No More Learning

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. Young bulls by reason of their vigour are enabled to
mount the same cow several times in one day, and a good many cows
besides. The bull is the least salacious of male animals. . . . The
victor among the bulls is the one that mounts the females; when he
gets exhausted by his amorous efforts, his beaten antagonist sets on
him and very often gets the better of the conflict. The bull and the
cow are about a year old when it is possible for them to have commerce
with chance of offspring: as a rule, however, they are about twenty
months old, but it is universally allowed that they are capable in
this respect at the age of two years. The cow goes with calf for
nine months, and she calves in the tenth month; some maintain that
they go in calf for ten months, to the very day. A calf delivered
before the times here specified is an abortion and never lives,
however little premature its birth may have been, as its hooves are
weak and imperfect. The cow as a rule bears but one calf, very
seldom two; she submits to the bull and bears as long as she lives.

Cows live for about fifteen years, and the bulls too, if they
have been castrated; but some live for twenty years or even more, if
their bodily constitutions be sound. The herdsmen tame the castrated
bulls, and give them an office in the herd analogous to the office
of the bell-wether in a flock; and these bulls live to an
exceptionally advanced age, owing to their exemption from hardship and
to their browsing on pasture of good quality. The bull is in fullest
vigour when five years old, which leads the critics to commend Homer
for applying to the bull the epithets of 'five-year-old', or 'of
nine seasons', which epithets are alike in meaning. The ox sheds his
teeth at the age of two years, not all together but just as the
horse sheds his. When the animal suffers from podagra it does not shed
the hoof, but is subject to a painful swelling in the feet. The milk
of the cow is serviceable after parturition, and before parturition
there is no milk at all.
The milk that first presents itself becomes
as hard as stone when it clots; this result ensues unless it be
previously diluted with water. Oxen younger than a year old do not
copulate unless under circumstances of an unnatural and portentous
kind: instances have been recorded of copulation in both sexes at
the age of four months. Kine in general begin to submit to the male
about the month of Thargelion or of Scirophorion; some, however, are
capable of conception right on to the autumn. When kine in large
numbers receive the bull and conceive, it is looked upon as prognostic
of rain and stormy weather. Kine herd together like mares, but in
lesser degree.

22

In the case of horses, the stallion and the mare are first
fitted for breeding purposes when two years old. Instances, however,
of such early maturity are rare, and their young are exceptionally
small and weak; the ordinary age for sexual maturity is three years,
and from that age to twenty the two sexes go on improving in the
quality of their offspring. The mare carries her foal for eleven
months, and casts it in the twelfth. It is not a fixed number of
days that the stallion takes to impregnate the mare; it may be one,
two, three, or more. An ass in covering will impregnate more
expeditiously than a stallion. The act of intercourse with horses is
not laborious as it is with oxen. In both sexes the horse is the
most salacious of animals next after the human species. The breeding
faculties of the younger horses may be stimulated beyond their years
if they be supplied with good feeding in abundance. The mare as a rule
bears only one foal; occasionally she has two, but never more. A
mare has been known to cast two mules; but such a circumstance was
regarded as unnatural and portentous.

The horse then is first fitted for breeding purposes at the
age of two and a half years, but achieves full sexual maturity when it
has ceased to shed teeth, except it be naturally infertile; it must be
added, however, that some horses have been known to impregnate the
mare while the teeth were in process of shedding.

The horse has forty teeth. It sheds its first set of four, two
from the upper jaw and two from the lower, when two and a half years
old. After a year's interval, it sheds another set of four in like
manner, and another set of four after yet another year's interval;
after arriving at the age of four years and six months it sheds no
more. An instance has occurred where a horse shed all his teeth at
once, and another instance of a horse shedding all his teeth with
his last set of four; but such instances are very rare. It
consequently happens that a horse when four and a half years old is in
excellent condition for breeding purposes.

The older horses, whether of the male or female, are the more
generatively productive. Horses will cover mares from which they
have been foaled and mares which they have begotten; and, indeed, a
troop of horses is only considered perfect when such promiscuity of
intercourse occurs. Scythians use pregnant mares for riding when the
embryo has turned rather soon in the womb, and they assert that
thereby the mothers have all the easier delivery. Quadrupeds as a rule
lie down for parturition, and in consequence the young of them all
come out of the womb sideways. The mare, however, when the time for
parturition arrives, stands erect and in that posture casts its foal.

