
7. And again in fishing, the fishermen are careful to avoid making a noise
with their oars or net when they perceive many fish collected in one place;
they make a signal, and let down their nets in such a place that no sound of
the oar or the motion of the waters should reach the place where the fish are
collected, and the sailors are commanded to row in the greatest silence until
they have enclosed them.
8. Sometimes, when they wish to drive them together, they proceed as in
dolphin catching, for they make a noise with stones that they may be
alarmed and collected together, and thus they are enclosed in a net. Before
their inclosure, as it was said, they prevent a noise, but as soon as they have
enclosed them, they direct the sailors to shout and make a noise, for they
fall down with fear when they hear the noise and tumult.
9. And when the fishers observe large shoals at a distance, collected on the
surface in calm, fine weather, and wish to know their size, and of what kind
they are, if they can approach them in silence, they avoid their notice, and
catch them while they are on the surface. If any noise is made before they
reach them, they may be seen in flight. In the rivers, also, there are little fish
under the stones, which some persons call cotti:[143] from their dwelling
beneath rocks, they catch them by striking the rocks with stones, and the
fishes fall down frightened when they hear the noise, being stunned by it. It
is evident, from these considerations, that fishes have the sense of hearing.
10. There are persons who say that fish have more acute ears than other
animals, and that, from dwelling near the sea, they have often remarked it.
Those fish which have the most acute ears are the cestreus[144] (chremps),
[145] labrax,[146] salpe,[147] chromis,[148] and all such fishes; in others the

sense of hearing less acute, because they live in the deeper parts of the
ocean.
11. Their nature of smelling is the same, for the greater number of fishes
will not take a bait that is not quite fresh; others are less particular. All fish
will not take the same bait, but only particular baits, which they distinguish
by the smell; for some are taken with stinking baits, as the salpe with dung.
Many fish also live in the holes of rocks, and when the fishermen want to
entice them out, they anoint the mouths of these holes with salted scents, to
which they readily come.
12. The eel also is enticed out in this way, for they place a pitcher of salt
food, covering the mouth of the pitcher with another vessel pierced with
holes, and the eels are quickly drawn forth by the smell of the bait. Baits
made of the roasted flesh of the cuttle fish, on account of its strong smell,
attract fish very readily. They say they put the roasted flesh of the polypus
upon their hooks for nothing but its strong smell.
13. And the fish called rhyades,[149] when the washings of fish or of fœtid
drains are emptied into the water, make their escape as if smelling the fœtid
odour. They say that fish soon smell the blood of their own kind; this is
plain from their hastening from any place where the blood of fishes may be.
On the whole, if any one use a putrid bait, the fish will not come near it; but
if a fresh strong-smelling bait is used, they will come to it from a great
distance.
14. This is especially observable in what was said of dolphins, for these
creatures have not external organs of hearing, but are captured by being
stunned with a noise, as was before observed; neither have they any
external organs of smell, yet their scent is acute. Therefore, it is evident that
all creatures have these senses. Other kinds of animals are divided into four
classes; and these contain the multitude of remaining animals, namely, the
malacia, malacostraca, testacea, and insects.
15. Of these the malacia, the malacostraca, and insects have all the senses,
for they can see, smell, and taste. Insects, whether they have wings or are
apterus, can smell from a great distance, as the bee and the cnips[150] scent
honey, for they perceive it from a long distance, as if they discovered it by
the scent. Many of them perish by the fumes of sulphur: ants leave their
hills when origanum and sulphur are sprinkled upon them. Almost all of

them escape from the fumes of burnt stags' horns, but most of all do they
avoid the smell of burnt styrax.
16. The sepia, also, the polypus, and the carabus are caught with baits; the
polypus holds the bait so fast that it holds on even when cut: if a person
hold conyza to them, they let go as soon as they smell it. So, also, of the
sense of taste, for they follow different kinds of food, and do not all prefer
the same food, as the bee approaches nothing that is putrid, only sweet
things; the gnat not what is sweet, but what is acid.
17. As I before observed, the sense of touch belongs to all animals. The
testacea have the senses of smelling and tasting. This is plain from the baits
used, as those for the purpuræ; for this creature is caught with putrid
substances, and will be attracted from a great distance to such baits, as if by
the sense of smell. It is evident from what follows that they possess the
sense of taste; for whatever they select by smell, they all love to taste.
18. And all animals with mouths receive pain or pleasure from the contact
of food. But, concerning the senses of sight and hearing, it is not possible to
say anything certain, or very distinct; the solens, if a person touch them,
appear to retract themselves, and try to escape when they see an instrument
approaching them, for a small portion of them is beyond the shell, the
remainder as it were in a retreat; the pectens, also, if a finger is brought near
them, open and shut themselves as if they could see.
19. Those who seek for neritæ do not approach them with the wind, when
they seek them for baits, nor do they speak, but come silently, as if the
creatures could both smell and hear; they say that if they speak, they get
away. Of all testacea, the echinus appears to have the best sense of smell
amongst those that can move, and the tethya and balanus in those that are
fixed. This is the nature of the organs of sense in all animals.

Chapter IX.

1. The following is the nature of the voice of animals, for there is a
distinction between voice and sound. Speech, again, is different from these.
Voice is due to no other part except the pharynx, the creatures, therefore,
without lungs are also without voice. Speech is the direction of the voice by
the tongue; the vowels are uttered by the voice and the larynx, the mutes by

the tongue and the lips; speech is made up of these: wherefore, no animals
can speak that have not a tongue, nor if their tongue is confined.
2. The power of uttering a sound is connected with other parts also; insects
have neither voice nor speech, but make a sound with the air within them,
not with that which is external, for some of them breathe not, some of them
buzz, as the bee with its wings, and others are said to sing, as the
grasshopper. All these make a noise with the membrane which is beneath
the division of their body in those which have a division, as some families
of grasshoppers by the friction of the air. These insects, bees, and all other
insects raise and depress their wings in flight, for the sound is the friction of
the air within them. Locusts produce a sound by rubbing themselves with
their legs, which are adapted for leaping. None of the malacia utter any
sound or natural voice, nor do the malacostraca.
3. Fish also are mute, for they have neither lungs, trachea, nor pharynx.
Some of them utter a sound and a squeak; these are said to have a voice, as
the lyra[151] and chromi,[152] for these utter, as it were, a grunt; so does the
capros, a fish of the Achelous, the chalceus[153] and coccyx,[154] for the one
utters a sound like hissing, the other a noise like that of the cuckoo, from
whence also its name is derived. Some of these utter their apparent voice by
the friction of their gills, for these places are spinous, in others the sound is
internal, near the stomach. For each of them has an organ of breathing,
which causes a sound when it is pressed and moved about.
4. Some of the selachea also appear to whistle, but they cannot be correctly
said to utter a voice, only to make a sound. The pectens also make a
whizzing noise when they are borne upon the surface of the water, or flying,
as it is called; and so do the sea-swallows,[155] for they also fly through the
air in the same way, not touching the sea, for they have wide and long fins.
As the sound made by birds flying through the air is not a voice, so neither
can either of these be properly so called. The dolphin also utters a whistle
and lows when it comes out of the water into the air, in a different way from
the animals above-mentioned—for this is a true voice, for it has lungs and a
trachea, but its tongue is not free, nor has it any lips so as to make an
articulate sound.
5. The oviparous quadrupeds, with a tongue and lungs, utter a sound,
though it is a weak one. Some of them hiss like serpents; others have a

small weak voice, others, as the tortoise, utter a small hiss. The tongue of
the frog is peculiar, for the fore-part of it is fixed, like that of a fish; but the
part near the pharynx is free and folded up. With this it utters its peculiar
sound. The male frogs make a croaking in the water when they invite the
females to coition.
6. All animals utter a voice to invite the society and proximity of their kind,
as the hog, the goat, and the sheep. The frog croaks by making its lower jaw
of equal length, and stretching the upper one above the water. Their eyes
appear like lights, their cheeks being swelled out with the vehemence of
their croaking; for their copulation is generally performed in the night. The
class of birds utter a voice: those which have a moderately wide tongue
have the best voice; those also in which the tongue is thin. In some kinds
both male and female have the same voice; in others it is different: the
smaller kinds have more variety in their voice, and make more use of it,
than the larger tribes.
7. All birds become more noisy at the season of coition. Some utter a cry
when they are fighting, as the quail; others when they are going to fight, as
the partridge; or when they have obtained a victory, as the cock. In some
kinds both male and female sing, as the nightingale; but the female
nightingale does not sing while she is sitting or feeding her young: in some
the males alone, as the quail and the cock; the female has no voice.
Viviparous quadrupeds utter different voices; none can speak—for this is
the characteristic of man, for all that have a language have a voice, but not
all that have a voice have also a language.
8. All that are born dumb, and all children, utter sounds, but have no
language; for, as children are not complete in their other parts, so their
tongue is not perfect at first; it becomes more free afterwards, so that they
stammer and lisp. Both voices and language differ in different places.
9. The voice is most conspicuous in its acuteness or depth, but the form
does not differ in the same species of animals; the mode of articulation
differs, and this might be called speech, for it differs in different animals,
and in the same genera in different places, as among partridges, for in some
places they cackle, in others whistle. Small birds do not utter the same voice
as their parents, if they are brought up away from them, and have only
heard other singing birds. For the nightingale has been observed instructing

her young, so that the voice and speech are not naturally alike, but are
capable of formation. And men also have all the same voice, however much
they may differ in language. The elephant utters a voice by breathing
through its mouth, making no use of its nose, as when a man breathes forth
a sigh; but with its nose it makes a noise like the hoarse sound of a trumpet.

Chapter X.

1. Concerning the sleep and wakefulness of animals. It is quite manifest that
all viviparous animals with feet both sleep and are awake; for all that have
eyelids sleep with the eyes closed; and not only men appear to dream, but
horses, oxen, sheep, goats, dogs, and all viviparous quadrupeds. Dogs show
this by barking in their sleep. It is not clear whether oviparous animals
dream, but it is quite plain that they sleep.
2. And so it is in aquatic animals, as fish, the malacia, the malacostraca, the
carabi, and such like creatures. The sleep of all these animals is short: it is
plain that they do sleep, though we can form no conclusion from their eyes,
for they have no eyelids, but from their not being alarmed; for if fish are not
tormented with lice, and what are called psylli, they may be captured
without alarming them, so that they can be even taken with the hand. And if
fish remain at rest during the night a great multitude of these creatures fall
upon and devour them.
3. They are found in such numbers at the bottom of the sea as to devour any
bait made of fish that remains any length of time upon the ground;
fishermen frequently draw them out hanging like globes around the bait.
The following considerations will serve still more to confirm our
suppositions that fishes sleep; for it is often possible to fall upon the fish so
stealthily as to take by the hand, or even strike them during this time; they
are quite quiet, and exhibit no signs of motion except with their tails, which
they move gently. It is evident, also, that they sleep, from their starting if
anything moves while they are asleep, for they start as if they were waked
out of sleep.
4. They are also taken by torchlight while asleep; those who are seeking for
thynni surround them while asleep; it is evident that they can be captured
from their stillness, and the half-open white (of their eyes). They sleep more
by night than by day, so that they do not move when they are struck; they

generally sleep holding by the ground, or the sand, or a stone, at the bottom,
concealing themselves beneath a rock, or a portion of the shore. The flat
fishes sleep in the sand; they are recognized by their form in the sand, and
are taken by striking them with a spear with three points. The labrax,
chrysophrys, cestreus, and such-like fish are often taken with the same kind
of weapon while asleep in the day time, but if not taken then, none of them
can be captured with such a spear.
5. The selache sleep so soundly that they may be taken with the hand; the
dolphin, whale, and all that have a blow-hole, sleep with this organ above
the surface of the sea, so that they can breathe, while gently moving their
fins, and some persons have even heard the dolphin snore. The malacia
sleep in the same manner as fish, and so do the malacostraca. It is evident
from the following considerations that insects sleep; for they evidently
remain at rest without motion; this is particularly plain in bees, for they
remain quiet, and cease to hum during the night. This is also evident from
those insects with which we are most familiar, for they not only remain
quiet during the night because they cannot see distinctly, for all creatures
with hard eyes have indistinct vision, but they seem no less quiet when the
light of a lamp is set before them.
6. Man sleeps the most of all animals. Infants and young children do not
dream at all, but dreaming begins in most at about four or five years old.
There have been men and women who have never dreamt at all; sometimes
such persons, when they have advanced in age, begin to dream; this has
preceded a change in their body, either for death or infirmity. This, then, is
the manner of sensation, sleep and wakefulness.

Chapter XI.

1. In some animals the sexes are distinct, in others they are not so, these are
said to beget and be with young by a likeness to other creatures. There is
neither male nor female in fixed animals, nor in testacea. In the malacia and
malacostraca there are male and female individuals, and in all animals with
feet, whether they have two or four, which produce either an animal, an egg,
or a worm from coition.
2. In other kinds the sexes are either single or not single; as in all
quadrupeds there is the male and female, in the testacea it is not so, for as

some vegetables are fertile and others barren, so it is in these. Among
insects and fishes there are some that have no differences of this kind, as the
eel is neither male nor female, nor is anything produced from them.
3. But those persons who say that some eels appear to have creatures like
worms, of the size of a hair, attached to them, speak without observation,
not having seen how they really are; for none of these creatures are
viviparous without being first oviparous, none of them have ever been
observed to contain ova; those that are viviparous have the embryo attached
to the uterus, and not to the abdomen, for there it would be digested like
food. The distinction made between the so-called male and female eel that
the male has a larger and longer head, and that the head of the female is
smaller, and more rounded, is a generic, and not a sexual distinction.
4. There are some fish called epitragiæ, and among fresh-water fish the
cyprinus and balagrus are of the same nature, which never have ova or
semen; those which are firm and fat, and have a small intestine, appear to
be the best. There are creatures, such as the testacea, and plants, which
beget, and produce young, but have no organ of coition; and so also in
fishes the psetus,[156] erythrhinus,[157] and the channa. All these appear to
have ova.
5. In sanguineous animals with feet that are not oviparous, the males are
generally larger and longer lived than the females, except the hemionus, but
the females of this animal are both larger and longer lived; in oviparous and
viviparous animals, as in fish and insects, the females are larger than the
males, as the serpent, phalangium,[158] ascalabotes,[159] and frog; in fish
likewise, as in most of the small gregarious selache, and all that inhabit
rocks.
6. It is evident that female fishes have longer lives than males, because
females are caught of a greater age than the males; the upper and more
forward parts of all animals are larger and stronger, and more firmly built in
the male; the hinder and lower parts in the female. This is the case in the
human subject, and all viviparous animals with feet: the female is less
sinewy, the joints are weaker, and the hairs finer, in those with hair; in those
without hair, its analogues are of the same nature; the female has softer
flesh and weaker knees than the male, the legs are slighter; the feet of
females are more graceful, in all that have these members.

7. All females, also, have a smaller and more acute voice than the males,
but in oxen the females utter a deeper sound than the males; the parts
denoting strength, as the teeth, tusks, horns, and spurs, and such other parts,
are possessed by the males, but not by the females, as the roe-deer has none,
and the hens of some birds with spurs have none; the sow has no tusks: in
some animals they exist in both sexes, only stronger and longer in the
males, as the horns of bulls are stronger than those of cows.

BOOK THE FIFTH.
Chapter I.

1. We have hitherto treated of the external and internal parts of all animals,
of their senses, voice, and sleep, with the distinctions between the males
and females; it remains to treat of their generation, speaking first of those
which come first in order, for they are many, and have numerous varieties,
partly dissimilar, and partly like each other. And we will pursue the same
order in considering them as we did before in their division into classes; we
commenced our consideration by treating of the parts in man, but now he
must be treated of last, because he is much more intricate.
2. We shall begin with the testacea, and after these treat of the malacostraca,
and the others in the order of their succession. These are the malacia and
insects, next to these fishes, both viviparous and oviparous; next to them
birds, and afterwards we must treat of animals with feet, whether viviparous
or oviparous; some viviparous creatures have four feet, man alone has two
feet. The nature of animals and vegetables is similar, for some are produced
from the seed of other plants, and others are of spontaneous growth, being
derived from some origin of a similar nature. Some of them acquire their
nourishment from the soil, others from different plants, as it was observed
when treating of plants.
3. So also some animals are produced from animals of a similar form, the
origin of others is spontaneous, and not from similar forms; from these and
from plants are divided those which spring from putrid matter, this is the
case with many insects; others originate in the animals themselves, and
from the excrementitious matter in their parts; those which originate from
similar animals, and have both the sexes are produced from coition, but of
the class of fishes there are some neither male nor female, these belong to
the same class among fishes, but to different genera, and some are quite
peculiar. In some there are females but no males, by these the species is
continued as in the hypenemia among birds.

4. All these among birds are barren, (for nature is able to complete them as
far as the formation of an egg,) unless persons suppose that there is another
method of communicating the male influence, concerning which we shall
speak more plainly hereafter. In some fish, after the spontaneous production
of the ovum, it happens that living creatures are produced, some by
themselves, others by the aid of the male. The manner in which this is done
will be made plain in a future place, for nearly the same things take place in
the class of birds.
5. Whatever are produced spontaneously in living creatures, in the earth, or
in plants, or in any part of them, have a distinction in the sexes, and by the
union of the sexes something is produced, not the same in any respect, but
an imperfect animal, as nits are produced from lice, and from flies and
butterflies are produced egg-like worms, from which neither similar
creatures are produced, nor any other creature, but such things only. First of
all, then, we will treat of coition, and of the animals that copulate, and then
of others, and successively of that which is peculiar to each, and that which
is common to them all.

Chapter II.

1. Those animals in which there is a distinction of the sexes use sexual
intercourse, but the mode of this intercourse is not the same in all, for all the
males of sanguineous animals with feet have an appropriate organ, but they
do not all approach the female in the same manner, but those which are
retromingent, as the lion, the hare, and the lynx, unite backwards, and the
female hare often mounts upon the male; in almost all the rest the mode is
the same, for most animals perform the act of intercourse in the same way,
the male mounting upon the female; and birds perform it in this way only.
2. There are, however, some variations even among birds; for the male
sometimes unites with the female as she sits upon the ground, as the bustard
and domestic fowl: in others, the female does not sit upon the ground, as the
crane; for in these birds the male unites with the female standing up; and
the act is performed very quickly, as in sparrows. Bears lie down during the
act of intercourse, which is performed in the same manner as in those that
stand on their feet, the abdomen of the male being placed upon the back of
the female: in the hedgehogs, the abdomens of both sexes are in contact.

3. Among the large animals, the roe-deer seldom admits the stag, nor the
cow the bull, on account of the hardness of the penis; but the female
receives the male by submission. This has been observed to take place in
tame deer. The male and female wolf copulate like dogs. Cats do not
approach each other backwards, but the male stands erect, and the female
places herself beneath him. The females are very lascivious, and invite the
male, and make a noise during the intercourse.
4. Camels copulate as the female is lying down, and the male embraces and
unites with her, not backwards, but like other animals. They remain in
intercourse a whole day. They retire into a desert place, and suffer no one to
approach them but their feeder. The penis of the camel is so strong, that
bowstrings are made of it. Elephants also retire into desert places for
intercourse, especially by the sides of rivers which they usually frequent.
The female bends down and divides her legs, and the male mounts upon
her. The seal copulates like retromingent animals, and is a long while about
it, like dogs. The males have a large penis.

Chapter III.

1. Oviparous quadrupeds with feet copulate in the same manner: in some,
the male mounts upon the female, like viviparous animals, as in the marine
and land turtle, for they have an intromittent organ by which they adhere
together, as the trygon and frog, and all such animals.
2. But the apodous long animals, as serpents and murænæ, are folded
together, with the abdomens opposite, and serpents roll themselves together
so closely, that they seem to be but one serpent with two heads. The manner
of the whole race of saurians is the same, for they unite together in the same
kind of fold.

Chapter IV.

1. All fish, except the flat selache, perform the act of intercourse by
approaching each other with their abdomens opposite: but the flat fish, with
tails, as the batos, trygon, and such like, not only approach each other, but
the male applies his abdomen to the back of the female, in all those in
which the thickness of the tail offers no impediment. But the rhinæ, and

those which have a large tail, perform the act by the friction of their
abdomens against each other, and some persons say that they have seen the
male selache united to the back of the female, like dogs.
2. In all those that resemble the selache, the female is larger than the male;
and in nearly all fish the female is larger than the male. The selache are
those which have been mentioned; and the bos, lamia, æetus, narce,
batrachus, and all the galeode. All the selache have been frequently
observed to conduct themselves in this way. In all viviparous creatures the
act occupies a longer time than in the oviparous. The dolphin and the
cetacea also perform the act in the same manner, for the male attaches
himself to the female for neither a very long, nor a very short time.
3. The males of some of the fish which resemble the selache differ from the
females, in having two appendages near the anus, which the females have
not, as in the galeodea; for these appendages exist in them all. Neither fish
nor any other apodal animal has testicles, but the males, both of serpents
and of fish, have two passages, which become full of a seminal fluid at the
season of coition; and all of them project a milky fluid. These passages
unite in one, as they do in birds; for birds have two internal testes, and so
have all oviparous animals with feet. In the act of coition this single passage
passes to, and is extended upon the pudendum and receptacle of the female.
4. In viviparous animals with feet, the external passage for the semen and
the fluid excrement is the same: internally these passages are distinct, as I
said before in describing the distinctive parts of animals. In animals which
have no bladder, the anus is externally united with the passage of the semen,
internally the passages are close together; and this is the same in both sexes:
for none of them have a bladder, except the tortoise. The female of this
animal, though furnished with a bladder, has but one passage; but the
tortoise is oviparous.
5. The sexual intercourse of the oviparous fish is less evident, wherefore
many persons suppose that the female is impregnated by swallowing the
semen of the male; and they have been frequently observed to do this. This
is seen at the season of coition, when the females follow the males, and are
observed to strike them on the abdomen with their mouths, this causes the
males to eject their semen more rapidly. The males do the same with the

ova of the females, for they swallow them as they are extruded, and the fish
are born from those ova which remain.
6. In Phœnicia they use each sex for capturing the other; for having taken
the male cestreus, they entice the females with it, and so enclose them in a
net. They use the females in the same way for catching the males. The
frequent observation of these circumstances appears to corroborate this
manner of intercourse among them. Quadrupeds also do the same thing, for
at the season of coition both sexes emit a fluid, and smell to each other's
pudenda.
7. And if the wind blows from the cock partridge to the hen, these last are
impregnated; and often, if they hear the voice of the cock when they are
inclined for sexual intercourse, or if he flies over them, they become
pregnant from the breath of the cock. During the act of intercourse, both
sexes open their mouths, and protrude their tongues. The true intercourse of
oviparous fish is rarely observed, from the rapidity with which the act is
accomplished; for their intercourse has been observed to take place in the
manner described.

Chapter V.

1. All the malacia, as the polypus, sepia, and teuthis, approach each other in
the same manner, for they are united mouth to mouth; the tentacula of one
sex being adapted to those of the other; for when the polypus has fixed the
part called the head upon the ground, it extends its tentacula, which the
other adapts to the expansion of its tentacula, and they make their acetabula
answer together. And some persons say that the male has an organ like a
penis in that one of its tentacula which contains the two largest acetabula.
This organ is sinewy, as far as the middle of the tentaculum, and they say
that it is all inserted into the nostril of the female.
2. The sepia and loligo swim about coiled together in this way, and with
their mouths and tentacula united, they swim in contrary directions to each
other. They adapt the organ called the nostril of the male to the similar
organ in the female; and the one swims forwards, and the other backwards.
The ova of the female are produced in the part called the physeter, by means
of which some persons say that they copulate.

Chapter VI.

1. The malacostraca, as the carabi, astaci, carides, and such like perform the
act of intercourse like the retromingent animals, the one lying upon its back,
and the other placing its tail upon it. They copulate on the approach of
spring, near the land; for their sexual intercourse has often been observed,
and sometimes when the figs begin to ripen.
2. The astaci and the carides perform the act in the same manner; but the
carcini approximate the fore part of their bodies to each other, and adapt
also the folds of their tails to each other. First of all, the smaller carcinus
mounts from behind, and when he has mounted, the greater one turns on its
side. In no other respect does the female differ from the male, but that the
tail, which is folded on the body, is larger and more distant, and more thick
set with appendages: upon this the ova are deposited, and the excrement
ejected. Neither sex is furnished with an intromittent organ.

Chapter VII.

1. Insects approach each other from behind, and the smaller one
subsequently mounts upon the larger. The male is always the smaller. The
female, which is below, inserts a member into the male, which is above, and
not the male into the female, as in other animals. In some kinds this organ
appears large in proportion to the size of the body, especially in those that
are small, in others it is less. The organ may be plainly discerned if two flies
are separated while in the act of coition. They are separated from each other
with difficulty, for the act of intercourse in such animals occupies a long
time. This may be plainly discerned by common observation, as in the fly
and cantharis.
2. All adopt the same method, the fly, cantharis, spondyla[160], phalangium,
or any other insect that copulates. All the phalangia that spin a web unite in
the following manner. The female draws a filament from the middle of the
web, and then the male draws it back again, and this they do a great many
times till they meet, and are united backwards, for this kind of copulation
suits them on account of the size of their abdomen. The copulation of
animals is accomplished in this manner.

Chapter VIII.

1. All animals have their proper season and age for coition; the nature of
most creatures requires them to have intercourse with each other when
winter is turning into summer. This is the spring season, in which all
animals with wings, feet, or fins, are incited to coition. Some copulate and
produce their young in the autumn and winter, as some aquatic and winged
creatures. Mankind are ready at all seasons, and so are many other animals
which associate with man; this arises from greater warmth, and better food,
and is usual among those which are pregnant only for a short time, as the
hog, dog, and those birds which have frequent broods. Many animals
appear to adapt the season of coition to that which they consider the best for
the nurture of their young.
2. Among mankind the male is more disposed for sexual intercourse in the
winter, and the female in the summer. Birds, as I have observed, generally
pair in the spring and summer, except the halcyon. This bird hatches its
young about the time of the winter solstice. Whereupon fine days occurring
at this season are called halcyon days, seven before the solstice and seven
after it. As Simonides also writes in his poems, "as when in the winter
months Jupiter prepares fourteen days, which mortals call the windless
season, the sacred nurse of the variegated halcyon."
3. These fine days take place wherever it happens that the solstice turns to
the south, when the pleiades set in the north. The bird is said to occupy
seven days in building its nest, and the other seven in bringing out and
nursing its young. The halcyon days are not always met with in this country
at the time of the solstice, but they always occur in the Sicilian Sea. The
halcyon produces five eggs.
4. The æthuia and the larus hatch their young among the rocks on the sea-
side, and produce two or three, the larus during the summer, and the æthuia
at the beginning of the spring, immediately after the equinox; it sets upon
its eggs like other birds; neither of these kinds conceal themselves. The
halcyon is the rarest of all, for it is only seen at the season of the setting of
the pleiades, and at the solstice, and it first appears at seaports, flying as
much as round a ship, and immediately vanishing away. Stesichorus also
speaks of it in the same manner.

5. The nightingale produces her young at the beginning of summer. She
produces five or six eggs. She conceals herself from the autumn to the
beginning of spring. Insects copulate and produce their young during the
winter whenever the days are fine, and the wind in the south, at least such
of them as do not conceal themselves, as the fly and ant. Wild animals
produce their young once a year, unless, like the hare, they breed while they
are nursing their young.

Chapter IX.

