nature of their external parts.
7. Internally, immediately after the mouth, there is an intestine which in most insects passes straight and simply to the anus, in a few it is convoluted; these have no bones nor fat, neither has any other exsanguineous animal. Some have a stomach, and from this the remainder of the intestine is either simple or convoluted, as in the acris.[141] The tettix (grasshopper) alone of this, or any other class of living creatures, has no mouth; but, like those with a caudal sting, it has the appearance of a tongue, long, continuous, and undivided, and with this it feeds upon the dew alone. There is no excrement in the stomach.
There are many kinds of these creatures, they differ in being greater or less; those called achetae are divided beneath the diaphragm, and have a conspicuous membrane, which the tettigonia has not.
[141] Locust.
8. There are many other creatures in the sea which it is not possible to arrange in any class from their scarcity. For some experienced fishermen say they have seen in the sea creatures like small beams, black and round, and of the same thickness throughout; others like shields, of a red colour, with many fins; others[142] like the human penis in appearance and size, but instead of testicles they had two fins, and that such have been taken on the extremity of grappling irons. This is the nature of the internal and external parts of all animals of every kind, both those which are peculiar to certain species, and those which are common to all.
[142] Perhaps Pennatula.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. We must now treat of the Senses: for they are not alike in all, but some have all the senses, and some fewer. They are mostly five in number; seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, touch, and besides these there are none peculiar to any creatures. Man, then, and all viviparous animals with feet, besides all sanguineous and viviparous animals, have all these, unless they are undeveloped in any particular kind, as in the mole.
2. For this creature has no sight, it has no apparent eyes, but when the thick skin which surrounds the head is taken away, in the place where the eyes ought to be on the outside, are the undeveloped internal eyes, which have all the parts of true eyes, for they have both the iris of the eye, and within the iris the part called the pupil, and the white; but all these are less than in true eyes. On the outside there is no appearance of these parts, from the thickness of the skin, as if the nature of the eye had been destroyed at birth; for there are two sinewy and strong passages proceeding from the brain, where it unites with the spinal cord, reaching from the socket of the eye, and ending upon the upper sharp teeth.
3. All other animals are endued with the perception of colours, sounds, smells, and taste. All animals have the fifth sense, which is called touch. In some animals the organs of sense are very distinct, and especially the eyes, for they have a definite place, and so has the hearing. For some animals have ears, and others open perforations: so also of the sense of smelling, some animals have nostrils, others passages, as the whole class of birds. In the same way the tongue is the organ of taste.
4. In aquatic animals and those called fish, the tongue is still the organ of taste, though it is indistinct, for it is bony, and not capable of free motion. In some fish the roof of the mouth is fleshy, as in some cyprini among river fish, so that, without careful examination, it appears like a tongue. That they have the sense of taste is quite clear, for many of them delight in peculiar food, and they will more readily seize upon a bait formed of the amia and other fat fishes, as if they delighted in the taste and eating of such baits.
5. They have no evident organ of hearing and smelling, for the passages which exist about the region of the nostrils in some fish do not appear to pass to the brain, but some of them are blind, and others lead to the gills; it is evident, however, that they both hear and smell, for they escape from loud noises, such as the oars of the triremes, so as to be easily captured in their hiding-places.
6. For if the external noise is not loud, yet to all aquatic animals that are capable of hearing, it appears harsh and very loud; and this takes place in hunting dolphins, for when they have enclosed them with their canoes, they make a noise from them in the sea, and the dolphins, crowded together, are obliged to leap upon the land, and, being stunned with the noise, are easily captured, although even dolphins have no external organs of hearing.
7. And again in fishing, the fishermen are careful to avoid making a noise with their oars or net when they perceive many fish collected in one place; they make a signal, and let down their nets in such a place that no sound of the oar or the motion of the waters should reach the place where the fish are collected, and the sailors are commanded to row in the greatest silence until they have enclosed them.