The horse in general lives for eighteen or twenty years; some
horses live for twenty-five or even thirty, and if a horse be
treated with extreme care, it may last on to the age of fifty years; a
horse, however, when it reaches thirty years is regarded as
exceptionally old. The mare lives usually for twenty-five years,
though instances have occurred of their attaining the age of forty.
The male is less long-lived than the female by reason of the sexual
service he is called on to render; and horses that are reared in a
private stable live longer than such as are reared in troops. The mare
attains her full length and height at five years old, the stallion
at six; in another six years the animal reaches its full bulk, and
goes on improving until it is twenty years old. The female, then,
reaches maturity more rapidly than the male, but in the womb the
case is reversed, just as is observed in regard to the sexes of the
human species; and the same phenomenon is observed in the case of
all animals that bear several young.

The mare is said to suckle a mule-foal for six months, but not
to allow its approach for any longer on account of the pain it is
put to by the hard tugging of the young; an ordinary foal it allows to
suck for a longer period.

Horse and mule are at their best after the shedding of the
teeth. After they have shed them all, it is not easy to distinguish
their age; hence they are said to carry their mark before the
shedding, but not after. However, even after the shedding their age is
pretty well recognized by the aid of the canines; for in the case of
horses much ridden these teeth are worn away by attrition caused by
the insertion of the bit; in the case of horses not ridden the teeth
are large and detached, and in young horses they are sharp and small.

The male of the horse will breed at all seasons and during its
whole life; the mare can take the horse all its life long, but is
not thus ready to pair at all seasons unless it be held in check by
a halter or some other compulsion be brought to bear. There is no
fixed time at which intercourse of the two sexes cannot take place;
and accordingly intercourse may chance to take place at a time that
may render difficult the rearing of the future progeny. In a stable in
Opus there was a stallion that used to serve mares when forty years
old: his fore legs had to be lifted up for the operation.

Mares first take the horse in the spring-time. After a mare
has foaled she does not get impregnated at once again, but only
after a considerable interval; in fact, the foals will be all the
better if the interval extend over four or five years. It is, at all
events, absolutely necessary to allow an interval of one year, and for
that period to let her lie fallow. A mare, then, breeds at
intervals; a she-ass breeds on and on without intermission. Of mares
some are absolutely sterile, others are capable of conception but
incapable of bringing the foal to full term; it is said to be an
indication of this condition in a mare, that her foal if dissected
is found to have other kidney-shaped substances round about its
kidneys, presenting the appearance of having four kidneys.

After parturition the mare at once swallows the after-birth, and
bites off the growth, called the 'hippomanes', that is found on the
forehead of the foal. This growth is somewhat smaller than a dried
fig; and in shape is broad and round, and in colour black. If any
bystander gets possession of it before the mare, and the mare gets a
smell of it, she goes wild and frantic at the smell. And it is for
this reason that venders of drugs and simples hold the substance in
high request and include it among their stores.

If an ass cover a mare after the mare has been covered by a
horse, the ass will destroy the previously formed embryo.

(Horse-trainers do not appoint a horse as leader to a troop, as
herdsmen appoint a bull as leader to a herd, and for this reason
that the horse is not steady but quick-tempered and skittish. )

23

The ass of both sexes is capable of breeding, and sheds its
first teeth at the age of two and a half years; it sheds its second
teeth within six months, its third within another six months, and
the fourth after the like interval. These fourth teeth are termed
the gnomons or age-indicators.

A she-ass has been known to conceive when a year old, and the
foal to be reared. After intercourse with the male it will discharge
the genital sperm unless it be hindered, and for this reason it is
usually beaten after such intercourse and chased about. It casts its
young in the twelfth month. It usually bears but one foal, and that is
its natural number, occasionally however it bears twins. The ass if it
cover a mare destroys, as has been said, the embryo previously
begotten by the horse; but, after the mare has been covered by the
ass, the horse supervening will not spoil the embryo. The she-ass
has milk in the tenth month of pregnancy. Seven days after casting a
foal the she-ass submits to the male, and is almost sure to conceive
if put to the male on this particular day; the same result, however,
is quite possible later on. The she-ass will refuse to cast her foal
with any one looking on or in the daylight and just before foaling she
has to be led away into a dark place. If the she-ass has had young
before the shedding of the index-teeth, she will bear all her life
through; but if not, then she will neither conceive nor bear for the
rest of her days. The ass lives for more than thirty years, and the
she-ass lives longer than the male.