1. Fish also generally breed once a year, as the chyti. All those which are
caught in a net are called chyti; the thynnus, palamis, cestreus, chalais,
colias, chromis, psetta, and such like, the labrax is an exception, for this
alone of them all breeds twice a year, and the second fry of these are much
weaker. The trichias[161] and rock fish breed twice, the trigla is the only one
that breeds three times a year. This is shewn by the fry, which appear three
times at certain places.
2. The scorpius breeds twice, and so does the sargus, in spring and autumn,
the salpa once only in the spring. The thynnis breeds once, but as some of
the fry are produced at first, and others afterwards, it appears to breed
twice. The first fry makes its appearance in the month of December, after
the solstice, the second in the spring. The male thynnis is different from the
female, for the female has a fin under the abdomen, called aphareus, which
the male has not.
3. Among the selachea, the rhine alone breeds twice in the year; at the
beginning of the autumn, and at the period of the setting of the Pleiades.
The young are, however, better in the autumn. At each breeding season it
produces seven or eight. Some of the galei, as the asterias, seem to produce
their ova twice every month. This arises from all the ova not being
perfected at once.
4. Some fish produce ova at all seasons of the year, as the muræna: for this
fish produces many ova, and the fry rapidly increase in size, as do those
also of the hippurus,[162] for these, from being very small, rapidly increase
to a great size; but the muræna produces young at all seasons, the hippurus
in the spring. The smyrus differs from the muræna, for the muræna is
throughout variegated and weak. The smyrus is of one colour, and strong;

its colour is that of the pine tree, and it has teeth both internally and
externally. They say that these are the male and the female, as in others.
These creatures go upon the land, and are often taken.
5. The growth of all fish is rapid, and not the least so in the coracinus
among small fish. It breeds near the land, in thick places full of seaweed.
The orphos also grows rapidly. The pelamis and thynnus breed in Pontus,
and nowhere else. The cestreus, chrysophrys, and labrax, breed near the
mouths of rivers. The orcynes and scorpides, and many other kinds, in the
sea.
6. Most fish breed in March, April, and May; a few in the autumn, as the
salpe, sargus, and all the others of this kind a little before the autumnal
equinox; and the narce and rhine also. Some breed in the winter and
summer, as I before observed, as the labrax, cestreus, and belona in the
winter; the thynnis in June, about the summer solstice: it produces, as it
were, a bag, containing many minute ova. The rhyas also breeds in the
summer. The chelones among the cestræi begin to breed in the month of
December, and so does the sargus, the myxon, as it is called, and the
cephalus. They go with young thirty days. Some of the cestrei do not
originate in coition, but are produced from mud and sand.
7. The greater number of them contain ova in the spring, but some, as I
observed, in the summer, autumn, and winter. But this does not take place
in all alike, nor singly, nor in every kind, as it does in most fish which
produce their young in the spring: nor do they produce as many ova at other
seasons. But it must not escape our notice, that as different countries make a
great difference in plants and animals, not only in the habit of their body,
but also in the frequency of their sexual intercourse and production of
young; so different localities make a great difference in fish, not only in
their size, and habit of their body, but in their young, and the frequency or
rarity of their sexual intercourse, and of their offspring in this place or that.

Chapter X.

1. The malacia breed in the spring, and first of all the marine sepia, though
this one breeds at all seasons. It produces its ova in fifteen days. When the
ova are extruded, the male follows, and ejects his ink upon them, when they
become hard. They go about in pairs. The male is more variegated than the

female, and blacker on the back. The sexes of the polypus unite in the
winter, the young are produced in the spring, when these creatures conceal
themselves for two months. It produces an ovum like long hair, similar to
the fruit of the white poplar. The fecundity of this animal is very great, for a
great number of young are produced from its ova. The male differs from the
female in having a longer head, and the part of the tentaculum which the
fishermen call the penis is white. It incubates upon the ova it produces, so
that it becomes out of condition, and is not sought after at this season.
2. The purpuræ produce their ova in the spring, the ceryx at the end of the
winter; and, on the whole, the testacea appear to contain ova in the spring
and autumn, except the eatable echini. These principally produce their
young at the same seasons, but they always contain some ova, and
especially at the full and new moon, and in fine weather, but those which
live in the Euripus of the Pyrrhæi are better in winter. They are a small kind
but full of ova. All the cochleæ appear to contain ova at the same season.

Chapter XI.

1. The undomesticated birds, as it was observed, generally pair and breed
once a-year. The swallows and cottyphus breed twice, but the first brood of
the cottyphus is killed by the cold, for it is the earliest breeder of all birds. It
is able, however, to bring up the other brood. But the domestic birds, and
those capable of domestication, breed frequently, as pigeons during the
whole summer, and domestic fowls. For these birds have sexual intercourse,
and produce eggs all the year round, except at the winter solstice.
2. There are many kinds of pigeons, for the peleias and peristera are
different. The peleias is the smaller, but the peristera is more readily tamed.
The peleias is black and small, and has red and rough feet, for which reason
it is never domesticated. The phatta is the largest of the tribe, the next is the
œnas, which is a little larger than the peristera, the trygon is the least of all.
If the peristera is supplied with a warm place and appropriate food, it will
breed and bring up its young at any season of the year. If it is not properly
supplied, it will only breed in the summer. Its young ones are best during
the spring and autumn, those produced in the hot weather in summer are the
worst.

Chapter XII.

1. Animals also differ in the age at which sexual intercourse commences.
For in the first place the period at which the spermatic fluid begins to be
secreted, and the age of puberty is not the same, but different; for the young
of all animals are barren, or if they do possess the power of reproduction,
their offspring are weak and small. This is very conspicuous in mankind,
and in viviparous quadrupeds and birds, for in the one the offspring, in the
other the eggs, are small. The age of puberty is nearly the same in the
individuals of each kind, unless any alteration takes place, either as
ominous, or from an injury done to their nature.
2. In men this period of life is shown by the change of voice, and not only
by the size but by the form of the pudendum and of the breasts in women,
but especially by the growth of hair on the pubes. The secretion of the
spermatic fluid commences about the age of fourteen, the power of
reproduction at twenty-one. Other animals have no hair on the pubes, for
some have no hair at all, and others have none upon their under side, or less
than on their upper side, but the change of the voice is conspicuous in some
of them. And in others different parts of the body signify the period of the
formation of the semen, and of the power of reproduction.
3. In almost all animals the voice of the female and of the young is more
acute than that of the male and the older animals, for even the stags have a
deeper voice than their females. The males utter their cry at the season of
copulation, the females when they are alarmed. The voice of the female is
short, that of the male longer. And the barking of old dogs is also deeper
than of young ones, and the voice of the horse also varies. The females utter
a little small cry as soon as they are born, and the males do the same, but
their voice is deeper than that of the female, and as they grow older, it still
increases. When they are two years old, and reach puberty, the male utters a
great deep voice, that of the female is greater and clearer than it was at first;
this continues till they are twenty years old at the outside, and after that the
voice, both of the male and female, becomes weaker.
4. For the most part, then, as we observed, the voice of the male differs
from that of the female in depth, in those animals which utter a lengthened
sound. There are, however, some exceptions, as oxen; for in these animals
the voice of the female is deeper than that of the male, and the voice of the

calf than that of the full-grown animal; wherefore also in the castrated
animals, the voice changes the other way, for it becomes more like that of
the female.
5. The following are the ages at which animals acquire the power of
reproduction. The sheep and goat arrive at puberty within a year after they
are born, and especially the goat, and the males as well as the females, but
the offspring of these males and of the others is different. For the males are
better the second year than when they become older. In hogs, the male and
female unite at eight months old, and the female produces her young when
she is a year old, for this agrees with the period of gestation. The male
reaches puberty at eight months old, but his offspring are useless till he is a
year old. But these periods, as we have said, are not always the same, for
swine will sometimes copulate when they are four months old, so as to have
young and nurse them at six months old, and boars sometimes reach
puberty at ten months old, and continue good to three years old.
6. The bitch reaches puberty within a year after birth, and so does the dog,
and sometimes this takes place at the end of eight months, but more
frequently in the male than in the female. The period of gestation is sixty
days, or one or two, or perhaps three days more, but never less than sixty
days, or if they produce young in a less time, it never comes to perfection.
The bitch is ready for sexual intercourse again in six months, but never
sooner. The horse reaches puberty in both sexes at two years old, and is
capable of reproduction, but its offspring at that age are small and weakly.
For the most part, sexual intercourse begins at three years of age, and the
colts continue to improve from that period till they are twenty years old.
The male is useful till he is thirty years old, so that he can beget during
almost the whole of his life, for the horse generally lives five-and-thirty
years, and the mare more than forty, and a horse has been known to live
seventy-five years.
7. The ass reaches puberty in both sexes at the age of thirty months; they
rarely, however, produce young till they are three years, or three years and
six months old. But it has been known to be pregnant and bring up its
young within the year. The cow also has been known to produce young and
rear it within the year after birth, which grew to the ordinary size, and no
more.[163]

8. These are the periods of puberty in these animals. The seventieth year in
man, and the fiftieth in woman, is the latest period of reproduction, and this
happens rarely, for only a few have had children at this time of life. Sixty-
five is generally the boundary in one sex, and forty-five in the other. The
sheep produces young till it is eight years old, and, if well treated, until it is
eleven, though the act of copulation is continued in both sexes during the
whole period of life.
9. Fat goats are rarely productive, wherefore they compare barren vines
with barren goats, but they are productive when they are lean. The rams
copulate with the old sheep first, but they do not follow after the younger;
and the younger, as I before observed, produce a smaller offspring than the
older.
10. A wild boar will beget till he is three years old, but the progeny of older
animals is inferior; for he has not the same power or strength. He generally
goes to the female when full of food, and without having been to another
female, or, if not, the act of coition is of shorter duration, and the progeny
smaller. The sow produces the smallest number of pigs at her first litter, but
at the second they are more flourishing. She also produces young when old,
but the act of coition is longer. At fifteen years old, she no longer produces
young, but becomes fierce.
11. If well-fed, she will be more ready for sexual intercourse, whether
young or old; and, if rapidly fattened when pregnant, she has less milk after
parturition. As regards the age of the parent, the young of those in the prime
of their age are the best, and those that are born at the beginning of winter.
The worst are those born in the summer, for they are small, and thin, and
weak. If the male is well fed, he is ready for sexual intercourse at all
seasons, by day as well as by night; but if not well fed, he is most ready in
the morning, and as he grows old, he becomes less disposed for it, as was
said before. And it frequently happens that those which are impotent,
through age or weakness, and cannot copulate readily, will approach the
female as she lies down tired with long standing. The sow generally
becomes pregnant when she hangs down her ears in her heats; if she is not
pregnant, she becomes heated again.
12. Bitches do not copulate during the whole of their life, but only to a
certain period. Their coition and pregnancy generally takes place till they

are twelve years old, but both males and females have been known to
perform the act of coition at eighteen and even twenty years of age; but old
age takes away from both sexes the power of reproduction, as in other
animals.
13. The camel is retroningent, and performs the act of intercourse in the
manner already described; the period of its coition in Arabia is in the month
of September; the female goes with young twelve months, and produces
one foal, for the animal is one of those which produce but one. Both the
male and female arrive at puberty at the age of three years, and the female
is ready for the male again at the end of a year after parturition.
14. The elephant arrives at puberty, the earliest at ten years of age, the latest
at fifteen, and the male at five or six years old. The season for the
intercourse of the sexes is in the spring: and the male is ready again at the
end of three years, but he never touches again a female whom he has once
impregnated. Her period of gestation is two years, and then she produces
one calf, for the elephant belongs to the class of animals which have but one
young one at a time. The young one is as large as a calf of two or three
months old. This, then, is the nature of the sexual intercourse of those
animals which perform this function.

Chapter XIII.

1. We must now treat of the mode of reproduction, both of those animals
which use sexual intercourse, and those which do not; and, first of all, we
will speak of the testacea, for this is the only entire class which is not
reproduced by sexual intercourse. The purpuræ collect together in the
spring, and produce what is called their nidamental capsules (melicera), for
it is like honey-comb, though not so deeply cut, but, as it were, made up of
the white pods of vetches. These capsules have neither opening nor
perforation, nor are the purpuræ produced from them; but both these and
other testacea are produced from mud and putrefaction. But this substance
is an excrementitious matter both in the purpura and the ceryx, for these last
also produce similar capsules.
2. The testacea which produce these capsules are generated in the same way
as the rest of their class, but more readily when there are homogeneous
particles pre-existing among them; for, when they deposit their nidamental

capsules, they emit a clammy mucus, from which the scales of the capsules
are formed. When all these have been deposited, they emit upon the ground
a sort of chyle, and small purpuræ spring up upon the same spot and adhere
to the larger purpuræ, though some of these can hardly be distinguished by
their form. But if they are taken before the breeding season, they will
sometimes breed in the baskets, not indeed anywhere, but they collect
together like they do in the sea, and the narrow limits of their place of
captivity make them hang together like bunches of fruit.
3. There are many kinds of purpuræ, some of which are large, as those
which are found near Sigeum and Lectum; and others are small, as those in
the Euripus and on the Carian coast. Those found in gulfs are large and
rough. Most of them contain a black pigment; in others it is red, and the
quantity of it small. Some of the largest weigh as much as a mina. Near the
shore and on the coast they are small, and the pigment is red. Those which
are natives of the north contain a black pigment; in those of the south it is
red, generally speaking.
4. They are taken in the spring, about the time that they deposit their
capsules, but they are never taken during the dog-days, for then they do not
feed, but conceal themselves and get out of the way. The pigment is
contained between the mecon and the neck. The union of these parts is
thick, and the colour is like a white membrane; this is taken away. When
this is bruised, the pigment wets and stains the hand. Something resembling
a vein passes through it, and this appears to be the pigment; the nature of
the rest resembles alum.[164] The pigment is the worst at the period of
depositing their nidamental capsules.
5. The small ones are pounded up, shells and all, for it is not easy to
separate them; but they separate the larger kinds from the shells, and then
extract the pigment. For this purpose the mecon is divided from the neck,
for the pigment lies above the part called the stomach, and when this is
taken away, they are divided asunder. They are careful to bruise them while
alive, for if they die before they are cut up, they vomit up the pigment; for
this reason they keep them in the baskets till a sufficient number is
collected, and there is time to procure the pigment.
6. The ancients did not let down or fasten any basket-net to their baits, so
that it often happened that the purpura fell off as they were drawn up; but at

the present time they use basket-nets, in order that if the purpura should fall
off, it may not be lost. They are most likely to fall off when full, but when
empty it is difficult to draw them from the bait. These are the peculiarities
of the purpura. The nature of the ceryx is the same as that of the purpura,
and so are their seasons.
7. They both have opercula, and so have all turbinated shell-fish, from the
period of their birth. They feed by forcing out their tongue, as it is called,
beneath the operculum: the purpura has a tongue larger than a finger, with
which it feeds upon and pierces the conchylia, and even the shells of its
own species. Both the purpura and the ceryx are long-lived, for the purpura
lives six years, and its annual increase is seen in the divisions on the helix
of its shell.
8. The mya also deposits nidamental capsules; those which are called
limnostrea are the first to originate in muddy places, but the conchæ,
chemæ, solens, and pectens find their subsistence in sandy shores; the
pinnæ grow up from their byssus both in sandy and muddy shores. The
pinnæ always contain a pinnophylax, either like a small caris or cancer, and
soon die when this is extracted. On the whole, all the testacea are produced
spontaneously in mud different kinds originating in different sorts of mud:
the ostrea is found in mud, the conchæ and others that have been mentioned
in sand. The tethya, balanus, and others which live on the surface, as the
patella and nerita, originate in holes in the rocks. All these reach maturity
very soon, especially the purpuræ and pectens, for they are matured in one
year.
9. Very small white cancri are produced in some of the testacea, especially
in the myæ that inhabit muddy places, and next to this in the pinnæ those
which are called pinnoteræ; they occur also in the pectens and limnostrea.
These animals apparently never grow; and the fishermen say that they are
produced at the same time as the creatures they inhabit. The pectens
disappear for some time in the sand, and so do the purpuræ. The ostrea
(bivalves) are produced in the manner described, for some of them originate
in shallow water, others near the shore, or among rocks, or in rough hard
places, or in sand; and some have the power of locomotion, others have not.
10. Among those that are not locomotive, the pinnæ are fixed; the solens
and conchæ remain on one spot, though not fixed, and do not survive

separation from their home. The nature of the aster[165] is so hot, that if it is
captured immediately after swallowing anything, its food is found digested;
and they say that it is very troublesome in the Pyrrhæan Euripus. Its form is
like the paintings of a star. The creatures called pneumones are
spontaneously produced. The shell which painters use is very thick, and the
pigment is produced on the outside of the shell; they are principally found
in the neighbourhood of Caria.
11. The carcinium also originates in earth and mud, and afterwards makes
its way into an empty shell, and when it grows too large for that, it leaves it
for a larger one, as the shell of the nerita, strombus, and such like; it
frequently occurs in the small ceryx. When it has entered the shell, it carries
it about and lives in it, except that as it grows it migrates into a larger shell.

Chapter XIV.

1. The nature of the testacea is the same as that of creatures without shells,
as the cnidæ[166] and sponges, which inhabit the holes in rocks. There are
two kinds of cnidæ, some which live in holes in the rocks, and cannot be
separated from them, and other migrating species which live upon the
smooth flat surface of the rocks. (The patella also is free and locomotive.)
In the interior of the sponges are found the creatures called pinnophylaces,
and the interior is closed with a net like a spider's web, and small fish are
captured by opening and closing this web, for it opens as they approach,
and closes upon them when they have entered.
2. There are three kinds of sponges; one of them is thin, the other is thick,
and the third, which is called the Achillean sponge, is slender, compact, and
very strong; it is placed beneath helmets and thigh-pieces, for the sake of
deadening the sound of blows; this kind is very rare. Among the compact
kinds, those which are very hard and rough are called tragi. They all grow
upon the rock or near the shore, and obtain their food from the mud. This is
evident, for they are full of mud when they are captured. This is the case
with all other fixed things, that they derive their food from the spot to which
they are attached.
3. The compact species are weaker than those which are thin, because their
point of attachment is smaller. It is affirmed that the sponge possesses
sensation; this is a proof of it, that it contracts if it perceives any purpose of

tearing it up, and renders the task more difficult. The sponge does the same
thing when the winds and waves are violent, that it may not lose its point of
attachment. There are some persons who dispute this, as the natives of
Torona. The sponge is inhabited by worms and other living creatures, which
the rock-fish eat when the sponge is torn up, as well as the remainder of its
roots. But if the sponge is broken off, it grows again, and is completed from
the portion that is left.
4. The thin sponges are the largest, and they are most abundant on the
Lycian coast; the compact sponges are softer, and the Achillean are more
harsh than the others. On the whole, those that inhabit deep places with a
mild temperature are the softest, for wind and cold weather harden them, as
they do other growing things, and stop their increase. For this reason the
sponges of the Hellespont are rough and compact; and, altogether, those
beyond Malea, and those on this side, differ in softness and hardness.
5. Neither should the heat be very great, for the sponge becomes rotten, like
plants, wherefore those near the shore are the best, especially if the water is
deep near the land, for the temperature is moderated by the depth. When
alive, before they are washed, they are black. Their point of attachment is
neither single nor dispersed over the whole surface, for there are empty
passages between the points of attachment. Something like a membrane is
extended over their lower part, and the attachment is by several points; on
the upper part are other closed passages, and four or five which are
apparent. Wherefore some persons say that these are the organs by which
they take their food.
6. There is also another species called aplysia, because it cannot be washed.
This has very large passages; but the other parts of the substance are quite
compact. When cut open it is more compact and smooth than the sponge,
and the whole is like a lung; of all the sponges this one is confessed to have
the most sensation, and to be the most enduring. They are plainly seen in
the sea near the sponges, for the other sponges are white as the mud settles
down upon them, but these are always black. This is the mode of production
in sponges and testacea.

Chapter XV.

1. Among the malacostraca the carabi are impregnated by sexual
intercourse, and contain their ova during three months, May, June, and July.
They afterwards deposit them upon the hollow part of their folded tail, and
their ova grow like worms. The same thing takes place in the malacia and
oviparous fish, for their ova always grow.
2. The ova of the carabi are sandy, and divided into eight parts; for a
cartilaginous appendage, round which the ova are attached, is united to each
of the opercula at their junction with the side; and the whole resembles a
bunch of grapes, for every one of the cartilaginous appendages is frequently
subdivided, and the divisions are apparent to any one who will separate
them, but when first seen they appear to be united. Those ova which are in
the centre are larger than those which are contiguous to the perforation, and
the last are the least.
3. The smallest ova are as large as millet; the ova are not continuous with
the perforation, but in the middle. For two divisions extend on each side,
from the tail and from the thorax, and this is also the line of junction for the
opercula. The ova, which are placed at the side, cannot be enclosed, unless
the extremity of the tail is drawn over them; this, however, covers them like
a lid.
4. The female, in depositing her ova, appears to collect them on the
cartilaginous appendages by means of the broad part of the folded tail. She
produces them by pressing with her tail and bending her body. These
cartilaginous processes at the season of oviposition increase in size, in order
to become appropriate receptacles for the ova. The ova are deposited on
these processes, as those of the sepia are deposited upon broken pieces of
wood or anything floating in the sea. This is the manner of depositing them;
but after they have been ripened twenty days, they are cast off altogether in
a mass, as they appear when separated from the parent; in fifteen days, at
the outside, the carabi are produced from these ova, and they are often taken
off less than a finger's length. The ova are produced before Arcturus, and
after Arcturus they are cast off.
5. The cyphæ among the carides contain their ova about four months. The
carabi are found in rough and rocky places, the astaci in those that are
smooth; but neither of them inhabit mud. For this cause the astaci are found
in the Hellespont and near Thasus; the carabi in the neighbourhood of

Sigeum and Athos. Fishermen, when they pursue their calling in the open
sea, distinguish the rough and muddy places by the nature of the shore, and
other signs. In the spring and winter they come near the shore; in summer
time they go into deep water, sometimes for the sake of warmth, and
sometimes for the cold.
6. Those called arcti[167] breed nearly at the same time as the carabi,
wherefore they are most excellent in winter and in spring before the
breeding season, and they are worst after they have deposited their ova.
They change their shell in the spring, like the serpent, which puts off its old
age, as it is called. Both the carabi and the carcini do this when they are
young, as well as afterwards. All the carabi are long-lived.

Chapter XVI.

1. The malacia produce a white ovum after sexual intercourse; in the course
of time this becomes sandy, like that of the testacea. The polypus deposits
its ova in holes or pots, or any other hollow place; the ovum is like bunches
of the wild vine and of the white poplar, as was observed before; when the
ova are produced they remain suspended from the hole in which they were
deposited; and the ova are so numerous, that when taken out they will fill a
vessel much larger than the head of the polypus in which they were
contained.
2. About fifty days afterwards the young polypi burst the eggs and escape,
like phalangia, in great numbers. The particular shape of each limb is not
distinct, though the general form is plain. Many of them perish from their
small size and debility. Some have been observed so small that they could
not be distinguished, unless they were touched, when they were seen to
move.
3. The sepia also deposits eggs, which resemble large, black, myrtle seeds.
They are united together like a bunch of fruit, and are enclosed in a
substance which prevents them from separating readily. The male emits his
ink upon them, a mucous fluid, which causes their slippery appearance. The
ova increase in this way; and when first produced they are white, but when
they have touched the ink they become large and black. When the young
sepia, which is entirely formed of the internal white of the ovum, is
produced, it makes its way out by the rupture of the membrane of the ovum.

4. The ovum which the female first produces is like hail, and to this the
young sepia is attached by the head, as birds are attached to the abdomen.
The nature of the umbilical attachment has never been observed, except that
as the sepia increases the white always becomes less, and at last entirely
disappears, like the yolk of the eggs of birds.
5. The eyes are at first very large in these as in other animals, as in the
diagram. The ovum is seen at A, the eyes at B and C, and the embryo sepia
itself at D. The female contains ova during the spring. The ova are produced
in fifteen days; and when the ova are produced they remain for fifteen days
longer like the small seeds of grapes, and when these are ruptured the
young sepias escape from the inside. If a person divides them before they
have reached maturity, the young sepias emit their fœces and vary in colour,
and turn from white to red from alarm.
6. The crustaceans incubate upon their ova, which are placed beneath them;
but the polypus and sepia and such like incubate upon their ova wherever
they may be deposited, and especially the sepia, for the female has often
been observed with her abdomen upon the ground, but the female polypus
has been observed sometimes placed upon her ova, and sometimes upon her
mouth, holding with her tentacula over the hole in which the ova were
deposited. The sepia deposits her ova upon the ground among fuci and
reeds, or upon any thing thrown in the water, as wood, branches, or stones;
and the fishermen are careful to place branches of trees in the water. Upon
these they deposit their long and united ova like branches of fruit.
7. The ova are deposited and produced by repeated exertion, as if the
parturition were accompanied with pain. The teuthis oviposits in the sea.
The ova, like those of the sepia, are united together. Both the teuthus and
sepia are short-lived, for very few of them survive a year. The same is the
case with the polypus. Each egg produces one small sepia, and so also in
the teuthis. The male teuthus differs from the female; for if the hair
(branchia) are drawn aside, the female will be seen to have two red
substances like mammæ, which the male does not possess. The sepia also
has the same sexual distinction, and is more variegated than the female, as I
observed before.

Chapter XVII.

1. It has already been observed that the male insects are less than the
female, and that the male mounts upon the female; and the manner of their
sexual intercourse has been described, and the difficulty of separating them.
Most of them produce their young very soon after sexual intercourse. All
the kinds except some psychæ (butterflies and moths) produce worms.
These produce a hard substance, like the seed of the cnecus,[168] which is
fluid within. From the worm an animal is produced, but not from a portion
of it, as if it were an ovum, but the whole grows and becomes an articulated
animal.
2. Some of them are produced from similar animals, as phalangia and
spiders from phalangia and spiders, and attelabi,[169] locusts, and
grasshoppers. Others do not originate in animals of the same species, but
their production is spontaneous, for some of them spring from the dew
which falls upon plants. The origin of these is naturally in the spring,
though they often appear in the winter, if fine weather and south winds
occur for any length of time. Some originate in rotten mud and dung; and
others in the fresh wood of plants or in dry wood; others among the hair of
animals, or in their flesh, or excrements, whether ejected, or still existing in
the body, as those which are called helminthes.
3. There are three kinds of these, the flat worms, the round worms, and
those which are called ascarides. From these creatures nothing is produced;
but the broad worm is attached to the intestine, and produces something like
the seed of the colocynth, and this is used by physicians as a proof of the
presence of the worm.
4. Butterflies are produced from caterpillars; and these originate in the
leaves of green plants, especially the rhaphahus, which some persons call
crambe. At first they are smaller than millet, afterwards they grow into little
worms, in three days they become small caterpillars, afterwards they grow
and become motionless, and change their form. In this state the creature is
called chrysalis. It has a hard covering, but moves when it is touched. They
are united to something by weblike processes, and have no mouth nor any
other visible organ. After a short time the covering is burst, and a winged
animal escapes, which is called a butterfly.
5. At first, while in the caterpillar state, they take food and evacuate fœces,
but in the chrysalis state they do neither. The same is the case with all other

creatures which originate in worms, and those which produce worms after
sexual intercourse, or even without this process; for the offspring of bees,
anthrenæ, and wasps, while they are young worms, consume food and
evacuate excrement, but when from worms they receive their conformation
they are called nymphæ, and neither feed nor evacuate, but remain quiet in
their covering until they are grown. They then make their escape by cutting
through a place where the cell is fastened on.
6. The penia[170] and hypera[171] also are produced from a kind of campe
(caterpillar) which make a wave as they walk, and as they advance bend the
hinder extremity up to that which has preceded. The creature produced
always derives its colour from the campe in which it originates. A certain
great worm, which has as it were horns, and differs from others, at its first
metamorphosis produces a campe, afterwards a bombylius, and lastly a
necydalus. It passes through all these forms in six months. From this animal
some women unroll and separate the bombycina (cocoons), and afterwards
weave them. It is said that this was first woven in the island of Cos by
Pamphila, the daughter of Plateos.
7. From the worms in dry wood the insects called carabi are produced in the
same manner; for at first they are immoveable worms, and afterwards the
carabi are produced by the rupture of their case. The crambides originate in
the plant called crambe, and these also have wings, and the prasocurides
from the plant called prasum (onion). The œstri are produced from the little
flat creatures that are found on the surface of rivers. Wherefore also they
congregate in the greatest numbers around the waters where such animals
are found. The kind of pygolampis which has no wings originates in a
small, black, hairy caterpillar. These undergo another change, and turn into
the winged creatures called bostrychi.
8. The empides originate in ascarides, and the ascarides originate in the mud
of wells and running waters which flow over an earthy bottom. At first the
decaying mud acquires a white colour, which afterwards becomes black,
and finally red. When this takes place, very small red creatures are seen
growing in it like fuci. At first these move about in a mass, afterwards their
connection is ruptured, the creatures called ascarides are borne about in the
water, after a few days they stand erect in the water without motion and of a
hard texture, and subsequently the case is broken and the empis sits upon it
until either the sun or the wind enables it to move, then it flies away.