8. Sometimes, when they wish to drive them together, they proceed as in dolphin catching, for they make a noise with stones that they may be alarmed and collected together, and thus they are enclosed in a net.
Before their inclosure, as it was said, they prevent a noise, but as soon as they have enclosed them, they direct the sailors to shout and make a noise, for they fall down with fear when they hear the noise and tumult.
9. And when the fishers observe large shoals at a distance, collected on the surface in calm, fine weather, and wish to know their size, and of what kind they are, if they can approach them in silence, they avoid their notice, and catch them while they are on the surface. If any noise is made before they reach them, they may be seen in flight.
In the rivers, also, there are little fish under the stones, which some persons call cotti:[143] from their dwelling beneath rocks, they catch them by striking the rocks with stones, and the fishes fall down frightened when they hear the noise, being stunned by it. It is evident, from these considerations, that fishes have the sense of hearing.
[143] Perhaps Cottus gobio L., miller's thumb. Salmo Fario (_Strack_).
10. There are persons who say that fish have more acute ears than other animals, and that, from dwelling near the sea, they have often remarked it. Those fish which have the most acute ears are the cestreus[144] fishes; in others the sense of hearing less acute, because they live in the deeper parts of the ocean.
[144] Mullet.
[145] Unknown.
[146] Perca Labrax.
[147] Scomber.
[148] Unknown.
11. Their nature of smelling is the same, for the greater number of fishes will not take a bait that is not quite fresh; others are less particular. All fish will not take the same bait, but only particular baits, which they distinguish by the smell; for some are taken with stinking baits, as the salpe with dung. Many fish also live in the holes of rocks, and when the fishermen want to entice them out, they anoint the mouths of these holes with salted scents, to which they readily come.
12. The eel also is enticed out in this way, for they place a pitcher of salt food, covering the mouth of the pitcher with another vessel pierced with holes, and the eels are quickly drawn forth by the smell of the bait. Baits made of the roasted flesh of the cuttle fish, on account of its strong smell, attract fish very readily. They say they put the roasted flesh of the polypus upon their hooks for nothing but its strong smell.
13. And the fish called rhyades,[149] when the washings of fish or of fœtid drains are emptied into the water, make their escape as if smelling the fœtid odour. They say that fish soon smell the blood of their own kind; this is plain from their hastening from any place where the blood of fishes may be. On the whole, if any one use a putrid bait, the fish will not come near it; but if a fresh strong-smelling bait is used, they will come to it from a great distance.
[149] A fish living in shoals.
14. This is especially observable in what was said of dolphins, for these creatures have not external organs of hearing, but are captured by being stunned with a noise, as was before observed; neither have they any external organs of smell, yet their scent is acute. Therefore, it is evident that all creatures have these senses. Other kinds of animals are divided into four classes; and these contain the multitude of remaining animals, namely, the malacia, malacostraca, testacea, and insects.
15. Of these the malacia, the malacostraca, and insects have all the senses, for they can see, smell, and taste. Insects, whether they have wings or are apterus, can smell from a great distance, as the bee and the cnips[150] scent honey, for they perceive it from a long distance, as if they discovered it by the scent. Many of them perish by the fumes of sulphur: ants leave their hills when origanum and sulphur are sprinkled upon them. Almost all of them escape from the fumes of burnt stags' horns, but most of all do they avoid the smell of burnt styrax.
[150] Perhaps some species of ant.
16. The sepia, also, the polypus, and the carabus are caught with baits; the polypus holds the bait so fast that it holds on even when cut: if a person hold conyza to them, they let go as soon as they smell it. So, also, of the sense of taste, for they follow different kinds of food, and do not all prefer the same food, as the bee approaches nothing that is putrid, only sweet things; the gnat not what is sweet, but what is acid.
