No More Learning

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.

18

We have, then, treated pretty fully of the animals that fly in the
air or swim in the water, and of such of those that walk on dry land
as are oviparous, to wit of their pairing, conception, and the like
phenomena; it now remains to treat of the same phenomena in
connexion with viviparous land animals and with man.

The statements made in regard to the pairing of the sexes
apply partly to the particular kinds of animal and partly to all in
general. It is common to all animals to be most excited by the
desire of one sex for the other and by the pleasure derived from
copulation. The female is most cross-tempered just after
parturition, the male during the time of pairing; for instance,
stallions at this period bite one another, throw their riders, and
chase them. Wild boars, though usually enfeebled at this time as the
result of copulation, are now unusually fierce, and fight with one
another in an extraordinary way, clothing themselves with defensive
armour, or in other words deliberately thickening their hide by
rubbing against trees or by coating themselves repeatedly all over
with mud and then drying themselves in the sun. They drive one another
away from the swine pastures, and fight with such fury that very often
both combatants succumb. The case is similar with bulls, rams, and
he-goats; for, though at ordinary times they herd together, at
breeding time they hold aloof from and quarrel with one another. The
male camel also is cross-tempered at pairing time if either a man or a
camel comes near him; as for a horse, a camel is ready to fight him at
any time. It is the same with wild animals. The bear, the wolf, and
the lion are all at this time ferocious towards such as come in
their way, but the males of these animals are less given to fight with
one another from the fact that they are at no time gregarious. The
she-bear is fierce after cubbing, and the bitch after pupping.

Male elephants get savage about pairing time, and for this
reason it is stated that men who have charge of elephants in India
never allow the males to have intercourse with the females; on the
ground that the males go wild at this time and turn topsy-turvy the
dwellings of their keepers, lightly constructed as they are, and
commit all kinds of havoc. They also state that abundancy of food
has a tendency to tame the males. They further introduce other
elephants amongst the wild ones, and punish and break them in by
setting on the new-comers to chastise the others.

Animals that pair frequently and not at a single specific
season, as for instance animals domesticated by man, such as swine and
dogs, are found to indulge in such freaks to a lesser degree owing
to the frequency of their sexual intercourse.

Of female animals the mare is the most sexually wanton, and next
in order comes the cow. In fact, the mare is said to go a-horsing; and
the term derived from the habits of this one animal serves as a term
of abuse applicable to such females of the human species as are
unbridled in the way of sexual appetite. This is the common phenomenon
as observed in the sow when she is said to go a-boaring. The mare is
said also about this time to get wind-impregnated if not impregnated
by the stallion, and for this reason in Crete they never remove the
stallion from the mares; for when the mare gets into this condition
she runs away from all other horses. The mares under these
circumstances fly invariably either northwards or southwards, and
never towards either east or west. When this complaint is on them they
allow no one to approach, until either they are exhausted with fatigue
or have reached the sea. Under either of these circumstances they
discharge a certain substance 'hippomanes', the title given to a
growth on a new-born foal; this resembles the sow-virus, and is in
great request amongst women who deal in drugs and potions. About
horsing time the mares huddle closer together, are continually
switching their tails, their neigh is abnormal in sound, and from
the sexual organ there flows a liquid resembling genital sperm, but
much thinner than the sperm of the male. It is this substance that
some call hippomanes, instead of the growth found on the foal; they
say it is extremely difficult to get as it oozes out only in small
drops at a time. Mares also, when in heat, discharge urine frequently,
and frisk with one another. Such are the phenomena connected with
the horse.

Cows go a-bulling; and so completely are they under the
influence of the sexual excitement that the herdsmen have no control
over them and cannot catch hold of them in the fields. Mares and
kine alike, when in heat, indicate the fact by the upraising of
their genital organs, and by continually voiding urine. Further,
kine mount the bulls, follow them about; and keep standing beside
them. The younger females both with horses and oxen are the first to
get in heat; and their sexual appetites are all the keener if the
weather warm and their bodily condition be healthy. Mares, when
clipt of their coat, have the sexual feeling checked, and assume a
downcast drooping appearance. The stallion recognizes by the scent the
mares that form his company, even though they have been together
only a few days before breeding time: if they get mixed up with
other mares, the stallion bites and drives away the interlopers. He
feeds apart, accompanied by his own troop of mares. Each stallion
has assigned to him about thirty mares or even somewhat more; when a
strange stallion approaches, he huddles his mares into a close ring,
runs round them, then advances to the encounter of the newcomer; if
one of the mares make a movement, he bites her and drives her back.
The bull in breeding time begins to graze with the cows, and fights
with other bulls (having hitherto grazed with them), which is termed
by graziers 'herd-spurning'. Often in Epirus a bull disappears for
three months together. In a general way one may state that of male
animals either none or few herd with their respective females before
breeding time; but they keep separate after reaching maturity, and the
two sexes feed apart. Sows, when they are moved by sexual desire, or
are, as it is called, a-boaring, will attack even human beings.

