sinewy, as far as the middle of the tentaculum, and they say that it is all inserted into the nostril of the female.
2. The sepia and loligo swim about coiled together in this way, and with their mouths and tentacula united, they swim in contrary directions to each other. They adapt the organ called the nostril of the male to the similar organ in the female; and the one swims forwards, and the other backwards. The ova of the female are produced in the part called the physeter, by means of which some persons say that they copulate.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The malacostraca, as the carabi, astaci, carides, and such like perform the act of intercourse like the retromingent animals, the one lying upon its back, and the other placing its tail upon it. They copulate on the approach of spring, near the land; for their sexual intercourse has often been observed, and sometimes when the figs begin to ripen.
2. The astaci and the carides perform the act in the same manner; but the carcini approximate the fore part of their bodies to each other, and adapt also the folds of their tails to each other. First of all, the smaller carcinus mounts from behind, and when he has mounted, the greater one turns on its side. In no other respect does the female differ from the male, but that the tail, which is folded on the body, is larger and more distant, and more thick set with appendages: upon this the ova are deposited, and the excrement ejected. Neither sex is furnished with an intromittent organ.
CHAPTER VII.
1. Insects approach each other from behind, and the smaller one subsequently mounts upon the larger. The male is always the smaller.
The female, which is below, inserts a member into the male, which is above, and not the male into the female, as in other animals. In some kinds this organ appears large in proportion to the size of the body, especially in those that are small, in others it is less. The organ may be plainly discerned if two flies are separated while in the act of coition. They are separated from each other with difficulty, for the act of intercourse in such animals occupies a long time. This may be plainly discerned by common observation, as in the fly and cantharis.
2. All adopt the same method, the fly, cantharis, spondyla[160], phalangium, or any other insect that copulates. All the phalangia that spin a web unite in the following manner. The female draws a filament from the middle of the web, and then the male draws it back again, and this they do a great many times till they meet, and are united backwards, for this kind of copulation suits them on account of the size of their abdomen. The copulation of animals is accomplished in this manner.
[160] A beetle living at the roots of trees, Carabus.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. All animals have their proper season and age for coition; the nature of most creatures requires them to have intercourse with each other when winter is turning into summer. This is the spring season, in which all animals with wings, feet, or fins, are incited to coition.
Some copulate and produce their young in the autumn and winter, as some aquatic and winged creatures. Mankind are ready at all seasons, and so are many other animals which associate with man; this arises from greater warmth, and better food, and is usual among those which are pregnant only for a short time, as the hog, dog, and those birds which have frequent broods. Many animals appear to adapt the season of coition to that which they consider the best for the nurture of their young.
2. Among mankind the male is more disposed for sexual intercourse in the winter, and the female in the summer. Birds, as I have observed, generally pair in the spring and summer, except the halcyon. This bird hatches its young about the time of the winter solstice. Whereupon fine days occurring at this season are called halcyon days, seven before the solstice and seven after it. As Simonides also writes in his poems, "as when in the winter months Jupiter prepares fourteen days, which mortals call the windless season, the sacred nurse of the variegated halcyon."
3. These fine days take place wherever it happens that the solstice turns to the south, when the pleiades set in the north. The bird is said to occupy seven days in building its nest, and the other seven in bringing out and nursing its young. The halcyon days are not always met with in this country at the time of the solstice, but they always occur in the Sicilian Sea. The halcyon produces five eggs.
4. The æthuia and the larus hatch their young among the rocks on the sea-side, and produce two or three, the larus during the summer, and the æthuia at the beginning of the spring, immediately after the equinox; it sets upon its eggs like other birds; neither of these kinds conceal themselves. The halcyon is the rarest of all, for it is only seen at the season of the setting of the pleiades, and at the solstice, and it first appears at seaports, flying as much as round a ship, and immediately vanishing away. Stesichorus also speaks of it in the same manner.
