No More Learning

The tortoise lays eggs with a hard shell and of two colours
within, like birds' eggs, and after laying them buries them in the
ground and treads the ground hard over them; it then broods over the
eggs on the surface of the ground, and hatches the eggs the next year.
The hemys, or fresh-water tortoise, leaves the water and lays its
eggs. It digs a hole of a casklike shape, and deposits therein the
eggs; after rather less than thirty days it digs the eggs up again and
hatches them with great rapidity, and leads its young at once off to
the water. The sea-turtle lays on the ground eggs just like the eggs
of domesticated birds, buries the eggs in the ground, and broods
over them in the night-time. It lays a very great number of eggs,
amounting at times to one hundred.

Lizards and crocodiles, terrestrial and fluvial, lay eggs on land.
The eggs of lizards hatch spontaneously on land, for the lizard does
not live on into the next year; in fact, the life of the animal is
said not to exceed six months. The river-crocodile lays a number of
eggs, sixty at the most, white in colour, and broods over them for
sixty days: for, by the way, the creature is very long-lived. And
the disproportion is more marked in this animal than in any other
between the smallness of the original egg and the huge size of the
full-grown animal. For the egg is not larger than that of the goose,
and the young crocodile is small, answering to the egg in size, but
the full-grown animal attains the length of twenty-six feet; in
fact, it is actually stated that the animal goes on growing to the end
of its days.

34

With regard to serpents or snakes, the viper is externally
viviparous, having been previously oviparous internally. The egg, as
with the egg of fishes, is uniform in colour and soft-skinned. The
young serpent grows on the surface of the egg, and, like the young
of fishes, has no shell-like envelopment. The young of the viper is
born inside a membrane that bursts from off the young creature in
three days; and at times the young viper eats its way out from the
inside of the egg. The mother viper brings forth all its young in
one day, twenty in number, and one at a time. The other serpents are
externally oviparous, and their eggs are strung on to one another like
a lady's necklace; after the dam has laid her eggs in the ground she
broods over them, and hatches the eggs in the following year.

Book VI

1

So much for the generative processes in snakes and insects, and
also in oviparous quadrupeds. Birds without exception lay eggs, but
the pairing season and the times of parturition are not alike for all.
Some birds couple and lay at almost any time in the year, as for
instance the barn-door hen and the pigeon: the former of these
coupling and laying during the entire year, with the exception of
the month before and the month after the winter solstice. Some hens,
even in the high breeds, lay a large quantity of eggs before brooding,
amounting to as many as sixty; and, by the way, the higher breeds
are less prolific than the inferior ones. The Adrian hens are
small-sized, but they lay every day; they are cross-tempered, and
often kill their chickens; they are of all colours. Some
domesticated hens lay twice a day; indeed, instances have been known
where hens, after exhibiting extreme fecundity, have died suddenly.
Hens, then, lay eggs, as has been stated, at all times
indiscriminately; the pigeon, the ring-dove, the turtle-dove, and
the stock-dove lay twice a year, and the pigeon actually lays ten
times a year. The great majority of birds lay during the
spring-time. Some birds are prolific, and prolific in either of two
ways-either by laying often, as the pigeon, or by laying many eggs
at a sitting, as the barn-door hen. All birds of prey, or birds with
crooked talons, are unprolific, except the kestrel: this bird is the
most prolific of birds of prey; as many as four eggs have been
observed in the nest, and occasionally it lays even more.

Birds in general lay their eggs in nests, but such as are
disqualified for flight, as the partridge and the quail, do not lay
them in nests but on the ground, and cover them over with loose
material. The same is the case with the lark and the tetrix. These
birds hatch in sheltered places; but the bird called merops in
Boeotia, alone of all birds, burrows into holes in the ground and
hatches there.

Thrushes, like swallows, build nests of clay, on high trees, and
build them in rows all close together, so that from their continuity
the structure resembles a necklace of nests. Of all birds that hatch
for themselves the hoopoe is the only one that builds no nest
whatever; it gets into the hollow of the trunk of a tree, and lays its
eggs there without making any sort of nest. The circus builds either
under a dwelling-roof or on cliffs. The tetrix, called ourax in
Athens, builds neither on the ground nor on trees, but on low-lying
shrubs.

2

The egg in the case of all birds alike is hard-shelled, if it be
the produce of copulation and be laid by a healthy hen-for some hens
lay soft eggs. The interior of the egg is of two colours, and the
white part is outside and the yellow part within.

The eggs of birds that frequent rivers and marshes differ from
those of birds that live on dry land; that is to say, the eggs of
waterbirds have comparatively more of the yellow or yolk and less of
the white. Eggs vary in colour according to their kind. Some eggs
are white, as those of the pigeon and of the partridge; others are
yellowish, as the eggs of marsh birds; in some cases the eggs are
mottled, as the eggs of the guinea-fowl and the pheasant; while the
eggs of the kestrel are red, like vermilion.

Eggs are not symmetrically shaped at both ends: in other
words, one end is comparatively sharp, and the other end is
comparatively blunt; and it is the latter end that protrudes first
at the time of laying. Long and pointed eggs are female; those that
are round, or more rounded at the narrow end, are male. Eggs are
hatched by the incubation of the mother-bird. In some cases, as in
Egypt, they are hatched spontaneously in the ground, by being buried
in dung heaps. A story is told of a toper in Syracuse, how he used
to put eggs into the ground under his rush-mat and to keep on drinking
until he hatched them. Instances have occurred of eggs being deposited
in warm vessels and getting hatched spontaneously.

The sperm of birds, as of animals in general, is white. After
the female has submitted to the male, she draws up the sperm to
underneath her midriff. At first it is little in size and white in
colour; by and by it is red, the colour of blood; as it grows, it
becomes pale and yellow all over. When at length it is getting ripe
for hatching, it is subject to differentiation of substance, and the
yolk gathers together within and the white settles round it on the
outside. When the full time is come, the egg detaches itself and
protrudes, changing from soft to hard with such temporal exactitude
that, whereas it is not hard during the process of protrusion, it
hardens immediately after the process is completed: that is if there
be no concomitant pathological circumstances. Cases have occurred
where substances resembling the egg at a critical point of its
growth-that is, when it is yellow all over, as the yolk is
subsequently-have been found in the cock when cut open, underneath his
midriff, just where the hen has her eggs; and these are entirely
yellow in appearance and of the same size as ordinary eggs. Such
phenomena are regarded as unnatural and portentous.