When there is a cross between a horse and a she-ass or a jackass
and a mare, there is much greater chance of a miscarriage than where
the commerce is normal. The period for gestation in the case of a
cross depends on the male, and is just what it would have been if
the male had had commerce with a female of his own kind. In regard
to size, looks, and vigour, the foal is more apt to resemble the
mother than the sire. If such hybrid connexions be continued without
intermittence, the female will soon go sterile; and for this reason
trainers always allow of intervals between breeding times. A mare will
not take the ass, nor a she ass the horse, unless the ass or she-ass
shall have been suckled by a mare; and for this reason trainers put
foals of the she-ass under mares, which foals are technically spoken
of as 'mare-suckled'. These asses, thus reared, mount the mares in the
open pastures, mastering them by force as the stallions do.

24

A mule is fitted for commerce with the female after the first
shedding of its teeth, and at the age of seven will impregnate
effectually; and where connexion has taken place with a mare, a
'hinny' has been known to be produced. After the seventh year it has
no further intercourse with the female. A female mule has been known
to be impregnated, but without the impregnation being followed up by
parturition. In Syrophoenicia she-mules submit to the mule and bear
young; but the breed, though it resembles the ordinary one, is
different and specific. The hinny or stunted mule is foaled by a
mare when she has gone sick during gestation, and corresponds to the
dwarf in the human species and to the after-pig or scut in swine;
and as is the case with dwarfs, the sexual organ of the hinny is
abnormally large.

The mule lives for a number of years. There are on record
cases of mules living to the age of eighty, as did one in Athens at
the time of the building of the temple; this mule on account of its
age was let go free, but continued to assist in dragging burdens,
and would go side by side with the other draught-beasts and
stimulate them to their work; and in consequence a public decree was
passed forbidding any baker driving the creature away from his
bread-tray. The she-mule grows old more slowly than the mule. Some
assert that the she-mule menstruates by the act of voiding her
urine, and that the mule owes the prematurity of his decay to his
habit of smelling at the urine. So much for the modes of generation in
connexion with these animals.

25

Breeders and trainers can distinguish between young and old
quadrupeds. If, when drawn back from the jaw, the skin at once goes
back to its place, the animal is young; if it remains long wrinkled
up, the animal is old.

26

The camel carries its young for ten months, and bears but one at
a time and never more; the young camel is removed from the mother when
a year old. The animal lives for a long period, more than fifty years.
It bears in spring-time, and gives milk until the time of the next
conception. Its flesh and milk are exceptionally palatable. The milk
is drunk mixed with water in the proportion of either two to one or
three to one.

27

The elephant of either sex is fitted for breeding before
reaching the age of twenty. The female carries her young, according to
some accounts, for two and a half years; according to others, for
three years; and the discrepancy in the assigned periods is due to the
fact that there are never human eyewitnesses to the commerce between
the sexes. The female settles down on its rear to cast its young,
and obviously suffers greatly during the process. The young one,
immediately after birth, sucks the mother, not with its trunk but with
the mouth; and can walk about and see distinctly the moment it is
born.

28

The wild sow submits to the boar at the beginning of winter, and
in the spring-time retreats for parturition to a lair in some district
inaccessible to intrusion, hemmed in with sheer cliffs and chasms
and overshadowed by trees. The boar usually remains by the sow for
thirty days. The number of the litter and the period gestation is
the same as in the case of the domesticated congener. The sound of the
grunt also is similar; only that the sow grunts continually, and the
boar but seldom. Of the wild boars such as are castrated grow to the
largest size and become fiercest: to which circumstance Homer
alludes when he says:-

'He reared against him a wild castrated boar: it was not like a
food-devouring brute, but like a forest-clad promontory. '

Wild boars become castrated owing to an itch befalling them in
early life in the region of the testicles, and the castration is
superinduced by their rubbing themselves against the trunks of trees.

29

The hind, as has been stated, submits to the stag as a rule only
under compulsion, as she is unable to endure the male often owing to
the rigidity of the penis. However, they do occasionally submit to the
stag as the ewe submits ram; and when they are in heat the hinds avoid
one another. The stag is not constant to one particular hind, but
after a while quits one and mates with others. The breeding time is
after the rising of Arcturus, during the months of Boedromion and
Maimacterion. The period of gestation lasts for eight months.
Conception comes on a few days after intercourse; and a number of
hinds can be impregnated by a single male. The hind, as a rule,
bears but one fawn, although instances have been known of her
casting two. Out of dread of wild beasts she casts her young by the
side of the high-road. The young fawn grows with rapidity.
Menstruation occurs at no other time with the hind; it takes place
only after parturition, and the substance is phlegm-like.