5. The nightingale produces her young at the beginning of summer. She produces five or six eggs. She conceals herself from the autumn to the beginning of spring. Insects copulate and produce their young during the winter whenever the days are fine, and the wind in the south, at least such of them as do not conceal themselves, as the fly and ant.
Wild animals produce their young once a year, unless, like the hare, they breed while they are nursing their young.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Fish also generally breed once a year, as the chyti. All those which are caught in a net are called chyti; the thynnus, palamis, cestreus, chalais, colias, chromis, psetta, and such like, the labrax is an exception, for this alone of them all breeds twice a year, and the second fry of these are much weaker. The trichias[161] and rock fish breed twice, the trigla is the only one that breeds three times a year.
This is shewn by the fry, which appear three times at certain places.
[161] Clupea Sprottus.
2. The scorpius breeds twice, and so does the sargus, in spring and autumn, the salpa once only in the spring. The thynnis breeds once, but as some of the fry are produced at first, and others afterwards, it appears to breed twice. The first fry makes its appearance in the month of December, after the solstice, the second in the spring. The male thynnis is different from the female, for the female has a fin under the abdomen, called aphareus, which the male has not.
3. Among the selachea, the rhine alone breeds twice in the year; at the beginning of the autumn, and at the period of the setting of the Pleiades. The young are, however, better in the autumn. At each breeding season it produces seven or eight. Some of the galei, as the asterias, seem to produce their ova twice every month. This arises from all the ova not being perfected at once.
4. Some fish produce ova at all seasons of the year, as the muræna: for this fish produces many ova, and the fry rapidly increase in size, as do those also of the hippurus,[162] for these, from being very small, rapidly increase to a great size; but the muræna produces young at all seasons, the hippurus in the spring. The smyrus differs from the muræna, for the muræna is throughout variegated and weak. The smyrus is of one colour, and strong; its colour is that of the pine tree, and it has teeth both internally and externally. They say that these are the male and the female, as in others. These creatures go upon the land, and are often taken.
[162] Coryphœna hippurus.
5. The growth of all fish is rapid, and not the least so in the coracinus among small fish. It breeds near the land, in thick places full of seaweed. The orphos also grows rapidly. The pelamis and thynnus breed in Pontus, and nowhere else. The cestreus, chrysophrys, and labrax, breed near the mouths of rivers. The orcynes and scorpides, and many other kinds, in the sea.
6. Most fish breed in March, April, and May; a few in the autumn, as the salpe, sargus, and all the others of this kind a little before the autumnal equinox; and the narce and rhine also. Some breed in the winter and summer, as I before observed, as the labrax, cestreus, and belona in the winter; the thynnis in June, about the summer solstice: it produces, as it were, a bag, containing many minute ova. The rhyas also breeds in the summer. The chelones among the cestræi begin to breed in the month of December, and so does the sargus, the myxon, as it is called, and the cephalus. They go with young thirty days. Some of the cestrei do not originate in coition, but are produced from mud and sand.
7. The greater number of them contain ova in the spring, but some, as I observed, in the summer, autumn, and winter. But this does not take place in all alike, nor singly, nor in every kind, as it does in most fish which produce their young in the spring: nor do they produce as many ova at other seasons. But it must not escape our notice, that as different countries make a great difference in plants and animals, not only in the habit of their body, but also in the frequency of their sexual intercourse and production of young; so different localities make a great difference in fish, not only in their size, and habit of their body, but in their young, and the frequency or rarity of their sexual intercourse, and of their offspring in this place or that.
CHAPTER X.
1. The malacia breed in the spring, and first of all the marine sepia, though this one breeds at all seasons. It produces its ova in fifteen days. When the ova are extruded, the male follows, and ejects his ink upon them, when they become hard. They go about in pairs. The male is more variegated than the female, and blacker on the back. The sexes of the polypus unite in the winter, the young are produced in the spring, when these creatures conceal themselves for two months. It produces an ovum like long hair, similar to the fruit of the white poplar. The fecundity of this animal is very great, for a great number of young are produced from its ova. The male differs from the female in having a longer head, and the part of the tentaculum which the fishermen call the penis is white. It incubates upon the ova it produces, so that it becomes out of condition, and is not sought after at this season.