Such as affirm that wind-eggs are the residua of eggs previously
begotten from copulation are mistaken in this assertion, for we have
cases well authenticated where chickens of the common hen and goose
have laid wind-eggs without ever having been subjected to
copulation. Wind-eggs are smaller, less palatable, and more liquid
than true eggs, and are produced in greater numbers. When they are put
under the mother bird, the liquid contents never coagulate, but both
the yellow and the white remain as they were. Wind-eggs are laid by
a number of birds: as for instance by the common hen, the hen
partridge, the hen pigeon, the peahen, the goose, and the vulpanser.
Eggs are hatched under brooding hens more rapidly in summer than in
winter; that is to say, hens hatch in eighteen days in summer, but
occasionally in winter take as many as twenty-five. And by the way for
brooding purposes some birds make better mothers than others. If it
thunders while a hen-bird is brooding, the eggs get addled.
Wind-eggs that are called by some cynosura and uria are produced
chiefly in summer. Wind-eggs are called by some zephyr-eggs, because
at spring-time hen-birds are observed to inhale the breezes; they do
the same if they be stroked in a peculiar way by hand. Wind-eggs can
turn into fertile eggs, and eggs due to previous copulation can change
breed, if before the change of the yellow to the white the hen that
contains wind-eggs, or eggs begotten of copulation be trodden by
another cock-bird. Under these circumstances the wind-eggs turn into
fertile eggs, and the previously impregnated eggs follow the breed
of the impregnator; but if the latter impregnation takes place
during the change of the yellow to the white, then no change in the
egg takes place: the wind-egg does not become a true egg, and the true
egg does not take on the breed of the latter impregnator. If when
the egg-substance is small copulation be intermitted, the previously
existing egg-substance exhibits no increase; but if the hen be again
submitted to the male the increase in size proceeds with rapidity.

The yolk and the white are diverse not only in colour but also
in properties. Thus, the yolk congeals under the influence of cold,
whereas the white instead of congealing is inclined rather to liquefy.
Again, the white stiffens under the influence of fire, whereas the
yolk does not stiffen; but, unless it be burnt through and through, it
remains soft, and in point of fact is inclined to set or to harden
more from the boiling than from the roasting of the egg. The yolk
and the white are separated by a membrane from one another. The
so-called 'hail-stones', or treadles, that are found at the
extremity of the yellow in no way contribute towards generation, as
some erroneously suppose: they are two in number, one below and the
other above. If you take out of the shells a number of yolks and a
number of whites and pour them into a sauce pan and boil them slowly
over a low fire, the yolks will gather into the centre and the
whites will set all around them.

Young hens are the first to lay, and they do so at the beginning
of spring and lay more eggs than the older hens, but the eggs of the
younger hens are comparatively small. As a general rule, if hens get
no brooding they pine and sicken. After copulation hens shiver and
shake themselves, and often kick rubbish about all round them-and
this, by the way, they do sometimes after laying-whereas pigeons trail
their rumps on the ground, and geese dive under the water.
Conception of the true egg and conformation of the wind-egg take place
rapidly with most birds; as for instance with the hen-partridge when
in heat. The fact is that, when she stands to windward and within
scent of the male, she conceives, and becomes useless for decoy
purposes: for, by the way, the partridge appears to have a very
acute sense of smell.

The generation of the egg after copulation and the generation of
the chick from the subsequent hatching of the egg are not brought
about within equal periods for all birds, but differ as to time
according to the size of the parent-birds. The egg of the common hen
after copulation sets and matures in ten days a general rule; the
egg of the pigeon in a somewhat lesser period. Pigeons have the
faculty of holding back the egg at the very moment of parturition;
if a hen pigeon be put about by any one, for instance if it be
disturbed on its nest, or have a feather plucked out, or sustain any
other annoyance or disturbance, then even though she had made up her
mind to lay she can keep the egg back in abeyance. A singular
phenomenon is observed in pigeons with regard to pairing: that is,
they kiss one another just when the male is on the point of mounting
the female, and without this preliminary the male would decline to
perform his function. With the older males the preliminary kiss is
only given to begin with, and subsequently sequently he mounts without
previously kissing; with younger males the preliminary is never
omitted. Another singularity in these birds is that the hens tread one
another when a cock is not forthcoming, after kissing one another just
as takes place in the normal pairing. Though they do not impregnate
one another they lay more eggs under these than under ordinary
circumstances; no chicks, however, result therefrom, but all such eggs
are wind-eggs.

3

Generation from the egg proceeds in an identical manner with all
birds, but the full periods from conception to birth differ, as has
been said. With the common hen after three days and three nights there
is the first indication of the embryo; with larger birds the
interval being longer, with smaller birds shorter. Meanwhile the
yolk comes into being, rising towards the sharp end, where the
primal element of the egg is situated, and where the egg gets hatched;
and the heart appears, like a speck of blood, in the white of the egg.
This point beats and moves as though endowed with life, and from it
two vein-ducts with blood in them trend in a convoluted course (as the
egg substance goes on growing, towards each of the two circumjacent
integuments); and a membrane carrying bloody fibres now envelops the
yolk, leading off from the vein-ducts. A little afterwards the body is
differentiated, at first very small and white. The head is clearly
distinguished, and in it the eyes, swollen out to a great extent. This
condition of the eyes lat on for a good while, as it is only by
degrees that they diminish in size and collapse. At the outset the
under portion of the body appears insignificant in comparison with the
upper portion. Of the two ducts that lead from the heart, the one
proceeds towards the circumjacent integument, and the other, like a
navel-string, towards the yolk. The life-element of the chick is in
the white of the egg, and the nutriment comes through the navel-string
out of the yolk.