17. As I before observed, the sense of touch belongs to all animals.
The testacea have the senses of smelling and tasting. This is plain from the baits used, as those for the purpuræ; for this creature is caught with putrid substances, and will be attracted from a great distance to such baits, as if by the sense of smell. It is evident from what follows that they possess the sense of taste; for whatever they select by smell, they all love to taste.
18. And all animals with mouths receive pain or pleasure from the contact of food. But, concerning the senses of sight and hearing, it is not possible to say anything certain, or very distinct; the solens, if a person touch them, appear to retract themselves, and try to escape when they see an instrument approaching them, for a small portion of them is beyond the shell, the remainder as it were in a retreat; the pectens, also, if a finger is brought near them, open and shut themselves as if they could see.
19. Those who seek for neritæ do not approach them with the wind, when they seek them for baits, nor do they speak, but come silently, as if the creatures could both smell and hear; they say that if they speak, they get away. Of all testacea, the echinus appears to have the best sense of smell amongst those that can move, and the tethya and balanus in those that are fixed. This is the nature of the organs of sense in all animals.
CHAPTER IX.
1. The following is the nature of the voice of animals, for there is a distinction between voice and sound. Speech, again, is different from these. Voice is due to no other part except the pharynx, the creatures, therefore, without lungs are also without voice. Speech is the direction of the voice by the tongue; the vowels are uttered by the voice and the larynx, the mutes by the tongue and the lips; speech is made up of these: wherefore, no animals can speak that have not a tongue, nor if their tongue is confined.
2. The power of uttering a sound is connected with other parts also; insects have neither voice nor speech, but make a sound with the air within them, not with that which is external, for some of them breathe not, some of them buzz, as the bee with its wings, and others are said to sing, as the grasshopper. All these make a noise with the membrane which is beneath the division of their body in those which have a division, as some families of grasshoppers by the friction of the air.
These insects, bees, and all other insects raise and depress their wings in flight, for the sound is the friction of the air within them.
Locusts produce a sound by rubbing themselves with their legs, which are adapted for leaping. None of the malacia utter any sound or natural voice, nor do the malacostraca.
3. Fish also are mute, for they have neither lungs, trachea, nor pharynx. Some of them utter a sound and a squeak; these are said to have a voice, as the lyra[151] and chromi,[152] for these utter, as it were, a grunt; so does the capros, a fish of the Achelous, the chalceus[153] and coccyx,[154] for the one utters a sound like hissing, the other a noise like that of the cuckoo, from whence also its name is derived. Some of these utter their apparent voice by the friction of their gills, for these places are spinous, in others the sound is internal, near the stomach. For each of them has an organ of breathing, which causes a sound when it is pressed and moved about.
[151] Trigla Lyra.
[152] Cottus cataphractus.
[153] Zeus faber.
[154] Trigla hirundo.
4. Some of the selachea also appear to whistle, but they cannot be correctly said to utter a voice, only to make a sound. The pectens also make a whizzing noise when they are borne upon the surface of the water, or flying, as it is called; and so do the sea-swallows,[155] for they also fly through the air in the same way, not touching the sea, for they have wide and long fins. As the sound made by birds flying through the air is not a voice, so neither can either of these be properly so called. The dolphin also utters a whistle and lows when it comes out of the water into the air, in a different way from the animals above-mentioned--for this is a true voice, for it has lungs and a trachea, but its tongue is not free, nor has it any lips so as to make an articulate sound.
[155] Flying fish.
5. The oviparous quadrupeds, with a tongue and lungs, utter a sound, though it is a weak one. Some of them hiss like serpents; others have a small weak voice, others, as the tortoise, utter a small hiss. The tongue of the frog is peculiar, for the fore-part of it is fixed, like that of a fish; but the part near the pharynx is free and folded up.
With this it utters its peculiar sound. The male frogs make a croaking in the water when they invite the females to coition.