2. The purpuræ produce their ova in the spring, the ceryx at the end of the winter; and, on the whole, the testacea appear to contain ova in the spring and autumn, except the eatable echini. These principally produce their young at the same seasons, but they always contain some ova, and especially at the full and new moon, and in fine weather, but those which live in the Euripus of the Pyrrhæi are better in winter.
They are a small kind but full of ova. All the cochleæ appear to contain ova at the same season.
CHAPTER XI.
1. The undomesticated birds, as it was observed, generally pair and breed once a-year. The swallows and cottyphus breed twice, but the first brood of the cottyphus is killed by the cold, for it is the earliest breeder of all birds. It is able, however, to bring up the other brood. But the domestic birds, and those capable of domestication, breed frequently, as pigeons during the whole summer, and domestic fowls. For these birds have sexual intercourse, and produce eggs all the year round, except at the winter solstice.
2. There are many kinds of pigeons, for the peleias and peristera are different. The peleias is the smaller, but the peristera is more readily tamed. The peleias is black and small, and has red and rough feet, for which reason it is never domesticated. The phatta is the largest of the tribe, the next is the œnas, which is a little larger than the peristera, the trygon is the least of all. If the peristera is supplied with a warm place and appropriate food, it will breed and bring up its young at any season of the year. If it is not properly supplied, it will only breed in the summer. Its young ones are best during the spring and autumn, those produced in the hot weather in summer are the worst.
CHAPTER XII.
1. Animals also differ in the age at which sexual intercourse commences. For in the first place the period at which the spermatic fluid begins to be secreted, and the age of puberty is not the same, but different; for the young of all animals are barren, or if they do possess the power of reproduction, their offspring are weak and small.
This is very conspicuous in mankind, and in viviparous quadrupeds and birds, for in the one the offspring, in the other the eggs, are small.
The age of puberty is nearly the same in the individuals of each kind, unless any alteration takes place, either as ominous, or from an injury done to their nature.
2. In men this period of life is shown by the change of voice, and not only by the size but by the form of the pudendum and of the breasts in women, but especially by the growth of hair on the pubes. The secretion of the spermatic fluid commences about the age of fourteen, the power of reproduction at twenty-one. Other animals have no hair on the pubes, for some have no hair at all, and others have none upon their under side, or less than on their upper side, but the change of the voice is conspicuous in some of them. And in others different parts of the body signify the period of the formation of the semen, and of the power of reproduction.
3. In almost all animals the voice of the female and of the young is more acute than that of the male and the older animals, for even the stags have a deeper voice than their females. The males utter their cry at the season of copulation, the females when they are alarmed. The voice of the female is short, that of the male longer. And the barking of old dogs is also deeper than of young ones, and the voice of the horse also varies. The females utter a little small cry as soon as they are born, and the males do the same, but their voice is deeper than that of the female, and as they grow older, it still increases. When they are two years old, and reach puberty, the male utters a great deep voice, that of the female is greater and clearer than it was at first; this continues till they are twenty years old at the outside, and after that the voice, both of the male and female, becomes weaker.
4. For the most part, then, as we observed, the voice of the male differs from that of the female in depth, in those animals which utter a lengthened sound. There are, however, some exceptions, as oxen; for in these animals the voice of the female is deeper than that of the male, and the voice of the calf than that of the full-grown animal; wherefore also in the castrated animals, the voice changes the other way, for it becomes more like that of the female.
