Louis (Budé, 1964–69) · Thompson (1910)
Thompson (1910)
Greek line numbers are exact. The translations carry no Bekker numbers of their own, so those beside the English are aligned to the Greek: upright = fixed (anchored to this point in the text), italic grey = approximate (interpolated estimate).
Book 5,Chapter 1 (538b28–539b16)
538b
Ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἔχουσι μόρια τὰ ζῷα πάντα καὶ τῶν
ἐντὸς καὶ τῶν ἐκτός, ἔτι δὲ περί τε τῶν αἰσθήσεων καὶ φωνῆς
30 καὶ ὕπνου, καὶ ποῖα θήλεα καὶ ποῖα ἄρρενα, πρότερον
As to the parts internal and external that all animals are furnished withal, and further as to the senses, to voice, and sleep, and the duality sex, all these topics have now been touched upon.
539a
1 εἴρηται περὶ ἁπάντων· περὶ δὲ τῶν γενέσεων αὐτῶν λοιπὸν
διελθεῖν, καὶ πρῶτον περὶ τῶν πρώτων. Εἰσὶ δὲ πολλαὶ καὶ
πολλὴν ἔχουσαι ποικιλίαν, καὶ τῇ μὲν ἀνόμοιοι, τῇ δὲ τρόπον
τινὰ προσεοίκασιν ἀλλήλαις. Ἐπεὶ δὲ διῄρηται τὰ γένη
5 πρότερον, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ νῦν πειρατέον ποιεῖσθαι τὴν
θεωρίαν· πλὴν τότε μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐποιούμεθα σκοποῦντες
περὶ τῶν μερῶν ἀπ' ἀνθρώπου, νῦν δὲ περὶ τούτου τελευταῖον
λεκτέον διὰ τὸ πλείστην ἔχειν πραγματείαν. Πρῶτον δ' ἀρκτέον
ἀπὸ τῶν ὀστρακοδέρμων, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τῶν
10 μαλακοστράκων, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὴ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐφεξῆς·
ἔστι δὲ τά τε μαλάκια καὶ τὰ ἔντομα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὸ
τῶν ἰχθύων γένος, τό τε ζῳοτόκον καὶ τὸ ᾠοτόκον αὐτῶν,
εἶτα τὸ τῶν ὀρνίθων· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τῶν πεζῶν λεκτέον,
ὅσα τ' ᾠοτόκα καὶ ὅσα ζῳοτόκα. Ζῳοτόκα δ' ἐστὶ
15 τῶν τετραπόδων ἔνια, καὶ ἄνθρωπος τῶν διπόδων μόνον. Κοινὸν
μὲν οὖν συμβέβηκε καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ζῴων, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ
τῶν φυτῶν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ σπέρματος ἑτέρων φυτῶν, τὰ
δ' αὐτόματα γίνεται, συστάσης τινὸς τοιαύτης ἀρχῆς, καὶ
τούτων τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαμβάνει τὴν τροφήν, τὰ δ' ἐν
20 ἑτέροις ἐγγίνεται φυτοῖς, ὥσπερ εἴρηται ἐν τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῇ
περὶ φυτῶν. Οὕτω καὶ τῶν ζῴων τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ ζῴων γίνεται
κατὰ συγγένειαν τῆς μορφῆς, τὰ δ' αὐτόματα καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ
συγγενῶν, καὶ τούτων τὰ μὲν ἐκ γῆς σηπομένης καὶ φυτῶν,
ὥσπερ πολλὰ συμβαίνει τῶν ἐντόμων, τὰ δ' ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις
25 αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῶν τοῖς μορίοις περιττωμάτων. Τῶν δὴ τὴν γένεσιν
ἐχόντων ἀπὸ συγγενῶν ζῴων ἐν οἷς μὲν αὐτῶν ἐστι τὸ
θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν, ἐκ συνδυασμοῦ γίνονται· ἐν δὲ τῷ τῶν
ἰχθύων γένει ἔνια γίνεται οὔτ' ἄρρενα οὔτε θήλεα, τῷ γένει
μὲν ὄντα ἑτέροις τῶν ἰχθύων τὰ αὐτά, τῷ εἴδει δ' ἕτερα,
30 ἔνια δὲ καὶ πάμπαν ἴδια. Τὰ δὲ θήλεα μέν ἐστιν, ἄρρενα δ'
οὔ· ἐξ ὧν γίνεται ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς ὄρνισι τὰ ὑπηνέμια. Τὰ
μὲν οὖν τῶν ὀρνίθων ἄγονα πάντα ἐστὶ ταῦτα (μέχρι γὰρ τοῦ
ᾠὸν γεννῆσαι δύναται ἡ φύσις αὐτῶν ἐπιτελεῖν), ἂν μή τις
1It now remains for us to discuss, duly and in order, their several modes of propagation.
These modes are many and diverse, and in some respects are like, and in other respects are unlike to one another. As we carried on our previous discussion genus by genus, so we must attempt to follow the same divisions in our present 5argument; only that whereas in the former case we started with a consideration of the parts of man, in the present case it behoves us to treat of man last of all because he involves most discussion. We shall commence, then, with testaceans, and then proceed to crustaceans, and then to the other genera in due order; and these other genera are, severally, molluscs, and insects, then fishes viviparous 10and fishes oviparous, and next birds; and afterwards we shall treat of animals provided with feet, both such as are oviparous and such as are viviparous, and we may observe that some quadrupeds are viviparous, but that the only viviparous biped is man.
Now there is one property that animals are found to have in common with plants. For some plants are generated from the seed of plants, whilst other 15plants are self-generated through the formation of some elemental principle similar to a seed; and of these latter plants some derive their nutriment from the ground, whilst others grow inside other plants, as is mentioned, by the way, in my treatise on Botany. So with animals, some spring from parent animals according to their kind, whilst others grow spontaneously and not from kindred stock; and of 20these instances of spontaneous generation some come from putrefying earth or vegetable matter, as is the case with a number of insects, while others are spontaneously generated in the inside of animals out of the secretions of their several organs.
In animals where generation goes by heredity, wherever there is duality of sex generation is due to copulation. In the group of fishes, however, there are 25some that are neither male nor female, and these, while they are identical generically with other fish, differ from them specifically; but there are others that stand altogether isolated and apart by themselves. Other fishes there are that are always female and never male, and from them are conceived what correspond to the wind-eggs in birds. Such eggs, by the way, in birds are all unfruitful; but it 30is their nature to be independently capable of generation up to the egg-stage, unless indeed there be some other mode than the one familiar to us of intercourse with the male; but concerning these topics we shall treat more precisely later on.