6. All animals utter a voice to invite the society and proximity of their kind, as the hog, the goat, and the sheep. The frog croaks by making its lower jaw of equal length, and stretching the upper one above the water. Their eyes appear like lights, their cheeks being swelled out with the vehemence of their croaking; for their copulation is generally performed in the night. The class of birds utter a voice: those which have a moderately wide tongue have the best voice; those also in which the tongue is thin. In some kinds both male and female have the same voice; in others it is different: the smaller kinds have more variety in their voice, and make more use of it, than the larger tribes.
7. All birds become more noisy at the season of coition. Some utter a cry when they are fighting, as the quail; others when they are going to fight, as the partridge; or when they have obtained a victory, as the cock. In some kinds both male and female sing, as the nightingale; but the female nightingale does not sing while she is sitting or feeding her young: in some the males alone, as the quail and the cock; the female has no voice. Viviparous quadrupeds utter different voices; none can speak--for this is the characteristic of man, for all that have a language have a voice, but not all that have a voice have also a language.
8. All that are born dumb, and all children, utter sounds, but have no language; for, as children are not complete in their other parts, so their tongue is not perfect at first; it becomes more free afterwards, so that they stammer and lisp. Both voices and language differ in different places.
9. The voice is most conspicuous in its acuteness or depth, but the form does not differ in the same species of animals; the mode of articulation differs, and this might be called speech, for it differs in different animals, and in the same genera in different places, as among partridges, for in some places they cackle, in others whistle.
Small birds do not utter the same voice as their parents, if they are brought up away from them, and have only heard other singing birds. For the nightingale has been observed instructing her young, so that the voice and speech are not naturally alike, but are capable of formation.
And men also have all the same voice, however much they may differ in language. The elephant utters a voice by breathing through its mouth, making no use of its nose, as when a man breathes forth a sigh; but with its nose it makes a noise like the hoarse sound of a trumpet.
CHAPTER X.
1. Concerning the sleep and wakefulness of animals. It is quite manifest that all viviparous animals with feet both sleep and are awake; for all that have eyelids sleep with the eyes closed; and not only men appear to dream, but horses, oxen, sheep, goats, dogs, and all viviparous quadrupeds. Dogs show this by barking in their sleep. It is not clear whether oviparous animals dream, but it is quite plain that they sleep.
2. And so it is in aquatic animals, as fish, the malacia, the malacostraca, the carabi, and such like creatures. The sleep of all these animals is short: it is plain that they do sleep, though we can form no conclusion from their eyes, for they have no eyelids, but from their not being alarmed; for if fish are not tormented with lice, and what are called psylli, they may be captured without alarming them, so that they can be even taken with the hand. And if fish remain at rest during the night a great multitude of these creatures fall upon and devour them.
3. They are found in such numbers at the bottom of the sea as to devour any bait made of fish that remains any length of time upon the ground; fishermen frequently draw them out hanging like globes around the bait. The following considerations will serve still more to confirm our suppositions that fishes sleep; for it is often possible to fall upon the fish so stealthily as to take by the hand, or even strike them during this time; they are quite quiet, and exhibit no signs of motion except with their tails, which they move gently. It is evident, also, that they sleep, from their starting if anything moves while they are asleep, for they start as if they were waked out of sleep.
4. They are also taken by torchlight while asleep; those who are seeking for thynni surround them while asleep; it is evident that they can be captured from their stillness, and the half-open white (of their eyes). They sleep more by night than by day, so that they do not move when they are struck; they generally sleep holding by the ground, or the sand, or a stone, at the bottom, concealing themselves beneath a rock, or a portion of the shore. The flat fishes sleep in the sand; they are recognized by their form in the sand, and are taken by striking them with a spear with three points. The labrax, chrysophrys, cestreus, and such-like fish are often taken with the same kind of weapon while asleep in the day time, but if not taken then, none of them can be captured with such a spear.