5. The following are the ages at which animals acquire the power of reproduction. The sheep and goat arrive at puberty within a year after they are born, and especially the goat, and the males as well as the females, but the offspring of these males and of the others is different. For the males are better the second year than when they become older. In hogs, the male and female unite at eight months old, and the female produces her young when she is a year old, for this agrees with the period of gestation. The male reaches puberty at eight months old, but his offspring are useless till he is a year old. But these periods, as we have said, are not always the same, for swine will sometimes copulate when they are four months old, so as to have young and nurse them at six months old, and boars sometimes reach puberty at ten months old, and continue good to three years old.
6. The bitch reaches puberty within a year after birth, and so does the dog, and sometimes this takes place at the end of eight months, but more frequently in the male than in the female. The period of gestation is sixty days, or one or two, or perhaps three days more, but never less than sixty days, or if they produce young in a less time, it never comes to perfection. The bitch is ready for sexual intercourse again in six months, but never sooner. The horse reaches puberty in both sexes at two years old, and is capable of reproduction, but its offspring at that age are small and weakly. For the most part, sexual intercourse begins at three years of age, and the colts continue to improve from that period till they are twenty years old. The male is useful till he is thirty years old, so that he can beget during almost the whole of his life, for the horse generally lives five-and-thirty years, and the mare more than forty, and a horse has been known to live seventy-five years.
7. The ass reaches puberty in both sexes at the age of thirty months; they rarely, however, produce young till they are three years, or three years and six months old. But it has been known to be pregnant and bring up its young within the year. The cow also has been known to produce young and rear it within the year after birth, which grew to the ordinary size, and no more.[163] [163] This probably means "to such a size as might be expected from the early age of the parent."
8. These are the periods of puberty in these animals. The seventieth year in man, and the fiftieth in woman, is the latest period of reproduction, and this happens rarely, for only a few have had children at this time of life. Sixty-five is generally the boundary in one sex, and forty-five in the other. The sheep produces young till it is eight years old, and, if well treated, until it is eleven, though the act of copulation is continued in both sexes during the whole period of life.
9. Fat goats are rarely productive, wherefore they compare barren vines with barren goats, but they are productive when they are lean. The rams copulate with the old sheep first, but they do not follow after the younger; and the younger, as I before observed, produce a smaller offspring than the older.
10. A wild boar will beget till he is three years old, but the progeny of older animals is inferior; for he has not the same power or strength. He generally goes to the female when full of food, and without having been to another female, or, if not, the act of coition is of shorter duration, and the progeny smaller. The sow produces the smallest number of pigs at her first litter, but at the second they are more flourishing. She also produces young when old, but the act of coition is longer. At fifteen years old, she no longer produces young, but becomes fierce.
11. If well-fed, she will be more ready for sexual intercourse, whether young or old; and, if rapidly fattened when pregnant, she has less milk after parturition. As regards the age of the parent, the young of those in the prime of their age are the best, and those that are born at the beginning of winter. The worst are those born in the summer, for they are small, and thin, and weak. If the male is well fed, he is ready for sexual intercourse at all seasons, by day as well as by night; but if not well fed, he is most ready in the morning, and as he grows old, he becomes less disposed for it, as was said before. And it frequently happens that those which are impotent, through age or weakness, and cannot copulate readily, will approach the female as she lies down tired with long standing. The sow generally becomes pregnant when she hangs down her ears in her heats; if she is not pregnant, she becomes heated again.
12. Bitches do not copulate during the whole of their life, but only to a certain period. Their coition and pregnancy generally takes place till they are twelve years old, but both males and females have been known to perform the act of coition at eighteen and even twenty years of age; but old age takes away from both sexes the power of reproduction, as in other animals.
13. The camel is retroningent, and performs the act of intercourse in the manner already described; the period of its coition in Arabia is in the month of September; the female goes with young twelve months, and produces one foal, for the animal is one of those which produce but one. Both the male and female arrive at puberty at the age of three years, and the female is ready for the male again at the end of a year after parturition.