These modes are many and diverse, and in some respects are like, and in other respects are unlike to one another. As we carried on our previous discussion genus by genus, so we must attempt to follow the same divisions in our present 5argument; only that whereas in the former case we started with a consideration of the parts of man, in the present case it behoves us to treat of man last of all because he involves most discussion. We shall commence, then, with testaceans, and then proceed to crustaceans, and then to the other genera in due order; and these other genera are, severally, molluscs, and insects, then fishes viviparous 10and fishes oviparous, and next birds; and afterwards we shall treat of animals provided with feet, both such as are oviparous and such as are viviparous, and we may observe that some quadrupeds are viviparous, but that the only viviparous biped is man.
Now there is one property that animals are found to have in common with plants. For some plants are generated from the seed of plants, whilst other 15plants are self-generated through the formation of some elemental principle similar to a seed; and of these latter plants some derive their nutriment from the ground, whilst others grow inside other plants, as is mentioned, by the way, in my treatise on Botany. So with animals, some spring from parent animals according to their kind, whilst others grow spontaneously and not from kindred stock; and of 20these instances of spontaneous generation some come from putrefying earth or vegetable matter, as is the case with a number of insects, while others are spontaneously generated in the inside of animals out of the secretions of their several organs.
In animals where generation goes by heredity, wherever there is duality of sex generation is due to copulation. In the group of fishes, however, there are 25some that are neither male nor female, and these, while they are identical generically with other fish, differ from them specifically; but there are others that stand altogether isolated and apart by themselves. Other fishes there are that are always female and never male, and from them are conceived what correspond to the wind-eggs in birds. Such eggs, by the way, in birds are all unfruitful; but it 30is their nature to be independently capable of generation up to the egg-stage, unless indeed there be some other mode than the one familiar to us of intercourse with the male; but concerning these topics we shall treat more precisely later on.
539b
1 αὐτοῖς συμβῇ τρόπος ἄλλος τῆς κοινωνίας πρὸς τοὺς
ἄρρενας· περὶ ὧν ἀκριβέστερον ἔσται δῆλον ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον. Τῶν
δ' ἰχθύων ἐνίοις, ὅταν αὐτόματα γεννήσωσιν ᾠά, συμβαίνει ἐκ
τούτων καὶ ζῷα γίνεσθαι, πλὴν τῶν μὲν καθ' αὑτά, τῶν δ'
5 οὐκ ἄνευ ἄρρενος· ὃν δὲ τρόπον, καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐν τοῖς ἐχομένοις
ἔσται φανερόν· σχεδὸν γὰρ παραπλήσια συμβαίνει
καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων. Ὅσα δ' ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου γίνεται ἐν ζῴοις
ἢ γῇ ἢ φυτοῖς ἢ τοῖς τούτων μορίοις, ἔχουσι δὲ τὸ ἄρρεν καὶ
τὸ θῆλυ, ἐκ τούτων συνδυαζομένων γίνεται μέν τι, οὐ ταὐτὸ
10 δ' ἐξ οὐδενὸς ἀλλ' ἀτελές, οἷον ἔκ τε τῶν φθειρῶν ὀχευομένων
αἱ καλούμεναι κονίδες καὶ ἐκ τῶν μυιῶν σκώληκες
καὶ ἐκ τῶν ψυλλῶν σκώληκες ᾠοειδεῖς, ἐξ ὧν οὔτε τὰ γεννήσαντα
γίνεται οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδὲν ζῷον, ἀλλὰ τὰ τοιαῦτα μόνον.
Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν περὶ τῆς ὀχείας λεκτέον, ὅσα ὀχεύεται,
15 εἶτα μετὰ ταῦτα περὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐφεξῆς, τά τε καθ' ἕκαστα
καὶ τὰ κοινῇ συμβαίνοντα περὶ αὐτῶν.
1In the case of certain fishes, however, after they have spontaneously generated eggs, these eggs develop into living animals; only that in certain of these cases development is spontaneous, and in others is not independent of the male; and the method of proceeding in regard to these matters will set forth by 5and by, for the method is somewhat like to the method followed in the case of birds. But whensoever creatures are spontaneously generated, either in other animals, in the soil, or on plants, or in the parts of these, and when such are generated male and female, then from the copulation of such spontaneously generated males and females there is generated a something-a something never 10identical in shape with the parents, but a something imperfect. For instance, the issue of copulation in lice is nits; in flies, grubs; in fleas, grubs egg-like in shape; and from these issues the parent-species is never reproduced, nor is any animal produced at all, but the like nondescripts only.
First, then, we must proceed to treat of 'covering' in regard to such animals as cover 15and are covered; and then after this to treat in due order of other matters, both the exceptional and those of general occurrence.
First, then, we must proceed to treat of 'covering' in regard to such animals as cover 15and are covered; and then after this to treat in due order of other matters, both the exceptional and those of general occurrence.
Book 5,Chapter 2 (539b17–540a26)
Ὀχεύεται μὲν οὖν ταῦτα τῶν ζῴων ἐν οἷς ὑπάρχει τὸ
θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄρρεν, εἰσὶ δ' αἱ ὀχεῖαι οὔθ' ὅμοιαι πᾶσιν οὔθ'
ὁμοίως ἔχουσαι. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ζῳοτόκα καὶ πεζὰ τῶν ἐναίμων
20 ἔχει μὲν ὄργανα πάντα τὰ ἄρρενα πρὸς τὴν πρᾶξιν
τὴν γεννητικήν, οὐ μὴν ὁμοίως γε πάντα πλησιάζουσιν, ἀλλὰ
τὰ μὲν ὀπισθουρητικὰ συνιόντα πυγηδόν, οἷον λέοντές τε καὶ
δασύποδες καὶ λύγκες· τῶν δὲ δασυπόδων καὶ πολλάκις ἡ
θήλεια προτέρα ἀναβαίνει ἐπὶ τὸν ἄρρενα. Τῶν δ' ἄλλων τῶν
25 μὲν πλείστων ὁ αὐτὸς τρόπος· τὸν ἐνδεχόμενον γὰρ ποιοῦνται
συνδυασμὸν τά τε πλεῖστα τῶν τετραπόδων, ἐπιβαίνοντος
ἐπὶ τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος, καὶ τὸ τῶν ὀρνίθων ἅπαν γένος οὕτω
τε καὶ μοναχῶς. Εἰσὶ δὲ διαφοραί τινες καὶ περὶ τοὺς
ὄρνιθας· τὰ μὲν γὰρ συγκαθείσης τῆς θηλείας ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐπιβαίνει
30 τὸ ἄρρεν, ὥσπερ αἱ ὠτίδες καὶ οἱ ἀλεκτρυόνες, τὰ
δ' οὐ συγκαθείσης τῆς θηλείας, οἷον αἱ γέρανοι· ἐν τούτοις γὰρ
ὁ ἄρρην ἐπιπηδῶν ὀχεύει τὴν θήλειαν, καὶ συγγίνεται ὥςπερ
καὶ τὰ στρουθία ὀξέως. Τῶν δὲ τετραπόδων αἱ ἄρκτοι
Those animals, then, cover and are covered in which there is a duality of sex, and the modes of covering in such animals are not in all cases similar nor analogous. For the red-blooded animals that are viviparous and furnished with feet have in all cases 20organs adapted for procreation, but the sexes do not in all cases come together in like manner. Thus, opisthuretic animals copulate with a rearward presentment, as is the case with the lion, the hare, and the lynx; though, by the way, in the case of the hare, the female is often observed to cover the male.