When the egg is now ten days old the chick and all its parts are
distinctly visible. The head is still larger than the rest of its
body, and the eyes larger than the head, but still devoid of vision.
The eyes, if removed about this time, are found to be larger than
beans, and black; if the cuticle be peeled off them there is a white
and cold liquid inside, quite glittering in the sunlight, but there is
no hard substance whatsoever. Such is the condition of the head and
eyes. At this time also the larger internal organs are visible, as
also the stomach and the arrangement of the viscera; and veins that
seem to proceed from the heart are now close to the navel. From the
navel there stretch a pair of veins; one towards the membrane that
envelops the yolk (and, by the way, the yolk is now liquid, or more so
than is normal), and the other towards that membrane which envelops
collectively the membrane wherein the chick lies, the membrane of
the yolk, and the intervening liquid. (For, as the chick grows, little
by little one part of the yolk goes upward, and another part downward,
and the white liquid is between them; and the white of the egg is
underneath the lower part of the yolk, as it was at the outset. ) On
the tenth day the white is at the extreme outer surface, reduced in
amount, glutinous, firm in substance, and sallow in colour.

The disposition of the several constituent parts is as
follows. First and outermost comes the membrane of the egg, not that
of the shell, but underneath it. Inside this membrane is a white
liquid; then comes the chick, and a membrane round about it,
separating it off so as to keep the chick free from the liquid; next
after the chick comes the yolk, into which one of the two veins was
described as leading, the other one leading into the enveloping
white substance. (A membrane with a liquid resembling serum envelops
the entire structure. Then comes another membrane right round the
embryo, as has been described, separating it off against the liquid.
Underneath this comes the yolk, enveloped in another membrane (into
which yolk proceeds the navel-string that leads from the heart and the
big vein), so as to keep the embryo free of both liquids. )

About the twentieth day, if you open the egg and touch the
chick, it moves inside and chirps; and it is already coming to be
covered with down, when, after the twentieth day is ast, the chick
begins to break the shell. The head is situated over the right leg
close to the flank, and the wing is placed over the head; and about
this time is plain to be seen the membrane resembling an after-birth
that comes next after the outermost membrane of the shell, into
which membrane the one of the navel-strings was described as leading
(and, by the way, the chick in its entirety is now within it), and
so also is the other membrane resembling an after-birth, namely that
surrounding the yolk, into which the second navel-string was described
as leading; and both of them were described as being connected with
the heart and the big vein. At this conjuncture the navel-string
that leads to the outer afterbirth collapses and becomes detached from
the chick, and the membrane that leads into the yolk is fastened on to
the thin gut of the creature, and by this time a considerable amount
of the yolk is inside the chick and a yellow sediment is in its
stomach. About this time it discharges residuum in the direction of
the outer after-birth, and has residuum inside its stomach; and the
outer residuum is white (and there comes a white substance inside). By
and by the yolk, diminishing gradually in size, at length becomes
entirely used up and comprehended within the chick (so that, ten
days after hatching, if you cut open the chick, a small remnant of the
yolk is still left in connexion with the gut), but it is detached from
the navel, and there is nothing in the interval between, but it has
been used up entirely. During the period above referred to the chick
sleeps, wakes up, makes a move and looks up and Chirps; and the
heart and the navel together palpitate as though the creature were
respiring. So much as to generation from the egg in the case of birds.

Birds lay some eggs that are unfruitful, even eggs that are
the result of copulation, and no life comes from such eggs by
incubation; and this phenomenon is observed especially with pigeons.

Twin eggs have two yolks. In some twin eggs a thin partition
of white intervenes to prevent the yolks mixing with each other, but
some twin eggs are unprovided with such partition, and the yokes run
into one another. There are some hens that lay nothing but twin
eggs, and in their case the phenomenon regarding the yolks has been
observed. For instance, a hen has been known to lay eighteen eggs, and
to hatch twins out of them all, except those that were wind-eggs;
the rest were fertile (though, by the way, one of the twins is
always bigger than the other), but the eighteenth was abnormal or
monstrous.

4

Birds of the pigeon kind, such as the ringdove and the
turtle-dove, lay two eggs at a time; that is to say, they do so as a
general rule, and they never lay more than three. The pigeon, as has
been said, lays at all seasons; the ring-dove and the turtle-dove
lay in the springtime, and they never lay more than twice in the
same season. The hen-bird lays the second pair of eggs when the
first pair happens to have been destroyed, for many of the hen-pigeons
destroy the first brood. The hen-pigeon, as has been said,
occasionally lays three eggs, but it never rears more than two chicks,
and sometimes rears only one; and the odd one is always a wind-egg.

Very few birds propagate within their first year. All birds,
after once they have begun laying, keep on having eggs, though in
the case of some birds it is difficult to detect the fact from the
minute size of the creature.

The pigeon, as a rule, lays a male and a female egg, and generally
lays the male egg first; after laying it allows a day's interval to
ensue and then lays the second egg. The male takes its turn of sitting
during the daytime; the female sits during the night. The first-laid
egg is hatched and brought to birth within twenty days; and the mother
bird pecks a hole in the egg the day before she hatches it out. The
two parent birds brood for some time over the chicks in the way in
which they brooded previously over the eggs. In all connected with the
rearing of the young the female parent is more cross-tempered than the
male, as is the case with most animals after parturition. The hens lay
as many as ten times in the year; occasional instances have been known
of their laying eleven times, and in Egypt they actually lay twelve
times. The pigeon, male and female, couples within the year; in
fact, it couples when only six months old. Some assert that
ringdoves and turtle-doves pair and procreate when only three months
old, and instance their superabundant numbers by way of proof of the
assertion. The hen-pigeon carries her eggs fourteen days; for as
many more days the parent birds hatch the eggs; by the end of
another fourteen days the chicks are so far capable of flight as to be
overtaken with difficulty. (The ring-dove, according to all
accounts, lives up to forty years. The partridge lives over
sixteen. ) (After one brood the pigeon is ready for another within
thirty days. )

5

The vulture builds its nest on inaccessible cliffs; for which
reason its nest and young are rarely seen. And therefore Herodorus,
father of Bryson the Sophist, declares that vultures belong to some
foreign country unknown to us, stating as a proof of the assertion
that no one has ever seen a vulture's nest, and also that vultures
in great numbers make a sudden appearance in the rear of armies.
However, difficult as it is to get a sight of it, a vulture's nest has
been seen. The vulture lays two eggs.