9. The commencement of life in all other worms, and in all creatures
produced from worms, originates in the influence of the sun and wind. The
ascarides are produced in greater numbers, and more quickly, where the
various matters are mixed together, as in the works conducted in the
Megarian territory, for putrefaction thus takes place more readily. The
autumnal season also is favourable to their increase, for there is less
moisture at that time of the year. The crotones[172] originate in the agrostis,
the melolonthæ from the worms which originate in the dung of oxen and
asses.
10. The canthari which roll up dung, hide themselves in it during the winter,
and produce worms, which afterwards become canthari; and from the
worms which inhabit the osprea,[173] winged creatures, like those already
mentioned, derive their existence. Flies originate in dung which has been
set apart, and those who are employed in this work strive to separate the
remainder which is mixed together, for they say that the dung is thus
brought to putrefaction.
11. The origin of these worms is very small; for first of all a redness is
perceived, and motion commences, as if they were united together. The
worm then again becomes still, afterwards it moves, and then again is
immoveable. From this the worm is completed, and motion recommences
under the action of the sun and wind. The myops is produced in wood. The
orsodacnæ[174] from the metamorphosis of worms, which originate on the
stalks of the crambe. The cantharis from worms which dwell on the fig tree,
apium (pear tree), and pitch tree, for there are worms on all these, and on
the cynacantha.[175] They assemble round strong smelling things because
they originate from them.
12. The conops springs from a worm which originates in the thick part of
vinegar; for there seem also to be worms in things which are the farthest
from putrefaction, as in snow which has laid for some time: for after having
laid, it becomes red, wherefore, also, the worms are such and hairy. Those
in the snow in Media are large and white, and furnished with but little
power of motion. In Cyprus, when the manufacturers of the stone called
chalcitis burn it for many days in the fire, a winged creature, something
larger than a great fly, is seen walking and leaping in the fire.

13. The worms perish when they are taken out of the snow, and so do these
creatures when taken from the fire. And the salamander shews that it is
possible for some animal substances to exist in the fire, for they say that fire
is extinguished when this animal walks over it.
14. In the river Hypanis in the Cimmerian Bosphorus, about the summer
solstice, capsules larger than grape-seed are floated down the river: when
these are ruptured, a four-footed, winged creature makes its escape, which
lives and flies about till the evening. As the sun descends, it becomes
emaciated, and is dead by sunset, having lived but one day; for which cause
it is called ephemerum. Most animals which spring from caterpillars or
worms, are first of all enclosed in a web, and this is their nature.
15. The wasps which are called ichneumons, which are smaller than the
others, kill the phalangia, and carry them to a wall, or some other place with
a hole in it; and when they have covered them over with mud, they oviposit
there, and the ichneumon wasps are produced from them. Many of the
coleoptera, and other small and anonymous creatures make little holes in
tombs or walls, and there deposit their worms.
16. The period of reproduction, from its commencement to its conclusion, is
generally completed in three or four weeks. In the worms and worm-like
creatures, three weeks are usually sufficient, and four weeks are usually
enough for those which are oviparous. In one week from their sexual
intercourse, the growth of the ovum is completed. In the remaining three
weeks, those that produce by generation, hatch and bring forth their ova, as
in the spiders, and such like creatures. The metamorphoses generally
occupy three or four days, like the crisis of diseases. This is the mode of
generation in insects.
17. They die from the shrivelling of their limbs, as large animals do of old
age. Those which are furnished with wings have these organs drawn
together in autumn. The myopes die from an effusion of water in their eyes.

Chapter XVIII.

1. All persons are not agreed as to the generation of bees, for some say that
they neither produce young, nor have sexual intercourse; but that they bring
their young from other sources; and some say that they collect them from

the flowers of the calyntrus,[176] and others from the flower of the calamus.
[177] Others again, say that they are found in the flowers of the olive, and
produce this proof, that the swarms are most abundant when the olives are
fertile. Other persons affirm that they collect the young of the drones from
any of the substances we have named, but that the rulers (queens) produce
the young of the bees.
2. There are two kinds of rulers, the best of these is red, the other black and
variegated: their size is double that of the working bees; the part of the body
beneath the cincture is more than half of the whole length: by some they are
called the mother bees, as if they were the parents of the rest; and they
argue, that unless the ruler is present, drones only are produced, and no
bees. Others affirm that they have sexual intercourse, and that the drones
are males, and the bees females.
3. The other bees originate in the cells of the comb, but the rulers are
produced in the lower part of the comb, six or seven of them separated,
opposite to the rest of the progeny. The bees have a sting, which the drones
have not: the kings and rulers have a sting which they do not make use of,
and some persons suppose that they have none.

Chapter XIX.

1. There are several kinds of bees, the best are small, round, and variegated:
another kind is large, like the anthrene: a third kind is called phor; this is
black, and has a broad abdomen: the drone is the fourth, and is the largest of
all; it has no sting, and is incapable of work, for which reason people often
wrap something round their hives, so that the bees can enter, but the drones,
being larger, cannot.
2. There are two kinds of rulers among bees, as I observed before. In every
hive there are several rulers, and not a single one, for the hive perishes if
there are not rulers enough (not that they thus become anarchical, but, as
they say, because they are required for breeding the bees); if there are too
many rulers they perish, for thus they become distracted.
3. If the spring is late, and drought and rusts are about, the progeny is small.
When the weather is dry, they make honey. When it is damp, their progeny
multiplies; for which reason, the olives and the swarms of bees multiply at

the same time. They begin by making comb, in which they place the
progeny, which is deposited with their mouths, as those say who affirm that
they collect it from external sources. Afterwards they gather the honey
which is to be their food, during the summer and the autumn; that which is
gathered in the autumn is the best.
4. Wax is made from flowers. They bring the material of wax from the
droppings of trees, but the honey falls from the air, principally about the
rising of the stars, and when the rainbow rests upon the earth. Generally no
honey is produced before the rising of the Pleiades. We argue that wax is
made, as I said, from flowers, but that the bees do not make honey, but
simply collect that which falls; for those who keep bees find the cells filled
with honey in the course of one or two days. In the autumn there are
flowers enough, but the bees make no honey, if that which they have
produced is taken away. But if one supply was taken away, and they were in
want of food, they would make more if they procured it from flowers.
5. The honey becomes thick by ripening, for at first it is like water, and
continues liquid for some days, wherefore it never becomes thick if it is
taken away during that time. It requires twenty days to make it consistent;
this is very plain from the taste of it, for it differs both in sweetness and
solidity. The bee carries honey from every plant which has cup-shaped
flowers, and from all those which contain a sweet principle, but does not
injure the fruit; it takes up and carries away the sweet taste of plants with its
tongue-like organ.
6. The honey-comb is pressed when the wild figs begin to appear; and they
produce the best grubs when they can produce honey. The bees carry the
wax and bee-bread upon their legs, but the honey is disgorged into the cells.
After the progeny is deposited in the cells, they incubate like birds. In the
wax cells the little worm is placed at the side; afterwards it rises of itself to
be fed. It is united to the comb in such a manner as to be held by it. The
progeny both of the bees and drones from which the little worms are
produced, is white. As they grow they become bees and drones. The
progeny of the king-bees is rather red, and about the consistency of thick
honey. In bulk it is as large as the creature which is produced from it. The
progeny of the king-bee is not a worm, but comes forth a perfect bee, as
they say; and, when the progeny is produced in the comb, honey is found in
that which is opposite.

7. After the grub is covered up, it has wings and feet; and when it has
acquired wings, it bursts through the membrane, and flies away. It
evacuates an excrementitious matter while it is a worm, but not afterwards,
until it is perfected, as I observed before. If a person cuts off the head of the
grub before its wings are acquired, the other bees devour it; if a person
having cut off the wings of a drone lets it go, the bees will eat off the wings
of the other drones.
8. The bee will live for six years, some have lived for seven, and if a swarm
lasts nine or ten years, it is considered to have done well. In Pontus there
are very white bees, which make honey twice every month. In Therniscyra,
near the river Thermodon, are found bees which make cells in the earth, and
in hives with a very small quantity of wax, but their honey is thick. The
cells are smooth and homogeneous. They only do this in the winter, and not
all the year round; for there is a great deal of ivy in the place, which flowers
at this season of the year, and from this they carry away the honey. From the
higher regions of Amisus a kind of white honey is procured, which the bees
form upon the trees without wax. The same is also found in another place in
Pontus. There are also bees which form triple cells in the earth; these form
honey, but never have grubs. All such as these, however, are not cells,
neither are they formed by every kind of bee.

Chapter XX.

1. The anthrenæ[178] and wasps form cells for their progeny when they have
no rulers, but are wandering about in search of them, the anthrenæ upon
some high place, the wasps in holes. But when they have the rulers they
form their cells underground. All their cells are hexagonal, like those of
bees; they are not formed of wax, but of a web-like membrane, made of the
bark of trees. The cells of the anthrenæ are far more elegant than those of
wasps. Upon the side of their cells they place their progeny, in the manner
of the bees, like a drop of liquid united to the wall of the cell. The progeny
in all the cells is not alike, but in some they are so large as to be almost
ready for flight, in others are nymphæ, in others grubs.
2. The only excrementitious matter is found in the cells of the grubs, as in
the case of bees. As long as they are nymphæ they remain motionless, and
the cell is sealed over, and on the other side of the cell which contains their

progeny, there is a drop of honey in the combs of the anthrenæ. The grubs
of these creatures are produced in the autumn, not in the spring, but they
evidently grow most rapidly at the full moon. The progeny and the grubs
are not united to the bottom, but to the side of the cell.

Chapter XXI.

1. Some of the bombycia[179] form an angular cell of mud, which they
attach to a stone or something else, and smear with a kind of transparent
substance; this is so very thick and hard, that it can scarcely be broken with
the blow of a spear. In this they deposit their ova, and the white maggots are
contained in a black membrane; and wax is formed in the mud without any
membrane, this wax is much more yellow than that of bees.
2. The ants also have sexual intercourse, and produce maggots which they
do not attach to anything. As these grow, they change from small round
things to long articulated beings. The season for their production is in the
spring.
3. The land-scorpions also bring forth many egg-like maggots, upon which
they incubate. When the young ones are perfect, they drive out and destroy
their parents like spiders, for they are frequently eleven in number.

Chapter XXII.

1. The arachnia copulate in the manner already described, and produce
maggots which at first are small. After their metamorphosis they become
spiders, not from a part but from the whole of the maggot, for they are
round from the first. When the female has produced her ova, she incubates
upon them, in three days they acquire limbs. All of them produce their
young in a web, which is thin and small in some species, but compact in
others. Some are enclosed entirely in a round receptacle, and others are only
partially covered by the web. All the young spiders are not produced at
once, but as soon as they are hatched they leap out and shoot forth a web. If
they are bruised they are found to contain a thick white fluid like that of
maggots.

2. The field-spiders first of all deposit their ova in a web, of which one half
is attached to themselves, and the other external, they incubate upon this,
and produce their young alive. The phalangia deposit their ova in a thick
basket which they weave, upon this they incubate. The smooth kinds
produce a small number, the phalangia a great many. When they are grown,
they surround their parent in a circle, kill and throw her out. They often
seize the male in the same way if they can catch him, for he assists the
female in incubation. Sometimes there are as many as three hundred round
a single phalangium. The little spiders become full-grown in about four
weeks.

Chapter XXIII.

1. Locusts copulate in the same manner as all other insects, the smaller
mounting upon the larger, for the male is the smaller. They oviposit by
fixing the organ which is attached to their tail (the ovipositor) in the ground.
The males do not possess this organ. Many of them deposit their ova in one
spot, so as to make it appear like a honey-comb. As soon as they have
deposited their ova, egg-like maggots are formed, which are covered with a
thin coating of earth like a membrane, and in this they are matured.
2. The young are so soft as to collapse if they are only touched. They are
not produced on the surface, but a little below the surface of the soil; and as
soon as they are matured, they escape from the coat of soil in which they
are enclosed as small black locusts. Their skin is subsequently ruptured, and
they then attain their full size. They produce their young at the end of
summer, and then die.
3. For as soon as they have deposited their ova, small worms make their
appearance on their necks, the males also perish at the same time: they
come out of the earth in the spring. Locusts never shew themselves in
mountainous countries, nor in poor land, but in plains, and broken soil, for
they deposit their ova in fissures. The ova remain in the soil during the
winter, and in the summer the locusts are produced from the germs of the
preceding year.
4. The young of the attelabi are produced in the same manner, and the
parents die after having deposited their ova. Their ova are destroyed by the
rains of the autumn, if the weather is wet; but if that season is dry, many

attelabi are produced, because they are not equally destroyed; for their
destruction appears to be irregular, and to take place by accident.

Chapter XXIV.

1. There are two kinds of grasshoppers: some are small. These are the first
to appear, the last to perish. Others, which chirp, are large: these appear last,
and disappear first. There is another difference between the small and large
kind. Those which chirp have a division in the middle of the body: those
which do not chirp have none. The large ones, which chirp, are called
achetæ; the small are called tettigonia. Such of these as are divided, sing a
little.
2. Grasshoppers do not appear where there are no trees, for which reason
they are unknown in the open country of Cyrene, but are abundant near the
city, and especially among olive trees, for these do not give much shade,
and grasshoppers are not produced in the cold, nor in very shady groves.
Both the large and small ones have sexual intercourse with their own kind,
copulating with each other on their backs. The male inserts his organ into
the female, in the same manner as other insects. The female has a divided
pudendum. The female individual is the one which receives the male.
3. They deposit their ova in fields, piercing the soil with the organ at the
extremity of their body, like the attelabi; for the attelabi also oviposit in the
fields, for which reason they are common in Cyrene. They oviposit also in
the reeds which are used to support the vines; these they pierce: and so they
do in the stems of the scilla. The young ones are washed into the earth, and
are common in rainy weather. The maggot, when it is grown in the earth,
becomes a tettigometra: these are sweetest before they have ruptured their
covering.
4. And when the season arrives for their appearance, about the solstice, they
come forth by night, and immediately burst their envelope, and the
tettigometra becomes a grasshopper. They immediately become black and
hard, acquire their full size, and begin to chirp. In both kinds the males
chirp; the others, which do not chirp, are females. When first produced the
males are the sweetest: after the sexual intercourse, the females are
sweetest, for they contain white ova.

5. If a noise is made as they fly along, they emit a fluid like water, which
the agriculturists describe as if they emitted both a liquid and solid
excrement, and that they feed on dew; and if any one approaches them with
a bent finger, which is gradually straightened, they will remain more quiet
than if it is put out straight at once, and will climb up upon the finger; for,
from the dimness of their sight, they climb upon it as if it were a moving
leaf.

Chapter XXV.

1. Those insects which are not carnivorous, but live upon the juices of
living flesh, as lice, fleas, and bugs, produce nits from sexual intercourse;
from these nits nothing else is formed. Of these insects the fleas originate in
very small portions of corrupted matter, for they are always collected
together where there is any dry dung. Bugs[180] proceed from the moisture
which collects on the bodies of animals: lice from the flesh of other
creatures; for before they appear, they exist in little pimples which do not
contain matter: and if these are pricked, the lice[181] escape from them.
Some persons have been afflicted with a disease arising from excessive
moisture in the body, of which people have died, as they say that Alcmon
the poet, and Pherecydes of Syria did.
2. And in some diseases lice are very common. There is a kind of lice,
which they call wild, and are harder than the common sort, which are
difficult to eradicate from the body. The heads of children are most subject
to be infested with lice, and men the least so, for women are more liable to
them than men. Those that have lice in the head are less subject to
headache. Many other animals are infested with lice: for both birds have
them, and those which are called phasiani, unless they dust themselves, are
destroyed by them. And so are all those creatures which have feathers with
a hollow stem, and those which have hair, except the ass, which has neither
lice nor ticks. Oxen have both; sheep and goats have ticks, but no lice; hogs
are infested with large, hard lice, and dogs with those which are called
cynoraïstæ. All lice originate in the animals that are infested with them. All
creatures that have lice, and wash themselves, are more liable to them when
they change the water in which they bathe.

3. In the sea is a kind of lice[182] growing on fish; but these do not originate
in the fish, but in the mud. Their appearance is that of wood-lice with many
feet, except that they have a wide tail. There is one species of marine lice
which occur everywhere, and especially infest the trigla. All these creatures
are furnished with many legs, are exsanguineous, and insects. The
œstrus[183] of the thynnus occurs near the fins: in shape it is like a scorpion,
and as large as a spider. In the sea between Cyrene and Egypt, there is a fish
called the phtheira, which accompanies the dolphin; it is the fattest of all
fish, because it enjoys an abundance of the food which the dolphin hunts
for.

Chapter XXVI.

1. There are also other minute animals, as I observed before, some of which
occur in wool,[184] and in woollen goods; as the moths, which are produced
in the greatest abundance when the wool is dusty, and especially if a spider
is enclosed with them, for this creature is thirsty, and dries up any fluid
which may be present. This worm also occurs in garments. There is one
which occurs in old honeycombs, like the creature which inhabits dry
wood: this appears to be the least of all creatures, it is called acari, it is
white and small. Others also are found in books,[185] some of which are like
those which occur in garments: others are like scorpions;[186] they have no
tails, and are very small. And on the whole, they occur in everything, so to
say, which from being dry, becomes moist, or being moist, becomes dry, if
it has any life in it.
2. There is a little worm which is called xylophthorus,[187] which is no less
extraordinary than these animals; for its variegated head is projected
beyond its case, and its feet are at the extremity, as in other worms. The rest
of the body is contained in a case made of a substance like spider's web, and
a dry material on the outside of this; so that it appears to walk about with
this attached to it. These creatures are attached to their case, and as a snail
to its shell, so the whole of the case is joined to the worm, and it does not
fall out of it, but is drawn out of it, as if they were joined together. If a
person pulls off the case, the creature dies, and becomes as helpless as a
snail without its shell. As time advances, this grub becomes a chrysalis, like

a caterpillar, and lies without motion: but the nature of the winged creature
that is produced has never been ascertained.
3. The wild figs upon the fig-trees contain a creature called psen;[188] this is
at first a little worm, and afterwards having ruptured the case, the psen flies
out, and leaves it behind. It then pierces the unripe figs, and causes them not
to fall off, wherefore gardeners place wild fruit near the cultivated kinds,
and plant the wild and cultivated plants near each other.

Chapter XXVII.

1. The sexual intercourse of sanguineous and oviparous quadrupeds takes
place in the spring. They do not, however, all copulate at the same season;
but some in the spring, others in the summer or autumn, as the season is
appropriate for bringing up the young of each species. The tortoise produces
hard, two-coloured eggs, like those of birds. Having deposited her eggs, she
buries them, and makes a beaten place above them. When this is done, she
sits upon them. The eggs are hatched the following year. The emys goes out
of the water to deposit her eggs, and digs a hole like a cask, in which she
places her eggs and leaves them. Having left them alone for less than thirty
days, she digs them up again and hatches them and leads them at once to
the water. The marine turtles deposit their eggs in the earth like domestic
birds, and cover them up with earth and sit upon them during the night.
They produce a great many eggs, as many as an hundred.
2. The saurians and both the land and river crocodiles produce their eggs
upon the land. Those of the lizards are hatched spontaneously in the earth;
for the lizard does not live a whole year, for it is said to live only six
months. The river crocodile produces as many as sixty eggs, which are
white. She sits upon them for sixty days, for they live a long while. A very
large animal is produced from these small eggs; for the egg is not larger
than that of a goose, and the young is in proportion, but when full grown the
creature measures seventeen cubits. Some persons say that it grows as long
as it lives.

Chapter XXVIII.

Among serpents the viper is externally viviparous, but first of all internally
oviparous. The ovum, like that of fish, is of one colour and soft skinned.
The young are produced in the upper part. They are not enclosed in a shelly
covering, neither are the ova of fish. The little vipers are produced in a
membrane, which they rupture on the third day, and sometimes they make
their escape by eating their way through the mother. They are produced one
by one in the course of a day, and their number often exceeds twenty. Other
serpents are externally oviparous, but their ova are joined together like
women's necklaces. When the female deposits her eggs in the soil, she
incubates upon them. These also are hatched in the second year. This is the
manner of the production of serpents, insects, and of oviparous quadrupeds.

BOOK THE SIXTH.
Chapter I.

1. The above describes the manner of reproduction in serpents, insects, and
oviparous quadrupeds. All birds are oviparous, but the season of sexual
intercourse and of bringing out their young is not the same in all; for some
copulate and produce eggs at all seasons, as we may say, as the domestic
fowl and the pigeon, for the domestic fowl lays eggs all the year round,
except two months at the winter solstice. Some of the finest birds will lay
sixty eggs before they want to sit, though these are not so fruitful as the
more common kinds. The Adrianic fowls are very small, but they lay every
day; but they are cruel, and often kill their chickens. Their colour is
variegated. Some of the domestic birds lay twice a-day, and some have been
known to lay so many eggs that they died very soon.
2. The domestic fowls, as I said, lay continually; but the pigeon, dove,
trygon, and œnas lay twice a-year; and the pigeon ten times. The greatest
number of birds lay in the spring; and some of them produce many young,
and this in two ways; some producing their young often, as the pigeon;
others producing many at a time, as the domestic fowl. All birds with
crooked claws, except the cenchris,[189] lay but few eggs. This bird lays the
most of any of its class; for it has been observed to produce four, and it even
produces more. Some birds lay their eggs in nests; but those that do not fly,
as partridges and quails, do not make nests, but lay their eggs on the ground
and cover them over with rubbish. The lark and tetrix[190] do the same.
3. These birds make their nests in a place sheltered from the wind. That
which the Beotians call ærops[191] is the only bird that makes its nests in
caverns in the earth. The cichlæ[192] make nests of mud like swallows in the
tops of trees; but they place them in order close to each other, so that from
their proximity they look like a chain of nests. Among the birds which make
solitary nests, the hoopoe makes no real nest, but lays its eggs in the stumps
of hollow trees, without building at all. The coccyx[193] lays its eggs in

houses and holes in rocks. The tetrix, which the Athenians call "urax,"
makes no nest on the ground or in trees, but in herbaceous plants.

Chapter II.

1. The eggs of all birds are alike and have a hard shell, if they are produced
by sexual intercourse and are not decayed, for domestic fowls sometimes
lay soft eggs. Birds' eggs are two-coloured, externally white, internally
yellow. The eggs of birds inhabiting the sides of streams and lakes differ
from those living on dry land, for in the eggs of aquatic birds the yolk bears
a much larger proportion to the white.
2. The colours of eggs vary in different kinds of birds. Some have white
eggs, as pigeons, partridges; some yellow, as those inhabiting streams;
others are spotted, as those of the meleagris[194] and phasianus;[195] the eggs
of the cenchris are red like vermilion. In the egg itself there is a difference;
for one end is pointed, the other round. The round end is produced first. The
large, sharp eggs are males; those which are round and circular at the sharp
end are females.
3. They are matured by incubation. Some are hatched spontaneously in the
earth, as in Egypt, being buried in dung; and they say that in Syracuse a
drunkard placed eggs beneath his mat, and drank without ceasing until the
eggs were hatched; and eggs placed in warm vessels have been matured and
hatched spontaneously.
4. The seminal fluid of all birds is white, like that of other animals; and
when they copulate the female receives the male semen near the diaphragm.
The egg at first appears small and white, afterwards red and bloody; as it
grows it becomes quite ochreous and yellow; when it becomes larger a
distinction is made, and the internal part becomes yellow, the external
white; and when it is perfected it is set at liberty, and excluded just at the
period when it is changing from soft to hard. So that during exclusion it is
not hardened; but as soon as it is excluded it thickens and becomes hard,
unless it is diseased. And eggs have been known to be excluded in the state
in which all eggs are at a certain period of their growth; for they were
entirely yellow, as the young bird is afterwards. Such have also been
observed in the domestic fowl beneath the diaphragm, where the eggs of the

hen are placed, entirely yellow, and as large as eggs usually are. This has
been considered ominous.
5. They are mistaken who say that the hypenemia (barren eggs) are the
remains of former acts of sexual intercourse; for young birds, as fowls and
geese, have been frequently observed to lay such eggs without any sexual
intercourse. Barren eggs are smaller, not so sweet, and more fluid than
fertile eggs, and they are more numerous. If they are placed under a bird,
the fluid part never thickens, but both the yolk and the white remain in their
original state. Many birds produce these eggs, as the domestic fowl,
partridge, pigeon, peafowl, goose, and chenalopex.[196]
6. Eggs are hatched more readily in summer than in winter; for in the
summer the domestic fowl will hatch in eighteen days, but in winter
sometimes in not less than twenty-five days. Some birds also are more
adapted for incubation than others. A thunder-storm during the season of
incubation will destroy the eggs. What are called cynosura and uria (addled
eggs) are more frequently produced in the summer. The hypenemia[197] are
by some persons called zephyria, because they say that birds receive these
winds in the spring. They do the same thing if they are touched with the
hand. The hypenemia become fertile; and eggs that are produced by sexual
intercourse are changed to another kind, if the hen which contains either
hypenemia or fertile eggs has sexual intercourse with another bird before
the eggs begin to change from yellow to white, and the hypenemia become
fertile, and the fertile eggs produce birds of the nature of the second male.
7. But if the change from yellow to white has already taken place, neither
the barren nor the fertile eggs are altered, so as to change to the nature of
the second male. And if the sexual intercourse should be discontinued while
the eggs are small, those which existed previously undergo no change, but if
the act is repeated, a rapid increase in size takes place. The nature of the
white and yolk of the egg is different, not only in colour, but in other
properties, for the yolk coagulates with cold, while the white remains fluid,
but the white coagulates with heat, which the yolk does not, but remains
soft, if it is not burnt; and it becomes consistent and dry by boiling rather
than roasting.
8. The white and yolk are separated from each other by a membrane. The
chalazæ at the extremities of the yolk have nothing to do with generation, as

some persons suppose. These spots are two, one below and one above. If
many whites and yolks of eggs are taken out, and mixed together in a
vessel, and cooked with a slow and moderate heat, the yolks will all collect
in the middle, and the whites will surround them. Young domestic fowls
begin to lay eggs at the beginning of the spring; they lay more than those
which are older, but those of the young birds are smaller, and if birds are
not permitted to incubate, they are destroyed and become sick.
9. After copulation birds ruffle and shake themselves, and often cover
themselves with chaff, and this also they do when they have laid. Pigeons
draw up their tail, geese go and bathe. The pregnancy and conception of
barren eggs is quick in most birds, as in the partridge, on account of the
violence of their sexual desires; for if the hen stands in the way of the
breath of the male, she conceives, and immediately becomes of no use for
fowling; for the partridge appears to have a very distinct smell. The
production of the egg after copulation, and the production of the young by
incubation, do not occupy the same length of time in all birds, but varies
according to their size. The egg of the domestic fowl is perfected in ten
days after sexual intercourse, and that of the pigeon in a shorter time.
Pigeons are able to retain their eggs even in the act of parturition. If they are
disturbed by anything occurring in the neighbourhood of their nest, or a
feather be plucked out, or if anything else troubles or disturbs them, they
retain the egg they were about to lay.
10. This is peculiar to pigeons, and so is the following: for they kiss each
other when the male is about to mount, or else they will not endure it. The
older bird first gives a kiss, but afterwards he mounts without kissing, but
younger birds always kiss before copulation. This also is peculiar to these
birds. The females kiss and mount upon each other like the males, when
there is no male present. They do not project anything into each other, but
produce more eggs than those which produce fertile ones; from these eggs
nothing is hatched, but they are all barren.

Chapter III.

1. The production of the bird from the egg is alike in them all, but the
period of completion varies, as I observed before. In domestic fowls the
first sign of alteration takes place after three days and nights. This period is

longer in larger birds, and shorter in small birds. During this period the
upper part of the yolk advances to the small extremity of the egg, which is
the beginning of the egg. This is the part from which the chicken is
excluded, and the heart is visible like a red spot in the white of the egg.
2. This spot palpitates and moves as though it were endued with life. From
this, as it increases, two involved sanguineous passages like veins lead to
each of the surrounding tunics; and a membrane which has sanguineous
passages encloses the white at this period, and separates it from the venous
passages. A short time afterwards the body is distinguished, at first very
small and white, but the head is distinct, and in this the eyes are the most
enlarged. And this continues for some time, for afterwards the eyes are
reduced in size and approach each other, but the lower part of the body has
not at first any proportion to the upper part.
3. One of the passages from the heart extends into a circle around the
embryo, and the other to the yolk, as if it were an umbilical cord. The origin
of the young bird is in the white, its nutriment is derived from the yolk
through the umbilical cord. On the tenth day, the whole of the young bird
and all its parts are distinct, but its head is still larger than the rest of the
body, and the eyes are larger than the rest of the head. They have no sense
of sight. If the eyes are taken out at this period, they are larger than beans,
and black; when the skin is taken from them, they are seen to contain a
white and cold fluid, very brilliant in appearance, but without any hard
substance. This is the manner of the development of the eyes and head.
4. At the same period the viscera are visible, but the stomach, and intestines,
and the veins from the heart still appear to extend towards the navel. From
the navel a vein appears to extend upon the membrane which encloses the
yolk, and the yolk itself is at this period fluid, and more abundant than in its
natural state. The other extends to the membrane which encloses the whole
membrane containing the embryo, and the membrane of the yolk and the
fluid between them, and when the young birds have grown a little more,
part of the yolk goes to one end, and part to the other, and between them is
the fluid white; but the white is still below the lower part of the yolk, where
it was at first, but at the tenth day the white disappears, for it has become
small, viscid, thick, and rather yellow.