The case is similar in most other such animals; that is to say, the majority 25of quadrupeds copulate as best they can, the male mounting the female; and this is the only method of copulating adopted by birds, though there are certain diversities of method observed even in birds. For in some cases the female squats on the ground and the male mounts on top of her, as is the case with the cock and hen bustard, and the barn-door cock and hen; in other cases, the 30male mounts without the female squatting, as with the male and female crane; for, with these birds, the male mounts on to the back of the female and covers her, and like the cock-sparrow consumes but very little time in the operation.
The case is similar in most other such animals; that is to say, the majority 25of quadrupeds copulate as best they can, the male mounting the female; and this is the only method of copulating adopted by birds, though there are certain diversities of method observed even in birds. For in some cases the female squats on the ground and the male mounts on top of her, as is the case with the cock and hen bustard, and the barn-door cock and hen; in other cases, the 30male mounts without the female squatting, as with the male and female crane; for, with these birds, the male mounts on to the back of the female and covers her, and like the cock-sparrow consumes but very little time in the operation.
540a
1 παρακεκλιμέναι τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὅνπερ τἆλλα ἐπὶ
τῶν ποδῶν ποιούμενα τὴν ὀχείαν, πρὸς τὰ πρανῆ τῶν θηλειῶν
τὰ ὕπτια τῶν ἀρρένων· οἱ δὲ χερσαῖοι ἐχῖνοι ὀρθοὶ τὰ ὕπτια
πρὸς ἄλληλα ἔχοντες. Τῶν δὲ ζῳοτόκων καὶ μέγεθος ἐχόντων
5 οὔτε τοὺς ἄρρενας ἐλάφους αἱ θήλειαι ὑπομένουσιν, εἰ μὴ
ὀλιγάκις, οὔτε τοὺς ταύρους αἱ βόες διὰ τὴν τοῦ αἰδοίου συντονίαν,
ἀλλ' ὑπάγοντα τὰ θήλεα δέχονται τὴν γονήν· καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ
τῶν ἐλάφων ὦπται τοῦτο συμβαῖνον, τῶν γε τιθασσῶν. Λύκος
δ' ὀχεύει καὶ ὀχεύεται τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὅνπερ καὶ
10 κύων. Οἱ δ' αἴλουροι οὐκ ὄπισθεν συνίοντες, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ὀρθός,
ἡ δὲ θήλεια ὑποτίθησιν αὑτήν· εἰσὶ δὲ τὴν φύσιν αἱ θήλειαι
ἀφροδισιαστικαί, καὶ προσάγονται τοὺς ἄρρενας εἰς τὰς ὀχείας,
καὶ συνοῦσαι κράζουσιν. Αἱ δὲ κάμηλοι ὀχεύονται τῆς
θηλείας καθημένης· περιβεβηκὼς δ' ὁ ἄρρην ὀχεύει, οὐκ ἀντίπυγος,
15 ἀλλὰ καθάπερ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα τετράποδα· καὶ
διημερεύει τὸ μὲν ὀχεῦον τὸ δ' ὀχευόμενον. Ἀποχωροῦσι δ'
εἰς ἐρημίαν, ὅταν ποιῶνται τὴν ὀχείαν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πλησιάσαι
ἀλλ' ἢ τῷ βόσκοντι. Τὸ δ' αἰδοῖον ἔχει ὁ κάμηλος νεῦρον
οὕτως ὥστε καὶ νευρὰν ποιοῦνται ἐκ τούτου τοῖς τόξοις. Οἱ
20 δ' ἐλέφαντες ὀχεύονται μὲν ἐν ταῖς ἐρημίαις, μάλιστα δὲ
περὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς καὶ οὗ διατρίβειν εἰώθασιν· ὀχεύεται δ' ἡ
μὲν θήλεια συγκαθιεῖσα καὶ διαβαίνουσα, ὁ δ' ἄρρην ἐπαναβαίνων
ὀχεύει. Ὀχεύεται δὲ καὶ ἡ φώκη καθάπερ τὰ ὀπισθουρητικὰ
τῶν ζῴων, καὶ συνέχονται ἐν τῇ ὀχείᾳ πολὺν
25 χρόνον, ὥσπερ αἱ κύνες· ἔχουσι δὲ καὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον οἱ
ἄρρενες μέγα.
1Of quadrupeds, bears perform the operation lying prone on one another, in the same way as other quadrupeds do while standing up; that is to say, with the belly of the male pressed to the back of the female. Hedgehogs copulate erect, belly to belly.
With regard to large-sized vivipara, the hind only 5very rarely sustains the mounting of the stag to the full conclusion of the operation, and the same is the case with the cow as regards the bull, owing to the rigidity of the penis of the bull. In point of fact, the females of these animals elicit the sperm of the male in the act of withdrawing from underneath him; and, by the way, this phenomenon has been observed in the 10case of the stag and hind, domesticated, of course. Covering with the wolf is the same as with the dog. Cats do not copulate with a rearward presentment on the part of the female, but the male stands erect and the female puts herself underneath him; and, by the way, the female cat is peculiarly lecherous, and wheedles the male on to sexual commerce, and caterwauls during the 15operation. Camels copulate with the female in a sitting posture, and the male straddles over and covers her, not with the hinder presentment on the female's part but like the other quadrupeds mentioned above, and they pass the whole day long in the operation; when thus engaged they retire to lonely spots, and none but their keeper dare approach them. And, be it observed, 20the penis of the camel is so sinewy that bow-strings are manufactured out of it. Elephants, also, copulate in lonely places, and especially by river-sides in their usual haunts; the female squats down, and straddles with her legs, and the male mounts and covers her. The seal covers like all opisthuretic animals, and in this species the copulation extends over a lengthened 25time, as is the case with the dog and bitch; and the penis in the male seal is exceptionally large.
With regard to large-sized vivipara, the hind only 5very rarely sustains the mounting of the stag to the full conclusion of the operation, and the same is the case with the cow as regards the bull, owing to the rigidity of the penis of the bull. In point of fact, the females of these animals elicit the sperm of the male in the act of withdrawing from underneath him; and, by the way, this phenomenon has been observed in the 10case of the stag and hind, domesticated, of course. Covering with the wolf is the same as with the dog. Cats do not copulate with a rearward presentment on the part of the female, but the male stands erect and the female puts herself underneath him; and, by the way, the female cat is peculiarly lecherous, and wheedles the male on to sexual commerce, and caterwauls during the 15operation. Camels copulate with the female in a sitting posture, and the male straddles over and covers her, not with the hinder presentment on the female's part but like the other quadrupeds mentioned above, and they pass the whole day long in the operation; when thus engaged they retire to lonely spots, and none but their keeper dare approach them. And, be it observed, 20the penis of the camel is so sinewy that bow-strings are manufactured out of it. Elephants, also, copulate in lonely places, and especially by river-sides in their usual haunts; the female squats down, and straddles with her legs, and the male mounts and covers her. The seal covers like all opisthuretic animals, and in this species the copulation extends over a lengthened 25time, as is the case with the dog and bitch; and the penis in the male seal is exceptionally large.