14. The elephant arrives at puberty, the earliest at ten years of age, the latest at fifteen, and the male at five or six years old. The season for the intercourse of the sexes is in the spring: and the male is ready again at the end of three years, but he never touches again a female whom he has once impregnated. Her period of gestation is two years, and then she produces one calf, for the elephant belongs to the class of animals which have but one young one at a time. The young one is as large as a calf of two or three months old. This, then, is the nature of the sexual intercourse of those animals which perform this function.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. We must now treat of the mode of reproduction, both of those animals which use sexual intercourse, and those which do not; and, first of all, we will speak of the testacea, for this is the only entire class which is not reproduced by sexual intercourse. The purpuræ collect together in the spring, and produce what is called their nidamental capsules (melicera), for it is like honey-comb, though not so deeply cut, but, as it were, made up of the white pods of vetches. These capsules have neither opening nor perforation, nor are the purpuræ produced from them; but both these and other testacea are produced from mud and putrefaction. But this substance is an excrementitious matter both in the purpura and the ceryx, for these last also produce similar capsules.
2. The testacea which produce these capsules are generated in the same way as the rest of their class, but more readily when there are homogeneous particles pre-existing among them; for, when they deposit their nidamental capsules, they emit a clammy mucus, from which the scales of the capsules are formed. When all these have been deposited, they emit upon the ground a sort of chyle, and small purpuræ spring up upon the same spot and adhere to the larger purpuræ, though some of these can hardly be distinguished by their form. But if they are taken before the breeding season, they will sometimes breed in the baskets, not indeed anywhere, but they collect together like they do in the sea, and the narrow limits of their place of captivity make them hang together like bunches of fruit.
3. There are many kinds of purpuræ, some of which are large, as those which are found near Sigeum and Lectum; and others are small, as those in the Euripus and on the Carian coast. Those found in gulfs are large and rough. Most of them contain a black pigment; in others it is red, and the quantity of it small. Some of the largest weigh as much as a mina. Near the shore and on the coast they are small, and the pigment is red. Those which are natives of the north contain a black pigment; in those of the south it is red, generally speaking.
4. They are taken in the spring, about the time that they deposit their capsules, but they are never taken during the dog-days, for then they do not feed, but conceal themselves and get out of the way. The pigment is contained between the mecon and the neck. The union of these parts is thick, and the colour is like a white membrane; this is taken away.
When this is bruised, the pigment wets and stains the hand. Something resembling a vein passes through it, and this appears to be the pigment; the nature of the rest resembles alum.[164] The pigment is the worst at the period of depositing their nidamental capsules.
[164] Evidently a corrupt reading.
5. The small ones are pounded up, shells and all, for it is not easy to separate them; but they separate the larger kinds from the shells, and then extract the pigment. For this purpose the mecon is divided from the neck, for the pigment lies above the part called the stomach, and when this is taken away, they are divided asunder. They are careful to bruise them while alive, for if they die before they are cut up, they vomit up the pigment; for this reason they keep them in the baskets till a sufficient number is collected, and there is time to procure the pigment.
6. The ancients did not let down or fasten any basket-net to their baits, so that it often happened that the purpura fell off as they were drawn up; but at the present time they use basket-nets, in order that if the purpura should fall off, it may not be lost. They are most likely to fall off when full, but when empty it is difficult to draw them from the bait. These are the peculiarities of the purpura. The nature of the ceryx is the same as that of the purpura, and so are their seasons.
7. They both have opercula, and so have all turbinated shell-fish, from the period of their birth. They feed by forcing out their tongue, as it is called, beneath the operculum: the purpura has a tongue larger than a finger, with which it feeds upon and pierces the conchylia, and even the shells of its own species. Both the purpura and the ceryx are long-lived, for the purpura lives six years, and its annual increase is seen in the divisions on the helix of its shell.
8. The mya also deposits nidamental capsules; those which are called limnostrea are the first to originate in muddy places, but the conchæ, chemæ, solens, and pectens find their subsistence in sandy shores; the pinnæ grow up from their byssus both in sandy and muddy shores.