5. This is the position of all the parts: the first and last part adjoining the
shell is the membrane of the egg, not the membrane of the shell, but
beneath this. This contains the fluid white; within this is the young bird, and
a membrane surrounding it, and separating it from the fluid; beneath the
embryo is the yolk, to which one of the veins extends, and the other to the
white which encloses it. A membrane containing a fluid resembling sanies
encloses the whole, and then another membrane which surrounds the
embryo itself, as I observed, and separates it from the fluid. Below this the
yolk, enclosed in another membrane, which is reached by the umbilical cord
from the heart, and the great vein, so that the embryo does not appear to be
in either of the fluids.
6. About the twentieth day, if the hatching has been delayed beyond this
period, the young bird is able to chirp when moved externally, and if the
shell is taken off, by this time also it is downy. The head is placed over the
right leg upon the side, and the wing is over the head. At this period the
chorion-like membrane is visible, which is united with the lowest
membrane of the shell, to which one of the umbilical cords passes, and the
young bird is complete. The other chorion-like membrane is also visible,
enclosing the yolk. To this the other umbilical cord extends. Both of these
cords are attached to the heart and the great vein. At the same period the
cord which is attached to one chorion falls off, and is separated from the
animal, but the one which passes to the yolk remains suspended from the
young bird by a thin bowel, and a considerable portion of the yolk is
contained in the young bird, and some of it is found in the stomach.
7. At this period also they eject an excrementitious matter into the external
chorion, and contain it in the stomach. The external excrement is white, the
internal yellow. At last the yolk, which has been continually wasting and
advancing, is entirely taken up and enclosed in the young bird. So that
portions of it may be observed in the intestines of birds if they are dissected
on the tenth day after exclusion from the egg. But it is set at liberty from the
navel, nor does any communication remain, but the whole is separated.
About the before-mentioned period the young bird sleeps, but it stirs itself,
and looks up, and chirps when it is touched, and the heart swells up with the
navel, as if the embryo were breathing. This is the manner of the
development of the chick in the egg.

8. Birds also produce some barren eggs, as well as those from sexual
intercourse, but they produce nothing after incubation. This is particularly
observed in pigeons. Double eggs have two yolks; in some a thin division
of white prevents the yolks from mixing together; others have not this
division, but touch each other. There are some hens which always lay
double eggs, and in these the peculiarities of the yolks have been observed;
for a certain bird having laid eighteen eggs, hatched two chickens from each
of them, except those that were addled; all the rest were productive, except
that one of the twin chickens was large and the other small in each. The last,
however, was monstrous.

Chapter IV.

1. All the pigeon tribe, as the phatta and trygon, generally produce two
eggs; the trygon and the phatta are those which generally lay three. The
pigeon lays, as I said, at every season; the trygon and the phatta in the
spring, and not more than twice. The second brood are hatched when the
first has been destroyed, for many birds destroy them. It sometimes lays
three, as I have said, but it never brings out more than two young ones, and
sometimes only one, the remaining egg is always addled. Very few birds
begin to lay before they are a year old; but when they have once begun to
lay, they all, as we may say, naturally contain eggs to the end of their life,
though it is not easy to see them in some birds, from their small size.
2. The pigeon usually produces one male and one female, and of these the
male is often hatched first; and having laid an egg one day, she omits many
days and then lays another. The male sits during a portion of the day, and
the female during the night. The first young one is hatched and able to fly
within twenty days, and the egg is billed on the day before it is hatched;
both the old birds keep the young ones warm for some time, as they do the
eggs. During the time of bringing up their young the female is fiercer than
the male: this is also the case in other animals. They produce young ten
times in a year, and sometimes eleven times; those in Egypt even twelve
times. The cock and hen birds copulate within the year, for they do this at
the end of six months.
3. And some say that the phatta and trygon are matured when three months
old, and they consider their great numbers as a proof of this. The female

contains her eggs fourteen days, and then sits upon them fourteen more; in
fourteen days after this the young ones fly so well that it is difficult to catch
them. The phatta lives, as they say, forty years; the partridge more than
sixteen years. The pigeon, after having brought out her young, lays again in
thirty days.

Chapter V.

1. The vulture builds its nest in inaccessible rocks, wherefore its nest and
young ones are rarely seen. For this reason Herodorus, the father of Bryson
the sophist, says that vultures come from another part of the earth, which is
invisible to us, giving as a reason for his opinion, that they are seen in great
numbers suddenly following the path of an army. But difficult as it is to
observe them, their nests have been seen. The vulture produces two eggs.
No other carnivorous bird has been observed to produce young more than
once a year; but the swallow more frequently produces young twice a year
than the carnivorous birds. If a person pierces the eyes of young swallows
they recover, and are able to see afterwards.

Chapter VI.

1. The eagle produces three eggs, of which two only are hatched. This is
also related in the poems of Musæus. The bird which lays three eggs,
hatches two, and brings up but one. This frequently happens; but three
young have been seen in the nest. When the young begin to grow, one of
them is turned out by the parent, because she dislikes the trouble of feeding
it. At this period it is said to be without food, so that it does not capture the
young of wild creatures, for a few days the talons are turned back, and the
feathers become white, so that it then becomes cruel to its young. The
phene[198] receives and brings up the ejected young one.
2. The eagle incubates for thirty days; this is the usual period of incubation
for large birds, as the goose and the bustard. Moderately sized birds usually
sit twenty days, as the ictinus[199] and hierax.[200] The ictinus usually
produces two young ones, and sometimes three; the Ætolian kite, as it is
called, sometimes produces four. The raven produces not only two, but, as
they say, many eggs, which she sits upon for about twenty days. She also

turns out some of her young ones. Many other birds do the same thing; and
generally those which produce several turn out one.
3. All kinds of eagles do not behave in the same way to their young; but the
pygargus is cruel; and the black eagles are careful for the food of their
young; but all birds with crooked talons as soon as their young can fly well
beat them and drive them from the nest. And most birds of other classes, as
I have before observed, do the same thing; and when they have brought
them up, they take no more notice of them, except the crow. This bird cares
for its young a long while, for as it flies past them it gives them food after
they are able to fly.

Chapter VII.

1. The cuckoo is said by some persons to be a changed hawk, because the
hawk which it resembles disappears when the cuckoo comes, and indeed
very few hawks of any sort can be seen during the period in which the
cuckoo is singing except for a few days. The cuckoo is seen for a short time
in the summer, and disappears in winter. But the hawk has crooked talons,
which the cuckoo has not, nor does it resemble the hawk in the form of its
head, but in both these respects is more like the pigeon than the hawk,
which it resembles in nothing but its colour; the markings, however, upon
the hawk are like lines, while the cuckoo is spotted.
2. Its size and manner of flight is like that of the smallest kind of hawk,
which generally disappears during the season in which the cuckoo is seen.
But they have both been seen at the same time, and the cuckoo was being
devoured by the hawk, though this is never done by birds of the same kind.
They say that no one has ever seen the young of the cuckoo. It does,
however, lay eggs, but it makes no nest; but sometimes it lays its eggs in the
nests of small birds, and devours their eggs, especially in the nests of the
pigeon, when it has eaten their eggs. Sometimes it lays two, but usually
only one egg; it lays also in the nest of the hypolais,[201] which hatches and
brings it up. At this season it is particularly fat and sweet-fleshed; the flesh
also of young hawks is very sweet and fat. There is also a kind of them
which builds a nest in precipitous cliffs.

Chapter VIII.

1. In many birds the male alternates with the female in the duty of
incubation, as we observed in speaking of pigeons, and takes her place
while she is obliged to procure food for herself. In geese the female alone
sits upon the eggs, and having once begun, she never leaves them during the
whole process of incubation. The nests of all water birds are situated in
marshy and grassy places, by which means they can keep quiet and still
have food within their reach, so that they do not starve all the while. The
females alone, among the crows, sit on the eggs, which they never leave;
but the males bring them food and feed them.
2. The females of the pigeons begin to sit at twilight, and remain on the nest
the whole night, till dawn; and the male the rest of the time. Partridges
make two nests of eggs, upon one of which the male sits, on the other the
female; and each of them hatches and brings up its own: and the male has
sexual intercourse with its young as soon as they are hatched.

Chapter IX.

1. The peacock lives about twenty-five years, and produces young generally
at three years old; by which time also they have obtained their variegated
plumage: and it hatches in thirty days, or rather more. It only produces
young once a-year, laying twelve eggs, or not quite so many. It lays its eggs
at intervals of two or three days, and not regularly. At first they lay only
eight. The pea-fowl also lays barren eggs: they copulate in the spring, and
lay their eggs immediately afterwards.
2. This bird sheds its feathers when the leaves of the trees begin to fall, and
begins to acquire them again with the first budding in the spring. Those who
rear these birds place the eggs for incubation beneath domestic fowls;
because the peacock flies at, and torments the hen when she is sitting; for
which reason some of the wild birds make their escape from the males
before they begin to lay and sit. They place only two eggs under domestic
fowls, for these are all that they can hatch and bring out; and they take care
to put food before them, that they may not get up and desert their
incubation.
3. Birds at the season of sexual intercourse have large testicles. In the more
lascivious they are always more evident, as the domestic cock and the

partridge. In those that are not always lascivious, they are less. This is the
manner of the gestation and reproduction of birds.

Chapter X.

1. It has been already observed that fish are not always oviparous, for the
selache are always viviparous. All the rest are oviparous. The selache are
viviparous, having first of all produced ova internally; and these they bring
up in themselves, except the batrachus. Fish have also, as I observed before,
very different uteri in different kinds: for in the oviparous genera the uterus
is double, and situated low down. In the selache the uterus is more like that
of birds. There is this difference, however, that the ova are not placed near
the diaphragm, but in an intermediate position near the spine; and when
they have grown they change their place from this part. The ovum in all fish
is not of two, but of one colour; and it is more white than yellow, both in its
early stages, and after the formation of the embryo.
2. The development of the ovum is different in fish and in birds, in that it
has not the umbilical cord which passes to the membrane of the shell; but
only the passage which leads to the yolk in the eggs of birds. The rest of the
development of the ovum is alike in birds and fish; for it takes place at the
extremity, and the veins have their origin in a similar manner in the heart;
and the head, and eyes, and upper parts of the body are larger than the rest.
As the young fish increases, the ovum continues to diminish, and at last it
disappears, and is absorbed, like the yolk in the eggs of birds. The umbilical
cord is attached a little below the abdomen. At first the cord is long, but it
becomes less as the fish grows, and at last is small, and finally absorbed,
like that of birds.
3. The embryo and the ovum are enclosed in a common membrane, and
beneath this there is another membrane, in which the embryo alone is
enclosed. Between these membranes there is a fluid substance. The
nutriment contained in the stomach of the young fish is similar to that in the
young birds, partly white, and partly yellow. The form of the uterus must be
learned from dissection. This organ is different in different fish, as in the
galeode by themselves, and the flat fish by themselves: for in some the ova
are attached near the spine to the centre of the uterus, as I observed before,
as in scylia.[202] They descend when they begin to increase, when the uterus

is double, and are attached to the diaphragm, as in other fish: the ova
descend into each division.
4. The uterus of these fish, and of the other galeode, has a small appendage
attached to the diaphragm like a white nipple, which is not present unless
they are pregnant. The scylia and the batis have a shell-like substance,
which contains the fluid of the ovum. In form the shell resembles the
tongue of a wind instrument, and hair-like passages are attached to the
shells. The young of the scylia, which some persons call nebria galei, are
born when the shell falls off and bursts. The young of the batis when they
are brought forth are excluded by the rupture of the shell. In the
acantheas[203] galeos the ova are attached to the diaphragm above the
nipples; and when the ovum descends, the young is attached to it after it is
set free. The reproduction of the alopex is in the same manner.
5. Most galei which are called smooth have the ova placed between the
divisions of the uterus, like those of the scylia; and as they surround it, they
descend into each division of the uterus, and they are produced, attached to
the uterus by an umbilical cord; so that when the ova are taken out, they
appear similar to the embryo of quadrupeds. And the long umbilical cord is
attached to the lower part of the uterus, each part, as it were, attached to an
acetabulum; and to the middle of the embryo near the liver. And when it is
dissected, the food is like an egg, though the ovum be no longer there.
There is a chorion, and peculiar membranes surrounding each of the
embryos, as in quadrupeds.
6. The head of the embryo when it is just produced, is upwards; but as it
grows and reaches maturity, it is placed downwards. The males are placed
on the left, and the females on the right, or there are males and females
together on the same side. The embryo, when dissected, resembles that of
quadrupeds, in having its viscera such as it has, as the liver, large, and full
of blood. In all the selache the ova are placed high up, near the diaphragm;
many larger, and many smaller: and the embryos are placed below,
wherefore it is probable that such fish produce their young, and copulate
frequently during the same month, for they do not produce all their young at
once, but frequently, and for a long while; but those that are in the lower
part of the uterus are matured and brought to perfection.

7. The other galei both emit and receive their young into themselves, and so
do the rhine and the narca; and a large narca has been observed to contain
eighty young in herself. The acanthias is the only one of the galei which
does not admit its young into itself, on account of their thorns. Among the
flat fish the trygon and batos do not admit their young, on account of the
roughness of the tail. Neither does the batrachus admit its young, on
account of the size of their heads, and their thorns; and this is the only one
that is not viviparous, as I previously observed. These are their mutual
differences, and the manner of the development of their ova.
8. At the season of sexual intercourse, the seminal ducts of the male are full
of fluid, so that a white matter escapes when they are pressed. These
passages are divided, and originate in the diaphragm and the large vein: at
the same season the passages of the male are conspicuous, and may be
compared with the uterus of the female. When it is not the season of sexual
intercourse, they are less conspicuous, from not being in use. In some fish,
and sometimes, they are not visible at all, as it was remarked of the testicles
of birds. The seminal and uterine passages are different in other respects
also, and because those of the male are attached to the loins, those of the
female are easily moved, and enclosed in a thin membrane. The nature of
the passages of the male may be seen in works on anatomy.
9. The selachea become pregnant again while with young, and the period of
gestation is six months. Among the galei, the asterias produces young the
oftenest; for it produces twice in a month: it begins to copulate in the month
of September. All the other galei except the scylia produce twice in the
year; the scylia but once. Some of them have their young in the spring. The
rhine produces its first brood in the spring, and its last in the autumn, near
the winter season, and the setting of the Pleiades. The second fry are the
most numerous. The narca produces its young in the autumn. The selache
descend from the ocean and deep water to the shore, to produce their young,
both for the sake of the warmth, and care of their offspring.
10. No other fish but the rhine and the batos have ever been observed to
unite with others not of their own kind, but there is a fish called the
rhinobatus, which has the head and upper part of the rhine, and the lower
part like the batus, as it were made up of both. The galei and the galeoeides,
as the alopex, dog-fish, and the flat fish, as the narce batos, leiobatos and
trygon, are in this manner ovoviparous.

Chapter XI.

1. The dolphin, whale, and other cetacea which have a blow-hole but no
gills, are viviparous, and so are the pristis and the bos. For none of these
have an ovum, but a proper fœtus, from which, when perfected, an animal is
developed, as in man and the viviparous quadrupeds. The dolphin usually
produces one, and sometimes two young ones. The whale generally and
usually produces two and sometimes one. The phocæna is similar to the
dolphin, for it is like a small dolphin. It is produced in the Pontus. In some
respects the phocæna differs from the dolphin, for its size is smaller, it is
wider in the back, and its colour is blue. Many persons say that the phocæna
is a kind of dolphin.
2. All these creatures which have a blow-hole, breathe and inhale air; and
the dolphin has been observed while asleep with the muzzle above the
water, and it snores in its sleep. The dolphin and phocæna give milk and
suckle their young. They also receive their young into themselves. The
growth of the young dolphins is rapid, for they attain their full size in ten
years. The female is pregnant for ten months. The dolphin produces her
young in the summer-time, and at no other season. They seem also to
disappear for thirty days during the season of the dog-star. The young
follow their dam for a long while, and it is an animal much attached to its
offspring. It lives many years; for some have been known to live twenty-
five or thirty years; for fishermen have marked them by cutting their tails
and then giving them their liberty. In this way their age was known.
3. The seal is amphibious, for it does not inhale water, but breathes and
sleeps. It produces its young on land, but near the shore, in the manner of
animals with feet; but it lives the greater part of its time, and obtains its
food in the sea, wherefore it is to be considered among aquatic animals. It is
properly viviparous, and produces a living creature, and a chorion, and it
brings forth the other membranes like a sheep. It produces one or two, never
more than three young ones. It has also mammæ, so that it suckles its young
like quadrupeds. It produces its young like the human subject, at all seasons
of the year, but especially with the earliest goats.
4. When the young are twelve days old, it leads them to the water several
times in the day, in order to habituate them by degrees. It drags its hinder
parts along, and does not walk, for it cannot erect itself upon its feet, but it

contracts and draws itself together. It is fleshy and soft, and its bones are
cartilaginous. It is difficult to kill the seal by violence, unless it is struck
upon the temple, for its body is fleshy. It has a voice like an ox. The
pudendum of the female is like that of the batis, in all other animals of the
class the pudendum resembles that of the human female. This is the manner
of the development and nature of the young of aquatic animals which are
either internally or externally viviparous.

Chapter XII.

1. The oviparous fish have a divided uterus placed on the lower part of the
body, as I observed before. All that have scales are viviparous, as the labrax,
cestreus, cephalus, etelis,[204] and those called white fish, and all smooth
fish except the eel. Their ova resemble sand. This appearance is owing to
their uterus being quite full of ova, so that small fish appear to have only
two ova; for the small size and thinness of the uterus renders it invisible in
these creatures. I have before treated of the sexual intercourse of fish. The
sexes are distinct in almost all fish, though there is some doubt about the
erythrinus[205] and the channa, for all these are found to be pregnant.
2. Ova are found in those fish which have sexual intercourse, though they
possess them without intercourse. This is observable in some kinds of river
fish; for the phoxini[206] appear to be pregnant as soon as they are born, and
when they are quite small. They emit the ova in a stream; and, as I observed
before, the males devour great numbers of them, and others perish in the
water. Those are preserved which they deposit in their appropriate
situations. For, if all were preserved, the numbers that would be found
would be immense. Not all those that are preserved are fertile, but only
those on which the seminal fluid of the male has been sprinkled. When the
female produces her ova, the male follows, and scatters his semen upon
them. Young fish are produced from those ova which are thus sprinkled.
The remainder turn out as chance may direct.
3. The same thing also occurs in the malacia; for the male sepia sprinkles
the ova of the female as they are deposited; and it is reasonable to suppose
that the other malacia do the same, although it has only been observed in
the sepia. They produce their ova near the land, the cobii deposit them upon
stones, and that which they produce is flat and sand-like. The rest do the

same, for the parts near the land are warmer, and provision is more
abundant, and there is better protection for their young against larger fish,
for which cause very great numbers deposit their ova near the river
Thermodon, in the Pontus, for the place is sheltered and warm, and the
water is sweet.
4. The majority of viviparous fish reproduce once in a-year, except the
small phycides,[207] which reproduce twice a-year. The male phyces differs
from the female, being darker-coloured and having larger scales. All other
fish produce from seed, and emit ova; but that which is called the belone, at
the season of reproduction bursts asunder, and in this way the ova escape;
for this fish has a division beneath the stomach and bowels, like the
serpents called typhlinæ.[208] When it has produced its ova, it survives, and
the wound heals up again.
5. The development of the ovum is alike, both in those that are internally
and those that are externally oviparous. For it takes place at the extremity of
the ovum, and it is enclosed in a membrane. The eyes are the first part that
is conspicuous; they are large and spherical; so that it is plain that they are
mistaken who say that the mode of development resembles that of
vermiform creatures, for in them the order is different, and the lower parts
are formed first, and afterwards the head and eyes. When the ovum is taken
away, they assume a circular form, and for some time continue to grow
without taking in any food, by absorbing the moisture of the ovum. They
afterwards derive their nutriment, as long as they continue growing, from
the water of the river.
6. When the Pontus is cleansed, something is floated out into the Hellespont
which is called fucus. It is of a yellow colour. Some say that it is naturally a
plant. This takes place at the beginning of summer. The oysters and small
fish which live in these places feed upon this fucus; and some maritime
persons say that they obtain their purple from this plant.

Chapter XIII.

1. The pond and river fish begin to reproduce usually when five months old.
They all produce their ova at the beginning of summer. Like the marine
fish, the females of these kinds never emit all their ova, nor the males all
their semen, at once; but both sexes are always found to contain a portion of

the reproductive substance; they produce their ova at the proper season. The
cyprinus five or six times a-year, and especially under the influence of the
stars. The chalcis reproduces three times, all the rest but once a-year.
2. They deposit their ova in the stagnant parts of rivers and ponds among
the reeds, as the phoxinus and perca. The glanis and the perca produce their
ova in strings, like the frog. That which the perca produces is so involved
that, on account of its breadth, the fishermen collect it together from among
the reeds in ponds. The larger individuals of the glanis produce their ova in
deep water, some where it is a fathom deep; but the smaller ones in shallow
water, and especially at the root of the willow or some other tree, and
among the reeds and mosses.
3. The fish fold themselves together, sometimes a large one with a small
one, and approximate the passages, which some call their navel, from which
they eject their respective seminal matter, the females their ova, and the
males their spermatic fluid. Those ova with which the semen of the male
has been mixed immediately or in the course of a day become whiter and
larger, and in a short time the eyes of the fish make their appearance; for in
all fish, as in other animals, this part is most conspicuous, and appears the
largest. But, if the seminal fluid does not touch any of the ova, as in the case
of sea-fish, these become useless and barren.
4. From the fertile ova, as the fish increase in size, something like a shell is
separated; this is the membrane which envelopes the ovum and the embryo
fish. As soon as the seminal fluid is mixed with the ova a glutinous matter is
formed, which fastens them to the roots or other substance on which they
are deposited. The male watches over the place where the greatest number
of ova are deposited, and the female departs as soon as she has spawned.
The development of the ovum of the glanis proceeds the most slowly, for
the male remains by them for forty or fifty days, in order that they may not
be devoured by fish chancing to come that way.
5. Next to this is the cyprinus. The ova, however, of these which are
preserved escape very quickly. The development in some of the small fish
takes place on the third day, and the ova upon which the seminal fluid has
fallen begin to increase on the same day, or shortly afterwards. The ova of
the glanis become as large as the seed of the orobus. Those of the cyprinus

and that class, about the size of millet. The ova of these fish are produced
and developed in this manner.
6. The chalcis assembles in great numbers to deposit its ova in deep water.
The fish which is called tilon deposits its ova near the shore, in sheltered
places; this fish also is gregarious. The cyprinus, balerus, and all others, so
to say, hasten into shallow water to deposit their ova, and thirteen or
fourteen males often follow a single female, and when the female has
deposited her ova and departed, the males that follow her sprinkle their
semen upon them. The majority of the ova are lost, for the female scatters
them abroad as she is moving forward, unless they fall upon any substance,
and are not carried away by the stream. None of them, except the glanis,
watch their ova, unless the cyprinus meets with them in great numbers,
when, they say, that this fish watches them.
7. All the male fish have semen, except the eel, and this one has neither
semen nor ova. The cestreus migrates from the sea into lakes and rivers; the
eel, on the contrary, leaves them for the sea. Most fish, therefore, as I
observed, proceed from ova.

Chapter XIV.

1. Some originate in mud and sand: even of those kinds which originate in
sexual intercourse and ova, some, they say, have appeared both in other
marshy places and in those which once surrounded Cnidus, which became
dry under the influence of the dog-star, and all the mud was parched up, but
with the first rains the waters returned, and small fish appeared with the
return of the waters. This was a kind of cestreus, which originates in
coition, about the size of small mænidia,[209] but they had neither ova nor
semen. In the Asiatic rivers, which do not flow into the sea, other small fish,
of the size of epseti,[210] are produced in the same manner. Some persons
say that the cestreus is always produced in this manner, but in this they are
mistaken, for both the females are known to have ova and the males semen.
But there is some one kind of them which originates in mud and sand.
2. It is evident from the following considerations that some of them are of
spontaneous growth, and do not originate either in ova or semen. Those
which are neither oviparous nor viviparous are all produced either from
mud or sand, or from the putrid matter on the surface, as also the foam in

sandy places produces the aphya.[211] This aphya never increases in size,
and is barren, and as time advances it perishes, and another fry is formed.
Wherefore it may be said to be reproduced at every season, except for a
short time; for it continues from the autumn arcturus to the spring. This is a
proof that it sometimes originates in the soil, for it is not captured by
fishermen in cold weather, but on a fine day it may be taken as it comes up
from the ground for the sake of the warmth. When they have dragged the
ground and scraped up the surface, the fish are more numerous and better.
The other aphyæ are inferior, on account of their rapid growth.
3. They are found in shady and marshy places, when the earth becomes
warm in fine weather, as near the temple of Athene in Salamis, and near the
tomb of Themistocles, and near Marathon, for foam is formed in all these
places. It makes its appearance in such places, and in fine weather: it
appears also at times in seasons of much rain, and when foam is formed of
rain water, wherefore also it is called aphrus; and sometimes it is found on
the surface of the sea, in fine weather, where it is whirled about, and, like
the little maggots in dung, so this is found in the foam which floats on the
surface; wherefore also this aphya is carried by the sea in many directions,
and it abounds and is captured in the greatest abundance when the season is
moist and warm.
4. There is another aphya derived from fish, for that which is called cobitis
is derived from small and inferior gobii, which bury themselves in the earth.
The membrades are produced from the phalerica. The trichides come from
these, and the trichiæ from the trichides; from one kind of aphya, which
inhabits the port of Athens, the encrasicoli are derived. There is another
kind of aphya which originates in the mœnis and cestreus, but the barren
aphrus is very soft, and endures only for a short time, as I said before, and
at last nothing is left but the head and eyes. The fishermen, however, have
now found a mode of conveying it from place to place, for it lasts longer
when salted.

Chapter XV.

1. Eels are not produced from sexual intercourse, nor are they oviparous,
nor have they ever been detected with semen or ova, nor when dissected do
they appear to possess either seminal or uterine viscera; and this is the only

kind of sanguineous animal which does not originate either in sexual
intercourse or in ova. It is, however, manifest that this is the case, for, after
rain, they have been reproduced in some marshy ponds, from which all the
water was drawn and the mud cleaned out; but they are never produced in
dry places nor in ponds that are always full, for they live upon and are
nourished by rain water. It is plain, therefore, that they are not produced
either from sexual intercourse or from ova. Some persons have thought that
they were productive, because some eels have parasitical worms, and they
thought that these became eels.
2. This, however, is not the case, but they originate in what are called the
entrails of the earth, which are found spontaneously in mud and moist earth.
They have been observed making their escape from them, and others have
been found in them when cut up and dissected. These originate both in the
sea and in rivers wherein putrid matter is abundant; in those places in the
sea which are full of fuci, and near the banks of rivers and ponds, for in
these places the heat causes much putridity. This is the mode of generation
in eels.

Chapter XVI.

1. The reproductive function is not active in all fish at the same time or the
same manner, nor are they pregnant during the same length of time. Before
the season of sexual intercourse the males and females begin to assemble,
and at the period of intercourse and the production of their ova they pair
together. Some of them do not remain pregnant more than thirty days, and
others not so long; but all of them remain so for a number of days, which
can be distributed into seven. Those which some persons call marini remain
pregnant for the longest period. The sargus becomes pregnant in the month
of December, and remains so for thirty days. The kind of cestreus which
some persons call the chelon and the myxon are pregnant at the same time
as the sargus. All these suffer in their pregnancy, wherefore they are driven
to the shore at this season; for in the vehemence of their desire they are
carried towards the land, and always continue in motion during this period
till they have produced their ova. The cestreus is more remarkable for this
than any other fish. As soon as they have deposited their ova, they become
quiet.