Book 5,Chapter 3 (540a27–32)
Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ τῶν πεζῶν τὰ τετράποδα καὶ
ᾠοτόκα ποιεῖται τὴν ὀχείαν. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐπιβαίνοντα καθάπερ
τὰ ζῳοτόκα, οἷον χελώνη καὶ ἡ θαλαττία καὶ ἡ
30 χερσαία. Ἔχουσι δέ τι εἰς ὃ οἱ πόροι συνάπτουσιν καὶ ᾧ ἐν
τῇ ὀχείᾳ πλησιάζουσιν, οἷον φρῦναι καὶ βάτραχοι καὶ πᾶν
τὸ τοιοῦτον γένος.
Oviparous quadrupeds cover one another in the same way. That is to say, in some cases the male mounts the female precisely as in the viviparous animals, as is observed in both the land and the sea tortoise....And these creatures have an organ in which the ducts converge, and 30with which they perform the act of copulation, as is also observed in the toad, the frog, and all other animals of the same group.
Book 5,Chapter 4 (540a33–540b5)
Τὰ δ' ἄποδα καὶ μακρὰ τῶν ζῴων, οἷον ὄφεις τε καὶ
Long animals devoid of feet, like serpents and muraenae, intertwine in coition, belly to belly.
540b
1 σμύραιναι, περιπλεκόμεναι τοῖς ὑπτίοις πρὸς τὰ ὕπτια.
Οὕτω δὲ σφόδρα οἵ γ' ὄφεις περιελίττονται ἀλλήλοις, ὥστε δοκεῖν
ἑνὸς ὄφεως δικεφάλου τὸ σῶμα εἶναι ἅπαν. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ
τρόπον καὶ τὸ τῶν σαύρων γένος· ὁμοίᾳ γὰρ περιπλοκῇ
5 ποιοῦνται τὴν ὀχείαν.
1And, in fact, serpents coil round one another so tightly as to present the appearance of a single serpent with a pair of heads. The same mode is followed by the saurians; that is to say, they coil round one another in the act of coition.
Book 5,Chapter 5 (540b6–541a34)
Οἱ δ' ἰχθύες ἅπαντες, ἔξω τῶν πλατέων σελαχῶν, παραπίπτοντες
τὰ ὕπτια πρὸς τὰ ὕπτια ποιοῦνται τὸν συνδυαςμόν.
Τὰ δὲ πλατέα καὶ κερκοφόρα, οἷον βάτος καὶ τρυγὼν
καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, οὐ μόνον παραπίπτοντα ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιβαίνοντα
10 τοῖς ὑπτίοις ἐπὶ τὰ πρανῆ τῶν θηλειῶν, ὅσοις μὴ ἐμποδίζει
τὸ οὐραῖον δεινὸν ἔχον πάχος. Αἱ δὲ ῥῖναι, καὶ ὅσοις
τῶν τοιούτων πολὺ τὸ οὐραῖον, παρατριβόμενα μόνον ὀχεύεται
τὰ ὕπτια πρὸς τὰ ὕπτια. Εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ ἑωρακέναι φασὶ
καὶ συνεχόμενα τῶν σελαχῶν ἔνια ὄπισθεν, ὥσπερ τοὺς κύνας.
15 Ἔστι δ' ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς σελαχώδεσι μεῖζον τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ
ἄρρενος· σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἰχθύσι τὰ θήλεα
μείζω τῶν ἀρρένων. Σελάχη δ' ἐστὶ τά τ' εἰρημένα καὶ βοῦς
καὶ λάμια καὶ ἀετὸς καὶ νάρκη καὶ βάτραχος καὶ πάντα
τὰ γαλεώδη. Τὰ μὲν οὖν σελάχη πάντα τεθεώρηται ὑπὸ
20 πολλῶν τούτους ποιούμενα τοὺς τρόπους τὴν ὀχείαν· χρονιωτέρα
γὰρ ἡ συμπλοκὴ πάντων τῶν ζῳοτόκων ἐστὶν ἢ τῶν ᾠοτόκων.
Καὶ δελφῖνες δὲ καὶ πάντα τὰ κητώδη τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον·
παραπίπτοντα γὰρ ὀχεύει παρὰ τὸ θῆλυ τὸ ἄρρεν, καὶ
χρόνον οὔτ' ὀλίγον οὔτε λίαν πολύν. Διαφέρουσι δ' ἔνιοι τῶν
25 σελαχωδῶν ἰχθύων οἱ ἄρρενες τῶν θηλειῶν τῷ τοὺς μὲν ἔχειν
ἀποκρεμώμενα ἄττα δύο περὶ τὴν ἔξοδον τῆς περιττώσεως,
τὰς δὲ θηλείας ταῦτα μὴ ἔχειν, οἷον ἐν τοῖς γαλεώδεσιν·
ἐπὶ γὰρ τούτων ὑπάρχει πάντων τὸ εἰρημένον. Ὄρχεις μὲν οὖν
οὔτ' ἰχθύες οὔτ' ἄλλο τῶν ἀπόδων ἔχει οὐδέν, πόρους δὲ δύο
30 καὶ οἱ ὄφεις καὶ οἱ ἰχθύες οἱ ἄρρενες ἔχουσιν, οἳ γίνονται
θοροῦ πλήρεις περὶ τὴν τῆς ὀχείας ὥραν, καὶ προΐενται ὑγρότητα
γαλακτώδη πάντες. Οὗτοι δ' οἱ πόροι εἰς ἓν συνάπτουσιν,
ὥσπερ καὶ τοῖς ὄρνισιν· οἱ γὰρ ὄρνιθες ἐντὸς ἔχουσι τοὺς ὄρχεις,
All fishes, with the exception of the flat selachians, lie 5down side by side, and copulate belly to belly. Fishes, however, that are flat and furnished with tails-as the ray, the trygon, and the like-copulate not only in this way, but also, where the tail from its thinness is no impediment, by mounting of the male upon the female, belly to back. But the rhina or angel-fish, and other like fishes where the tail is large, copulate 10only by rubbing against one another sideways, belly to belly. Some men assure us that they have seen some of the selachia copulating hindways, dog and bitch. In the cartilaginous species the female is larger than the male; and the same is the case with other fishes for the most part. And among cartilaginous fishes are included, besides those already named, the bos, the lamia, 15the aetos, the narce or torpedo, the fishing-frog, and all the galeodes or sharks and dogfish. Cartilaginous fishes, then, of all kinds, have in many instances been observed copulating in the way above mentioned; for, by the way, in viviparous animals the process of copulation is of longer duration than in the ovipara.