The hind leads the fawn to her lair; this is her place of
refuge, a cave with a single inlet, inside which she shelters
herself against attack.

Fabulous stories are told concerning the longevity of the
animal, but the stories have never been verified, and the brevity of
the period of gestation and the rapidity of growth in the fawn would
not lead one to attribute extreme longevity to this creature.

In the mountain called Elaphoeis or Deer Mountain, which is in
Arginussa in Asia Minor-the place, by the way, where Alcibiades was
assassinated-all the hinds have the ear split, so that, if they
stray to a distance, they can be recognized by this mark; and the
embryo actually has the mark while yet in the womb of the mother.

The hind has four teats like the cow. After the hinds have
become pregnant, the males all segregate one by one, and in
consequence of the violence of their sexual passions they keep each
one to himself, dig a hole in the ground, and bellow from time to
time; in all these particulars they resemble the goat, and their
foreheads from getting wetted become black, as is also the case with
the goat. In this way they pass the time until the rain falls, after
which time they turn to pasture. The animal acts in this way owing
to its sexual wantonness and also to its obesity; for in summer-time
it becomes so exceptionally fat as to be unable to run: in fact at
this period they can be overtaken by the hunters that pursue them on
foot in the second or third run; and, by the way, in consequence of
the heat of the weather and their getting out of breath they always
make for water in their runs. In the rutting season, the flesh of
the deer is unsavoury and rank, like the flesh of the he-goat. In
winter-time the deer becomes thin and weak, but towards the approach
of the spring he is at his best for running. When on the run the
deer keeps pausing from time to time, and waits until his pursuer
draws upon him, whereupon he starts off again. This habit appears
due to some internal pain: at all events, the gut is so slender and
weak that, if you strike the animal ever so softly, it is apt to break
asunder, though the hide of the animal remains sound and uninjured.

30

Bears, as has been previously stated, do not copulate with the
male mounting the back of the female, but with the female lying down
under the male. The she-bear goes with young for thirty days. She
brings forth sometimes one cub, sometimes two cubs, and at most
five. Of all animals the newly born cub of the she bear is the
smallest in proportion to the size of the mother; that is to say, it
is larger than a mouse but smaller than a weasel. It is also smooth
and blind, and its legs and most of its organs are as yet
inarticulate. Pairing takes Place in the month of Elaphebolion, and
parturition about the time for retiring into winter quarters; about
this time the bear and the she-bear are at the fattest. After the
she-bear has reared her young, she comes out of her winter lair in the
third month, when it is already spring. The female porcupine, by the
way, hibernates and goes with young the same number of days as the
she-bear, and in all respects as to parturition resembles this animal.
When a she-bear is with young, it is a very hard task to catch her.

31

It has already been stated that the lion and lioness copulate
rearwards, and that these animals are opisthuretic. They do not
copulate nor bring forth at all seasons indiscriminately, but once
in the year only. The lioness brings forth in the spring, generally
two cubs at a time, and six at the very most; but sometimes only
one. The story about the lioness discharging her womb in the act of
parturition is a pure fable, and was merely invented to account for
the scarcity of the animal; for the animal is, as is well known, a
rare animal, and is not found in many countries. In fact, in the whole
of Europe it is only found in the strip between the rivers Achelous
and Nessus. The cubs of the lioness when newly born are exceedingly
small, and can scarcely walk when two months old. The Syrian lion
bears cubs five times: five cubs at the first litter, then four,
then three, then two, and lastly one; after this the lioness ceases to
bear for the rest of her days. The lioness has no mane, but this
appendage is peculiar to the lion. The lion sheds only the four
so-called canines, two in the upper jaw and two in the lower; and it
sheds them when it is six months old.