2. In many fish there is a limit to their reproductive powers, when worms
make their appearance in their abdomen. These worms are small living
creatures, which expel the reproductive substance. The small fry of the
rhyas makes its appearance in the spring, and that of many others about the
vernal equinox. Other fish do not produce at this season of the year, but in
the summer or near the autumnal equinox.
3. The atherina produces its young first of all, near the land. The cephalus is
the last. This is evident from the small fry of the former appearing first, and
that of the latter last of all. The cestreus also produces among the first. The
salpa in most places deposits its ova during the summer, and sometimes in
the autumn. The aulopias, which they call anthias, produces its ova in the
summer season. After these the chrysophrys, labrax, mormyrus, and all
those which are called dromades; the trigla and cocarinus are the latest of
all the gregarious fish. These oviposit in the autumn. The trigla deposits her
ova in the mud, which causes her to be late, for the mud continues cold for
a long while. The coracimus is next to the trigla, and goes among the sea
weed to deposit her ova: consequently they frequent rocky places. It
continues pregnant for a long while. The mænides oviposit at the winter
solstice. Many other marine fish oviposit in the summer, for they are not
captured at this period. The mænis is the most productive of all fish, and the
batrachus the most so among the selache. They are, however, rare, for they
perish very readily; they oviposit in shoals and near the land.
4. The selache, as being viviparous, are less productive. These are
particularly preserved by their large size. The belone is late in producing its
young, and many of them are burst by their ova in the act of parturition; for
these ova are not so numerous as they are large. They surround the parent as
if they were phalangia; for she produces them attached to herself, and if any
one touches them they make their escape. The atherina deposits her ova by
rubbing her abdomen against the sand. The thynni burst with fat. They live
two years. The fishermen argue thus: when the thynnides fail one year, the
thynni fail the year after. They appear to be a year older than the pelamus.
5. The thynni and scombri copulate at the end of February, and produce
their young at the beginning of June. They produce their ova, as it were, in a
purse. The growth of the thynnides is rapid; for when these fish produce
their young in the Pontus, they produce from the ovum creatures which
some persons call scordylæ, and the Byzantines call auxidæ, because they

grow in a few days. They go out in the autumn with the thynnus, and return
in the spring as pelamides. Nearly all other fish grow rapidly, but those in
the Pontus more rapidly than in other places; for the amiæ there increase
visibly every day. It is necessary to remember that the same fish have not in
the same place the identical time of coition and gestation, nor the same
period of reproduction and completion of their offspring. For those which
are called coracini produce their ova at the time of wheat harvest, though,
generally speaking, the order of their reproduction is that which I have
mentioned.
6. The conger also becomes pregnant, though this circumstance is not
equally distinct everywhere on account of its fat; for the organ of
reproduction is long, like that of serpents. It becomes distinct, however,
when laid upon the fire; for the fat smokes and consumes away, and the
ova, when pressed, jump out with a cracking noise. If any person will feel
and rub them with the finger, the fat will appear smooth and the ova rough
to the touch. Some congers have fat but no ova; and others, on the contrary,
have no fat but such ova as I have described. We have now treated of nearly
all the oviparous animals, whether furnished with fins, or wings, or feet,
and of their sexual intercourse, gestation, development, and such like
subjects.

Chapter XVII.

1. We must now treat of the nature of viviparous animals with feet and of
man at this period. We have already treated in general and in particular of
their mode of coition. It is common to all animals to be elevated with the
desire and pleasure of sexual intercourse. The females become savage when
their young are produced, the males at the season of coition; for horses bite
each other and drive about and pursue their riders. The wild boars are very
savage at this season, although coition renders them weak.
2. And they fight wonderfully among themselves, and make themselves as it
were breastplates, and render their skin callous beforehand by rubbing
themselves against trees and frequently wallowing in the mud and drying
themselves. They fight together and drive each other out of the herd so
fiercely, that not rarely both of them perish in the fight. The same is the
nature of bulls, rams, and goats; for although at other seasons they pasture

together, at the period of copulation they quarrel and fight together. The
male camel also is violent at this time, whether it is a man or a camel that
approaches him, and he will at all times fight with a horse.
3. The nature of wild animals is the same. For bears, wolves, and lions are
savage if they are approached at this season; but they do not quarrel much
among themselves, for none of them are gregarious. The she bears are
savage in defence of their cubs, and bitches for their puppies. Elephants
also become wild at this period. Wherefore they say that in India those who
have the care of them do not permit them to have sexual intercourse with
the females; for they become mad at such season and overturn the houses,
which are badly built, and do many other violent acts. They say also that
abundance of food will render them more gentle. They also bring others
among them which are directed to beat them, and so they punish them and
reduce them to a state of discipline.
4. Those creatures which have frequent sexual intercourse, like domestic
animals, as the hog and dog, appear to be less influenced by these
circumstances on account of the frequency of their coition. Of all females
the mare is the most violent in her sexual desires, and then the cow. Mares
are subject to the affection called hippomania, and this name is transferred
from this single animal to intemperate and lascivious persons. They are said
to be affected by the wind at such seasons: wherefore in Crete they never
separate the stallions from the mares. When the mares are thus affected,
they separate themselves from the other horses. In swine the same affection
is called καπρίζειν, to desire the boar. They never run to the east or the
west, but either north or south.
5. When they suffer from this affection, they will allow no one to approach
them, till they either are so fatigued that they can go no further, or come to
the sea: they then eject some substance, which has received the name of
hippomanes, like that on a new-born colt. It resembles the capria of the sow.
Poisoners diligently seek for this substance. At the season of sexual
intercourse they lean upon each other more than at other times, and move
their tails, and utter a different sound from that which is common to them. A
fluid like semen also flows from their genital organs, but it is much more
thin than that of the male; and some persons call this fluid hippomanes,
though it is not that which is produced upon colts. It is difficult to collect
this fluid, for it does not appear in large quantities. When they are desirous

of sexual intercourse, they often make water, and sport together: this is the
nature of horses.
6. Cows desire the bull. They are so taken up by their passion, that the
cowherds cannot manage them. Mares and cows shew the vehemence of
their desire by the swelling of their genital parts. Cows also, like mares,
make water very frequently. The cows also mount upon the bull, and follow,
and stand beside him. The younger animals, both among horses and oxen,
are the first to desire sexual intercourse; and in fine weather, when their
health is good, the vehemence of their desire is still stronger. If the manes
of the mares are cut, their desires become weaker, and they are rendered
more gentle.
7. The stallions recognise the mares of their own herds by the scent; and if
any strangers become mixed with them a few days before the period of
coition, they bite them till they go away, and each stallion feeds apart with
his own mares. Thirty mares, or rather less, are given to each; and if any
male approaches, he turns and goes round the mares in a circle, and then
prepares to fight. If any one of the females attempts to move, he bites and
prevents her.
8. At the season of sexual intercourse the bull pastures with the cows, and
fights with other bulls: at other times the sexes keep themselves separate:
this is called ἀτιμαγελεῖν (despising the herd); those in Epirus are often not
seen for three months: and generally all, or nearly all, wild animals, do not
herd with their females before the season of sexual intercourse: but as soon
as they come to puberty the males separate themselves, and cease to feed
with the females. Sows, when they are urged by sexual desire, or, as it is
called, desire the boar (καπρᾳν), will even attack men. In bitches this
affection is called σκυζᾳν, to desire the dog.
9. When females are urged with desire, their genital organs are swollen with
heat, and a fluid secretion takes place. Mares scatter about a white fluid at
this season. In no creatures are the catamenia so abundant as in women. In
sheep and goats at the season of coition, there are certain signs before
copulation: there are also signs after copulation, but these again cease till
the period of parturition, when they again occur. By this means shepherds
understand that they are about to produce their young. After parturition

there is a great purification, which at first is not very full of blood, but
becomes so afterwards.
10. In the cow, the ass, and mare, this purification is abundant, on account
of their great size; but still it is small, considering how large they are. When
the cow is urged by desire, she undergoes a brief purification, about half-a-
cup full, or a little more. The time of this purification is peculiarly the
period for sexual intercourse. Of all quadrupeds the mare suffers the least,
and is the most cleanly in parturition: neither is her loss of blood great
considering the size of the animal. In cows and mares, the failure of the
catamenia in the second, fourth, and sixth month is considered as a sign of
pregnancy; but it is not easy for anyone to understand this, who does not
follow and accustom himself to them: and some persons are of opinion that
they have no catamenia. The female oreus has no catamenia, but her urine is
thicker than that of the male.
11. On the whole, the liquid excrements are thicker in other animals than in
man; and those of female sheep and goats thicker than in the males of the
same animal. That of the she ass is thinner, of the cow is harsher, than of
their respective males. After parturition the urine of all creatures becomes
thicker, and especially in those which have no purification. When females
begin to feel sexual desires, their milk is like pus; it afterwards becomes
useful after parturition. Sheep and goats become fat when they are pregnant,
and consume more food; and so do cows, and all other quadrupeds.

Chapter XVIII.

1. Generally speaking, the sexual desires of animals are more violent in
spring. They do not all, however, copulate at the same seasons, but at the
time of year which will cause them to produce their young at the proper
season. The period of gestation in domestic swine is four months. They
never produce more than twenty pigs; and if they have many, they cannot
bring them all up. When aged, they produce in the same manner, but they
copulate more slowly. They become pregnant with one act of coition; but
they submit themselves to the boar very frequently, on account of their
rejection of the capria after they are pregnant. This takes place in all, but
some will also eject the semen.

2. If any of the pigs are injured or deteriorated during pregnancy, it is called
metachæron. This may take place in any part of the uterus. In parturition the
sow gives the first teat to the first pig. It is not necessary that she should go
to the boar as soon as the sexual appetite is felt, or before her ears begin to
hang down; for otherwise she desires to go again. If she goes to the boar
when she is desirous of it, the impregnation is complete in a single act of
intercourse. Barley is a proper food for the boar at the period of coition. It
should be cooked for the female after parturition. Some sows produce
excellent pigs from the first; others do not produce good offspring and pigs
till they are grown up. Some persons say that if one of the eyes of a sow is
put out, she generally speaking dies very soon. Most of them live fifteen.
Some die in less than twenty years.

Chapter XIX.

1. Sheep become pregnant after three or four acts of sexual intercourse. If
rain falls after the act of intercourse, it must be repeated. The nature of
goats is the same. They generally produce two, and sometimes three. Cases
have occurred of their producing four. The period of gestation in the sheep
and goat is five months; and in some places, where the weather is warm and
fine, and food is abundant, they have young twice a-year. The goat will live
eight years. The sheep lives ten years, or generally rather less; but the
leaders of the flock live fifteen years; for in every flock they select one of
the males as a leader, who, when called by the shepherd, places himself at
the head of the flock. They are accustomed to this duty even when young.
In Ethiopia the sheep live twelve or thirteen years, and the goats ten or
eleven.
2. Both the sheep and goat enjoy sexual intercourse as long as they live.
Sheep and goats produce twins, if either the pasture is good, or the ram or
he-goat, or the ewe belongs to a race producing twins. They produce
females or males both from the nature of the water (for there are some
waters that cause them to produce males and others females) and from their
manner of sexual intercourse; and if the wind is northward during
copulation they produce males; and if it is southward, females; and one
which naturally produces females will change its nature and produce males;
so that it is necessary to see that they stand to the north during the act of

sexual intercourse. If any are accustomed to copulate early, and the ram is
introduced to them late, they will not endure it.
3. The lambs are white or black according as the veins beneath the tongue
of the ram are white or black; for the lambs are white if the veins are white,
and black if they are black. If they are both black and white, the lambs also
are of two colours; and if red, then the lambs are red. They are more ready
for sexual intercourse if they drink salt water; so that they should be
supplied with salted water both before and after parturition, and again in the
spring. The herdsmen do not constitute any leader among the flocks of
goats, because it is not their nature to be stationary, but they are active and
ready to move from place to place. If the older sheep prepare for sexual
intercourse at the proper time, the shepherds consider it a sign of a good
year for the sheep; if the younger ones are ready first, it will be a bad sheep
year.

Chapter XX.

1. There are many kinds of dogs. The Lacedemonian dogs, both male and
female, begin to have sexual intercourse at eight months old. Some also lift
their leg to make water about this period. The bitch becomes pregnant with
a single act of coition; this is particularly evident in those which perform
the act in secret, for they become pregnant when once united. The period of
gestation in the Lacedemonian bitch is the sixth part of a year, that is sixty
days, or it may be one, two, or three days more or less. The puppies when
they are born are blind for twelve days. The bitch is ready for sexual
intercourse six months after she has produced her young, and not sooner. In
some the period of gestation is the fifth part of a year, this is seventy-two
days. The puppies of such bitches are blind for fourteen days. Others are
pregnant the fourth part of a year, that is three whole months; their puppies
are blind seventeen days. The female appears to desire the male for the
same length of time.
2. The catamenia in bitches last for seven days, and at the same time the
genital organs are swollen with heat; during this period they will not endure
coition, but during the seven days which follow, for they all appear usually
to desire the male for fourteen days. This affection continues in some for
sixteen days. The purification from parturition takes place at the birth of the

young ones; it is thick and phlegmatic, and the quantity produced in
parturition is small in proportion to the size of the body.[212] Bitches
generally have milk five days before parturition; in some cases it appears
seven, and in others four days beforehand; the milk is good as soon as the
young are born. The Lacedemonian bitch gives milk in thirty days after
sexual intercourse; at first it is thick, but becomes thinner afterwards. The
milk of the bitch is thicker than that of other animals, except the sow and
the hare.
3. There is evidence of their having reached the age of puberty, for as in the
human subject the mammæ begin to enlarge and become cartilaginous; it is,
however, difficult to detect this without practice, for the enlargement is not
very great. This takes place in the female, nothing of the kind occurs in the
male. The males generally begin to lift up their leg to make water when
they are six months old. Some do not do so till they are eight months old,
and others before they are six months old, for, to speak plainly, they do this
as soon as they reach puberty; all the females sit down to make water;
some, however, even of these lift up their leg for this purpose. The female
never produces more than twelve puppies, generally five or six, and
sometimes only one; those of Lacedæmon generally have eight; both sexes
continue to enjoy sexual intercourse as long as they live.
4. It is a peculiarity of the Lacedemonian dog, that it is more ready for
sexual intercourse after hard work than when idle; the male of this kind
lives ten years, the female for twelve, most other dogs live fourteen or
fifteen years, some even twenty, for which reason some persons think that
Homer is right when he makes the dog of Ulysses to have died at the age of
twenty. On account of the hard work which the Lacedemonian dogs have to
endure the female lives longer than the male; in other races this is not so
plainly observed, but the male is usually longer lived than the female. The
dog does not shed any teeth except those called the canine teeth, these are
shed by both sexes at four months old. Because they shed these only, a
question is raised, for some persons altogether deny that they shed only two
teeth, for it is difficult to meet with these, and others, when they see that
they shed these, think that they must shed all their teeth. People judge of the
age of a dog by its teeth, for in young dogs they are white and sharp, in old
ones they are black and blunted.

Chapter XXI.

1. The cow is impregnated with a single act of coition, and the bull mounts
upon her with such violence that she bends beneath his weight. If he fails to
impregnate her after twenty days, she is again admitted to the bull. Old
bulls will not mount the same cow several times in the same day unless
there is some intermission, but young bulls, incited by the strength of their
desires, will force the same cow several times, and will mount upon many
in succession. The bull is one of the least lascivious of animals. The
conqueror copulates with the female, but if he become impotent from
frequent sexual intercourse, the inferior will attack him, and often prevail.
2. Both the male and the female commence sexual intercourse, so as to
produce young, at a year old, though not generally till they are a year and
eight months old, or two years old according to general agreement. The
female is pregnant nine months, and produces her young in the tenth month;
some persons affirm that parturition takes place at ten months to a day; if
any of them calve before the above mentioned time, the calf is abortive and
does not live, and even if born a little before the proper time it cannot live,
for the hoofs are imperfect. The female generally produces one at a time,
sometimes two. She continues to bear and to have sexual intercourse as
long as she lives.
3. The female usually lives fifteen years, and so does the male if he is not
castrated; some live for more than twenty years if they have an active body.
They usually place castrated oxen as leaders of the herd, as they do in
sheep, and these live longer than the others, for they do no work, and feed
in a superior pasture. They attain perfection at five years old, wherefore
some say that Homer was right when he spoke of the male flourishing at
five years old, and the cow at nine years old, for both expressions have the
same meaning.
4. Oxen change their teeth at two years old, not all of them, however, but
only like the horse; they do not cast their hoofs when they are lame, but
only swell very much about the feet. The milk is good immediately after
calving, but the cow has no milk beforehand. The milk which is first formed
becomes hard like a stone when it is coagulated; this takes place if it is not
mixed with water. They do not produce young before they are a year old,
except in some remarkable cases, for some have been known to copulate at

four months old. Most of them desire sexual intercourse in the months of
April and May. Some, however, are not impregnated before the autumn.
When many become pregnant and admit the male, it is a sign of cold and
rainy weather. The usual discharges occur in cows as they do in mares, but
the quantity is less.

Chapter XXII.

1. Both the horse and mare begin to use sexual intercourse at two years old.
Such early cases, however, are rare, and their offspring small and weak; and
generally they commence at three years old, and they continue to produce
better colts till they are twenty years old. The period of gestation is eleven
months; parturition takes place in the twelfth. The male does not impregnate
the female in any particular number of days; but at times in one, two, or
three, sometimes in more. The ass mounts and impregnates more quickly
than the horse; and the act of intercourse is not laborious in horses as it is in
oxen. Next to the human subject, the horse in both sexes is the most
lascivious of all animals. The sexual intercourse of the younger horses takes
place before the usual age according to the goodness and abundance of their
food. The horse generally produces but one colt, or sometimes two at the
outside. The hemionus has also been known to produce two, but this is
considered extraordinary. The horse begins sexual intercourse at thirty
months old, so that it can produce proper colts when it has done changing
its teeth. Some have been known, they say, to impregnate mares while
changing their teeth, unless they were naturally barren.
2. The horse has forty teeth. It sheds its four first teeth at thirty months old,
two above and two below. A year afterwards, it sheds four more in the same
manner, two above and two below. And again, at the end of the next year, it
sheds four more in the same manner. When it is four years and a half old, it
sheds no more; and individuals have been known to shed them all at first,
and others that have shed them all in the last year. These circumstances are
rare, so that it usually happens that the horse is most fit for sexual
intercourse at four years and a half old. The older horses are more full of
semen, both the males and the females, than younger ones. Horses will
copulate both with their dams and with their offspring; and it is thought to
be a sign that the herd is complete, when they copulate with their offspring.

The Scythians ride upon their pregnant mares when the embryo begins to
turn in the uterus, and say that it renders parturition more easy. All other
quadrupeds lie down in the act of parturition; wherefore their young are
always produced lying on their side; but when the mare feels that the time
for parturition is approaching, she stands upright to part with her colt.
3. Horses generally live eighteen or twenty years; some live twenty-five or
thirty years; but if they are carefully treated, their life may be extended to
fifty years. Thirty years, however, is a very long life for the male, and
twenty-five for the female. Some have been known to live forty years.
Males live a shorter time than females, on account of the act of sexual
intercourse; and those that are brought up separately longer than those
which live in herds. Females attain their proper length and height in five
years; the males in six. In six more years the fulness of body is acquired,
which continues till they are twenty years old. The females attain perfection
more rapidly than the males; but in the uterus the males are the more
rapidly developed. This is also the case in the human subject. This also
takes place in those animals which produce several at a birth.
4. They say that the mule sucks for six months, but the mare will not permit
it to come afterwards, because it drags and hurts her. The horse sucks for a
longer time. The horse and the mule attain perfection after casting their
teeth; and when they have cast them all, it is not easy to know their age.
Wherefore they say that, before casting its teeth, the horse has its mark,
which it has not afterwards. After the teeth have been changed, the age is
usually ascertained by the canine tooth; for that in riding horses is generally
worn down, for the bridle rubs against it. In horses which have not been
ridden, it is large and not worn. In young horses it is small and sharp.
5. The male copulates at all seasons, and as long as he lives; the female also
as long as she lives; and at all seasons, unless they have on a fastening or
some other hindrance, no peculiar time is appropriated for copulation in
either sex, for there is no period of coition when they cannot also bring up
their young. In Opus there was a horse in a herd which engendered when he
was forty years old; but it was necessary to lift up his fore legs for him.
Mares begin to desire sexual intercourse in the spring; and when the mare
has foaled, she does not become pregnant again immediately, but waits for a
time, and produces better foals at the end of four or five years. It is quite

necessary that she should wait one year, and should pass through a fallow,
as it were.
6. The horse, then, bears young at intervals, as I have observed; but the ass
is not subject to intervals. Some mares are quite barren, and others, though
they conceive, yet do not produce their young; and they give as a reason for
this, that upon dissection the fœtus was found to contain other reniform
bodies round the kidneys, so that it appeared to have four kidneys. As soon
as the mare has foaled, she eats the chorion, and bites from the head of her
foal the substance called hippomanes. In size this substance is somewhat
less than a dry fig. Its form is flat and round, and its colour black. If any
person is at hand to take it before the mare, and she smells it, the scent
renders her wild and mad. For this reason it is sought after and collected by
poisoners. If an ass copulates with a pregnant mare, the pre-existing fœtus
is destroyed. Those who keep herds of horses do not place a leader over
them, as they do over oxen, for they are not naturally stationary, but active
and wandering.

Chapter XXIII.

1. The male and female ass begin to copulate at thirty months old, and shed
their first teeth at the same period. They lose their second pair of teeth six
months afterwards, and their third and fourth in the same way. These fourth
teeth are called the marking teeth. Sometimes the ass has become pregnant
and brought up its young at a year old. The she ass parts with the semen
after coition, if she is not prevented; and therefore, immediately after
coition, they beat her and drive her about. She foals in the twelfth month,
and generally produces one foal, for this is their nature, though cases of
twin births have occurred. If an ass mounts upon a mare, he destroys her
fœtus, as I observed before. But the horse does not destroy the fœtus of the
ass, if the mare has been impregnated by a he ass.
2. The pregnant female has milk at the end of ten months. After parturition,
she will admit the male on the seventh day, and is very easily impregnated
at that period. She will also receive it afterwards. If she does not produce
young before losing her marking teeth, she can never be impregnated all the
rest of her life. She does not like men to be witnesses of her parturition, nor
will she produce her young in the day time; but when it is dark she retires,

and so produces her young. She continues to procreate during her whole
life, if she has begun before losing her marking teeth. The ass lives more
than thirty years, and the female longer than the male. When a horse
copulates with an ass, or a he ass with a mare, abortion is more frequent
than between congeners, a horse with a mare, or two asses together. When
the horse and ass are mixed together, the period of gestation follows from
the male parent. I mean to say that it takes the same time as if the parents
had been congeners; but in size, form, and strength the produce of their
union generally resembles the female parent.
3. If the union takes place frequently, and sufficient time is not allowed to
intervene, the female soon becomes barren. For which reason those who
attend to this business do not permit them to have continual intercourse, but
interpose a proper interval. The mare will not admit the he ass, nor the she
ass the horse, unless the he ass has been suckled by a mare. They are
careful, therefore, to admit only those asses which they call hippothelæ, i.e.
asses which have been suckled by a mare. These copulate by force in the
pastures, like horses.

Chapter XXIV.

1. The oreus (mule) mounts and copulates after shedding the first teeth, and
when seven years old is able to engender; and the ginnus is produced when
he mounts upon a mare. After this he no longer continues to copulate. The
female oreus also has been impregnated, but the fœtus has never been
known to come to maturity. The hemioni (female mules) of Syria, near
Phœnicia, admit the male and procreate. The kind, however, though similar,
is not the same. Those which are called ginni are produced from a mare,
when the fœtus has received some injury in the uterus, like dwarfs among
men and metachœra among swine; and the ginnus, like the dwarf, has a
large genital organ.
2. The hemionus has a long life; for they have been known to live for eighty
years, as in Athens, when they built the temple, this individual, though
failing with age, helped in drawing, and went beside them, and encouraged
the yoke mules to their work, so that an edict was made, commanding the
corn-dealers not to drive it away from the vessels filled with corn. The
female mule (oreus) grows old sooner than the male. Some persons say that

she is purified when making water, but the male ages more rapidly from
smelling the urine.
3. This is the manner of the reproduction of these animals. Those who are
employed in bringing up these animals recognize the young from the old in
this way. If the skin, when drawn back from the cheek, soon recovers its
shape, the animal is young; if the skin continues wrinkled for a long while,
the creature is aged.

Chapter XXV.

1. The camel is pregnant ten months, and always produces a single young
one, for this is its nature. They separate the young camel from the herd at a
year old. The camel will live more than fifty years. The season of
parturition is in the spring, and the female continues to give milk until she
conceives again. Their flesh and milk are exceedingly sweet. The milk is
drunk mixed with two or three times its quantity of water.
2. Elephants begin to copulate at twenty years old. When the female is
impregnated, her period of gestation, some persons say, is a year and a half;
other people make it three years. The difficulty of seeing their copulation
causes this difference of opinion respecting the period of gestation. The
female produces her young bending upon her haunches. Her pain is evident.
The calf, when it is born, sucks with its mouth, and not with its proboscis. It
can walk and see as soon as it is born.
3. Wild swine copulate at the beginning of winter. They produce their young
in the spring. For this purpose the female gets away into inaccessible and
precipitous places, where there are caves and plenty of shade. The males
remain with the females for thirty days. The number of pigs and the period
of gestation are the same as in the domesticated herd, and their voices are
much alike: the female, however, grunts more and the male less. The
castration of the male makes them larger and more fierce, as Homer writes.
"He brought up a castrated wild boar, which was not like a beast fed upon
food, but resembled a woody mountain peak." Castration takes place from a
disease like a swelling in the testicles, which they rub against the trees and
so destroy them.

Chapter XXVI.

1. The female deer usually copulates, as I observed before, from allurement;
for she cannot endure the male on account of the hardness of the penis.
Some, however, endure copulation as sheep do. When sexual desire is felt,
they lie down beside each other. The male is changeable in his disposition,
and does not unite himself to a single female, but in a short time leaves one
for another. The season for sexual intercourse is in August and September,
after Arcturus. The period of gestation is eight months. The female becomes
pregnant in a few days, and frequently in one day.
2. She generally produces one fawn, though some have been known to bear
twins. She produces her young by the road side, for fear of wild beasts. The
growth of the fawns is rapid. The female has no purification at other times,
but after parturition her cleansing is sanguineous. The female usually
conducts her fawn to some accustomed place, which serves them for a
refuge. It is usually an opening in a rock, with but one entrance, where they
can defend themselves against those who would attack them.
3. There are fables about their long life. They do not, however, appear to be
worthy of credit; and the period of gestation and growth of the young does
not agree with the habits of long-lived animals. In the mountain called
Elaphoïs, in Arginusa, in Asia, where Alcibiades died, all the deer have their
ears divided, so that they can be known if they migrate to another place, and
even the fœtus in utero has this distinction. The females have four nipples,
like cows.
4. As soon as the females are impregnated, the males go and live apart from
them, and, urged by their sexual desires, they each go apart and make a
hole, in which they emit a strong smell like he goats, and their faces
become black, by being sprinkled like those of goats. This continues till
after rain, when they turn again to their pasture. The animal acts in this way
on account of its violent sexual desires and its fatness. In summer time this
is so great that they cannot run, but are taken by those who pursue them,
even on foot, in the second or third race.
5. They frequent the water both on account of the heat and the difficulty of
breathing. At the period of sexual intercourse, their flesh is inferior both in
taste and smell, like that of he-goats. In winter they are thin and weak, and

in the spring are most active for the chase. When chased, they sometimes
rest awhile, and remain standing till their pursuers come up with them,
when they start afresh. They seem to do this from a pain in their intestines;
for their viscera are so thin and weak that if they are only struck gently they
are ruptured, though the hide remains sound.

Chapter XXVII.

1. Bears perform the act of sexual intercourse in the manner already
described, not mounting upon each other, but lying down upon the ground.
The female is pregnant thirty days, when she produces one or two, or at the
outside five cubs. The fœtus is smaller, in proportion to the size of the
parent, than that of any other animal; for it is less than a weasel, and greater
than a mouse. It is without hair and blind, and its legs and almost all its
parts are without joints. Its season of sexual intercourse is in March. The
cubs are born at the time of concealment. At this season both the female and
the male are very fat. When they have brought up their young, they show
themselves in the third month of the spring. The porcupine also conceals
itself, and is pregnant for the same number of days, and in other respects
resembles the bear. It is very difficult to capture the she bear when
pregnant.

Chapter XXVIII.