It is the same with the dolphin and with all 20cetaceans; that is to say, they come side by side, male and female, and copulate, and the act extends over a time which is neither short nor very long.
Again, in cartilaginous fishes the male, in some species, differs from the female in the fact that he is furnished with two appendages hanging down from about the exit of the residuum, and that the female is not so furnished; 25and this distinction between the sexes is observed in all the species of the sharks and dog-fish.
Now neither fishes nor any animals devoid of feet are furnished with testicles, but male serpents and male fishes have a pair of ducts which fill with milt or sperm at the rutting season, and discharge, in all cases, a milk-like juice. These ducts unite, as in birds; for birds, 30by the way, have their testicles in their interior, and so have all ovipara that are furnished with feet. And this union of the ducts is so far continued and of such extension as to enter the receptive organ in the female.
It is the same with the dolphin and with all 20cetaceans; that is to say, they come side by side, male and female, and copulate, and the act extends over a time which is neither short nor very long.
Again, in cartilaginous fishes the male, in some species, differs from the female in the fact that he is furnished with two appendages hanging down from about the exit of the residuum, and that the female is not so furnished; 25and this distinction between the sexes is observed in all the species of the sharks and dog-fish.
Now neither fishes nor any animals devoid of feet are furnished with testicles, but male serpents and male fishes have a pair of ducts which fill with milt or sperm at the rutting season, and discharge, in all cases, a milk-like juice. These ducts unite, as in birds; for birds, 30by the way, have their testicles in their interior, and so have all ovipara that are furnished with feet. And this union of the ducts is so far continued and of such extension as to enter the receptive organ in the female.
541a
1 καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὅσα ᾠοτοκεῖ πόδας ἔχοντα.
Τοῦτο δὴ συμπεραίνει καὶ ἐπεκτείνεται εἰς τὴν τοῦ θήλεος χώραν
καὶ ὑποδοχήν. Ἔστι δὲ τοῖς μὲν ζῳοτόκοις καὶ πεζοῖς ὁ
αὐτὸς πόρος τοῦ τε σπέρματος καὶ τῆς τοῦ ὑγροῦ περιττώσεως
5 ἔξωθεν, ἔσωθεν δ' ἕτερος πόρος, ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη καὶ πρότερον
ἐν τῇ διαφορᾷ τῇ τῶν μορίων. Τοῖς δὲ μὴ ἔχουσι κύστιν ὁ
αὐτὸς καὶ τῆς ξηρᾶς περιττώσεως πόρος ἔξωθεν· ἔσωθεν δὲ
σύνεγγυς ἀλλήλων. Ὁμοίως δὲ ταῦτα ἔχει τοῖς θήλεσιν αὐτῶν
καὶ τοῖς ἄρρεσιν· οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσι κύστιν πλὴν ἐπὶ χελώνης,
10 τούτων δ' ἡ θήλεια ἕνα πόρον ἔχει, καίτοι κύστιν ἔχουσα·
αἱ χελῶναι δὲ τῶν ᾠοτόκων εἰσίν. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ᾠοτόκων ἰχθύων
ὀχεία ἧττον γίνεται κατάδηλος· διόπερ οἱ πλεῖστοι νομίζουσι
πληροῦσθαι τὰ θήλεα τὸν τῶν ἀρρένων ἀνακάπτοντα θορόν.
Τοῦτο γὰρ πολλάκις ὁρᾶται γινόμενον· περὶ μὲν γὰρ τὴν τῆς
15 ὀχείας ὥραν αἱ θήλειαι τοῖς ἄρρεσιν ἑπόμεναι τοῦτο δρῶσι,
καὶ κόπτουσιν ὑπὸ τὴν γαστέρα τοῖς στόμασιν, οἱ δὲ θᾶττον
προΐενται καὶ μᾶλλον· κατὰ δὲ τὸν τόκον οἱ ἄρρενες τοῖς
θήλεσι, καὶ ἀποτικτουσῶν δ' ἀνακάπτουσι τὰ ᾠά· ἐκ δὲ τῶν
παραλειπομένων γίνονται οἱ ἰχθύες. Περὶ δὲ τὴν Φοινίκην καὶ
20 θήραν ποιοῦνται δι' ἀλλήλων· ἄρρενας μὲν γὰρ ὑπάγοντες
κεστρέας τὰς θηλείας περιβάλλονται συνάγοντες, θηλείας δὲ
τοὺς ἄρρενας. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν διὰ τὸ πολλάκις ὁρᾶσθαι τὴν δόξαν
ἐποίησε τῆς ὀχείας ταύτην, ποιεῖ δέ τι τοιοῦτον καὶ τὰ τετράποδα
τῶν ζῴων· περὶ γὰρ τὴν ὥραν τῆς ὀχείας ἀπορραίνουσι
25 καὶ τὰ ἄρρενα καὶ τὰ θήλεα, καὶ τῶν αἰδοίων ὀςμῶνται
ἀλλήλων. Αἱ δὲ πέρδικες ἂν κατ' ἄνεμον στῶσιν αἱ
θήλειαι τῶν ἀρρένων, ἔγκυοι γίνονται· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τῆς
φωνῆς <ἀκούουσαι>, ἐὰν ὀργῶσαι τύχωσι, καὶ ὑπερπετομένων
ἐκ τοῦ καταπνεῦσαι τὸν ἄρρενα· χάσκει δὲ καὶ ἡ θήλεια καὶ ὁ
30 ἄρρην, καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν ἔξω ἔχουσι περὶ τὴν τῆς ὀχείας
ποίησιν. Ἡ δ' ἀληθινὴ σύνοδος τῶν ᾠοτόκων ἰχθύων ὀλιγάκις
ὁρᾶται διὰ τὸ ταχέως ἀπολύεσθαι παραπεσόντας, ἐπεὶ
ὦπται ἡ ὀχεία καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων γινομένη τὸν εἰρημένον
τρόπον.
1In viviparous animals furnished with feet there is outwardly one and the same duct for the sperm and the liquid residuum; but there are separate ducts internally, as has been observed in the differentiation of the organs. And with such animals as are not viviparous the same passage serves for the discharge also of the solid 5residuum; although, internally, there are two passages, separate but near to one another. And these remarks apply to both male and female; for these animals are unprovided with a bladder except in the case of the tortoise; and the she-tortoise, though furnished with a bladder, has only one passage; and tortoises, by the way, belong to the ovipara.