(Carnivorous birds in general are observed to lay but once a
year. The swallow is the only carnivorous bird that builds a nest
twice. If you prick out the eyes of swallow chicks while they are
yet young, the birds will get well again and will see by and by. )

6

The eagle lays three eggs and hatches two of them, as it is said
in the verses ascribed to Musaeus:

That lays three, hatches two, and cares for one.

This is the case in most instances, though occasionally a brood of
three has been observed. As the young ones grow, the mother becomes
wearied with feeding them and extrudes one of the pair from the
nest. At the same time the bird is said to abstain from food, to avoid
harrying the young of wild animals. That is to say, its wings blanch,
and for some days its talons get turned awry. It is in consequence
about this time cross-tempered to its own young. The phene is said
to rear the young one that has been expelled the nest. The eagle
broods for about thirty days.

The hatching period is about the same for the larger birds, such
as the goose and the great bustard; for the middle-sized birds it
extends over about twenty days, as in the case of the kite and the
hawk. The kite in general lays two eggs, but occasionally rears
three young ones. The so-called aegolius at times rears four. It is
not true that, as some aver, the raven lays only two eggs; it lays a
larger number. It broods for about twenty days and then extrudes its
young. Other birds perform the same operation; at all events mother
birds that lay several eggs often extrude one of their young.

Birds of the eagle species are not alike in the treatment of their
young. The white-tailed eagle is cross, the black eagle is
affectionate in the feeding of the young; though, by the way, all
birds of prey, when their brood is rather forward in being able to
fly, beat and extrude them from the nest. The majority of birds
other than birds of prey, as has been said, also act in this manner,
and after feeding their young take no further care of them; but the
crow is an exception. This bird for a considerable time takes charge
of her young; for, even when her young can fly, she flies alongside of
them and supplies them with food.

7

The cuckoo is said by some to be a hawk transformed, because at
the time of the cuckoo's coming, the hawk, which it resembles, is
never seen; and indeed it is only for a few days that you will see
hawks about when the cuckoo's note sounds early in the season. The
cuckoo appears only for a short time in summer, and in winter
disappears. The hawk has crooked talons, which the cuckoo has not;
neither with regard to the head does the cuckoo resemble the hawk.
In point of fact, both as regards the head and the claws it more
resembles the pigeon. However, in colour and in colour alone it does
resemble the hawk, only that the markings of the hawk are striped, and
of the cuckoo mottled. And, by the way, in size and flight it
resembles the smallest of the hawk tribe, which bird disappears as a
rule about the time of the appearance of the cuckoo, though the two
have been seen simultaneously. The cuckoo has been seen to be preyed
on by the hawk; and this never happens between birds of the same
species. They say no one has ever seen the young of the cuckoo. The
bird eggs, but does not build a nest. Sometimes it lays its eggs in
the nest of a smaller bird after first devouring the eggs of this
bird; it lays by preference in the nest of the ringdove, after first
devouring the eggs of the pigeon. (It occasionally lays two, but
usually one. ) It lays also in the nest of the hypolais, and the
hypolais hatches and rears the brood. It is about this time that the
bird becomes fat and palatable. (The young of hawks also get palatable
and fat. One species builds a nest in the wilderness and on sheer
and inaccessible cliffs. )

8

With most birds, as has been said of the pigeon, the hatching is
carried on by the male and the female in turns: with some birds,
however, the male only sits long enough to allow the female to provide
herself with food. In the goose tribe the female alone incubates,
and after once sitting on the eggs she continues brooding until they
are hatched.

The nests of all marsh-birds are built in districts fenny and well
supplied with grass; consequently, the mother-bird while sitting quiet
on her eggs can provide herself with food without having to submit
to absolute fasting.

With the crow also the female alone broods, and broods
throughout the whole period; the male bird supports the female,
bringing her food and feeding her. The female of the ring-dove
begins to brood in the afternoon and broods through the entire night
until breakfast-time of the following day; the male broods during
the rest of the time. Partridges build a nest in two compartments; the
male broods on the one and the female on the other. After hatching,
each of the parent birds rears its brood. But the male, when he
first takes his young out of the nest, treads them.

9

Peafowl live for about twenty-five years, breed about the third
year, and at the same time take on their spangled plumage. They
hatch their eggs within thirty days or rather more. The peahen lays
but once a year, and lays twelve eggs, or may be a slightly lesser
number: she does not lay all the eggs there and then one after the
other, but at intervals of two or three days. Such as lay for the
first time lay about eight eggs. The peahen lays wind-eggs. They
pair in the spring; and laying begins immediately after pairing. The
bird moults when the earliest trees are shedding their leaves, and
recovers its plumage when the same trees are recovering their foliage.
People that rear peafowl put the eggs under the barn-door hen, owing
to the fact that when the peahen is brooding over them the peacock
attacks her and tries to trample on them; owing to this circumstance
some birds of wild varieties run away from the males and lay their
eggs and brood in solitude. Only two eggs are put under a barn-door
hen, for she could not brood over and hatch a large number. They
take every precaution, by supplying her with food, to prevent her
going off the eggs and discontinuing the brooding.

With male birds about pairing time the testicles are obviously
larger than at other times, and this is conspicuously the case with
the more salacious birds, such as the barn-door cock and the cock
partridge; the peculiarity is less conspicuous in such birds as are
intermittent in regard to pairing.

10

So much for the conception and generation of birds.

It has been previously stated that fishes are not all oviparous.
Fishes of the cartilaginous genus are viviparous; the rest are
oviparous. And cartilaginous fishes are first oviparous internally and
subsequently viviparous; they rear the embryos internally, the
batrachus or fishing-frog being an exception.

Fishes also, as was above stated, are provided with wombs, and
wombs of diverse kinds. The oviparous genera have wombs bifurcate in
shape and low down in position; the cartilaginous genus have wombs
shaped like those of O birds.
The womb, however, in the
cartilaginous fishes differs in this respect from the womb of birds,
that with some cartilaginous fishes the eggs do not settle close to
the diaphragm but middle-ways along the backbone, and as they grow
they shift their position.

The egg with all fishes is not of two colours within but is of
even hue; and the colour is nearer to white than to yellow, and that
both when the young is inside it and previously as well.