The pinnæ always contain a pinnophylax, either like a small caris or cancer, and soon die when this is extracted. On the whole, all the testacea are produced spontaneously in mud different kinds originating in different sorts of mud: the ostrea is found in mud, the conchæ and others that have been mentioned in sand. The tethya, balanus, and others which live on the surface, as the patella and nerita, originate in holes in the rocks. All these reach maturity very soon, especially the purpuræ and pectens, for they are matured in one year.
9. Very small white cancri are produced in some of the testacea, especially in the myæ that inhabit muddy places, and next to this in the pinnæ those which are called pinnoteræ; they occur also in the pectens and limnostrea. These animals apparently never grow; and the fishermen say that they are produced at the same time as the creatures they inhabit. The pectens disappear for some time in the sand, and so do the purpuræ. The ostrea (bivalves) are produced in the manner described, for some of them originate in shallow water, others near the shore, or among rocks, or in rough hard places, or in sand; and some have the power of locomotion, others have not.
10. Among those that are not locomotive, the pinnæ are fixed; the solens and conchæ remain on one spot, though not fixed, and do not survive separation from their home. The nature of the aster[165] is so hot, that if it is captured immediately after swallowing anything, its food is found digested; and they say that it is very troublesome in the Pyrrhæan Euripus. Its form is like the paintings of a star. The creatures called pneumones are spontaneously produced. The shell which painters use is very thick, and the pigment is produced on the outside of the shell; they are principally found in the neighbourhood of Caria.
[165] Star-fish.
11. The carcinium also originates in earth and mud, and afterwards makes its way into an empty shell, and when it grows too large for that, it leaves it for a larger one, as the shell of the nerita, strombus, and such like; it frequently occurs in the small ceryx. When it has entered the shell, it carries it about and lives in it, except that as it grows it migrates into a larger shell.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. The nature of the testacea is the same as that of creatures without shells, as the cnidæ[166] and sponges, which inhabit the holes in rocks. There are two kinds of cnidæ, some which live in holes in the rocks, and cannot be separated from them, and other migrating species which live upon the smooth flat surface of the rocks. (The patella also is free and locomotive.) In the interior of the sponges are found the creatures called pinnophylaces, and the interior is closed with a net like a spider's web, and small fish are captured by opening and closing this web, for it opens as they approach, and closes upon them when they have entered.
[166] Actinia.
2. There are three kinds of sponges; one of them is thin, the other is thick, and the third, which is called the Achillean sponge, is slender, compact, and very strong; it is placed beneath helmets and thigh-pieces, for the sake of deadening the sound of blows; this kind is very rare. Among the compact kinds, those which are very hard and rough are called tragi. They all grow upon the rock or near the shore, and obtain their food from the mud. This is evident, for they are full of mud when they are captured. This is the case with all other fixed things, that they derive their food from the spot to which they are attached.
3. The compact species are weaker than those which are thin, because their point of attachment is smaller. It is affirmed that the sponge possesses sensation; this is a proof of it, that it contracts if it perceives any purpose of tearing it up, and renders the task more difficult. The sponge does the same thing when the winds and waves are violent, that it may not lose its point of attachment. There are some persons who dispute this, as the natives of Torona. The sponge is inhabited by worms and other living creatures, which the rock-fish eat when the sponge is torn up, as well as the remainder of its roots. But if the sponge is broken off, it grows again, and is completed from the portion that is left.
4. The thin sponges are the largest, and they are most abundant on the Lycian coast; the compact sponges are softer, and the Achillean are more harsh than the others. On the whole, those that inhabit deep places with a mild temperature are the softest, for wind and cold weather harden them, as they do other growing things, and stop their increase. For this reason the sponges of the Hellespont are rough and compact; and, altogether, those beyond Malea, and those on this side, differ in softness and hardness.