In the case of oviparous fishes the process of coition is 10less open to observation. In point of fact, some are led by the want of actual observation to surmise that the female becomes impregnated by swallowing the seminal fluid of the male. And there can be no doubt that this proceeding on the part of the female is often witnessed; for at the rutting season the females follow the males and perform this operation, and strike the males with their mouths under the 15belly, and the males are thereby induced to part with the sperm sooner and more plentifully. And, further, at the spawning season the males go in pursuit of the females, and, as the female spawns, the males swallow the eggs; and the species is continued in existence by the spawn that survives this process. On the coast of Phoenicia they take advantage of these instinctive propensities of the two sexes to 20catch both one and the other: that is to say, by using the male of the grey mullet as a decoy they collect and net the female, and by using the female, the male.
The repeated observation of this phenomenon has led to the notion that the process was equivalent to coition, but the fact is that a similar phenomenon is observable in quadrupeds. For at the rutting seasons both the males and the females take to 25running at their genitals, and the two sexes take to smelling each other at those parts. (With partridges, by the way, if the female gets to leeward of the male, she becomes thereby impregnated. And often when they happen to be in heat she is affected in this wise by the voice of the male, or by his breathing down on her as he flies overhead; and, by the way, both the male and the female partridge keep 30the mouth wide open and protrude the tongue in the process of coition.)
The actual process of copulation on the part of oviparous fishes is seldom accurately observed, owing to the fact that they very soon fall aside and slip asunder. But, for all that, the process has been observed to take place in the manner above described.
In the case of oviparous fishes the process of coition is 10less open to observation. In point of fact, some are led by the want of actual observation to surmise that the female becomes impregnated by swallowing the seminal fluid of the male. And there can be no doubt that this proceeding on the part of the female is often witnessed; for at the rutting season the females follow the males and perform this operation, and strike the males with their mouths under the 15belly, and the males are thereby induced to part with the sperm sooner and more plentifully. And, further, at the spawning season the males go in pursuit of the females, and, as the female spawns, the males swallow the eggs; and the species is continued in existence by the spawn that survives this process. On the coast of Phoenicia they take advantage of these instinctive propensities of the two sexes to 20catch both one and the other: that is to say, by using the male of the grey mullet as a decoy they collect and net the female, and by using the female, the male.
The repeated observation of this phenomenon has led to the notion that the process was equivalent to coition, but the fact is that a similar phenomenon is observable in quadrupeds. For at the rutting seasons both the males and the females take to 25running at their genitals, and the two sexes take to smelling each other at those parts. (With partridges, by the way, if the female gets to leeward of the male, she becomes thereby impregnated. And often when they happen to be in heat she is affected in this wise by the voice of the male, or by his breathing down on her as he flies overhead; and, by the way, both the male and the female partridge keep 30the mouth wide open and protrude the tongue in the process of coition.)
The actual process of copulation on the part of oviparous fishes is seldom accurately observed, owing to the fact that they very soon fall aside and slip asunder. But, for all that, the process has been observed to take place in the manner above described.
Book 5,Chapter 6 (541b1–18)
541b
1 Τὰ δὲ μαλάκια, οἷον πολύποδες καὶ σηπίαι καὶ τευθίδες,
τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον πάντα πλησιάζουσιν ἀλλήλοις· κατὰ
τὸ στόμα γὰρ συμπλέκονται, τὰς πλεκτάνας πρὸς τὰς πλεκτάνας
συναρμόττοντες. Ὁ μὲν οὖν πολύπους ὅταν τὴν λεγομένην
5 κεφαλὴν ἐρείσῃ πρὸς τὴν γῆν καὶ διαπετάσῃ τὰς
πλεκτάνας, ἅτερος ἐφαρμόττει ἐπὶ τὸ πέτασμα τῶν πλεκτανῶν,
καὶ συνεχεῖς ποιοῦνται τὰς κοτυληδόνας πρὸς ἀλλήλας.
Φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ τὸν ἄρρενα ἔχειν αἰδοιῶδές τι ἐν
μιᾷ τῶν πλεκτανῶν, ἐν ᾗ δύο αἱ μέγισται κοτυληδόνες εἰσίν·
10 εἶναι δὲ τὸ τοιοῦτον ὥσπερ νευρῶδες, μέχρι εἰς μέσην
τὴν πλεκτάνην προσπεφυκὸς ἅπαν, ᾗ ἐσπιφράναι εἰς τὸν μυκτῆρα
τῆς θηλείας. Αἱ δὲ σηπίαι καὶ αἱ τευθίδες νέουσιν ἅμα
συμπεπλεγμέναι, τὰ στόματα καὶ τὰς πλεκτάνας ἐφαρμόττουσαι
καταντικρὺ ἀλλήλαις, νέουσαι ἐναντίως· ἐναρμόττουσι
15 δὲ καὶ τὸν καλούμενον μυκτῆρα εἰς τὸν μυκτῆρα. Τὴν
δὲ νεῦσιν ἡ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄπισθεν, ἡ δ' ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα ποιεῖται.
Ἐκτίκτει δὲ κατὰ τὸν φυσητῆρα καλούμενον, καθ' ὃν ἔνιοι
καὶ ὀχεύεσθαί φασιν αὐτάς.
1Molluscs, such as the octopus, the sepia, and the calamary, have sexual intercourse all in the same way; that is to say, they unite at the mouth, by an interlacing of their tentacles. When, then, the octopus rests its so-called head against the ground and spreads abroad its tentacles, 5the other sex fits into the outspreading of these tentacles, and the two sexes then bring their suckers into mutual connexion.
Some assert that the male has a kind of penis in one of his tentacles, the one in which are the largest suckers; and they further assert that the organ is tendinous in character, growing attached right up to the middle of the tentacle, 10and that the latter enables it to enter the nostril or funnel of the female.
Now cuttle-fish and calamaries swim about closely intertwined, with mouths and tentacles facing one another and fitting closely together, and swim thus in opposite directions; and they fit their so-called nostrils into one another, and the one sex swims backwards and the other 15frontwards during the operation. And the female lays its spawn by the so-called 'blow-hole'; and, by the way, some declare that it is at this organ that the coition really takes place.
Some assert that the male has a kind of penis in one of his tentacles, the one in which are the largest suckers; and they further assert that the organ is tendinous in character, growing attached right up to the middle of the tentacle, 10and that the latter enables it to enter the nostril or funnel of the female.
Now cuttle-fish and calamaries swim about closely intertwined, with mouths and tentacles facing one another and fitting closely together, and swim thus in opposite directions; and they fit their so-called nostrils into one another, and the one sex swims backwards and the other 15frontwards during the operation. And the female lays its spawn by the so-called 'blow-hole'; and, by the way, some declare that it is at this organ that the coition really takes place.