1. It has already been observed that the lion both copulates and makes water
backwards. They do not copulate and produce their young at all seasons of
the year, though they produce annually. The young are produced in the
spring. The female generally produces two, never more than six, and
sometimes only one. The fable which says that the uterus is ejected in
parturition is a mistake. It has arisen from the rarity of the animal, those
who invented the fable being ignorant of the true state of the case. The race
of lions is rare, and not to be found in every place, but only in the country
between the Achelous and the Nessus in the whole of Europe. The young of
the lion are very small at their birth, so that they can hardly walk at two
months old. The Syrian lions produce five times; at first five cubs, and then
one less every time. After this they produce no more, but continue barren.
The lioness has no mane, though the lion has. The lion only sheds its four

canine teeth, two above and two below. They are shed when the animal is
six months old.
2. The hyæna is of the colour of the wolf, but it is more hairy, and has a
mane along the ridge of its back. It is a mistake to say that each individual
has the sexual organs of both sexes. That of the male resembles the same
organ in the wolf and the dog. That which has been imagined to be the
female organ is placed beneath the tail, and it resembles that of the female,
but is imperforate, and the anus is beneath it. The female hyena has an
organ similar to that which bears its name in the male. It is placed beneath
the tail, and is imperforate. Beneath this is the anus, and below this again
the true genital organ. The female hyena has an uterus like that of other
animals of the class, but the female is rarely captured. A certain hunter said
that he caught eleven hyænas of which only one was a female.
3. Hares copulate backwards, as I formerly observed, for it is a retromingent
animal. They copulate and produce their young at all seasons. They become
pregnant a second time while they are pregnant, and produce their young
every month. They do not produce their young continually, but as many
days as may be intervene. The female has milk before the young are
produced. As soon as her young are born, she copulates again and conceives
while giving milk. The milk is as thick as that of the sow. The young are
born blind, like those of many animals with divided feet.

Chapter XXIX.

1. The fox copulates, mounting on the back of the female. The young are
born blind, like those of the bear, and are even more inarticulate. When the
season of parturition approaches, the female goes apart, so that it is rare to
take a pregnant fox. When the young are born, the dam licks them, in order
to warm and mature them. She never produces more than four.
2. The periods of gestation and parturition, both in point of time and the
number of the young, are the same in the wolf as in the dog, and the young
are blind, like those of the dog. They copulate at one season of the year, and
the young are produced in the beginning of summer. A fabulous story is told
of their parturition; for they say that all the she wolves produce their young
in twelve days in the year; and the reason which is given for this fable is
this, that during this number of days Latona was brought from the

Hyperborean regions to Delos, in the form of a wolf, for fear of Juno.
Whether this is or is not the period of parturition has never yet been
ascertained. At present it only rests upon tradition. It does not appear to be
true, nor that other tale which says that wolves only produce once in their
life.
3. Cats and ichneumons produce their young in the same manner as dogs,
and live upon the same things. They live about six years. The young of the
panther are born blind. They are never more than four in number. The jackal
is impregnated like a bitch, and the young are born blind. They produce
two, or three, or four. Its length towards the tail is great. Its height is small.
It runs very swiftly, although its legs are short; but on account of the
softness of its tissues it can leap a great distance.
4. In Syria there are animals called hemioni which are different from those
derived from a mixture of the horse and ass, though they resemble them in
appearance. As the wild ass is named from its resemblance to the domestic
kind, the wild asses and the hemioni differ from the domestic race in speed.
These hemioni are derived from their own congeners, of which this is a
proof. For some came to Phrygia in the time of Pharnaces, the father of
Pharnabazus, and remain there still. There are now only three, though they
say that at first there were nine.

Chapter XXX.

1. The reproduction of mice is more wonderful than that of any other
animal, both in number and rapidity. For a pregnant female was left in a
vessel of corn; and after a short time the vessel was opened, and a hundred
and twenty mice were counted. There is a doubt respecting the reproduction
and destruction of the mice which live on the ground; for such an
inexpressible number of field mice have sometimes made their appearance
that very little food remained. Their power of destruction also is so great
that some small farmers, having on one day observed that their corn was
ready for harvest, when they went the following day to cut their corn, found
it all eaten.
2. The manner of their disappearance also is unaccountable; for in a few
days they all vanish, although beforehand they could not be exterminated
by smoking and digging them out, nor by hunting them and turning swine

among them to root up their runs. Foxes also hunt them out, and wild
weasels[213] are very ready to destroy them; but they cannot prevail over
their numbers and the rapidity of their increase, nor indeed can anything
prevail over them but rain, and when this comes they disappear very soon.
3. In a certain part of Persia the female fœtus of the mice are found to be
pregnant in the uterus of their parent. Some people say and affirm that if
they lick salt they become pregnant without copulation. The Egyptian mice
have hair nearly resembling that of the hedgehog. There are other kinds
which go upon two feet, for their fore feet are small and their hind feet
large.[214] They are very numerous. There are also many other kinds of
mice.

BOOK THE SEVENTH.
Chapter I.

1. The circumstances attending on the growth of man, from his conception
in the womb even to old age, derived from his peculiar nature, are after this
manner. We have already treated of the distinctions of the male and female
and their parts. The male begins to have semen at about the age of fourteen
complete. At the same time hair begins to appear on the pubes. As Alcmæon
of Crotona says that flowers blossom before they bear seed, about the same
period the voice begins to become more harsh and irregular. It is neither
quite harsh, nor deep, nor all alike, but it resembles a discordant and harsh
instrument. This is called τραγίζειν, to have a voice like a goat.
2. This is more conspicuous in those who attempt the gratification of sexual
desires; for those who are vehement in these desires rapidly pass into a
man's voice. In those that refrain themselves the contrary occurs. In those
who, like some singers, endeavour to avoid this change, the voice will
continue for a long while, and never undergo any great change. The breasts
also and pudendum not only increase in size, but their general appearance is
changed. At this period of life, if a person is urged to the emission of semen,
the discharge is accompanied with pain as well as pleasure.
3. About the same period also the breasts of females enlarge, and the
catamenia make their appearance. They resemble the blood of a newly
killed animal. In young girls only do they appear white, especially if they
make use of fluid food. This complaint stops the growth and weakens the
body of girls. The catamenia usually appear when the mammæ are about
two fingers high. The voice of girls also becomes deeper at this period, for
on the whole the voice of women is more acute than that of men, and the
voice of girls than that of old women, as the voice of boys is more acute
than the voice of men. The voice of female children also is more acute than
that of males, and the windpipe is more acute in girls than boys.
4. They also want especial care at this period, for their sexual desires are
very strong at the commencement, so that if they now take care to avoid

every excitement, except such as the change of their body requires, without
using venery, they generally remain temperate in after-years. For girls who
indulge in venery when young, generally grow up intemperate; and so do
males if they are unguarded either one way or both ways; for at this age the
ducts open and afford an easy passage for the fluid through the body, and at
the same time the memory of past pleasures causes a desire for present
gratification.
5. Some men never have hair on the pubes from their birth, nor seed, on
account of the destruction of the parts appropriated to the semen. There are
some women also who never have hair on the pubes. The male and female
also change their habits of sickness and of health, and the proportions of
their body, whether slight or stout, or of a good habit. Some thin boys after
they attain puberty become stout and healthy, in others the contrary takes
place. This is the case also with females; for whether boys or girls have
their bodies loaded with excrementitious matter, this is separated in the one
by puberty, in the other by the catamenia. They become more healthy and
thriving when that which had prevented health and growth is removed.
6. Those which are of the contrary habit of body become more thin and
delicate; for their naturally healthy condition is separated in the puberty of
one sex, and the catamenia of the other. There is also considerable variety in
the bosoms of young girls, for in some they are very large, in others small.
This generally takes place in those girls which have much superfluous
humour, for when the catamenia are about to appear, but before they arrive,
the more fluid the patient is, the more necessary it is that the breasts should
increase until the catamenia make their appearance, and the breasts, which
then begin to increase, remain so afterwards. In youths and aged men the
breasts are more conspicuous, and more like those of females; and in those
who are of a soft habit of body, and are smooth and not full of veins, and in
dark persons also more than fair ones.
7. Until twenty-one years of age the semen is unproductive, afterwards it
becomes fertile, though boys and girls produce small and imperfect
children: this is also the case with other animals. Young girls conceive more
readily, but after conception suffer more in parturition, and their bodies
frequently become imperfect. Men of violent passions, and women that
have borne many children, grow old more rapidly than others; nor does
there appear to be any increase after they have borne three children. Women

of violent sexual desires become more temperate after they have borne
several children.
8. Women who have attained thrice seven years are well adapted for child-
bearing, and men also are capable of becoming parents. Thin seminal fluid
is barren. That which is lumpy begets males; what is thin and not clotted,
females. The beard also appears on the chin of men at the same period.

Chapter II.

1. The catamenia appear when the moon is on the wane, from which some
persons would argue that the moon is a female, for the purification of
women and the waning of the moon occur together, and repletion occurs
again in both after the purification and waning. In few women the
catamenia occur every month, but in most at every third month. Those in
whom they continue for only two or three days escape with ease: it is more
difficult for those in whom it continues for a longer time, for they suffer
during the whole period. In some the purification takes place all at once, in
others by degrees; in all, however, the pain is considerable as long as they
are present. In many women, when the catamenia are nearly ready to
appear, the womb suffers so much from strangulation and disturbance, until
they are discharged.
2. Conception naturally takes place immediately after this discharge in
women, and those who do not then conceive, are usually barren. Some
women, however, who have never menstruated, conceive. Such persons
contain in themselves as much of the fluid as is usually left behind after the
purification, but not so much as to make its appearance externally. Some
women in whom the uterus has closed immediately after the purification,
conceive even while menstruating, but do not conceive afterwards. The
catamenia sometimes occur even in pregnant women. Such women usually
bear imperfect children, and their offspring either do not grow up, or are
weakly.
3. It frequently happens that from the want of sexual intercourse, or from
youth and the period of life, or from long abstinence, the uterus descends,
and the catamenia occur several times in the month, until they conceive;
after which the parts return to their proper place: and sometimes even in

women with a good habit of body, if the humours are abundant, an effusion
of the semen takes place if it is too moist.
4. It has already been observed that this purification is more abundant in
women than in any other creature. In animals that are not viviparous no
symptoms of anything of the kind occur, for this superfluous matter is
returned into their own body, for in many the females are superior to the
males in size, and in many it is turned to the formation of plates, or scales,
or abundance of feathers. In viviparous animals with feet, it is turned to the
formation of hair and bulk of body (for man is the only animal that is
smooth), or of urine; for in almost all animals this secretion is thick and
abundant. In women, on the contrary, all the superfluous matter of the body
is directed to this purification.
5. The case of the male is the same, for in proportion to his size, man emits
more semen than other animals; (wherefore, also, man is the smoothest of
all animals,) and among men those which abound in humours, and are not
very full fleshed, and fair men more than dark ones. So also among women.
For in those that are full fleshed, the greater part of the secretion goes to the
supply of the body, and in the act of sexual intercourse, fair women have
naturally more seminal fluid than dark ones. Liquid and acid foods also
increase this kind of intercourse.

Chapter III.

1. It is a sign that women have conceived when the pudendum remains dry
after coition. If the labia are smooth they will not conceive, for it slips out;
nor will they if the labia are thick: but if there is a sensation of roughness
and resistance when touched with the finger, and the labia are thin, they are
then adapted for conception. In order that they may be able to conceive,
such women must prepare the uterus, and the contrary that they may not
conceive; for if the labia are smooth they do not conceive: so that some
women, in order that the semen may fall outside the uterus, anoint
themselves with oil of cedar, or with ceruse, or oil mixed with frankincense.
2. If it remain seven days, it is evident that conception has taken place, for
in this period what are called the outpourings take place. The purification
takes place in many women after conception. Thirty days afterwards in the
case of conceiving a female child, and forty in the case of a male. After

parturition, also, the purification lasts a similar number of days, though it is
not exactly the same in all.
3. In the same number of days after conception the discharge no longer
takes its usual course, but is turned towards the mammæ, in which the milk
begins to make its appearance. At first the milk appears very small, and like
a web in the mammæ. After conception, the first sensation generally takes
place in the iliac region, which immediately appears more full in some
persons. This is more conspicuous in slight persons. If the child is a male, a
movement is usually felt on the right side of the groin, in about forty days;
if a female, the movement occurs on the left side, in about ninety days. We
must not suppose, however, that an accurate judgment can be formed in this
way, for it often happens that the movement is felt on the right side when a
female child, and on the left when a male child is conceived. All these, and
such like things, vary in a greater or less degree.
4. About this period, also, the fœtus becomes divided; it previously existed
as an undivided mass of flesh. If it perishes within seven days, it is called an
effluxion; if in forty days, an abortion. The fœtus often perishes within this
period. If the male fœtus is excluded within forty days, and is put out into
any other fluid, it becomes dissolved, and disappears. If placed in cold
water, it becomes, as it were, surrounded with a membrane. When this is
taken off, the fœtus appears about as large as a large ant. Its parts are
visible, both those of generation, and all the rest; and the eyes are very
large, as in other animals. If the female fœtus perishes within the three
months, it generally appears without divisions. If it survives to the fourth
month, the parts appear formed.
5. The whole completion of the parts is more slow in the female than in the
male, and parturition is more frequently delayed to the tenth month. After
birth, females attain to youth, and puberty, and old age, more rapidly than
males, and those that have borne many children more rapidly than others, as
it was observed before.

Chapter IV.

1. When conception has taken place, the uterus usually closes immediately
for seven months. In the eighth month it opens, and the fœtus, if properly
developed, begins to descend in the eighth month. If the fœtus is not

properly developed, but checked in the eighth month in parturition, women
who bear in the eighth month do not exclude it, nor does the fœtus advance
downwards in the eighth month, and the uterus does not open itself. It is a
sign that it is not properly developed, when it is born before the
circumstances I have described take place.
2. After conception, women suffer throughout their whole body, and their
sight becomes dim, and they are afflicted with headache. In some, these
symptoms occur very soon, as early as the tenth day; in others they are
delayed, in proportion as they have an abundance or deficiency of
superfluous matter in their bodies. Nausea and vomiting often seize upon
them, and on those especially in whom the purifications become stagnant,
and do not yet fly to the mammæ. Some women suffer at the
commencement of pregnancy, and others in the more advanced stages,
when the fœtus begins to grow. Retention of urine also frequently attacks
them at last.
3. Those that are pregnant with a male fœtus, usually pass through the time
more easily, and retain a better colour throughout. If a female is conceived,
the contrary is the case; for they are generally more discoloured, and suffer
more during the period of gestation. In many cases the legs swell, and a
swollen condition of the flesh is also common. In some women, however,
the condition is contrary. Pregnant women are apt to have all sorts of
fancies, which change very rapidly. Some persons call this longing. These
fancies are strongest when a female is conceived, and there is but little
pleasure in their gratification. In a few women the condition of the body is
better during pregnancy; they suffer most when the hair of the fœtus begins
to grow. Pregnant women lose the hair which grows on the parts that are
hairy at birth, while it becomes more thick upon the parts on which it
appears subsequent to birth.
4. A male fœtus usually moves more freely in the womb than a female, and
the parturition is not so long. If a female, the parturition is slower. The pain
in the birth of female children is continuous, and dull; in the birth of males
it is sharp, and far more severe. Those who, before parturition, have sexual
intercourse, suffer less in the process. Sometimes women seem to suffer, not
from any pain of their own, but from the turning of the head of the child;
and this appears to be the commencement of the pain. Other animals have a
single exact period for parturition, for one time is appointed for them all.

The human subject alone varies in this particular, for the period of gestation
is seven, eight, or nine months, or ten at the outside, though some have even
advanced as far as the eleventh month.
5. If any are born before the seventh month, they never live. Those of seven
months are the first that are developed, but these are usually weakly,
wherefore, also, they wrap them in wool. Many of these infants have the
passages, as the ears and nostrils, imperforate. As they grow, however, they
assume a proper form, and many of them survive. In Egypt, and some other
places, where the women suffer little pain in parturition, and where they
bear many children with ease, those even at the end of eight months are
capable of living, even although they should be monstrous; but in such
places children born in the eighth month may survive and be brought up. In
Greece, however, few of them survive, and most of them perish; and people
suspect that if any of them survive, the exact period of conception must
have been mistaken by the mother.
6. Women suffer most in the fourth and eighth month, and if the fœtus dies
in the fourth or eighth month, they usually die also; so that not only children
born in the eighth month often perish, but their mothers also perish with
them. In the same way, the period of conception probably is mistaken by
those who have been pregnant more than eleven months; for in these cases
the beginning of the conception escapes the notice of females, for
frequently after the uterus has been distended with flatulence, women have
copulated and conceived, and supposed that the former condition in which
they observed the usual symptoms, was the commencement of gestation.

Chapter V.

1. The human subject also differs from other animals, as to the number of
the perfect offspring produced at a birth. For the human subject differs both
from animals which produce but one, and those which produce many; for,
generally speaking, and, in most cases, women have but one child at a time,
though cases of twins occur frequently, and in many places, as in Egypt,
three or four at a birth have been known in some particular places, as I have
observed before. Five at a birth are the most that have been produced. This
has been observed to take place in many cases, but in one case only have
twenty been produced at four births, for five were born each time, and many

of them were reared. In other animals, if the twins are male and female,
there is no more difficulty in rearing and preserving them, than if they were
both of the same sex. In the human subject there are few cases of twins
surviving, when one was male and the other female.
2. The human female and the mare copulate after conception more than any
other creatures, for all other females, when they have conceived, fly from
the males, except those which, like the hare, become pregnant a second time
during gestation. But the mare, having once conceived, does not form a
second fœtus, but generally produces a single foal. In the human subject it
happens sometimes, though rarely. Those which are conceived a long while
afterwards never come to perfection, but, from the pain which they cause,
destroy the original fœtus; and a case has occurred in which twelve
imperfect embryos have been produced at one time. If the second
conception take place soon after the first, they bear and produce the fœtus,
as if it were a twin. This, they say, was the case with Iphicles and Hercules.
3. The possibility of the case is manifest, for an adulteress has been known
to produce one child like her husband, and another like her paramour; and a
case has occurred of a woman having conceived twins, and then conceived
a third child upon them; and when the proper time came, the twins were
born perfect, the other was only a fœtus of five months old, which died
immediately: and in another case, a woman produced, first of all, a fœtus of
seven months old, and then twins, perfectly developed; the former perished,
but the latter survived. And some women have conceived at the same time
as they miscarried, and have ejected one fœtus while they bore the other. In
most females, who have cohabited after the eighth month after conception,
the child has been born filled with a shining mucous-like substance, and has
often appeared full of the food which has been eaten by the mother; and if
she has fed upon food more than usually salt, the child has been born
without nails.

Chapter VI.

1. The milk that is produced before the seventh month is useless; but as
soon as the child is alive the milk becomes good. At first it is salt, like that
of sheep. Most women during pregnancy are affected by wine, and if they
drink it they become faint and feeble. The beginning and the ending of the

reproductive power in both sexes is marked in the male by the emission of
the semen, in the female by the catamenia. They are not, however, fertile
when these first occur, nor while they are still small and weak. The period
of the commencement of these signs has been mentioned. In women the
catamenia usually cease at forty; but if they pass over this age, they go on to
fifty; and some have even produced children at that period, but none later
than this period.
2. The reproductive function in men usually continues active till they are
sixty years old; if they pass beyond this period, till they are seventy; and
some men have had children at seventy years old. It frequently happens
that, when marriages are unfruitful, both men and women become pregnant,
if the marriage is dissolved and they marry again. The same thing takes
place respecting the birth of male and female children. For sometimes only
children of one sex are produced by a marriage; and if this is dissolved, and
the parents marry again, children of the other sex are produced. These
things also vary with the age of the parents; for some when young have
female children, and when older males, though the contrary sometimes
takes place.
3. The same is the case with the whole of the reproductive function. For
some persons have no children when they are young, but have them
afterwards; others have children at first, but none afterwards; and there are
some women who conceive with difficulty, but when they have conceived
bear children; others conceive easily, but the fœtus never comes to maturity.
There are also both men and women who only produce children of one sex,
as the story goes of Hercules, who had but one daughter in seventy-two
children. Those who have been barren, and either after great care, or from
any other cause, at last conceive, more frequently bear a daughter than a
son. It often happens also that men who have engendered become impotent,
and subsequently return to their former condition.
4. Maimed parents produce maimed children; and so also lame and blind
parents produce lame and blind children; and, on the whole, children are
often born with anything contrary to nature, or any mark which their parents
may have, such as tumours and wounds. Such marks have often been
handed down for three generations; as if a person had a mark on their arm
which was not seen in the son, but the grandson exhibited a dark confused
spot on the same place. The circumstances, however, are rare; and sound

children are generally produced from lame parents; nor is there any
complete certainty in these matters; and children resemble their parents or
their grandparents, and sometimes they resemble neither. This is handed
down for many generations; as in Sicily, a woman cohabited with an
Ethiopian, her daughter was not black, but her daughter's child was so.
5. For the most part the girls resemble their mother, and the boys their
father; though the contrary is often the case, and the females resemble their
father, and the males their mother, and the different parts of the body
resemble either parents. Twins have sometimes no resemblance to each
other, but they are generally much alike; and one woman cohabited with a
man, and conceived seven days after parturition, when she bore a child as
like her former as if they had been twins. Some women, as well as other
creatures, produce young resembling themselves, others bear those which
resemble the male, as the horse called Dicæa in Pharsalia.

Chapter VII.

1. The seminal fluid in its emission is preceded by wind. The manner of its
emission exhibits this; for nothing is expelled to a great distance without
pneumatic force. If the seminal fluid is taken up by the uterus and retained
there, it becomes inclosed in a membrane. For if it is expelled before it
becomes articulated, it appears like an ovum inclosed in a membrane, but
without any shell, and the membrane is full of veins. All animals, whether
furnished with fins, feet, or wings, whether viviparous or oviparous, are
produced in the same manner, except that the umbilicus in viviparous
animals is turned towards the uterus, and in others to the ovum; and in some
cases both ways, as in a certain kind of fish. Some of them are surrounded
by a membrane, others by a chorion. First of all, the fœtus is contained
within the last envelope. Then there is another membrane over this, which is
in part united to the matrix and is partly separate, and contains water.
Between these is a watery or sanguineous fluid, which in women is called
prophorus.
2. All animals that have a navel increase by the navel; and in those which
have acetabula the navel is united to the acetabulum; and in those which
have a smooth uterus the navel is united to the uterus upon a vein. The
position of all quadrupeds in the uterus is stretched out; that of fishes is on

the side; bipeds, as birds, are folded together. The human fœtus lies folded
up with its nose between its knees and its eyes upon them, and its ears
turned outwards. All animals are alike in having the head placed upwards at
first. As they grow, the head turns round, and the birth of all animals is
naturally with the head forwards: for even in those that are folded together
the presentation of the feet is unnatural. The embryo of quadrupeds contains
excrementitious matter, as soon as it is matured, both fluid and solid. The
latter is contained in the extreme parts of the intestine, the former in the
bladder.
3. If animals have acetabula in the uterus, these acetabula always become
smaller as the fœtus grows, and at last disappear. The umbilical cord is a
covering for veins, of which the origin is in the uterus. In those creatures
which have acetabula it originates in them; in those that have not acetabula
it originates in the vein. In the larger animals, such as the fœtus of oxen,
there are four veins; in smaller animals, two; in very small animals, as in
birds, there is but one. Two veins reach the fœtus through the liver, from
that part called the gates of the liver, towards the great vein; and two go to
the aorta, where it is divided into two parts; and there are membranes round
each pair of veins, and the umbilical cord surrounds these membranes like a
covering. As the fœtus increases, these veins diminish. The embryo, as it
grows, advances into the viscera, where its movements are manifest.
Sometimes it remains rolled up near the pudendum.

Chapter VIII.

1. When the pains of parturition come on, they extend to many and various
parts of the body, but especially to one or other of the thighs. Those who
suffer most in the bowels are delivered most rapidly; those who suffer much
in the loins are delivered with difficulty; those whose pain lies in the
subumbilical region, more quickly. If the child is a male, a liquid, serum-
like discharge, of a pale yellow colour, precedes; if a female, this discharge
is sanguineous, but still fluid. Some women have neither during the period
of parturition.
2. In other animals parturition is not painful, and it is evident that they
suffer but moderately in the pains of labour. In women the pains of
parturition are more violent, especially in those that are inactive or that are

not well made in their sides, and are unable to hold their breath. They also
suffer more in parturition, if they breathe in the meantime, compelled by the
necessity of respiration. At first a fluid escapes when the fœtus comes to the
birth, and the membranes are ruptured; after this, the embryo is excluded,
the uterus being turned, and the uterus being turned inside-out.

Chapter IX.

1. The division of the umbilical cord often requires the careful attention of
the midwife; for by skilfulness she may not only assist in difficult labours,
but should attend carefully to the circumstances, and apply the ligature to
the umbilical cord of the child; for if the secundines fall out with the child,
the umbilical cord must be bound with a ligature of worsted, and cut above
the ligature, and where it is bound it joins together, and that which is joined
with it falls off. If the ligature becomes loose, the child dies from loss of
blood. If the secundines do not come out at once, while they remain within,
and the child is outside, the umbilical cord must be tied and divided.
2. Frequently the child, if weak, has appeared as if born dead, until the
umbilical cord was tied, for the blood flowed from the child to the navel
and the surrounding parts; but some skilful midwife being present, by
pressure on the navel from within has revived the child, just as if it had
been filled with blood from the first. It has been already observed, that all
animals are naturally born with the head forwards. Children also have their
hands pressed down against their sides. As soon as they are born they begin
to cry and bring their hands to their mouth. They emit excrements, some
immediately, others very soon, but all in the course of a day. This
excrementitious matter is very abundant, considering the size of the child.
Women call it the meconium. Its colour is like that of blood, and it is black
and pitch-like. Afterwards it becomes milky, for the child immediately
draws the breast. The child never cries before it is entirely in the world, not
even though its head is protruded in difficult cases, while the body is within
the uterus.
3. Those women in whom a flooding has preceded the period of delivery are
delivered with more difficulty, and if the purifications are small after
parturition, and only as much as they are at first, and do not continue for
more than forty days, such women are stronger, and more ready for

conception. After children are born, for forty days they neither laugh nor
weep when awake, but sometimes do both in their sleep; nor do they
usually feel when they are tickled, but they sleep the greater part of their
time. As they grow, the period of wakefulness continually increases; and it
is evident that they dream, but it is some time before they remember their
imaginations. There is no difference in the bones of other animals, but they
are all born perfect. In children the bone called bregma is soft, and does not
become strong for some time. Some animals are born with teeth, but
children begin to cut their teeth in the seventh month. The front teeth
naturally appear first, sometimes the upper teeth and sometimes the under.
Children cut their teeth more easily if their nurses have warmer milk.

Chapter X.

After parturition and purification women become full of milk; and in some
it not only flows through the nipples but through other parts of the breast,
and sometimes from the cheeks; and if this fluid is not matured nor
secreted, but remains full, hard knots are formed, which remain for a long
time; for every part of the breast is so spongy that, if a hair is swallowed
with the drink, pain ensues in the breasts, until it either escapes
spontaneously with the milk, or is sucked out, this is called τριχιᾷν. They
continue to have milk until they conceive again. It then ceases, and is
quenched in other creatures as well as in the human subject. The catamenia
seldom take place while milk is secreted, though this sometimes occurs in
women while nursing. On the whole, an effusion of fluid seldom takes place
from many parts of the body at the same time, and those that have
hæmorrhoids have usually less purification. In some it takes place through
ixiæ (varices), and is secreted from the loins before it reaches the uterus;
and those who vomit blood when the purification is suppressed suffer no
harm.

Chapter XI.

Children are very subject to spasms, and especially those that are in a good
condition and have abundance of rich milk, or whose nurses are fat. Wine is
injurious in this complaint, and dark-coloured wines more so than those that
are pale, and food that is not fluid, and windy aliments, and stoppage in the

bowels. Children with this complaint generally die before the seventh day:
wherefore also this day has received a name, as if it gave some hope of the
recovery of the child. Children suffer most at the full moon. Children are in
great danger when the spasms originate in the back, especially if they are
advancing in age.[215]

BOOK THE EIGHTH.
Chapter I.