5. The selache sleep so soundly that they may be taken with the hand; the dolphin, whale, and all that have a blow-hole, sleep with this organ above the surface of the sea, so that they can breathe, while gently moving their fins, and some persons have even heard the dolphin snore. The malacia sleep in the same manner as fish, and so do the malacostraca. It is evident from the following considerations that insects sleep; for they evidently remain at rest without motion; this is particularly plain in bees, for they remain quiet, and cease to hum during the night. This is also evident from those insects with which we are most familiar, for they not only remain quiet during the night because they cannot see distinctly, for all creatures with hard eyes have indistinct vision, but they seem no less quiet when the light of a lamp is set before them.
6. Man sleeps the most of all animals. Infants and young children do not dream at all, but dreaming begins in most at about four or five years old. There have been men and women who have never dreamt at all; sometimes such persons, when they have advanced in age, begin to dream; this has preceded a change in their body, either for death or infirmity. This, then, is the manner of sensation, sleep and wakefulness.
CHAPTER XI.
1. In some animals the sexes are distinct, in others they are not so, these are said to beget and be with young by a likeness to other creatures. There is neither male nor female in fixed animals, nor in testacea. In the malacia and malacostraca there are male and female individuals, and in all animals with feet, whether they have two or four, which produce either an animal, an egg, or a worm from coition.
2. In other kinds the sexes are either single or not single; as in all quadrupeds there is the male and female, in the testacea it is not so, for as some vegetables are fertile and others barren, so it is in these. Among insects and fishes there are some that have no differences of this kind, as the eel is neither male nor female, nor is anything produced from them.
3. But those persons who say that some eels appear to have creatures like worms, of the size of a hair, attached to them, speak without observation, not having seen how they really are; for none of these creatures are viviparous without being first oviparous, none of them have ever been observed to contain ova; those that are viviparous have the embryo attached to the uterus, and not to the abdomen, for there it would be digested like food. The distinction made between the so-called male and female eel that the male has a larger and longer head, and that the head of the female is smaller, and more rounded, is a generic, and not a sexual distinction.
4. There are some fish called epitragiæ, and among fresh-water fish the cyprinus and balagrus are of the same nature, which never have ova or semen; those which are firm and fat, and have a small intestine, appear to be the best. There are creatures, such as the testacea, and plants, which beget, and produce young, but have no organ of coition; and so also in fishes the psetus,[156] erythrhinus,[157] and the channa. All these appear to have ova.
[156] Pleuronectes Lingua and Rhombus.
[157] Perca marina, or Sparus erithrinus.
5. In sanguineous animals with feet that are not oviparous, the males are generally larger and longer lived than the females, except the hemionus, but the females of this animal are both larger and longer lived; in oviparous and viviparous animals, as in fish and insects, the females are larger than the males, as the serpent, phalangium,[158] ascalabotes,[159] and frog; in fish likewise, as in most of the small gregarious selache, and all that inhabit rocks.
[158] Aranca tarantula.
[159] Lacerta Gekko.
6. It is evident that female fishes have longer lives than males, because females are caught of a greater age than the males; the upper and more forward parts of all animals are larger and stronger, and more firmly built in the male; the hinder and lower parts in the female.
This is the case in the human subject, and all viviparous animals with feet: the female is less sinewy, the joints are weaker, and the hairs finer, in those with hair; in those without hair, its analogues are of the same nature; the female has softer flesh and weaker knees than the male, the legs are slighter; the feet of females are more graceful, in all that have these members.
7. All females, also, have a smaller and more acute voice than the males, but in oxen the females utter a deeper sound than the males; the parts denoting strength, as the teeth, tusks, horns, and spurs, and such other parts, are possessed by the males, but not by the females, as the roe-deer has none, and the hens of some birds with spurs have none; the sow has no tusks: in some animals they exist in both sexes, only stronger and longer in the males, as the horns of bulls are stronger than those of cows.
BOOK THE FIFTH.
CHAPTER I.