With bitches the same sexual condition is termed 'getting into
heat'. The sexual organ rises at this time, and there is a moisture
about the parts. Mares drip with a white liquid at this season.

Female animals are subject to menstrual discharges, but never in
such-abundance as is the female of the human species. With ewes and
she-goats there are signs of menstruation in breeding time, just
before the for submitting to the male; after copulation also the signs
are manifest, and then cease for an interval until the period of
parturition arrives; the process then supervenes, and it is by this
supervention that the shepherd knows that such and such an ewe is
about to bring forth. After parturition comes copious menstruation,
not at first much tinged with blood, but deeply dyed with it by and
by. With the cow, the she ass, and the mare, the discharge is more
copious actually, owing to their greater bulk, but proportionally to
the greater bulk it is far less copious. The cow, for instance, when
in heat, exhibits a small discharge to the extent of a quarter of a
pint of liquid or a little less; and the time when this discharge
takes place is the best time for her to be covered by the bull. Of all
quadrupeds the mare is the most easily delivered of its young,
exhibits the least amount of discharge after parturition, and emits
the least amount of blood; that is to say, of all animals in
proportion to size. With kine and mares menstruation usually manifests
itself at intervals of two, four, and six months; but, unless one be
constantly attending to and thoroughly acquainted with such animals,
it is difficult to verify the circumstance, and the result is that
many people are under the belief that the process never takes place
with these animals at all.

With mules menstruation never takes place, but the urine of the
female is thicker than the urine of the male. As a general rule the
discharge from the bladder in the case of quadrupeds is thicker than
it is in the human species, and this discharge with ewes and she-goats
is thicker than with rams and he-goats; but the urine of the jackass
is thicker than the urine of the she-ass, and the urine of the bull is
more pungent than the urine of the cow. After parturition the urine of
all quadrupeds becomes thicker, especially with such animals as
exhibit comparatively slight discharges. At breeding time the milk
become purulent, but after parturition it becomes wholesome. During
pregnancy ewes and she-goats get fatter and eat more; as is also the
case with cows, and, indeed, with the females of all quadrupeds.

In general the sexual appetites of animals are keenest in
spring-time; the time of pairing, however, is not the same for all,
but is adapted so as to ensure the rearing of the young at a
convenient season.

Domesticated swine carry their young for four months, and
bring forth a litter of twenty at the utmost; and, by the way, if
the litter be exceedingly numerous they cannot rear all the young.
As the sow grows old she continues to bear, but grows indifferent to
the boar; she conceives after a single copulation, but they have to
put the boar to her repeatedly owing to her dropping after intercourse
what is called the sow-virus. This incident befalls all sows, but some
of them discharge the genital sperm as well. During conception any one
of the litter that gets injured or dwarfed is called an afterpig or
scut: such injury may occur at any part of the womb. After littering
the mother offers the foremost teat to the first-born. When the sow is
in heat, she must not at once be put to the boar, but only after she
lets her lugs drop, for otherwise she is apt to get into heat again;
if she be put to the boar when in full condition of heat, one
copulation, as has been said, is sufficient. It is as well to supply
the boar at the period of copulation with barley, and the sow at the
time of parturition with boiled barley. Some swine give fine litters
only at the beginning, with others the litters improve as the
mothers grow in age and size. It is said that a sow, if she have one
of her eyes knocked out, is almost sure to die soon afterwards.
Swine for the most part live for fifteen years, but some fall little
short of the twenty.

19

Ewes conceive after three or four copulations with the ram. If
rain falls after intercourse, the ram impregnates the ewe again; and
it is the same with the she-goat. The ewe bears usually two lambs,
sometimes three or four. Both ewe and she-goat carry their young for
five months; consequently wherever a district is sunny and the animals
are used to comfort and well fed, they bear twice in the year. The
goat lives for eight years and the sheep for ten, but in most cases
not so long; the bell-wether, however, lives to fifteen years. In
every flock they train one of the rams for bell-wether. When he is
called on by name by the shepherd, he takes the lead of the flock: and
to this duty the creature is trained from its earliest years. Sheep in
Ethiopia live for twelve or thirteen years, goats for ten or eleven.
In the case of the sheep and the goat the two sexes have intercourse
all their lives long.