1. The nature of animals and their mode of reproduction has now been
described. Their actions and mode of life also differ according to their
disposition and their food. For almost all animals present traces of their
moral dispositions, though these distinctions are most remarkable in man.
For most of them, as we remarked, when speaking of their various parts,
appear to exhibit gentleness or ferocity, mildness or cruelty, courage or
cowardice, fear or boldness, violence or cunning; and many of them exhibit
something like a rational consciousness, as we remarked in speaking of
their parts. For they differ from man, and man from the other animals, in a
greater or less degree; for some of these traits are exhibited strongly in man,
and others in other animals.
2. Others differ in proportion. For as men exhibit art, wisdom, and
intelligence, animals possess, by way of compensation, some other physical
power. This is most conspicuous in the examination of infants, for in them
we see, as it were, the vestiges and seeds of their future disposition; nor
does their soul at this period differ in any respect from that of an animal; so
that it is not unreasonable for animals to present the same, or similar, or
analogous appearances. Nature passes so gradually from inanimate to
animate things, that from their continuity their boundary and the mean
between them is indistinct. The race of plants succeeds immediately that of
inanimate objects; and these differ from each other in the proportion of life
in which they participate; for, compared with other bodies, plants appear to
possess life, though, when compared with animals, they appear inanimate.
3. The change from plants to animals, however, is gradual, as I before
observed. For a person might question to which of these classes some
marine objects belong; for many of them are attached to the rock, and
perish as soon as they are separated from it. The pinnæ are attached to the
rocks, the solens cannot live after they are taken away from their localities;
and, on the whole, all the testacea resemble plants, if we compare them with

locomotive animals. Some of them appear to have no sensation; in others it
is very dull. The body of some of them is naturally fleshy, as of those which
are called tethya; and the acalephe and the sponge entirely resemble plants;
the progress is always gradual by which one appears to have more life and
motion than another.
4. In the vital actions also we may observe the same manner. For vegetables
which are produced from seed appear to have no other work beyond
reproduction; nor do some animals appear to have any other object in their
existence. This object then is common to them all; but as sensation
advances, their manner of life differs in their having pleasure in sexual
intercourse, in their mode of parturition and rearing their young. Some of
them, like plants, simply accomplish their peculiar mode of reproduction at
an appointed season, and others are diligent in rearing their young; but as
soon as this is accomplished they separate from them, and have no farther
communication; but those that are more intelligent, and possess more
memory, use their offspring in a more civilized manner.
5. The work of reproduction is one part of their life, the work of procuring
food forms another. These two occupy their labour and their life. Their food
differs in the substances of which it consists, and all the natural increase of
the body is derived from food. That which is natural is pleasant, and all
animals follow that which is pleasant to their nature.

Chapter II.

1. Animals are divided according to the localities which they inhabit; for
some animals are terrestrial, others are aquatic. They also admit of a ternary
division, those that breathe air and those that breathe water, one of these
classes is terrestrial, the other is aquatic; the third class does not breathe
either air or water, but they are adapted by nature to receive refreshment
from each of these elements; and some of these are called terrestrial, others
are aquatic, though they neither breathe air or water; and there are other
animals which procure their food and make their abode in either of these
elements. For many that breathe air, and produce their young upon the land,
procure their food from the water, where they generally make their abode;
and these are the only animals which appear to be doubtful, for they may be
arranged either as terrestrial or aquatic animals.

2. Of those that breathe water, none have feet or wings, nor seek their food
on land; but many of those that are terrestrial, and breathe air, do so; some
of them so much so, that they cannot live when separated from the water, as
those which are called marine turtles, and crocodiles, and hippopotami, and
seals, and some of the smaller creatures, as the water tortoise and the frog
tribe; for all these are suffocated if their respiration is suspended for any
length of time. They produce their young and rear them on dry land; others
do so near the dry land, while they reside in the water.
3. Of all animals the most remarkable in this particular is the dolphin, and
some other aquatic animals and cetacea which are of this habit, as the whale
and others which have a blowhole; for it is not easy to arrange them either
with aquatic or terrestrial animals, if we consider animals that breathe air as
terrestrial, and those that breathe water as aquatics, for they partake of the
characters of both classes; for they receive the sea and eject it through their
blowhole, and air through their lungs, for they have this part, and breathe
through it. And the dolphin, when captured in nets, is often suffocated, from
the impossibility of breathing. It will live for a long while out of water,
snoring and groaning like other breathing animals. It sleeps with its snout
above the water, in order that it may breathe through it.
4. It is thus impossible to arrange it under both of these contrary divisions,
but it would appear that the aquatic animals must be further subdivided; for
they breathe and eject water for the same reason as others breathe air, for
the sake of coolness. Other animals do this for the sake of food; for those
animals which obtain their food in the water, must also, at the same time,
swallow some of the fluid, and have an organ by which they can eject it.
Those creatures which use water instead of air for breathing have gills;
those that use it for food have a blowhole. These creatures are sanguineous.
The nature of the malacia and malacostraca is the same; for these swallow
water for food.
5. Those animals which breathe air, but live in the water, and those which
breathe water, and have gills, but go out upon dry land and take their food
there, belong to two divisions of aquatic animals. This last division is
represented by a single animal called the cordylus (water newt); for this
animal has no lungs, but gills; and it goes on dry land to procure its food. It
has four feet, so that it appears natural that it should walk. In all these
animals nature appears to be, as it were, turned aside, and some of the males

appear to be females, and the females have a male appearance; for animals
which have but small diversity in particular parts, exhibit great variations in
the whole body.
6. This is evident in castrated animals; for if a small portion only of the
body is destroyed, the animal becomes a female; so that it is plain that if a
very minute portion in the original composition of an animal becomes
changed, if that portion belongs to the origin of the species, it might become
either male or female; or, if taken away altogether, the animal might be
neuter. And so, either way, it might become a land or aquatic animal, if only
a small change took place ... it happens that some become terrestrial and
others aquatic animals, and some are not amphibious which others are,
because in their original generation they received some kind of substance
which they use for food. For that which is natural is agreeable to every
animal, as I have said before.

Chapter III.

1. When animals are divided in three ways into aquatic and land animals,
because they either breathe air or water, or from the composition of their
bodies; or, in the third place, from their food, their manner of life will be
found to agree with these divisions. For some follow both the composition
of their bodies and the nature of their food, and their respiration of either
water or air. Others only agree with their composition and food.
2. The testacea which are immoveable live by a fluid which percolates
through the dense parts of the sea, and being digested because it is lighter
than the sea water, thus returns to its original nature. That this fluid exists in
the sea, and is capable of infiltration is manifest, and may be proved by
experiment; for if anyone will make a thin waxen vessel, and sink it empty
in the sea, in a night and a day, it may be taken up full of water, which is
drinkable.
3. The acalephe (actinia) feeds upon any small fish which may fall in its
way. Its mouth is placed in the centre of its body. This organ is conspicuous
in the larger individuals: like the oyster, it has a passage for the exclusion of
its food, which is placed above. The acalephe appears to resemble the
internal part of the oyster, and it makes use of the rock, as the oyster does of
its shell. (The patella also is free, and wanders about in search of food.)

4. Among the locomotive testacea, some are carnivorous, and live on small
fish, as the purpura, for this creature is carnivorous, it is therefore caught
with a bait of flesh: others live upon marine plants. The marine turtles live
upon shell-fish, for which purpose they have a very powerful mouth; for if
any of them take a stone or anything else, they break and eat it. This animal
leaves the water and eats grass. They often suffer and perish, when they are
dried up as they float on the surface, for they are not able to dive readily.
5. The malacostraca are of the same nature, for they eat everything; they
feed upon stones and mud, seaweeds and dung, as the rock crabs, and are
also carnivorous. The spiny lobsters also overcome large fishes, and a kind
of retribution awaits them in turn, for the polypus prevails over the lobster,
for they are not inconvenienced by the shell of the lobster, so that if the
lobsters perceive them in the same net with them, they die from fear. The
spiny lobsters overcome the congers, for their roughness prevents them
from falling off. The congers devour the polypi which cannot adhere to
them on account of the smoothness of their surface; all the malacia are
carnivorous.
6. The spiny lobsters also live on small fish, which they hunt for in their
holes, for they are produced in such parts of the sea as are rough and stony,
and in those places make their habitations; whatever they capture, they
bring to their mouth with their double claw, as the crabs do. When not
frightened they naturally walk forwards, hanging their horns down at their
sides. When alarmed they retreat backwards, and extend their horns to a
great distance. They fight with each other like rams with their horns, raising
them and striking each other. They are often seen in numbers as if they were
gregarious.
7. The malacostraca lead this kind of life. Among the malacia the teuthis
and sepia prevail over the large fish. The polypus generally collects shells
which it empties of their contents and feeds upon them, so that those who
seek for them find their holes by the shells that are scattered about. The
report that they eat each other is a mistake; but some have the tentacula
eaten off by the congers.

Chapter IV.

1. All fish at the season of oviposition live upon ova; in the rest of their
food they are not all so well agreed, for some of them are only carnivorous,
as the selachos, conger, channa, thynnus, labrax, sinodon, amia, orphus, and
muræna; the trigla lives upon fuci, shell-fish, and mud; it is also
carnivorous. The cephalus lives on mud, the dascillus on mud and dung.
The scarus and melanurus on sea-weed, the salpa on dung and fuci, it will
also eat the plant called horehound; it is the only fish that can be caught
with the gourd.
2. All fish, except the cestreus, eat one another, especially the congers. The
cephalus and the cestreus alone are not carnivorous. This is a proof of it.
They are never captured with anything of the kind in their stomach, nor are
they captured with a bait made of flesh, but with bread; the cestreus is
always fed upon sea-weed and sand. One kind of cephalus which some
persons call chelone lives near the land, another is called peræas. This last
feeds upon nothing but its own mucus, for which reason it is always very
poor. The cephalus lives upon mud, wherefore they are heavy and slimy.
They certainly never eat fish, on account of their dwelling in mud; they
often emerge in order to wash themselves from the slime. Neither will any
creature eat their ova, so that they increase rapidly, and when they increase
they are devoured by other fish, and especially by the acharnus.
3. The cestreus (mullet) is the most greedy and insatiable of fish, so that its
abdomen is distended, and it is not good for food unless it is poor. When
alarmed it hides its head, as if its whole body were thus concealed; the
sinodon also is carnivorous, and eats the malacia. This fish and the channa
often eject their stomachs as they pursue small fish, for their stomach is
near the mouth, and they have no œsophagus. Some are simply carnivorous,
as the dolphin, sinodon, chrysophrys, the selache and malacia; others, as the
phycis, cobius, and the rock-fish, principally feed upon mud and fuci, and
bryum, and what is called caulion, and any matter which may be produced
in the sea. The phycis eats no other flesh than that of the shrimps. They also
frequently eat each other, as I before remarked, and the greater devour the
less. It is a proof that they are carnivorous, that they are captured with bait
made of flesh.
4. The amia, tunny, and labrax generally eat flesh, though they also eat sea-
weed. The sargus feeds after the trigla when the last has buried itself in the
mud and departed, for it has the power of burying itself, then the sargus

comes and feeds and prevents all those that are weaker than itself from
approaching. The fish called scarus is the only one which appears to
ruminate like quadrupeds. Other fish appear to hunt the smaller ones with
their mouths towards them, in this way they naturally swim; but the
selachea, dolphins and cetacea throw themselves on their back to capture
their prey, for their mouth is placed below them, for this reason the smaller
ones escape, or if not they would soon be reduced in number; for the
swiftness of the dolphin and its capacity for food appear incredible.
5. A few eels in some places are fed upon mud, and any kind of food which
may be cast into the water, but generally they live upon fresh water, and
those who rear eels take care that the water which flows off and on upon the
shallows in which they live may be clear, where they make the eel
preserves. For they are soon suffocated if the water is not clean, their gills
being very small. For this reason those who seek for them disturb the water.
In the Strymon they are taken about the time of the rising of the Pleiades.
For the water is disturbed at this season by the mud which is stirred up by
contrary winds, otherwise it is useless to attempt to obtain them. When
dead, eels do not rise and float on the surface, like other fishes, for their
stomach is small; a few of them are fat, but this is not usually the case.
6. When taken out of the water, they will live five or six days; if the wind is
in the north they will live longer than if it is in the south. If they are
removed from the ponds to the eel preserves during the summer they perish,
but not if removed in the winter; neither will they bear violent changes, for
if they are taken and plunged into cold water, they often perish in great
numbers. They are suffocated also if kept in a small quantity of water. This
takes place also in other fish, which are suffocated if kept in a small
quantity of water which is never changed, like animals which breathe air
when enclosed in a small quantity of air. Some eels live seven or eight
years. Fresh-water fish make use of food, and devour each other, as well as
plants and roots, or anything else that they can find in the mud; they
generally feed in the night, and during the day dwell in deep holes. This is
the nature of the food of fish.

Chapter V.

1. All birds with crooked claws are carnivorous, nor are they able to eat
corn even when put in their mouths. All the eagles belong to this class and
the kites, and both the hawks, the pigeon hawk namely, and the sparrow
hawk. These differ in size from each other, and so does the triorches. This
bird is as large as the kite, and is visible at all seasons of the year; the
osprey and vulture also belong to this class. The osprey is as large as the
eagle, and ash-coloured. There are two kinds of vultures, one small and
whitish, the other large and cinereous.
2. Some of the night birds also have crooked claws, as the nycticorax, owl,
and bryas. The bryas resembles an owl in appearance, but it is as large as an
eagle; the eleos, ægolius, and scops also belong to this class. The eleos is
larger than a domestic fowl, the ægolius is about the size of that bird, they
both hunt the jay. The scops is less than the owl; all three of these are
similar in form, and carnivorous. Some that have not crooked claws are
carnivorous, as the swallow.
3. Some birds feed on worms, as the finch, the sparrow, batis, chloris,
titmouse. There are three kinds of titmouse; the spizites is the largest, it is as
large as the finch. Another is called the orinus, because it dwells in
mountains; it has a large tail. The third resembles them in everything except
its size, for it is very small. The sycalis also, the megalocoryphus,
pyrrhulas, erithacus, hypolaïs, œstrus, tyrannis are of this class. The last of
these is the least, it is not much larger than a locust; it has a purple crest,
and is altogether a graceful and well-formed bird. The bird called anthus
also, which is of the size of the finch; the orospizus is like the finch, and
nearly of the same size, it has a blue stripe on its neck, and lives in
mountainous places. The wren also lives upon seeds. All these and such like
birds either partly or entirely live on worms.
4. These birds, the acanthis, thraupis, and that which is called chrysometris,
all live upon thorns, but neither eat worms or any other living creature, and
they both roost and feed in the same places. There are others which feed on
gnats; these live chiefly by hunting for these insects, as the greater and
lesser pipo, both of which are by some persons called woodpeckers. They
resemble each other in their cry, though that of the larger bird is the louder,
and they both feed by flying against trees. The celeos also, which is as large
as a turtle dove, and entirely yellow; its habit is to strike against trees; it
generally lives upon trees, and has a loud voice. This bird generally inhabits

the Peloponnesus. There is also another called cnipologus, which is small,
about the size of the acanthyllis; its colour is cinereous and spotted, and its
voice is weak; this bird also pecks trees.
5. There are other birds which live upon fruit and grasses, as the phaps,
phatta, peristera, œnas, and trygon.[216] The phatta and peristera are always
present, the trygon only in summer time; in the winter it is not seen, for it
hides itself in holes. The œnas is generally seen and captured in the autumn.
The œnas is as large as the peristera but less than the phaps. It is generally
captured as it is drinking; it comes to this country when it has young. All
the rest come in the summer, and make their nests here, and all, except the
pigeon tribe, live upon animal food.
6. All birds, as far as food is concerned, are either terrestrial or live in the
neighbourhood of rivers and ponds, or near the sea. Those that have webbed
feet pass the greater part of their time on the water; those with divided feet
near the water. Some of these dive for their food, such as live upon plants
and do not eat flesh; others, as the heron and white heron, live in ponds and
rivers. The latter of these is smaller than the former, and has a flat large bill.
7. The pelargus also, and the gull, the latter is ash-coloured, and the
schœnilus, cinclos, pygargus, (and tryngas) this last is the largest of these
small birds, for it is of the same size as the thrush; all these birds wag their
tails. The calidris also, this bird is variegated and ash-coloured. The
kingfisher also lives near the water; there appear to be two kinds of this
bird, one of which utters its cry as it sits upon the reeds, and the other,
which is larger, is silent; they both have a blue back. The trochilus also, and
the kingfisher and cerylus also live near the sea. The corona also lives upon
animals which are cast on shore, for it is omnivorous. The white gull also,
the cepphus, æthyia, and charadrius.
8. The heavier web-footed birds inhabit the neighbourhood of rivers and
ponds, as the swan, duck, phalaris, columbis, and the boscas, which is like a
duck, but smaller; and the bird called corax, which is as large as the
pelargus, but its legs are shorter, it is web-footed and a swimmer, its colour
is black; this last bird perches upon trees, and is the only one of this class
that builds its nest in such places. The great and small goose also, the latter
is gregarious, and chenalopex, the aix, and the penelops. The sea eagle also
lives near the sea, and fishes in the waters of lakes. Many birds are

omnivorous; those with crooked claws seize upon other animals which they
can overcome, and upon birds. They do not, however, devour their own
congeners, as fish frequently do; all the tribes of birds drink very little,
those with crooked claws do not drink at all, or only a few of them, and
these but seldom; of these the cenchris drinks the most; the kite rarely
drinks, though it has been observed to do so.

Chapter VI.

1. Animals covered with scaly plates, as the lizard and other quadrupeds
and serpents, are omnivorous, for they eat both flesh and grass, and serpents
lick their prey more than any other animal; all these creatures, and indeed
all with spongy lungs, drink very little, and all that are oviparous are of this
kind, and have but little blood. Serpents are all very fond of wine, so that
they hunt the viper by placing vessels of wine in the hedge-rows, and they
are captured when intoxicated. Serpents devour any animal that they may
have captured, and when they have sucked out the juice, they reject all the
remainder; nearly all such animals do this, as also the spiders. But the
spiders suck the juice without swallowing the animal. Serpents suck the
juice internally.
2. The serpent swallows any food which may be presented to it, for it will
devour both birds and beasts, and suck eggs. When it has taken its food it
draws itself up, till it stands erect upon its extremity, it then gathers itself up
and contracts itself a little, so that when stretched out the animal it has
swallowed may descend in its stomach; it does this because its œsophagus
is long and thin. Phalangia and serpents can live a long while without food,
this may be seen in those that are kept by dealers in medicine.

Chapter VII.

1. Among viviparous quadrupeds, those that are wild and have pointed teeth
are all carnivorous, except some wolves, which, when they are hungry, will,
as they say, eat a certain kind of earth, but this is the only exception. They
will not eat grass unless they are sick, for some dogs eat grass and vomit it
up again, and so are purified. The solitary wolves are more eager for human
flesh than those which hunt in packs.

2. The animal which some persons call the glanus and others the hyæna, is
not less than the wolf, it has a mane like a horse, but the hair all along its
spine is more harsh and thick. It also secretly attacks men, and hunts them
down; it hunts dogs also by vomiting like men; it also breaks open graves
for the sake of this kind of food.
3. The bear is also omnivorous, for it eats fruit, and on account of the
softness of its body it can climb trees; it eats leguminous seeds also; it also
overturns hives and eats the honey, and it feeds upon crabs and ants, and is
carnivorous, for its strength enables it to attack not only deer, but wild hogs,
if it can fall upon them secretly, and oxen. For when it meets the bull face to
face, it falls upon its back, and when the bull attempts to throw it, seizes its
horns with its fore-legs, and biting upon the shoulder of the bull, throws it
down. For a short time it can walk upright on its hind legs. It eats flesh after
it has become putrid.
4. The lion, like all other wild animals with pointed teeth, is carnivorous; it
devours its food greedily, and swallows large pieces without dividing them;
it can afterwards, from its repletion, remain two or three days without food.
It drinks very little. Its excrement is small, and is not made more than once
in three days or thereabouts, and it is dry and hard like that of a dog. The
wind from its bowels has an acrid smell, and its urine is powerfully scented,
for which reason dogs smell to trees, for the lion, like the dog, lifts its leg to
make water. It produces also a strong smell when it breathes upon its food,
and when its bowels are laid open they emit a strong scent.
5. Some quadrupeds and wild animals seek their food in the neighbourhood
of ponds and rivers, but none of them except the seal live near the sea; of
this class are the creature called beaver, and the satherium, the satyrium, the
otter, and that which is called latax. This creature is broader than the
enydris, and has strong teeth, for it often goes out in the night and with its
teeth gnaws off the osiers. The enydris also will bite men, and they say will
not leave its hold till it hears the noise of its teeth against the bone. The
latax has rough hair, the nature of which is between that of the seal and that
of the deer.

Chapter VIII.

1. Animals with pointed teeth drink by lapping, and some that have not
pointed teeth, as mice. Those which have an even surface to their teeth draw
in the water as horses and oxen; the bear neither draws in the water nor laps
it, but gulps it down. Some birds draw in the water, but those which have
long necks imbibe it at intervals, lifting up their heads; the porphyrion alone
gulps it down. All horned animals, both domestic and wild, and those that
have not pointed teeth eat fruits and grass, and are incapable of enduring
hunger, except the dog, and this animal eats fruit and grass less than any
other.
2. The hog eats roots more than other animals, because its snout is well
adapted for this operation, it is more adapted to various kinds of food than
other animals. In proportion to its size its fat is developed very fast, for it
becomes fat in sixty days. Those who occupy themselves in fatting hogs
know how fast they fatten by weighing them when lean; they will become
fat after starvation for three days. Almost all other animals become fat, after
previous starvation. After three days those who fatten hogs feed them well.
3. The Thracians fatten them by giving them drink on the first day, then at
first they omit one day, afterwards two, three, or four, till they reach to
seven days. These creatures are fattened with barley, millet, figs, acorns,
wild pears, and cucumbers. Both this and other animals with a warm
stomach are fattened in idleness, and the sow also by wallowing in the mire.
They prefer different kinds of food at different ages. The hog and the wolf
fight together, a sixth part of its weight when alive, consists of bristles,
blood, and fat. Sows and all other animals grow lean while suckling their
young. This then, is the nature of these animals.

Chapter IX.

1. Oxen eat both fruits and grass. They become fat on flatulent food, as
vetches, broken beans, and stems of beans, and if any person having cut a
hole in the skin inflates them and then feeds the older cattle, they fatten
more rapidly, and either on whole or broken barley, or on sweet food, as on
figs and grapes, wine, and the leaves of the elm, and especially in the
sunshine and in warm waters. The horns of the calf, if anointed with wax,
may be directed in any way that is desired, and they suffer less in the feet if
their horns are rubbed with wax, or pitch, or oil.

2. Herds of cattle suffer less when moved in frost than in snow. They grow
if they are deprived for a long time of sexual intercourse; wherefore the
herdsmen in Epirus keep the Pyrrhic cattle, as they are called, for nine years
without sexual intercourse, in order that they may grow. They call such
cows apotauri. The number of these creatures reaches four hundred, and
they are the property of the king. They will not live in any other country,
though the attempt has been made.

Chapter X.

1. The horse, mule, and ass feed upon fruit and grass, but they fatten
especially on drinking, so that beasts of burden enjoy their food in
proportion to the quantity of water which they drink, and the less difficulty
there is of obtaining drink, the more they profit by abundance of grass.
When the mare is in foal, green food causes her hair to be fine, but when it
contains hard knots it is not wholesome. The first crop of Medic grass is not
good, nor if any stinking water has come near it, for it gives it a bad smell.
Oxen require pure water to drink, but horses in this respect resemble
camels. The camel prefers water that is dirty and thick; nor will it drink
from a stream before it has disturbed the water. It can remain without
drinking four days, after which it drinks a great quantity.

Chapter XI.

1. The elephant can eat more than nine Macedonian medimni at one meal,
but so much food at once is dangerous; it should not have altogether more
than six or seven medimni, or five medimni of bread, and five mares of
wine, the maris measures six cotylæ. An elephant has been known to drink
as much as fourteen Macedonian measures at once, and eight more again in
the evening. Many camels live thirty years, and some much more, for they
have been known to live an hundred years. Some say that the elephant lives
two hundred, and others three hundred years.

Chapter XII.

1. Sheep and goats live upon grass. Sheep pasture for a long while in one
place without leaving it, but goats change their places very soon, and only

crop the top of the grass. The sheep fatten rapidly with drinking, and for this
reason during summer they give them salt, a medimnus to each hundred
sheep; for in this manner the flock becomes more healthy and fat, and
frequently they collect and bring them together for this purpose, that they
may mix a great deal of salt with their food; for when thirsty they drink the
more. And in the autumn they feed them with gourds which they have
sprinkled with salt, for this makes them give more milk. When driven about
in the heat of the day they drink more towards evening. If fed with salt after
parturition, the udder becomes larger.
2. Sheep fatten on green shoots, vetches, and all kinds of grass, and they
fatten more rapidly when their food is salted. They fatten more rapidly if
previously starved for three days. During autumn northern water is better
for sheep than southern, and pastures towards the west are good for them.
Long journeys and weariness make them lean. Shepherds distinguish the
strong sheep during winter by the frost adhering to their wool, which is not
the case with those that are sick; for those that are not strong move about in
their weakness and shake it off.
3. The flesh of all quadrupeds which feed in marshy grounds is inferior to
that of those which live on high ground. Sheep with wide tails endure the
winter better than those with long tails, and short woolled-sheep better than
long-woolled, and those with curly wool are more affected by the cold.
Sheep are more healthy than goats, though goats are the stronger. The fleece
and the wool of sheep which have been devoured by wolves, and garments
made of such wool are more subject to vermin than others.

Chapter XIII.

1. Those insects which have teeth are omnivorous, but those which have a
tongue only live upon fluids, which they collect from all sources with this
organ. Some of these are omnivorous, for they feed upon all kinds of fluids,
as the fly. Others only suck blood, as the myops and œstrus. Others, again,
live upon the juices of plants and fruit. The bee is the only insect that never
touches anything putrid. It uses no food that has not a sweet taste. They also
take very sweet water, wherever they fall upon any that is pure. The
different kinds of animals then use these kinds of food.

Chapter XIV.

1. All the actions of animals are employed either in sexual intercourse, or in
rearing their young, or in procuring food for themselves, or in providing
against excessive heat and cold, and the changes of the seasons. For they all
have naturally a sensitiveness respecting heat and cold, and, like mankind,
who either change their abodes in cold weather, or those who have large
estates, pass their summer in cold countries and their winter in warm ones;
so animals, also, if they can, migrate from place to place. Some of them
find protection in their accustomed localities, others are migratory; and at
the autumnal equinox, escape at the approach of winter, from the Pontus
and other cold places; and in spring retreat again before the approach of
summer from hot to cold countries, for they are afraid of excessive heat.
Some migrate from places close at hand, and others from the very ends of
the earth.
2. The cranes do this, for they travel from Scythia to the marshes in the
higher parts of Egypt, from which the Nile originates. This is the place
where the Pygmies dwell; and this is no fable, for there is really, as it is
said, a race of dwarfs, both men and horses, which lead the life of
troglodites. The pelicans also are migratory, and leave the river Strymon for
the Ister, where they rear their young. They depart in great crowds, and
those that are before wait for those behind, for in flying over the mountains
those behind cannot see the leaders.
3. The fish also, in the same manner, migrate either from or to the Pontus,
and in winter they leave the deep water for the sake of the warmth of the
shore, and in summer they escape from the heat by migrating from the
shore into deep water. Delicate birds, also, in winter and frosty weather,
descend from the mountains to the plains, for the sake of the warmth; and in
summer they return again to the mountains for fear of the heat.
4. Those that are the most delicate are the first to make the change at each
extreme of heat and cold, such as the mackerel migrate sooner than the
tunnies, and the quails than cranes; for some migrate in August, others in
September. They are always fatter when they migrate from cold countries,
than when they leave warm countries, as the quail is more fat in the autumn
than the spring: and so it happens that they migrate alike from cold

countries and from warm seasons. Their sexual desires are also more violent
in the spring, and when they leave warm countries.
5. Among birds, as it was previously remarked, the crane migrates from one
extremity of the earth to the other, and they fly against the wind. As for the
story about the stone, it is a fiction, for they say that they carry a stone as
ballast, which is useful as a touchstone for gold, after they have vomited it
up. The phatta and the peleias leave us, and do not winter with us, nor does
the turtle; but the pigeon stays through the winter. The same is the nature of
the quail, unless a few individuals both of the turtle and quail remain behind
in sunny spots. The phatta and turtle assemble in large flocks when they
depart, and again at the season of their return. The quails, when they
commence their flight, if the weather is fine and the wind in the north, go in
pairs, and have a successful voyage. If the wind is south it goes hard with
them, for their flight is slow, and this wind is moist and heavy. Those that
hunt them, therefore, pursue them when the wind is in the south, but not in
fine weather. They fly badly on account of their weight, for their body is
large. They therefore make a noise as they fly, for it is a toil to them.
6. When they come hither they have no leader, but when they depart hence,
the glottis, ortygometra, otus, and cychramus, which calls them together at
night, accompany them; and when the fowlers hear this sound, they know
that they will not remain. The ortygometra in form resembles the birds
which inhabit marshes. The glottis has a tongue which it projects to a great
length. The otus resembles an owl, and has small feathers at its ears. Some
persons call it the nycticorax, it is mischievous and imitative, it is taken like
the owl, as it dances from side to side, one or other of the fowlers
compassing it about. On the whole birds with crooked claws have short
necks, broad tongues, and a capacity for imitation. And so has the Indian
bird, the parrot, which is said to have a tongue like a man. It becomes the
most loquacious when intoxicated. The crow, the swan, the pelican, and the
small goose, are gregarious birds.

Chapter XV.