5. Neither should the heat be very great, for the sponge becomes rotten, like plants, wherefore those near the shore are the best, especially if the water is deep near the land, for the temperature is moderated by the depth. When alive, before they are washed, they are black. Their point of attachment is neither single nor dispersed over the whole surface, for there are empty passages between the points of attachment. Something like a membrane is extended over their lower part, and the attachment is by several points; on the upper part are other closed passages, and four or five which are apparent. Wherefore some persons say that these are the organs by which they take their food.
6. There is also another species called aplysia, because it cannot be washed. This has very large passages; but the other parts of the substance are quite compact. When cut open it is more compact and smooth than the sponge, and the whole is like a lung; of all the sponges this one is confessed to have the most sensation, and to be the most enduring. They are plainly seen in the sea near the sponges, for the other sponges are white as the mud settles down upon them, but these are always black. This is the mode of production in sponges and testacea.
CHAPTER XV.
1. Among the malacostraca the carabi are impregnated by sexual intercourse, and contain their ova during three months, May, June, and July. They afterwards deposit them upon the hollow part of their folded tail, and their ova grow like worms. The same thing takes place in the malacia and oviparous fish, for their ova always grow.
2. The ova of the carabi are sandy, and divided into eight parts; for a cartilaginous appendage, round which the ova are attached, is united to each of the opercula at their junction with the side; and the whole resembles a bunch of grapes, for every one of the cartilaginous appendages is frequently subdivided, and the divisions are apparent to any one who will separate them, but when first seen they appear to be united. Those ova which are in the centre are larger than those which are contiguous to the perforation, and the last are the least.
3. The smallest ova are as large as millet; the ova are not continuous with the perforation, but in the middle. For two divisions extend on each side, from the tail and from the thorax, and this is also the line of junction for the opercula. The ova, which are placed at the side, cannot be enclosed, unless the extremity of the tail is drawn over them; this, however, covers them like a lid.
4. The female, in depositing her ova, appears to collect them on the cartilaginous appendages by means of the broad part of the folded tail.
She produces them by pressing with her tail and bending her body. These cartilaginous processes at the season of oviposition increase in size, in order to become appropriate receptacles for the ova. The ova are deposited on these processes, as those of the sepia are deposited upon broken pieces of wood or anything floating in the sea. This is the manner of depositing them; but after they have been ripened twenty days, they are cast off altogether in a mass, as they appear when separated from the parent; in fifteen days, at the outside, the carabi are produced from these ova, and they are often taken off less than a finger's length. The ova are produced before Arcturus, and after Arcturus they are cast off.
5. The cyphæ among the carides contain their ova about four months.
The carabi are found in rough and rocky places, the astaci in those that are smooth; but neither of them inhabit mud. For this cause the astaci are found in the Hellespont and near Thasus; the carabi in the neighbourhood of Sigeum and Athos. Fishermen, when they pursue their calling in the open sea, distinguish the rough and muddy places by the nature of the shore, and other signs. In the spring and winter they come near the shore; in summer time they go into deep water, sometimes for the sake of warmth, and sometimes for the cold.
6. Those called arcti[167] breed nearly at the same time as the carabi, wherefore they are most excellent in winter and in spring before the breeding season, and they are worst after they have deposited their ova. They change their shell in the spring, like the serpent, which puts off its old age, as it is called. Both the carabi and the carcini do this when they are young, as well as afterwards. All the carabi are long-lived.
[167] Perhaps, Cancer spinosissimus.
CHAPTER XVI.
1. The malacia produce a white ovum after sexual intercourse; in the course of time this becomes sandy, like that of the testacea. The polypus deposits its ova in holes or pots, or any other hollow place; the ovum is like bunches of the wild vine and of the white poplar, as was observed before; when the ova are produced they remain suspended from the hole in which they were deposited; and the ova are so numerous, that when taken out they will fill a vessel much larger than the head of the polypus in which they were contained.