Development from the egg in fishes differs from that in birds in
this respect, that it does not exhibit that one of the two
navel-strings that leads off to the membrane that lies close under the
shell, while it does exhibit that one of the two that in the case of
birds leads off to the yolk. In a general way the rest of the
development from the egg onwards is identical in birds and fishes.
That is to say, development takes place at the upper part of the
egg, and the veins extend in like manner, at first from the heart; and
at first the head, the eyes, and the upper parts are largest; and as
the creature grows the egg-substance decreases and eventually
disappears, and becomes absorbed within the embryo, just as takes
place with the yolk in birds.

The navel-string is attached a little way below the aperture
of the belly. When the creatures are young the navel-string is long,
but as they grow it diminishes in size; at length it gets small and
becomes incorporated, as was described in the case of birds. The
embryo and the egg are enveloped by a common membrane, and just
under this is another membrane that envelops the embryo by itself; and
in between the two membranes is a liquid. The food inside the
stomach of the little fishes resembles that inside the stomach of
young chicks, and is partly white and partly yellow.

As regards the shape of the womb, the reader is referred to my
treatise on Anatomy. The womb, however, is diverse in diverse
fishes, as for instance in the sharks as compared one with another
or as compared with the skate. That is to say, in some sharks the eggs
adhere in the middle of the womb round about the backbone, as has been
stated, and this is the case with the dog-fish; as the eggs grow
they shift their place; and since the womb is bifurcate and adheres to
the midriff, as in the rest of similar creatures, the eggs pass into
one or other of the two compartments. This womb and the womb of the
other sharks exhibit, as you go a little way off from the midriff,
something resembling white breasts, which never make their
appearance unless there be conception.

Dog-fish and skate have a kind of egg-shell, in the which is
found an egg-like liquid. The shape of the egg-shell resembles the
tongue of a bagpipe, and hair-like ducts are attached to the shell.
With the dog-fish which is called by some the 'dappled shark', the
young are born when the shell-formation breaks in pieces and falls
out; with the ray, after it has laid the egg the shell-formation
breaks up and the young move out. The spiny dog-fish has its close
to the midriff above the breast like formations; when the egg
descends, as soon as it gets detached the young is born. The mode of
generation is the same in the case of the fox-shark.

The so-called smooth shark has its eggs in betwixt the wombs
like the dog-fish; these eggs shift into each of the two horns of
the womb and descend, and the young develop with the navel-string
attached to the womb, so that, as the egg-substance gets used up,
the embryo is sustained to all appearance just as in the case of
quadrupeds. The navel-string is long and adheres to the under part
of the womb (each navel-string being attached as it were by a sucker),
and also to the centre of the embryo in the place where the liver is
situated. If the embryo be cut open, even though it has the
egg-substance no longer, the food inside is egg-like in appearance.
Each embryo, as in the case of quadrupeds, is provided with a
chorion and separate membranes. When young the embryo has its head
upwards, but downwards when it gets strong and is completed in form.
Males are generated on the left-hand side of the womb, and females
on the right-hand side, and males and females on the same side
together. If the embryo be cut open, then, as with quadrupeds, such
internal organs as it is furnished with, as for instance the liver,
are found to be large and supplied with blood.

All cartilaginous fishes have at one and the same time eggs
above close to the midriff (some larger, some smaller), in
considerable numbers, and also embryos lower down. And this
circumstance leads many to suppose that fishes of this species pair
and bear young every month, inasmuch as they do not produce all
their young at once, but now and again and over a lengthened period.
But such eggs as have come down below within the womb are
simultaneously ripened and completed in growth.

Dog-fish in general can extrude and take in again their young,
as can also the angel-fish and the electric ray-and, by the way, a
large electric ray has been seen with about eighty embryos inside
it-but the spiny dogfish is an exception to the rule, being
prevented by the spine of the young fish from so doing. Of the flat
cartilaginous fish, the trygon and the ray cannot extrude and take
in again in consequence of the roughness of the tails of the young.
The batrachus or fishing-frog also is unable to take in its young
owing to the size of the head and the prickles; and, by the way, as
was previously remarked, it is the only one of these fishes that is
not viviparous.

So much for the varieties of the cartilaginous species and for
their modes of generation from the egg.

11

At the breeding season the sperm-ducts of the male are filled with
sperm, so much so that if they be squeezed the sperm flows out
spontaneously as a white fluid; the ducts are bifurcate, and start
from the midriff and the great vein. About this period the sperm-ducts
of the male are quite distinct (from the womb of the female) but at
any other than the actual breeding time their distinctness is not
obvious to a non-expert. The fact is that in certain fishes at certain
times these organs are imperceptible, as was stated regarding the
testicles of birds.

Among other distinctions observed between the thoric ducts and the
womb-ducts is the circumstance that the thoric ducts are attached to
the loins, while the womb-ducts move about freely and are attached
by a thin membrane. The particulars regarding the thoric ducts may
be studied by a reference to the diagrams in my treatise on Anatomy.

Cartilaginous fishes are capable of superfoetation, and their
period of gestation is six months at the longest. The so-called starry
dogfish bears young the most frequently; in other words it bears twice
a month. The breeding season is in the month of Maemacterion. The
dog-fish as a general rule bear twice in the year, with the
exception of the little dog-fish, which bears only once a year. Some
of them bring forth in the springtime. The rhine, or angel-fish, bears
its first brood in the springtime, and its second in the autumn, about
the winter setting of the Pleiads; the second brood is the stronger of
the two. The electric ray brings forth in the late autumn.

Cartilaginous fishes come out from the main seas and deep waters
towards the shore and there bring forth their young, and they do so
for the sake of warmth and by way of protection for their young.

Observations would lead to the general rule that no one
variety of fish pairs with another variety. The angel-fish, however,
and the batus or skate appear to pair with one another; for there is a
fish called the rhinobatus, with the head and front parts of the skate
and the after parts of the rhine or angel-fish, just as though it were
made up of both fishes together.

Sharks then and their congeners, as the fox-shark and the
dog-fish, and the flat fishes, such as the electric ray, the ray,
the smooth skate, and the trygon, are first oviparous and then
viviparous in the way above mentioned, (as are also the saw-fish and
the ox-ray. )

12

The dolphin, the whale, and all the rest of the Cetacea, all, that
is to say, that are provided with a blow-hole instead of gills, are
viviparous. That is to say, no one of all these fishes is ever seen to
be supplied with eggs, but directly with an embryo from whose
differentiation comes the fish, just as in the case of mankind and the
viviparous quadrupeds.