1. It has already been observed that fish migrate from the deep water to the
coast, and from the coast to the deep water, in order to avoid the excesses of
cold and heat. Those that frequent the neighbourhood of the coast are better

than those from deep water, for the feeding grounds are better and more
abundant. For wherever the sun strikes the plants are more frequent, and
superior, and more delicate, as in gardens, and the black shore-weed grows
near the land, and the other kinds rather resemble uncultivated plants. The
neighbourhood of the coast is also more temperate, both in heat and cold,
than the rest of the sea; for which reason the flesh of fish which live near
the shore is more compact, while that of fish from deep sea is watery and
soft. The sinodon, cantharus, orphos, chrysophrys, cestreus, trigla, cichla,
dracon, callionymus, cobius, and all the rock fish live near the shore. The
trygon, selache, the white congers, the channa, erythrinus, and glaucus
inhabit deep water. The phagrus, scorpius, the black conger, the muræna,
and coccyx occupy either situation indifferently.
2. They vary also in different places; as in the neighbourhood of Crete the
cobius and all the rock fish are fat. The tunny also becomes good again after
Arcturus, for it is not tormented by the œstrus after that period; for which
reason also it is inferior during the summer. In lakes near the sea also there
are several kinds of fish, as the salpa, chrysophrys, trigla, and nearly all the
rest. The amia also is found in such situations as in the vicinity of
Alopeconnesus, and in the lake of Bistonis there are many fish. Many of the
coliæ do not enter the Pontus; but they pass the summer and rear their
young in the Propontis, and winter in the Ægean. The thynnus, pelamis, and
amia enter the Pontus in the spring and pass the summer there, and so do
nearly all the rhyades and the gregarious fish. Many fish are gregarious, and
gregarious fish have a leader of the shoal.
3. They all enter the Pontus for the sake of the food (for the pasture is more
abundant and superior, on account of the fresh water), and for fear of the
large creatures, which are smaller there; and except the phocona and
dolphin, there is no other found in the Pontus; and the dolphin is small, but
when we leave the Pontus we find a larger dolphin. They enter this sea for
the sake of food and rearing their young; for the situation is better for this
purpose, and the fresh sweet water nourishes the young fry. When they have
reared their young, and the fry begin to grow, they migrate immediately
after the Pleiades. If the south wind blow during the winter, they leave the
place more slowly; but with a north wind they swim faster, for then the
wind helps them along. The small fry is captured in the neighbourhood of
Byzantium, for they make no long stay in the Pontus.

4. The other fish are seen both in their egress and ingress. The trichia is
only seen as it enters, and is not observed to leave again; and if one is
captured at Byzantium, the fishermen purify their nets, for it is unusual for
them to return. The reason is this: these are the only fish that swim up into
the Ister, and when this river divides they swim down into the Adriatic. The
following is a proof; for the converse happens here, and they are never
captured entering the Adriatic, but as they leave it.
5. The tunnies, as they enter, swim with their right side to the shore, and
leave with their left side to the shore; and some persons say that they do this
because they see better with their right eye, and their sight is naturally dim.
The rhyades move during the day, and in the night remain quiet and feed,
unless the moon is bright, in which case they continue their journey and do
not rest themselves. And some persons engaged about the sea say that after
the winter solstice they do not move, but remain quiet wherever they may
be till the equinox.
6. The coliæ are taken as they enter, but not as they return. The best are
taken in the Propontis before the breeding season. The other rhyades are
captured more frequently as they leave the Pontus, and are then in
perfection. Those that swim near the shore are the fattest when captured;
and the farther they are away, the more lean they are; and frequently, when
the south wind blows, they swim out in company with the coliæ and
mackerel, and are taken lower down rather than at Byzantium. This is the
nature of their migrations.

Chapter XVI.

1. Land animals have also the same disposition for concealment. For in
winter they all hasten to conceal themselves, and appear again when the
season becomes warmer. Animals conceal themselves to guard against the
excesses of temperature. In some the whole race is concealed; in others only
a part of them. All the testacea conceal themselves, as those which are
marine, the purpura, whelk, and all that class; but the state of concealment
is more conspicuous in those which do not adhere to rocks; for these also
conceal themselves, as the pectens. Some have an operculum on their
exterior, as the land snails; and the alteration of those that are not free is
inconspicuous. They do not all conceal themselves at the same period; for

the snails are torpid during the winter, the purpura and whelk for thirty days
under the dog star, and the pectens at the same period. Most of them
conceal themselves in very cold and very hot weather.
2. Almost all insects become torpid, except those which dwell in the
habitations of men, and those that perish and do not survive for a year. They
are torpid in the winter. Some conceal themselves for a good while, others
only in the coldest days, as the bees, for these also conceal themselves. This
is shown by their not touching the food which is prepared for them; and if
any of them creep out, they appear transparent, and plainly have nothing in
their stomach. They remain at rest from the setting of the Pleiades until the
spring. Animals pass their torpid state in warm places, and in the spots they
are accustomed to inhabit.

Chapter XVII.

1. Many sanguineous animals become torpid, as those which are furnished
with scales, the serpent, lizard, gecko, and the river crocodile, during the
four winter months in which they eat nothing. Other serpents conceal
themselves in the earth, but the viper lies hidden among stones. Many fish
also become torpid, especially the hippurus and coracinus during the winter;
for these alone are never taken but at certain seasons, which never vary.
Almost all the rest are taken at all seasons. The lamprey, orphus, and conger
conceal themselves. The rock fish conceal themselves in pairs, as the cichla,
cottyphus, and perca, the male with the female, in which way also they
prepare for their young.
2. The tunny conceals itself during winter in deep places, and they become
fattest at this season. The season of capturing them commences with the
rising of Pleiades, and continues to the end of the setting of Arcturus. All
the rest of their time they remain quiet in concealment. A few of these are
taken during the period of their concealment, and so are some other
hybernating creatures, if they are disturbed by the warmth of their abode or
the unusual mildness of the season. For they come out a little from their
holes to feed, and also when the moon is full. Most fish are better tasted
during the period of concealment. The primades bury themselves in the
mud. This is shown by their not being taken, or their seeming to have a
great deal of mud on their backs and their fins pressed down.

3. In spring, however, they begin to move and come to the shore to copulate
and deposit their ova. At this season they are captured full of ova, and then
also they appear to be in season, but are not so good in autumn and winter.
At the same season also the males appear to be full of melt. When their ova
are small they are taken with difficulty; but as they grow larger many are
taken when they are infested by the œstrus. Some fish bury themselves in
sand, others in mud, with only their mouths above the surface. Fishes
usually conceal themselves only in the winter. The malacostraca, the rock
fishes, the batus, and selache only in the most severe weather. This is shown
by the difficulty of capturing them in cold weather.
4. Some fish, as the glaucus, conceal themselves in summer time; for this
fish hides itself for sixty days in the summer time. The onus and the
chrysophrys hide themselves. The reason for supposing that the onus hides
itself for a long while appears to be that it is captured at long intervals; and
the influence of the stars upon them; and especially of the dog-star, appears
to be the cause of their hiding themselves in summer time, for the sea is
then disturbed. This is most conspicuous in the Bosphorus; for the mud is
thrown up, and the fish are thus brought to the surface; and they say that,
when the bottom is disturbed, more fish are often taken in the same cast the
second than the first time; and after much rain animals make their
appearance which before were either not seen at all or but seldom.

Chapter XVIII.

1. Many kinds of birds also conceal themselves, and they do not all, as
some suppose, migrate to warmer climates; but those which are near the
places of which they are permanent inhabitants, as the kite and swallow,
migrate thither; but those that are farther off from such places do not
migrate, but conceal themselves; and many swallows have been seen in
hollow places almost stripped of feathers; and kites, when they first showed
themselves, have come from similar situations. Birds with crooked claws,
and those also with straight claws, conceal themselves indiscriminately; for
the stork, blackbird,[217] turtle dove, and lark hide themselves, and by
general agreement the turtle dove most of all, for no one is ever said to have
seen one during the winter. At the commencement of hybernation it is very
fat, and during that season it loses its feathers, though they remain thick for

a long while. Some of the doves conceal themselves; others do not, but
migrate along with the swallows. The thrush and the starling also conceal
themselves, and among birds with crooked claws the kite and the owl are
not seen for a few days.

Chapter XIX.

1. Among viviparous quadrupeds the porcupines and bears hybernate. It is
evident that the wild bears conceal themselves; but there is some doubt
whether it is on account of the cold or from any other cause, for at this
season both the males and females are so fat that they cannot move easily.
The female also produces her young at this season, and hides herself until
the cubs are of an age to be led forth. This she does in the spring, about
three months after the solstice, and she continues invisible for at least forty
days. During fourteen days of this period they say that she does not move at
all. For more than this period afterwards she remains invisible, but moves
about and is awake. A pregnant bear has either never or very rarely been
captured; and it is quite plain that they eat nothing during the whole of this
period; for they never come out; and if they are captured, their stomach and
entrails appear to be empty; and it is said that, because nothing is presented
to it, the intestine sometimes adheres to itself; and, therefore, at their first
emergence, they eat the arum, in order to open the entrail and make a
passage through it.
2. The dormouse hybernates in trees and is then very fat, and the white
Pontic mouse. (Some hybernating animals cast their old age, as it is called.
This is the outer skin and the coverings at the period of birth.) It has already
been observed, that among viviparous animals with feet there is some doubt
as to the cause of the hybernation of bears; but almost all animals with
scales hybernate and cast their old age; that is, all that have a soft skin and
no shell, as the tortoise; for both the tortoise and the emys belong to the
class of animals with scales; but all such as the gecko, lizard, and especially
the serpents, cast their skins; for they do this both in the spring, when they
first emerge, and again in the autumn.
3. The viper also casts its skin both in the spring and autumn, and is not, as
some persons say, the only serpent that does not cast its skin. When serpents
begin to cast their skin, it is first of all separated from their eyes; and to

those who do not know what is about to happen they appear to be blind.
After this it is separated from the head, for first of all it appears entirely
white. In a night and day the whole of the old skin is separated from the
commencement at the head to the tail; and when cast it is turned inside out,
for the serpent emerges as the infant does from the chorion.
4. Insects which cast their skins do it in the same way as the silpha, empis,
and the coleoptera, as the beetle. All creatures cast it after birth; for in
viviparous animals the chorion is separated, and in the vermiparous, as bees
and locusts, they emerge from a case. The grasshoppers, when they cast
their skins, sit upon olives and reeds. When the case is ruptured, they
emerge, and leave a little fluid behind them, and after a short time they fly
away and sing.
5. Among marine creatures the carabi and astaci cast their skins either in
spring or autumn, after having deposited their ova; and carabi have been
sometimes taken with a soft thorax, because their shell was ruptured, while
the lower part, which was not ruptured, was hard. For the process is not the
same in them as in serpents. The carabi remain in concealment for about
five months. The crabs also cast their old skin, certainly those which have
soft shells; and they say that those which have hard shells do the same, as
the maia and graus. When they have cast their shells, the new shells are first
of all soft, and the crabs are unable to walk. They do not cast their skins
once only, but frequently. I have now described when and how animals
conceal themselves, and what creatures cast their skin, and when they do so.

Chapter XX.

1. Animals are not all in good health at the same season, nor in the same
degrees of heat and cold. Their health and diseases are different at different
seasons in various classes, and on the whole are not alike in all. Dry
weather agrees with birds, both in respect of their general health and the
rearing of their young, and especially with pigeons; and wet weather, with
few exceptions, agrees with fish. On the contrary, showery weather
generally disagrees with birds, and dry weather with fish; for, on the whole,
abundance of drink does not agree with birds.
2. For the birds with crooked claws, generally speaking, as it was before
remarked, do not drink. But Hesiod was ignorant of this circumstance; for

in relating the siege of Nineveh he represents the presiding eagle of the
augury drinking. Other birds drink, but not much; neither do any other
oviparous animals with spongy lungs. The sickness of birds is manifest in
their plumage; for it is uneven, and has not the same smoothness as when
they are well.
3. The generality of fish, as it was observed, thrive the most in rainy years;
for not only in such seasons do they obtain a greater supply of food, but the
wet weather agrees with them as with the plants that grow on land; for
potherbs, even if watered, do not grow so well as in wet weather. The same
is the case with the reeds that grow in ponds; for they never grow, as we
may say, except in rainy weather.
4. And this is the reason why so many fish migrate every summer into the
Pontus; for the number of rivers which flow into it render the water fresh,
and also bring down a supply of food, and many fish also ascend the rivers,
and flourish in the rivers and lakes, as the amia and mullet. The cobii also
become fat in the rivers; and on the whole, those places which have the
largest lakes furnish the most excellent fish.
5. Of all kinds of water, summer showers agree best with fish; and if the
spring, summer, and autumn have been wet, a fine winter. And to speak
generally, if the season is healthy for mankind, it will be the same for fish.
They do not thrive in cold places. Those which have a stone in their head,
as the chromis, labrax, sciœna, and phagrus, suffer most in the winter; for
the refrigeration of the stone causes them to freeze and be driven on shore.
6. Abundant rain confers health on most fish; but the contrary is the case
with the mullet and cephalus, which some call marinus; for if there is a
great supply of rain water, they soon become blind. The cephali are
particularly liable to this disease in the winter; for their eyes become white.
When captured they are lean, and at last perish altogether. They do not,
however, appear to suffer so much from the wet as from the cold; for in
other places, and especially in the swamps in the neighbourhood of the
Argive Nauplia, many are found blind in severe weather, and many also are
taken with white eyes.
7. The chrysophrys also suffers from the cold; the arachnas from the heat,
which makes it lean. Dry seasons agree better with the coracinus than with
any other fish, and for this reason, because it is generally warm in dry

weather. Particular localities are favourable to different species, as either the
neighbourhood of the land, or the deep waters to those which only frequent
one of these localities, or particular places to those which frequent both.
There are especial places in which each of them thrive; but, generally
speaking, they prefer places full of sea weed; for those which inhabit places
with plenty of food are generally found to be fatter; for those that eat fuci
obtain plenty of food, while those that are carnivorous find an abundant
supply of fish.
8. They are also affected by northern and southern aspects, for the long fish
thrive best in northern situations, and in northern places in the summer time
more long fish than flat fish are taken in the same locality. The tunny and
xiphia suffer from the œstrus, at the rising of the dog-star, for both these
fish at this season have beneath their fins a little worm which is called
œstrus, which resembles a scorpion, and is about the size of a spider; they
suffer so much from this torment that the xiphias leaps out of the sea as
high as the dolphin, and in this manner frequently falls upon ships.
9. The tunny delights in warm weather more than any other fish, and they
resort to the sand near the sea-shore for the sake of the warmth, and there
they float on the surface; the small fish are safe because they are
overlooked, for large fish pursue those of a moderate size. The greater
portion of the ova and melt are destroyed ... by the heat, for whatever they
touch they entirely destroy.
10. The greatest number of fish are taken before sunrise and after sunset, or
just about sunrise and sunset, for the casts made at this period are called
seasonable. For this reason the fishermen take up their nets at this time, for
the sight of the fish is then most readily deceived. During the night they
remain quiet, and at mid-day, when the light is strong, they see very well.
11. Fish do not appear to be subject to any of those pestilential diseases
which so often occur among men and quadrupeds, as the horse and ox, and
other animals, both domestic and wild. They appear, however, to suffer
from ill health, and the fishermen consider that this is proved by the capture
of some lean, and apparently weak individuals, and others that have lost
their colour, among a number of fat ones of the same kind. This is the
nature of sea-fish.

12. No pestilential disease attacks river and pond fish, though some of them
are subject to peculiar diseases, as the glanis, from its swimming near the
surface, appears to be star-struck by the dog-star, and it is stupefied by loud
thunder. The carp suffers in the same way, but not so severely. The glanis, in
shallow water, is often destroyed by the dragon-serpent. In the ballerus and
tilon a worm is produced, under the influence of the dog-star, which makes
them rise to the surface and become weak, and when they come to the
surface they are killed by the heat; a violent disease attacks the chalcis,
which is destroyed by a number of lice, which are produced under its gills;
no other fish appear to be subject to such a disease.
13. Fishes are poisoned with the plant called mullein, for which reason
some persons capture them by poisoning the waters of rivers and ponds;
and the Phœnicians poison the sea in the same way. There are two other
plans which are adopted for the capture of fish; for since fish avoid the deep
parts of rivers in cold weather (for even otherwise the river water is cold),
they dig a ditch through the land to the river, which they cover over with
grass and stones so as to resemble a cave, with one opening from the river,
and when the frost comes on they capture the fish with a basket. The other
mode of fishing is practised both in summer and winter. In the middle of the
stream they raise a structure with faggots and stones, leaving one part open
for a mouth; in this a basket is placed, with which they catch the fish, as
they take away the stones.
14. Rainy years agree with all the testacea except the purpura; this is a proof
of it, if placed near the mouth of a river, they take the fresh water, and die
the same day. The purpura will live about fifty days after it has been taken.
They are nourished by each other, for a plant like a fucus or moss grows
upon their shells. They say that whatever is cast to them for food is done for
the sake of weight, that they may weigh the more.
15. Dry weather is injurious to other testacea, for it renders them fewer in
quantity and inferior in quality, and the pectens become more red. In the
Pyrrhæan Euripus the pectens perish, not only from the instrument with
which the fishermen scrape them together, but also from dry weather. The
other testacea thrive in wet weather, because it makes the sea-water fresher.
The cold of the Pontus and of the rivers that flow into it renders bivalve
shells rare. The univalves, however, are frozen in cold weather. This is the
nature of aquatic animals.

Chapter XXI.

1. Among quadrupeds, swine suffer from three diseases, one of these is
called sore throat, in which the parts above the jaws and the branchia
become inflamed; it may also occur in other parts of the body, and
frequently seizes upon the foot, and sometimes the ear. The neighbouring
parts then become putrid, until it reaches the lungs, when the animal dies;
the disease spreads rapidly, and the animal eats nothing from the period of
the commencement of the disease, be it where it will. The swineherds have
no other remedy but the excision of the part before the disease has spread
far.
2. There are two other diseases which are both called craura. One of them
consists in a pain and weight in the head, with which many of them are
afflicted; the other is an excessive alvine discharge. This appears to be
incurable. They relieve the former by the application of wine to the nostrils,
and washing them with wine. Recovery from this disease is difficult, for it
generally carries them off on the third or fourth day.
3. They suffer particularly from sore throat, when the summer bears
abundantly, and they are fat. The fruit of the mulberry is good for them, and
abundant washings with warm water, and scarification beneath the tongue.
If the flesh of swine is soft, it is full of small lumps (chalazæ) about the
legs, neck, and shoulders; for in these parts the chalazæ are most frequent.
If there are but a few, the flesh is sweet; if many, it becomes very fluid and
soft.
4. Those which have these chalazæ are easily distinguished; for they exist in
the greatest numbers under the tongue, and if the hair is plucked from their
mane it appears bloody underneath. Those which have chalazæ cannot keep
their hind legs still. They are not thus affected as long as they suck. The
grain called tipha, which also forms excellent food, is the remedy for the
chalazæ. Vetches and figs are useful both for fattening and rearing pigs; and
on the whole their food should not be all of one sort, but varied; for swine,
like other animals, derive advantage from a change in their food; and they
say that at the same time their food ought to inflate them, and to cover them
both with flesh and fat. Acorns are good for their food, but make their flesh
watery; and if they eat too many while pregnant, they produce abortions, as
sheep also do; for these animals evidently suffer this from eating acorns.

The swine is the only creature that we know of which has chalazæ in its
flesh.

Chapter XXII.

1. Dogs suffer from these diseases which have received these names, lytta,
cynanche, podagra. The lytta produces madness, and they infect every
creature which they bite, except mankind, with the same disease. This
disease is fatal to dogs and to any other animal they may bite except man.
The cynanche also is fatal to dogs; and there are comparatively few which
recover from the podagra. Camels also are seized with lytta. (The elephant
does not appear to suffer from any other infirmity except flatulency.)
2. Gregarious oxen suffer from two diseases, one called podagra, the other
craurus. The podagra affects their feet; but it is not fatal, nor do they lose
their hoofs. They derive benefit from their horns being smeared with warm
pitch. When attacked with craurus, their breathing becomes warm and thick.
Fever in mankind is the same as craurus in cattle. It is a sign of this disease,
when they hang down their ears and will not eat. It soon proves fatal, and
when dissected, their lungs appear putrid.

Chapter XXIII.

1. Horses when grazing are free from all diseases except podagra; from this
they suffer, and sometimes lose their hoofs, which grow again as soon as
they are lost, and the loss of the hoof usually takes place as soon as the first
recommences its growth. It is a sign of the disease when the right testicle
throbs, or when a wrinkled hollow place appears a little below the middle of
the nose. Horses that are brought up in a domestic state suffer from several
other diseases; they are attacked with a disorder in their bowels, and it is a
sign of the disease when they drag their hind legs up to their fore legs, and
keep them under in such a way that they almost strike together: if they go
mad after having abstained from food for several days, they are relieved by
bleeding and castration.[218]
2. The tetanus is another disease of horses, which is thus recognised; all the
veins, and the head and neck are extended, and their legs are stiff when they
walk; the horses also become full of corrupt matter. They are also attacked

by another disease in which they are said to have the crithia;[219] the
softness of the roof of the mouth, and heated breath, are the signs of this
disease, which is incurable, unless it stays of its own accord. Another
disease is called nymphia,[220] which is relieved by the sound of a flute; it
causes them to hang down their heads, and when anyone mounts they rush
forward until they run against something. The horse is always dejected if
afflicted with madness; this is a sign of it, if it lays down its ears upon its
mane, and then draws them forward, and pants and breathes hard.
3. These also are incurable if the heart is affected. It is a sign of this disease
if the animal suffers from relaxation. And if the bladder alters its position,
difficulty in making water is a sign of this disease; it draws up the hoofs and
loins. It is also fatal for the horse to swallow the staphilinus, which is of the
same size as the spondyla. The bite of the shrew mouse is injurious to other
animals also; it causes sores, which are more severe if the creature is
pregnant when it bites, for the sores then break. If they are not pregnant, the
animal does not perish. The creature called chalkis by some persons and
zygnis by others, inflicts either a fatal or very painful bite. It resembles a
small lizard, and is of the same colour as the serpent called the blind worm.
4. And, on the whole, those who understand horses say that both these
animals and sheep suffer from all the infirmities with which mankind is
afflicted. The horse, and every other beast of burden, is destroyed by the
poison of sandarach.[221] It is dissolved in water and strained. The pregnant
mare casts her young with the smell of a lamp going out. This also happens
to some pregnant women. This is the nature of the diseases of horses.
5. The hippomanes, as it is called, is said to be produced upon the foals; the
mares when they have bitten it off lick the foal and cleanse it. The fables on
this subject have been invented by women and charmers. It is, however,
agreed that mares before parturition eject the substance called polion.
6. Horses recognise again the voices of any with which they may have
fought. They delight in meadows and marshes, and drink dirty water; and if
it is clean, they first disturb it with their hoof, and then drink and wash
themselves. And on the whole, the horse is an animal fond of water, and
still more fond of moisture; wherefore, also, the nature of the river-horse is
thus constituted. In this respect the ox is very different from the horse, for it
will not drink unless the water is clean, cold, and unmixed.

Chapter XXIV.

1. Asses only suffer from one disease, which is called melis, which first
attacks the head of the animal, and causes a thick and bloody phlegm to
flow from the nostrils. If the disease extends to the lungs, it is fatal; but that
which first attacks the head is not so. This animal cannot bear cold, for
which reason there are no asses in the vicinity of the Pontus and in Scythia.

Chapter XXV.

1. Elephants suffer from flatulent diseases, for which reason they can
neither evacuate their fluid or solid excrements. If they eat earth they
become weak, unless used to such food. If it is accustomed to it, it does no
harm. Sometimes the elephant swallows stones. It also suffers from
diarrhœa. When attacked with this complaint, they are cured by giving them
warm water to drink, and hay dipped in honey to eat; and either of these
remedies will stop the disease. When fatigued for want of sleep, they are
cured by being rubbed on the shoulders with salt and oil, and warm water.
When they suffer from pain in the shoulders, they are relieved by the
application of roasted swine's flesh. Some elephants will drink oil, and
some will not; and if any iron weapon is struck into their body, the oil
which they drink assists in its expulsion; and to those which will not drink
it, they give wine of rice cooked with oil. This, then, is the nature of
quadrupeds.

Chapter XXVI.

1. Insects generally thrive when the year is of the same kind as the season in
which they were born, such as the spring, moist and warm. Certain
creatures are produced in beehives, which destroy the combs, and a little
spinning worm, which destroys the wax. It is called clerus, or by some
persons pyraustes. This creature produces a spider-like animal like itself,
which causes sickness in the hive, and another creature like the moth, which
flies round the candle. This produces a creature filled with a woolly
substance. It is not killed by the bees, and is only driven out by smoking it.
A kind of caterpillar also, which is called teredo, is produced in the hives.
The bees do not drive it away. They suffer most from diseases when the

woods produce flowers infected with rust, and in dry seasons. All insects
die when plunged in oil, and most rapidly if their head is oiled, and they are
placed in the sun.

Chapter XXVII.

1. Animals also differ in their localities: for some are entirely absent from
some localities which exist in others, though small and shortlived, and not
thriving. And frequently there will be a great difference even in adjoining
places, as the grasshopper is found in some parts of Milesia, and is absent
from those in the immediate vicinity. And in Cephalenia a river divides the
country, on one side of which the grasshopper is found, and not on the
other.
2. In Poroselene a road divides the country, on one side of which the weasel
is found, and not on the other. In Bœotia there are many moles in the
neighbourhood of Orchomenus, but in the adjoining Lebadian district there
are none, nor if they are imported, are they willing to burrow. If hares are
taken into Ithaca they will not live, but are seen dead on the sea coast,
turned in the direction in which they were brought. In Sicily the
hippomyrmex is not found, and in Cyrene there were formerly no croaking
frogs.
3. In all Libya there is neither wild boar, nor stag, nor wild goat. And in
India, Ctesias, who is not worthy of credit, says, there are neither domestic
nor wild swine; but the exsanguineous and burrowing tribes are all large. In
the Pontus there are no malacia, nor all the kinds of testacea, except in a
few places; but in the Red Sea all the testacea are of a great size. In Syria
there are sheep with tails a cubit in width, and the ears of the goats are a
span and four fingers, and some of them bring their ears down to the
ground: and the oxen, like the camels, have a mane upon the point of the
shoulder. In Lycia the goats are shorn as the sheep are in other places.
4. In Libya the horned rams are born at once with horns, and not the males
only, as Homer says, but all the rest also. In the part of Scythia near the
Pontus, the contrary is the case, for they are born without horns. And in
Egypt some of the cattle, as the oxen and sheep, are larger than in Greece,
and others are smaller, as the dogs, wolves, hares, foxes, ravens, and hawks.
Others are nearly of the same size, as the crows and goats. This difference

originates in the food which is abundant for some, and scarce for others. For
the wolves, hawks, and carnivorous creatures food is scarce, for there are
but few small birds. For the dasypus and others which are not carnivorous,
neither the hard nor soft fruits are of any long continuance.
5. The temperature is also very influential; for in Illyria, Thrace, and Epirus,
the asses are small. In Scythia, and Celtic countries, they do not occur at all,
for in these places the winter is severe. In Arabia the lizards are more than a
cubit long, and the mice are much larger than those which inhabit our fields,
their fore legs being a span long, and their hind legs as long as from the first
joint of the finger....
6. In Libya, the serpents, as it has been already remarked, are very large.
For some persons say that as they sailed along the coast, they saw the bones
of many oxen, and that it was evident to them that they had been devoured
by the serpents. And as the ships passed on, the serpents attacked the
triremes, and some of them threw themselves upon one of the triremes and
overturned it. There are more lions in Europe, and especially in the country
between the Achelous and the Nessus. In Asia there are leopards which are
not found in Europe.
7. On the whole, the wild animals of Asia are the fiercest, those of Europe
the boldest, and those of Libya the most varied in form; and it has passed
into a proverb that Libya is always producing something new. For the want
of water brings many heterogeneous animals together at the drinking places,
where they copulate and produce young, if their periods of gestation happen
to be the same, and their size not very different. The desire of drinking
makes them gentle to each other, for they differ from the animals of other
countries, in wanting to drink more in winter than in summer; for on
account of the great want of water during the summer they are habituated to
do without water; and if the mice drink they die.
8. Other animals are produced by the intercourse of heterogeneous
creatures, as in Cyrene the wolves copulate with the dogs, and produce
young; and the Laconian dogs are bred between a dog and a fox. They say
that the Indian dogs are derived from the tiger and the dog; not directly, but
from the third mixture of the breeds; for they say that the first race was very
fierce. They take the dogs and tie them up in the desert. Many of them are
devoured, if the wild animal does not happen to desire sexual intercourse.