32

The hyena in colour resembles the wolf, but is more shaggy,
and is furnished with a mane running all along the spine. What is
recounted concerning its genital organs, to the effect that every
hyena is furnished with the organ both of the male and the female,
is untrue. The fact is that the sexual organ of the male hyena
resembles the same organ in the wolf and in the dog; the part
resembling the female genital organ lies underneath the tail, and does
to some extent resemble the female organ, but it is unprovided with
duct or passage, and the passage for the residuum comes underneath it.
The female hyena has the part that resembles the organ of the male,
and, as in the case of the male, has it underneath her tail,
unprovided with duct or passage; and after it the passage for the
residuum, and underneath this the true female genital organ. The
female hyena has a womb, like all other female animals of the same
kind. It is an exceedingly rare circumstance to meet with a female
hyena. At least a hunter said that out of eleven hyenas he had caught,
only one was a female.

33

Hares copulate in a rearward posture, as has been stated, for
the animal is opisthuretic. They breed and bear at all seasons,
superfoetate during pregnancy, and bear young every month. They do not
give birth to their young ones all together at one time, but bring
them forth at intervals over as many days as the circumstances of each
case may require. The female is supplied with milk before parturition;
and after bearing submits immediately to the male, and is capable of
conception while suckling her young. The milk in consistency resembles
sow's milk. The young are born blind, as is the case with the
greater part Of the fissipeds or toed animals.

34

The fox mounts the vixen in copulation, and the vixen bears
young like the she-bear; in fact, her young ones are even more
inarticulately formed. Before parturition she retires to sequestered
places, so that it is a great rarity for a vixen to be caught while
pregnant. After parturition she warms her young and gets them into
shape by licking them. She bears four at most at a birth.

35

The wolf resembles the dog in regard to the time of conception and
parturition, the number of the litter, and the blindness of the
newborn young. The sexes couple at one special period, and the
female brings forth at the beginning of the summer. There is an
account given of the parturition of the she-wolf that borders on the
fabulous, to the effect that she confines her lying-in to within
twelve particular days of the year. And they give the reason for
this in the form of a myth, viz. that when they transported Leto in so
many days from the land of the Hyperboreans to the island of Delos,
she assumed the form of a she-wolf to escape the anger of Here.
Whether the account be correct or not has not yet been verified; I
give it merely as it is currently told. There is no more of truth in
the current statement that the she-wolf bears once and only once in
her lifetime.

The cat and the ichneumon bear as many young as the dog, and
live on the same food; they live about six years. The cubs of the
panther are born blind like those of the wolf, and the female bears
four at the most at one birth. The particulars of conception are the
same for the thos, or civet, as for the dog; the cubs of the animal
are born blind, and the female bears two, or three, or four at a
birth. It is long in the body and low in stature; but not withstanding
the shortness of its legs it is exceptionally fleet of foot, owing
to the suppleness of its frame and its capacity for leaping.

36

There is found in Syria a so-called mule. It is not the same as
the cross between the horse and ass, but resembles it just as a wild
ass resembles the domesticated congener, and derives its name from the
resemblance. Like the wild ass, this wild mule is remarkable for its
speed. The animals of this species interbreed with one another; and
a proof of this statement may be gathered from the fact that a certain
number of them were brought into Phrygia in the time of Pharnaces, the
father of Pharnabazus, and the animal is there still. The number
originally introduced was nine, and there are three there at the
present day.

37

The phenomena of generation in regard to the mouse are the most
astonishing both for the number of the young and for the rapidity of
recurrence in the births. On one occasion a she-mouse in a state of
pregnancy was shut up by accident in a jar containing millet-seed, and
after a little while the lid of the jar was removed and upwards of one
hundred and twenty mice were found inside it.

The rate of propagation of field mice in country places, and the
destruction that they cause, are beyond all telling. In many places
their number is so incalculable that but very little of the
corn-crop is left to the farmer; and so rapid is their mode of
proceeding that sometimes a small farmer will one day observe that
it is time for reaping, and on the following morning, when he takes
his reapers afield, he finds his entire crop devoured. Their
disappearance is unaccountable: in a few days not a mouse will there
be to be seen. And yet in the time before these few days men fail to
keep down their numbers by fumigating and unearthing them, or by
regularly hunting them and turning in swine upon them; for pigs, by
the way, turn up the mouse-holes by rooting with their snouts. Foxes
also hunt them, and the wild ferrets in particular destroy them, but
they make no way against the prolific qualities of the animal and
the rapidity of its breeding. When they are super-abundant, nothing
succeeds in thinning them down except the rain; but after heavy
rains they disappear rapidly.