1. We have hitherto treated of the external and internal parts of all animals, of their senses, voice, and sleep, with the distinctions between the males and females; it remains to treat of their generation, speaking first of those which come first in order, for they are many, and have numerous varieties, partly dissimilar, and partly like each other. And we will pursue the same order in considering them as we did before in their division into classes; we commenced our consideration by treating of the parts in man, but now he must be treated of last, because he is much more intricate.
2. We shall begin with the testacea, and after these treat of the malacostraca, and the others in the order of their succession. These are the malacia and insects, next to these fishes, both viviparous and oviparous; next to them birds, and afterwards we must treat of animals with feet, whether viviparous or oviparous; some viviparous creatures have four feet, man alone has two feet. The nature of animals and vegetables is similar, for some are produced from the seed of other plants, and others are of spontaneous growth, being derived from some origin of a similar nature. Some of them acquire their nourishment from the soil, others from different plants, as it was observed when treating of plants.
3. So also some animals are produced from animals of a similar form, the origin of others is spontaneous, and not from similar forms; from these and from plants are divided those which spring from putrid matter, this is the case with many insects; others originate in the animals themselves, and from the excrementitious matter in their parts; those which originate from similar animals, and have both the sexes are produced from coition, but of the class of fishes there are some neither male nor female, these belong to the same class among fishes, but to different genera, and some are quite peculiar. In some there are females but no males, by these the species is continued as in the hypenemia among birds.
4. All these among birds are barren, (for nature is able to complete them as far as the formation of an egg,) unless persons suppose that there is another method of communicating the male influence, concerning which we shall speak more plainly hereafter. In some fish, after the spontaneous production of the ovum, it happens that living creatures are produced, some by themselves, others by the aid of the male. The manner in which this is done will be made plain in a future place, for nearly the same things take place in the class of birds.
5. Whatever are produced spontaneously in living creatures, in the earth, or in plants, or in any part of them, have a distinction in the sexes, and by the union of the sexes something is produced, not the same in any respect, but an imperfect animal, as nits are produced from lice, and from flies and butterflies are produced egg-like worms, from which neither similar creatures are produced, nor any other creature, but such things only. First of all, then, we will treat of coition, and of the animals that copulate, and then of others, and successively of that which is peculiar to each, and that which is common to them all.
CHAPTER II.
1. Those animals in which there is a distinction of the sexes use sexual intercourse, but the mode of this intercourse is not the same in all, for all the males of sanguineous animals with feet have an appropriate organ, but they do not all approach the female in the same manner, but those which are retromingent, as the lion, the hare, and the lynx, unite backwards, and the female hare often mounts upon the male; in almost all the rest the mode is the same, for most animals perform the act of intercourse in the same way, the male mounting upon the female; and birds perform it in this way only.
2. There are, however, some variations even among birds; for the male sometimes unites with the female as she sits upon the ground, as the bustard and domestic fowl: in others, the female does not sit upon the ground, as the crane; for in these birds the male unites with the female standing up; and the act is performed very quickly, as in sparrows. Bears lie down during the act of intercourse, which is performed in the same manner as in those that stand on their feet, the abdomen of the male being placed upon the back of the female: in the hedgehogs, the abdomens of both sexes are in contact.
3. Among the large animals, the roe-deer seldom admits the stag, nor the cow the bull, on account of the hardness of the penis; but the female receives the male by submission. This has been observed to take place in tame deer. The male and female wolf copulate like dogs. Cats do not approach each other backwards, but the male stands erect, and the female places herself beneath him. The females are very lascivious, and invite the male, and make a noise during the intercourse.
4. Camels copulate as the female is lying down, and the male embraces and unites with her, not backwards, but like other animals. They remain in intercourse a whole day. They retire into a desert place, and suffer no one to approach them but their feeder. The penis of the camel is so strong, that bowstrings are made of it. Elephants also retire into desert places for intercourse, especially by the sides of rivers which they usually frequent. The female bends down and divides her legs, and the male mounts upon her. The seal copulates like retromingent animals, and is a long while about it, like dogs. The males have a large penis.
CHAPTER III.