The dolphin bears one at a time generally, but occasionally two.
The whale bears one or at the most two, generally two. The porpoise in
this respect resembles the dolphin, and, by the way, it is in form
like a little dolphin, and is found in the Euxine; it differs,
however, from the dolphin as being less in size and broader in the
back; its colour is leaden-black. Many people are of opinion that
the porpoise is a variety of the dolphin.

All creatures that have a blow-hole respire and inspire, for
they are provided with lungs. The dolphin has been seen asleep with
his nose above water, and when asleep he snores.

The dolphin and the porpoise are provided with milk, and
suckle their young. They also take their young, when small, inside
them. The young of the dolphin grow rapidly, being full grown at ten
years of age. Its period of gestation is ten months. It brings forth
its young summer, and never at any other season; (and, singularly
enough, under the Dogstar it disappears for about thirty days). Its
young accompany it for a considerable period; and, in fact, the
creature is remarkable for the strength of its parental affection.
It lives for many years; some are known to have lived for more than
twenty-five, and some for thirty years; the fact is fishermen nick
their tails sometimes and set them adrift again, and by this expedient
their ages are ascertained.

The seal is an amphibious animal: that is to say, it cannot take
in water, but breathes and sleeps and brings forth on dry land-only
close to the shore-as being an animal furnished with feet; it
spends, however, the greater part of its time in the sea and derives
its food from it, so that it must be classed in the category of marine
animals. It is viviparous by immediate conception and brings forth its
young alive, and exhibits an after-birth and all else just like a ewe.
It bears one or two at a time, and three at the most. It has two
teats, and suckles its young like a quadruped. Like the human
species it brings forth at all seasons of the year, but especially
at the time when the earliest kids are forthcoming. It conducts its
young ones, when they are about twelve days old, over and over again
during the day down to the sea, accustoming them by slow degrees to
the water. It slips down steep places instead of walking, from the
fact that it cannot steady itself by its feet. It can contract and
draw itself in, for it is fleshy and soft and its bones are gristly.
Owing to the flabbiness of its body it is difficult to kill a seal
by a blow, unless you strike it on the temple. It looks like a cow.
The female in regard to its genital organs resembles the female of the
ray; in all other respects it resembles the female of the human
species.

So much for the phenomena of generation and of parturition in
animals that live in water and are viviparous either internally or
externally.

13

Oviparous fishes have their womb bifurcate and placed low down, as
was said previously-and, by the way, all scaly fish are oviparous,
as the basse, the mullet, the grey mullet, and the etelis, and all the
so-called white-fish, and all the smooth or slippery fish except the
eel-and their roe is of a crumbling or granular substance. This
appearance is due to the fact that the whole womb of such fishes is
full of eggs, so that in little fishes there seem to be only a
couple of eggs there; for in small fishes the womb is
indistinguishable, from its diminutive size and thin contexture. The
pairing of fishes has been discussed previously.

Fishes for the most part are divided into males and females, but
one is puzzled to account for the erythrinus and the channa, for
specimens of these species are never caught except in a condition of
pregnancy.

With such fish as pair, eggs are the result of copulation, but
such fish have them also without copulation; and this is shown in
the case of some river-fish, for the minnow has eggs when quite
small,-almost, one may say, as soon as it is born. These fishes shed
their eggs little by little, and, as is stated, the males swallow
the greater part of them, and some portion of them goes to waste in
the water; but such of the eggs as the female deposits on the spawning
beds are saved. If all the eggs were preserved, each species would
be infinite in number. The greater number of these eggs so deposited
are not productive, but only those over which the male sheds the
milt or sperm; for when the female has laid her eggs, the male follows
and sheds its sperm over them, and from all the eggs so besprinkled
young fishes proceed, while the rest are left to their fate.

The same phenomenon is observed in the case of molluscs also;
for in the case of the cuttlefish or sepia, after the female has
deposited her eggs, the male besprinkles them. It is highly probable
that a similar phenomenon takes place in regard to molluscs in
general, though up to the present time the phenomenon has been
observed only in the case of the cuttlefish.

Fishes deposit their eggs close in to shore, the goby close to
stones; and, by the way, the spawn of the goby is flat and crumbly.
Fish in general so deposit their eggs; for the water close in to shore
is warm and is better supplied with food than the outer sea, and
serves as a protection to the spawn against the voracity of the larger
fish. And it is for this reason that in the Euxine most fishes spawn
near the mouth of the river Thermodon, because the locality is
sheltered, genial, and supplied with fresh water.

Oviparous fish as a rule spawn only once a year. The little
phycis or black goby is an exception, as it spawns twice; the male
of the black goby differs from the female as being blacker and
having larger scales.

Fishes then in general produce their young by copulation, and
lay their eggs; but the pipefish, as some call it, when the time of
parturition arrives, bursts in two, and the eggs escape out. For the
fish has a diaphysis or cloven growth under the belly and abdomen
(like the blind snakes), and, after it has spawned by the splitting of
this diaphysis, the sides of the split grow together again.

Development from the egg takes place similarly with fishes that
are oviparous internally and with fishes that are oviparous
externally; that is to say, the embryo comes at the upper end of the
egg and is enveloped in a membrane, and the eyes, large and spherical,
are the first organs visible. From this circumstance it is plain
that the assertion is untenable which is made by some writers, to wit,
that the young of oviparous fishes are generated like the grubs of
worms; for the opposite phenomena are observed in the case of these
grubs, in that their lower extremities are the larger at the outset,
and that the eyes and the head appear later on. After the egg has been
used up, the young fishes are like tadpoles in shape, and at first,
without taking any nutriment, they grow by sustenance derived from the
juice oozing from the egg; by and by, they are nourished up to full
growth by the river-waters.

When the Euxine is 'purged' a substance called phycus is carried
into the Hellespont, and this substance is of a pale yellow colour.
Some writers aver that it is the flower of the phycus, from which
rouge is made; it comes at the beginning of summer. Oysters and the
small fish of these localities feed on this substance, and some of the
inhabitants of these maritime districts say that the purple murex
derives its peculiar colour from it.