Twins with sheep and goats may be due to richness of
pasturage, or to the fact that either the ram or the he-goat is a
twin-begetter or that the ewe or the she-goat is a twin-bearer. Of
these animals some give birth to males and others to females; and
the difference in this respect depends on the waters they drink and
also on the sires. And if they submit to the male when north winds are
blowing, they are apt to bear males; if when south winds are
blowing, females. Such as bear females may get to bear males, due
regard being paid to their looking northwards when put to the male.
Ewes accustomed to be put to the ram early will refuse him if he
attempt to mount them late. Lambs are born white and black according
as white or black veins are under the ram's tongue; the lambs are
white if the veins are white, and black if the veins are black, and
white and black if the veins are white and black; and red if the veins
are red. The females that drink salted waters are the first to take
the male; the water should be salted before and after parturition, and
again in the springtime. With goats the shepherds appoint no
bell-wether, as the animal is not capable of repose but frisky and apt
to ramble. If at the appointed season the elders of the flock are
eager for intercourse, the shepherds say that it bodes well for the
flock; if the younger ones, that the flock is going to be bad.

20

Of dogs there are several breeds. Of these the Laconian hound of
either sex is fit for breeding purposes when eight months old: at
about the same age some dogs lift the leg when voiding urine. The
bitch conceives with one lining; this is clearly seen in the case
where a dog contrives to line a bitch by stealth, as they impregnate
after mounting only once. The Laconian bitch carries her young the
sixth part of a year or sixty days: or more by one, two, or three,
or less by one; the pups are blind for twelve days after birth.
After pupping, the bitch gets in heat again in six months, but not
before. Some bitches carry their young for the fifth part of the
year or for seventy-two days; and their pups are blind for fourteen
days. Other bitches carry their young for a quarter of a year or for
three whole months; and the whelps of these are blind for seventeen
days. The bitch appears go in heat for the same length of time.
Menstruation continues for seven days, and a swelling of the genital
organ occurs simultaneously; it is not during this period that the
bitch is disposed to submit to the dog, but in the seven days that
follow. The bitch as a rule goes in heat for fourteen days, but
occasionally for sixteen. The birth-discharge occurs simultaneously
with the delivery of the whelps, and the substance of it is thick
and mucous. (The falling-off in bulk on the part of the mother is
not so great as might have been inferred from the size of her
frame. ) The bitch is usually supplied with milk five days before
parturition; some seven days previously, some four; and the milk is
serviceable immediately after birth. The Laconian bitch is supplied
with milk thirty days after lining. The milk at first is thickish, but
gets thinner by degrees; with the bitch the milk is thicker than
with the female of any other animal excepting the sow and the hare.
When the bitch arrives at full growth an indication is given of her
capacity for the male; that is to say, just as occurs in the female of
the human species, a swelling takes place in the teats of the breasts,
and the breasts take on gristle. This incident, however, it is
difficult for any but an expert to detect, as the part that gives
the indication is inconsiderable. The preceding statements relate to
the female, and not one of them to the male. The male as a rule
lifts his leg to void urine when six months old; some at a later
period, when eight months old, some before they reach six months. In a
general way one may put it that they do so when they are out of
puppyhood. The bitch squats down when she voids urine; it is a rare
exception that she lifts the leg to do so. The bitch bears twelve pups
at the most, but usually five or six; occasionally a bitch will bear
one only. The bitch of the Laconian breed generally bears eight. The
two sexes have intercourse with each other at all periods of life. A
very remarkable phenomenon is observed in the case of the Laconian
hound: in other words, he is found to be more vigorous in commerce
with the female after being hard-worked than when allowed to live
idle.

The dog of the Laconian breed lives ten years, and the bitch
twelve. The bitch of other breeds usually lives for fourteen or
fifteen years, but some live to twenty; and for this reason certain
critics consider that Homer did well in representing the dog of
Ulysses as having died in his twentieth year. With the Laconian hound,
owing to the hardships to which the male is put, he is less long-lived
than the female; with other breeds the distinction as to longevity
is not very apparent, though as a general rule the male is the
longer-lived.

The dog sheds no teeth except the so-called 'canines'; these a dog
of either sex sheds when four months old. As they shed these only,
many people are in doubt as to the fact, and some people, owing to
their shedding but two and its being hard to hit upon the time when
they do so, fancy that the animal sheds no teeth at all; others, after
observing the shedding of two, come to the conclusion that the
creature sheds the rest in due turn. Men discern the age of a dog by
inspection of its teeth; with young dogs the teeth are white and sharp
pointed, with old dogs black and blunted.

21

The bull impregnates the cow at a single mount, and mounts with
such vigour as to weigh down the cow; if his effort be unsuccessful,
the cow must be allowed an interval of twenty days before being
again submitted. Bulls of mature age decline to mount the same cow
several times on one day, except, by the way, at considerable
intervals.