Book 5,Chapter 7 (541b19–33)
Τὰ δὲ μαλακόστρακα ὀχεύεται, οἷον κάραβοι καὶ
20 ἀστακοὶ καὶ καρίδες καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ὀπισθουρητικὰ
τῶν τετραπόδων, ὅταν ὁ μὲν ὑπτίαν ὁ δ' ἐπὶ ταύτης
ποιήσῃ τὴν κέρκον. Ὀχεύεται δὲ τοῦ ἔαρος ἀρχομένου πρὸς τῇ
γῇ (ἤδη γὰρ ὦπται ἡ ὀχεία πάντων τῶν τοιούτων), ἐνιαχοῦ δὲ
καὶ ὅταν τὰ σῦκα ἄρχηται πεπαίνεσθαι. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον
25 καὶ οἱ ἀστακοὶ καὶ αἱ καρίδες ὀχεύονται. Οἱ δὲ καρκίνοι
κατὰ τὰ πρόσθια ἀλλήλων συνδυάζονται, τὰ ἐπικαλύμματα
τὰ πτυχώδη πρὸς ἄλληλα συμβάλλοντες. Πρῶτον
δ' ὁ καρκίνος ἀναβαίνει ὁ ἐλάττων ἐκ τοῦ ὄπισθεν· ὅταν δ'
ἀναβῇ οὗτος, ὁ μείζων πλάγιος ἐπιστρέφει. Ἄλλο μὲν οὖν
30 οὐδὲν ἡ θήλεια τοῦ ἄρρενος διαφέρει· τὸ δ' ἐπικάλυμμα μεῖζόν
ἐστι τὸ τῆς θηλείας καὶ μᾶλλον ἀφεστηκὸς καὶ συνηρεφέστερον,
εἰς ὃ ἐκτίκτουσι καὶ ᾗ τὸ περίττωμα ἐξέρχεται. Μόριον
δ' οὐδὲν προΐεται θάτερον εἰς θάτερον.
Crustaceans copulate, as the crawfish, the lobster, the carid and the like, just like the opisthuretic quadrupeds, when the one animal turns up its tail and the other puts 20his tail on the other's tail. Copulation takes place in the early spring, near to the shore; and, in fact, the process has often been observed in the case of all these animals. Sometimes it takes place about the time when the figs begin to ripen. Lobsters and carids copulate in like manner.
Crabs copulate at the front parts of one another, belly to belly, 25throwing their overlapping opercula to meet one another: first the smaller crab mounts the larger at the rear; after he has mounted, the larger one turns on one side. Now, the female differs in no respect from the male except in the circumstance that its operculum is larger, more elevated, and more hairy, and into this operculum it spawns its eggs and in the 30same neighbourhood is the outlet of the residuum. In the copulative process of these animals there is no protrusion of a member from one animal into the other.
Crabs copulate at the front parts of one another, belly to belly, 25throwing their overlapping opercula to meet one another: first the smaller crab mounts the larger at the rear; after he has mounted, the larger one turns on one side. Now, the female differs in no respect from the male except in the circumstance that its operculum is larger, more elevated, and more hairy, and into this operculum it spawns its eggs and in the 30same neighbourhood is the outlet of the residuum. In the copulative process of these animals there is no protrusion of a member from one animal into the other.
Book 5,Chapter 8 (541b34–542b16)
Τὰ δ' ἔντομα συνέρχεται μὲν ὄπισθεν, εἶτ' ἐπιβαίνει
Insects copulate at the hinder end, and the smaller individuals mount the larger; and the smaller individual is I I is the male.
542a
1 τὸ ἔλαττον ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον· τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶ τὸ ἄρρεν. Ἐναφίησι
δὲ τὸν πόρον κάτωθεν τὸ θῆλυ εἰς τὸ ἄρρεν τὸ ἐπάνω,
ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ ἄρρεν εἰς τὸ θῆλυ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων. Καὶ τοῦτο
τὸ μόριον ἐπὶ μὲν ἐνίων καὶ φαίνεται μεῖζον ὂν ἢ κατὰ
5 λόγον τοῦ ὅλου σώματος, καὶ πάνυ μικρῶν ὄντων, ἐπ' ἐνίων
δ' ἧττον. Τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶ φανερόν, ἄν τις διαιρῇ τὰς ὀχευομένας
μυίας. Ἀπολύονται δ' ἀπ' ἀλλήλων μόλις· πολὺν γὰρ
χρόνον ὁ συνδυασμός ἐστι τῶν τοιούτων. Δῆλον δ' ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν
ποσίν, οἷον μυιῶν τε καὶ κανθαρίδων. Πάντα δὲ τὸν τρόπον
10 τοῦτον ὀχεύεται, αἵ τε μυῖαι καὶ αἱ κανθαρίδες καὶ αἱ σπονδύλαι
καὶ τὰ φαλάγγια, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τῶν
ὀχευομένων. Ποιοῦνται δὲ τὰ φαλάγγια τὴν ὀχείαν τόνδε
τὸν τρόπον, ὅσα γε ὑφαίνει ἀράχνια· ὅταν ἡ θήλεια σπάσῃ
τῶν ἀποτεταμένων ἀραχνίων ἀπὸ τοῦ μέσου, πάλιν ὁ ἄρρην
15 ἀντισπᾷ· τοῦτο δὲ ποιήσαντα πολλάκις οὕτω συνέρχεται καὶ
συμπλέκεται ἀντίπυγα· διὰ γὰρ τὴν περιφέρειαν τῆς κοιλίας
οὗτος ἁρμόττει ὁ συνδυασμὸς αὐτοῖς.
Ἡ μὲν οὖν ὀχεία τῶν ζῴων τοῦτον γίνεται τὸν τρόπον
πάντων, ὧραι δὲ καὶ ἡλικίαι τῆς ὀχείας ἑκάστοις εἰσὶ διωρισμέναι
20 τῶν ζῴων. Βούλεται μὲν οὖν ἡ φύσις τῶν πλείστων
περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ὁμιλίαν ταύτην, ὅταν
ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος μεταβάλλῃ πρὸς τὸ θέρος· αὕτη δ' ἐστὶν ἡ
τοῦ ἔαρος ὥρα, ἐν ᾗ τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ πτηνὰ καὶ πεζὰ καὶ
πλωτὰ ὁρμᾷ πρὸς τὸν συνδυασμόν. Ποιεῖται δ' ἔνια τὴν ὀχείαν
25 καὶ τὸν τόκον καὶ μετοπώρου καὶ χειμῶνος, οἷον τῶν τ' ἐνύδρων
γένη ἄττα καὶ τῶν πτηνῶν· ἄνθρωπος δὲ μάλιστα πᾶσαν
ὥραν, καὶ τῶν συνανθρωπευομένων ζῴων πολλὰ διὰ τὴν
ἀλέαν καὶ εὐτροφίαν, ὅσων καὶ αἱ κυήσεις ὀλιγοχρόνιοί εἰσιν,
οἷον ὑὸς καὶ κυνός, καὶ τῶν πτηνῶν ὅσα πλεονάκις ποιοῦνται
30 τοὺς τόκους. Πολλὰ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἐκτροφὰς τῶν
τέκνων στοχαζόμενα ποιεῖται τὸν συνδυασμὸν ἐν τῇ ἀπαρτιζούσῃ
ὥρᾳ. Ὀργᾷ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ὁμιλίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ μὲν
1The female pushes from underneath her sexual organ into the body of the male above, this being the reverse of the operation observed in other creatures; and this organ in the case of some insects appears to be disproportionately large when compared to the size of the body, and that too 5in very minute creatures; in some insects the disproportion is not so striking. This phenomenon may be witnessed if any one will pull asunder flies that are copulating; and, by the way, these creatures are, under the circumstances, averse to separation; for the intercourse of the sexes in their case is of long duration, as may be observed with common everyday 10insects, such as the fly and the cantharis. They all copulate in the manner above described, the fly, the cantharis, the sphondyle, (the phalangium spider) any others of the kind that copulate at all. The phalangia-that is to say, such of the species as spin webs-perform the operation in the following way: the female takes hold of the suspended web at 15the middle and gives a pull, and the male gives a counter pull; this operation they repeat until they are drawn in together and interlaced at the hinder ends; for, by the way, this mode of copulation suits them in consequence of the rotundity of their stomachs.