14

Marsh-fishes and river-fishes conceive at the age of five months
as a general rule, and deposit their spawn towards the close of the
year without exception. And with these fishes, like as with the marine
fishes, the female does not void all her eggs at one time, nor the
male his sperm; but they are at all times more or less provided, the
female with eggs, and the male with sperm. The-carp spawns as the
seasons come round, five or six times, and follows in spawning the
rising of the greater constellations. The chalcis spawns three
times, and the other fishes once only in the year. They all spawn in
pools left by the overflowing of rivers, and near to reedy places in
marshes; as for instance the phoxinus or minnow and the perch.

The glanis or sheat-fish and the perch deposit their spawn in
one continuous string, like the frog; so continuous, in fact, is the
convoluted spawn of the perch that, by reason of its smoothness, the
fishermen in the marshes can unwind it off the reeds like threads
off a reel. The larger individuals of the sheat-fish spawn in deep
waters, some in water of a fathom's depth, the smaller in shallower
water, generally close to the roots of the willow or of some other
tree, or close to reeds or to moss. At times these fishes intertwine
with one another, a big with a little one, and bring into
juxtaposition the ducts-which some writers designate as navels-at
the point where they emit the generative products and discharge the
egg in the case of the female and the milt in the case of the male.
Such eggs as are besprinkled with the milt grow, in a day or
thereabouts, whiter and larger, and in a little while afterwards the
fish's eyes become visible for these organs in all fishes, as for that
matter in all other animals, are early conspicuous and seem
disproportionately big. But such eggs as the milt fails to touch
remain, as with marine fishes, useless and infertile. From the fertile
eggs, as the little fish grow, a kind of sheath detaches itself;
this is a membrane that envelops the egg and the young fish. When
the milt has mingled with the eggs, the resulting product becomes very
sticky or viscous, and adheres to the roots of trees or wherever it
may have been laid. The male keeps on guard at the principal
spawning-place, and the female after spawning goes away.

In the case of the sheat-fish the growth from the egg is
exceptionally slow, and, in consequence, the male has to keep watch
for forty or fifty days to prevent the-spawn being devoured by such
little fishes as chance to come by. Next in point of slowness is the
generation of the carp. As with fishes in general, so even with these,
the spawn thus protected disappears and gets lost rapidly.

In the case of some of the smaller fishes when they are only
three days old young fishes are generated. Eggs touched by the male
sperm take on increase both the same day and also later. The egg of
the sheat-fish is as big as a vetch-seed; the egg of the carp and of
the carp-species as big as a millet-seed.

These fishes then spawn and generate in the way here
described. The chalcis, however, spawns in deep water in dense
shoals of fish; and the so-called tilon spawns near to beaches in
sheltered spots in shoals likewise. The carp, the baleros, and
fishes in general push eagerly into the shallows for the purpose of
spawning, and very often thirteen or fourteen males are seen following
a single female. When the female deposits her spawn and departs, the
males follow on and shed the milt. The greater portion of the spawn
gets wasted; because, owing to the fact that the female moves about
while spawning, the spawn scatters, or so much of it as is caught in
the stream and does not get entangled with some rubbish. For, with the
exception of the sheatfish, no fish keeps on guard; unless, by the
way, it be the carp, which is said to remain on guard, if it so happen
that its spawn lies in a solid mass.

All male fishes are supplied with milt, excepting the eel: with
the eel, the male is devoid of milt, and the female of spawn. The
mullet goes up from the sea to marshes and rivers; the eels, on the
contrary, make their way down from the marshes and rivers to the sea.

15

The great majority of fish, then, as has been stated, proceed from
eggs. However, there are some fish that proceed from mud and sand,
even of those kinds that proceed also from pairing and the egg. This
occurs in ponds here and there, and especially in a pond in the
neighbourhood of Cnidos. This pond, it is said, at one time ran dry
about the rising of the Dogstar, and the mud had all dried up; at
the first fall of the rains there was a show of water in the pond, and
on the first appearance of the water shoals of tiny fish were found in
the pond. The fish in question was a kind of mullet, one which does
not proceed from normal pairing, about the size of a small sprat,
and not one of these fishes was provided with either spawn or milt.
There are found also in Asia Minor, in rivers not communicating with
the sea, little fishes like whitebait, differing from the small fry
found near Cnidos but found under similar circumstances. Some
writers actually aver that mullet all grow spontaneously. In this
assertion they are mistaken, for the female of the fish is found
provided with spawn, and the male with milt. However, there is a
species of mullet that grows spontaneously out of mud and sand.

From the facts above enumerated it is quite proved that certain
fishes come spontaneously into existence, not being derived from
eggs or from copulation. Such fish as are neither oviparous nor
viviparous arise all from one of two sources, from mud, or from sand
and from decayed matter that rises thence as a scum; for instance, the
so-called froth of the small fry comes out of sandy ground. This fry
is incapable of growth and of propagating its kind; after living for a
while it dies away and another creature takes its place, and so,
with short intervals excepted, it may be said to last the whole year
through. At all events, it lasts from the autumn rising of Arcturus up
to the spring-time. As a proof that these fish occasionally come out
of the ground we have the fact that in cold weather they are not
caught, and that they are caught in warm weather, obviously coming
up out of the ground to catch the heat; also, when the fishermen use
dredges and the ground is scraped up fairly often, the fishes appear
in larger numbers and of superior quality. All other small fry are
inferior in quality owing to rapidity of growth. The fry are found
in sheltered and marshy districts, when after a spell of fine
weather the ground is getting warmer, as, for instance, in the
neighbourhood of Athens, at Salamis and near the tomb of
Themistocles and at Marathon; for in these districts the froth is
found. It appears, then, in such districts and during such weather,
and occasionally appears after a heavy fall of rain in the froth
that is thrown up by the falling rain, from which circumstance the
substance derives its specific name. Foam is occasionally brought in
on the surface of the sea in fair weather. (And in this, where it
has formed on the surface, the so-called froth collects, as grubs
swarm in manure; for which-reason this fry is often brought in from
the open sea. The fish is at its best in quality and quantity in moist
warm weather. )

The ordinary fry is the normal issue of parent fishes: the
so-called gudgeon-fry of small insignificant gudgeon-like fish that
burrow under the ground. From the Phaleric fry comes the membras, from
the membras the trichis, from the trichis the trichias, and from one
particular sort of fry, to wit from that found in the harbour of
Athens, comes what is called the encrasicholus, or anchovy. There is
another fry, derived from the maenis and the mullet.