In a certain district of Persia when a female mouse is dissected
the female embryos appear to be pregnant. Some people assert, and
positively assert, that a female mouse by licking salt can become
pregnant without the intervention of the male.

Mice in Egypt are covered with bristles like the hedgehog. There
is also a different breed of mice that walk on their two hind-legs;
their front legs are small and their hind-legs long; the breed is
exceedingly numerous. There are many other breeds of mice than are
here referred to.

Book VII

1

As to Man's growth, first within his mother's womb and afterward
to old age, the course of nature, in so far as man is specially
concerned, is after the following manner. And, by the way, the
difference of male and female and of their respective organs has
been dealt with heretofore. When twice seven years old, in the most of
cases, the male begins to engender seed; and at the same time hair
appears upon the pubes, in like manner, so Alcmaeon of Croton remarks,
as plants first blossom and then seed. About the same time, the
voice begins to alter, getting harsher and more uneven, neither shrill
as formerly nor deep as afterward, nor yet of any even tone, but
like an instrument whose strings are frayed and out of tune; and it is
called, by way of by-word, the bleat of the billy-goat. Now this
breaking of the voice is the more apparent in those who are making
trial of their sexual powers; for in those who are prone to
lustfulness the voice turns into the voice of a man, but not so in the
continent. For if a lad strive diligently to hinder his voice from
breaking, as some do of those who devote themselves to music, the
voice lasts a long while unbroken and may even persist with little
change. And the breasts swell and likewise the private parts, altering
in size and shape. (And by the way, at this time of life those who try
by friction to provoke emission of seed are apt to experience pain
as well as voluptuous sensations. ) At the same age in the female,
the breasts swell and the so-called catamenia commence to flow; and
this fluid resembles fresh blood. There is another discharge, a
white one, by the way, which occurs in girls even at a very early age,
more especially if their diet be largely of a fluid nature; and this
malady causes arrest of growth and loss of flesh. In the majority of
cases the catamenia are noticed by the time the breasts have grown
to the height of two fingers' breadth. In girls, too, about this
time the voice changes to a deeper note; for while in general the
woman's voice is higher than the man's, so also the voices of girls
are pitched in a higher key than the elder women's, just as the
boy's are higher than the men's; and the girls' voices are shriller
than the boys', and a maid's flute is tuned sharper than a lad's.

Girls of this age have much need of surveillance. For then in
particular they feel a natural impulse to make usage of the sexual
faculties that are developing in them; so that unless they guard
against any further impulse beyond that inevitable one which their
bodily development of itself supplies, even in the case of those who
abstain altogether from passionate indulgence, they contract habits
which are apt to continue into later life. For girls who give way to
wantonness grow more and more wanton; and the same is true of boys,
unless they be safeguarded from one temptation and another; for the
passages become dilated and set up a local flux or running, and
besides this the recollection of pleasure associated with former
indulgence creates a longing for its repetition.

Some men are congenitally impotent owing to structural defect;
and in like manner women also may suffer from congenital incapacity.
Both men and women are liable to constitutional change, growing
healthier or more sickly, or altering in the way of leanness,
stoutness, and vigour; thus, after puberty some lads who were thin
before grow stout and healthy, and the converse also happens; and
the same is equally true of girls. For when in boy or girl the body
is loaded with superfluous matter, then, when such superfluities are
got rid of in the spermatic or catamenial discharge, their bodies
improve in health and condition owing to the removal of what had acted
as an impediment to health and proper nutrition; but in such as are of
opposite habit their bodies become emaciated and out of health, for
then the spermatic discharge in the one case and the catamenial flow
in the other take place at the cost of natural healthy conditions.

Furthermore, in the case of maidens the condition of the breasts
is diverse in different individuals, for they are sometimes quite
big and sometimes little; and as a general rule their size depends
on whether or not the body was burthened in childhood with superfluous
material. For when the signs of womanhood are nigh but not come, the
more there be of moisture the more will it cause the breasts to swell,
even to the bursting point; and the result is that the breasts
remain during after-life of the bulk that they then acquired. And
among men, the breasts grow more conspicuous and more like to those of
women, both in young men and old, when the individual temperament is
moist and sleek and the reverse of sinewy, and all the more among
the dark-complexioned than the fair.

At the outset and till the age of one and twenty the spermatic
discharge is devoid of fecundity; afterwards it becomes fertile, but
young men and women produce undersized and imperfect progeny, as is
the case also with the common run of animals.