1. Oviparous quadrupeds with feet copulate in the same manner: in some, the male mounts upon the female, like viviparous animals, as in the marine and land turtle, for they have an intromittent organ by which they adhere together, as the trygon and frog, and all such animals.
2. But the apodous long animals, as serpents and murænæ, are folded together, with the abdomens opposite, and serpents roll themselves together so closely, that they seem to be but one serpent with two heads. The manner of the whole race of saurians is the same, for they unite together in the same kind of fold.
CHAPTER IV.
1. All fish, except the flat selache, perform the act of intercourse by approaching each other with their abdomens opposite: but the flat fish, with tails, as the batos, trygon, and such like, not only approach each other, but the male applies his abdomen to the back of the female, in all those in which the thickness of the tail offers no impediment. But the rhinæ, and those which have a large tail, perform the act by the friction of their abdomens against each other, and some persons say that they have seen the male selache united to the back of the female, like dogs.
2. In all those that resemble the selache, the female is larger than the male; and in nearly all fish the female is larger than the male. The selache are those which have been mentioned; and the bos, lamia, æetus, narce, batrachus, and all the galeode. All the selache have been frequently observed to conduct themselves in this way. In all viviparous creatures the act occupies a longer time than in the oviparous. The dolphin and the cetacea also perform the act in the same manner, for the male attaches himself to the female for neither a very long, nor a very short time.
3. The males of some of the fish which resemble the selache differ from the females, in having two appendages near the anus, which the females have not, as in the galeodea; for these appendages exist in them all.
Neither fish nor any other apodal animal has testicles, but the males, both of serpents and of fish, have two passages, which become full of a seminal fluid at the season of coition; and all of them project a milky fluid. These passages unite in one, as they do in birds; for birds have two internal testes, and so have all oviparous animals with feet. In the act of coition this single passage passes to, and is extended upon the pudendum and receptacle of the female.
4. In viviparous animals with feet, the external passage for the semen and the fluid excrement is the same: internally these passages are distinct, as I said before in describing the distinctive parts of animals. In animals which have no bladder, the anus is externally united with the passage of the semen, internally the passages are close together; and this is the same in both sexes: for none of them have a bladder, except the tortoise. The female of this animal, though furnished with a bladder, has but one passage; but the tortoise is oviparous.
5. The sexual intercourse of the oviparous fish is less evident, wherefore many persons suppose that the female is impregnated by swallowing the semen of the male; and they have been frequently observed to do this. This is seen at the season of coition, when the females follow the males, and are observed to strike them on the abdomen with their mouths, this causes the males to eject their semen more rapidly. The males do the same with the ova of the females, for they swallow them as they are extruded, and the fish are born from those ova which remain.
6. In Phœnicia they use each sex for capturing the other; for having taken the male cestreus, they entice the females with it, and so enclose them in a net. They use the females in the same way for catching the males. The frequent observation of these circumstances appears to corroborate this manner of intercourse among them.
Quadrupeds also do the same thing, for at the season of coition both sexes emit a fluid, and smell to each other's pudenda.
7. And if the wind blows from the cock partridge to the hen, these last are impregnated; and often, if they hear the voice of the cock when they are inclined for sexual intercourse, or if he flies over them, they become pregnant from the breath of the cock. During the act of intercourse, both sexes open their mouths, and protrude their tongues.
The true intercourse of oviparous fish is rarely observed, from the rapidity with which the act is accomplished; for their intercourse has been observed to take place in the manner described.
CHAPTER V.
1. All the malacia, as the polypus, sepia, and teuthis, approach each other in the same manner, for they are united mouth to mouth; the tentacula of one sex being adapted to those of the other; for when the polypus has fixed the part called the head upon the ground, it extends its tentacula, which the other adapts to the expansion of its tentacula, and they make their acetabula answer together. And some persons say that the male has an organ like a penis in that one of its tentacula which contains the two largest acetabula. This organ is