The unfertile fry is watery and keeps only a short time, as
has been stated, for at last only head and eyes are left. However, the
fishermen of late have hit upon a method of transporting it to a
distance, as when salted it keeps for a considerable time.

16

Eels are not the issue of pairing, neither are they oviparous; nor
was an eel ever found supplied with either milt or spawn, nor are they
when cut open found to have within them passages for spawn or for
eggs. In point of fact, this entire species of blooded animals
proceeds neither from pair nor from the egg.

There can be no doubt that the case is so. For in some standing
pools, after the water has been drained off and the mud has been
dredged away, the eels appear again after a fall of rain. In time of
drought they do not appear even in stagnant ponds, for the simple
reason that their existence and sustenance is derived from rain-water.

There is no doubt, then, that they proceed neither from
pairing nor from an egg. Some writers, however, are of opinion that
they generate their kind, because in some eels little worms are found,
from which they suppose that eels are derived. But this opinion is not
founded on fact. Eels are derived from the so-called 'earth's guts'
that grow spontaneously in mud and in humid ground; in fact, eels have
at times been seen to emerge out of such earthworms, and on other
occasions have been rendered visible when the earthworms were laid
open by either scraping or cutting. Such earthworms are found both
in the sea and in rivers, especially where there is decayed matter: in
the sea in places where sea-weed abounds, and in rivers and marshes
near to the edge; for it is near to the water's edge that sun-heat has
its chief power and produces putrefaction. So much for the
generation of the eel.

17

Fish do not all bring forth their young at the same season nor all
in like manner, neither is the period of gestation for all of the same
duration.

Before pairing the males and females gather together in
shoals; at the time for copulation and parturition they pair off. With
some fishes the time of gestation is not longer than thirty days, with
others it is a lesser period; but with all it extends over a number of
days divisible by seven. The longest period of gestation is that of
the species which some call a marinus.

The sargue conceives during the month of Poseideon (or
December), and carries its spawn for thirty days; and the species of
mullet named by some the chelon, and the myxon, go with spawn at the
same period and over the same length of time.

All fish suffer greatly during the period of gestation, and
are in consequence very apt to be thrown up on shore at this time.
In some cases they are driven frantic with pain and throw themselves
on land. At all events they are throughout this time continually in
motion until parturition is over (this being especially true of the
mullet), and after parturition they are in repose. With many fish
the time for parturition terminates on the appearance of grubs
within the belly; for small living grubs get generated there and eat
up the spawn.

With shoal fishes parturition takes place in the spring, and
indeed, with most fishes, about the time of the spring equinox; with
others it is at different times, in summer with some, and with
others about the autumn equinox.

The first of shoal fishes to spawn is the atherine, and it
spawns close to land; the last is the cephalus: and this is inferred
from the fact that the brood of the atherine appears first of all
and the brood of the cephalus last. The mullet also spawns early.
The saupe spawns usually at the beginning of summer, but
occasionally in the autumn. The aulopias, which some call the anthias,
spawns in the summer. Next in order of spawning comes the
chrysophrys or gilthead, the basse, the mormyrus, and in general
such fish as are nicknamed 'runners'. Latest in order of the shoal
fish come the red mullet and the coracine; these spawn in autumn.
The red mullet spawns on mud, and consequently, as the mud continues
cold for a long while, spawns late in the year. The coracine carries
its spawn for a long time; but, as it lives usually on rocky ground,
it goes to a distance and spawns in places abounding in seaweed, at
a period later than the red mullet. The maenis spawns about the winter
solstice. Of the others, such as are pelagic spawn for the most part
in summer; which fact is proved by their not being caught by fishermen
during this period.

Of ordinary fishes the most prolific is the sprat; of
cartilaginous fishes, the fishing-frog. Specimens, however, of the
fishing-frog are rare from the facility with which the young are
destroyed, as the female lays her spawn all in a lump close in to
shore. As a rule, cartilaginous fish are less prolific than other fish
owing to their being viviparous; and their young by reason of their
size have a better chance of escaping destruction.

The so-called needle-fish (or pipe-fish) is late in spawning,
and the greater portion of them are burst asunder by the eggs before
spawning; and the eggs are not so many in number as large in size. The
young fish cluster round the parent like so many young spiders, for
the fish spawns on to herself; and, if any one touch the young, they
swim away. The atherine spawns by rubbing its belly against the sand.

Tunny fish also burst asunder by reason of their fat. They live
for two years; and the fishermen infer this age from the
circumstance that once when there was a failure of the young tunny
fish for a year there was a failure of the full-grown tunny the next
summer. They are of opinion that the tunny is a fish a year older than
the pelamyd. The tunny and the mackerel pair about the close of the
month of Elaphebolion, and spawn about the commencement of the month
of Hecatombaeon; they deposit their spawn in a sort of bag. The growth
of the young tunny is rapid. After the females have spawned in the
Euxine, there comes from the egg what some call scordylae, but what
the Byzantines nickname the 'auxids' or 'growers', from their
growing to a considerable size in a few days; these fish go out of the
Pontus in autumn along with the young tunnies, and enter Pontus in the
spring as pelamyds. Fishes as a rule take on growth with rapidity, but
this is peculiarly the case with all species of fish found in the
Pontus; the growth, for instance, of the amia-tunny is quite visible
from day to day.

To resume, we must bear in mind that the same fish in the same
localities have not the same season for pairing, for conception, for
parturition, or for favouring weather. The coracine, for instance,
in some places spawns about wheat-harvest. The statements here given
pretend only to give the results of general observation.

The conger also spawns, but the fact is not equally obvious in
all localities, nor is the spawn plainly visible owing to the fat of
the fish; for the spawn is lanky in shape as it is with serpents.
However, if it be put on the fire it shows its nature; for the fat
evaporates and melts, while the eggs dance about and explode with a
crack. Further, if you touch the substances and rub them with your
fingers, the fat feels smooth and the egg rough. Some congers are
provided with fat but not with any spawn, others are unprovided with
fat but have egg-spawn as here described.