So much for the modes of sexual intercourse in all animals; but, with regard to the same phenomenon, 20there are definite laws followed as regards the season of the year and the age of the animal.
Animals in general seem naturally disposed to this intercourse at about the same period of the year, and that is when winter is changing into summer. And this is the season of spring, in which almost all things that fly or walk or swim take to pairing. Some animals 25pair and breed in autumn also and in winter, as is the case with certain aquatic animals and certain birds. Man pairs and breeds at all seasons, as is the case also with domesticated animals, owing to the shelter and good feeding they enjoy: that is to say, with those whose period of gestation is also comparatively brief, as the sow and the bitch, and 30with those birds that breed frequently. Many animals time the season of intercourse with a view to the right nurture subsequently of their young.
So much for the modes of sexual intercourse in all animals; but, with regard to the same phenomenon, 20there are definite laws followed as regards the season of the year and the age of the animal.
Animals in general seem naturally disposed to this intercourse at about the same period of the year, and that is when winter is changing into summer. And this is the season of spring, in which almost all things that fly or walk or swim take to pairing. Some animals 25pair and breed in autumn also and in winter, as is the case with certain aquatic animals and certain birds. Man pairs and breeds at all seasons, as is the case also with domesticated animals, owing to the shelter and good feeding they enjoy: that is to say, with those whose period of gestation is also comparatively brief, as the sow and the bitch, and 30with those birds that breed frequently. Many animals time the season of intercourse with a view to the right nurture subsequently of their young.
542b
1 ἄρρεν ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι μᾶλλον, τὸ δὲ θῆλυ ἐν τῷ θέρει. Τὸ
δὲ τῶν ὀρνίθων γένος, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, τὸ πλεῖστον περὶ τὸ
ἔαρ ποιεῖται καὶ ἀρχομένου τοῦ θέρους τὴν ὀχείαν καὶ τοὺς τόκους,
πλὴν ἁλκυόνος. Ἡ δ' ἁλκυὼν τίκτει περὶ τροπὰς τὰς
5 χειμερινάς. Διὸ καὶ καλοῦνται, ὅταν εὐδιειναὶ γένωνται αἱ
τροπαί, ἀλκυονίδες ἡμέραι ἑπτὰ μὲν πρὸ τροπῶν, ἑπτὰ δὲ
μετὰ τροπάς, καθάπερ καὶ Σιμωνίδης ἐποίησεν ὡς ὁπόταν
χειμέριον κατὰ μῆνα πινύσκῃ Ζεὺς ἤματα τεσσαρακαίδεκα,
λαθάνεμόν τέ μιν ὥραν καλέουσιν ἐπιχθόνιοι, ἱερὰν παιδοτρόφον
10 ποικίλας ἁλκυόνος. Γίνονται δ' εὐδιειναί, ὅταν συμβῇ
νοτίους γίνεσθαι τὰς τροπάς, τῆς Πλειάδος βορείου γενομένης.
Λέγεται δ' ἐν ἑπτὰ μὲν ἡμέραις ποιεῖσθαι τὴν νεοττιάν,
ἐν δὲ ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἑπτὰ ἡμέραις τίκτειν καὶ ἐκτρέφειν
τὰ νεόττια. Περὶ μὲν οὖν τοὺς ἐνταῦθα τόπους οὐκ ἀεὶ συμβαίνει
15 γίνεσθαι ἁλκυονίδας ἡμέρας περὶ τὰς τροπάς, ἐν δὲ
τῷ Σικελικῷ πελάγει σχεδὸν ἀεί. Τίκτει δ' ἡ ἁλκυὼν περὶ
πέντε ᾠά.
1In the human species, the male is more under sexual excitement in winter, and the female in summer.
With birds the far greater part, as has been said, pair and breed during the spring and early summer, with the exception of the halcyon.
The halcyon breeds at the season of the winter 5solstice. Accordingly, when this season is marked with calm weather, the name of 'halcyon days' is given to the seven days preceding, and to as many following, the solstice; as Simonides the poet says:
God lulls for fourteen days the winds to sleep In winter; and this temperate interlude Men call the Holy Season, when the deep Cradles the mother Halcyon 10and her brood.
And these days are calm, when southerly winds prevail at the solstice, northerly ones having been the accompaniment of the Pleiads. The halcyon is said to take seven days for building her nest, and the other seven for laying and hatching her eggs. In our country there are not always halcyon days about the time of the winter solstice, but 15in the Sicilian seas this season of calm is almost periodical. The bird lays about five eggs.
With birds the far greater part, as has been said, pair and breed during the spring and early summer, with the exception of the halcyon.
The halcyon breeds at the season of the winter 5solstice. Accordingly, when this season is marked with calm weather, the name of 'halcyon days' is given to the seven days preceding, and to as many following, the solstice; as Simonides the poet says:
God lulls for fourteen days the winds to sleep In winter; and this temperate interlude Men call the Holy Season, when the deep Cradles the mother Halcyon 10and her brood.
And these days are calm, when southerly winds prevail at the solstice, northerly ones having been the accompaniment of the Pleiads. The halcyon is said to take seven days for building her nest, and the other seven for laying and hatching her eggs. In our country there are not always halcyon days about the time of the winter solstice, but 15in the Sicilian seas this season of calm is almost periodical. The bird lays about five eggs.
Book 5,Chapter 9 (542b17–543a13)
Ἡ δ' αἴθυια καὶ οἱ λάροι τίκτουσι μὲν ἐν ταῖς
περὶ θάλατταν πέτραις, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος δύο ἢ τρία· ἀλλ'
ὁ μὲν λάρος τοῦ θέρους, ἡ δ' αἴθυια ἀρχομένου τοῦ ἔαρος εὐθὺς
20 ἐκ τροπῶν, καὶ ἐπικαθεύδει ὥσπερ αἱ ἄλλαι ὄρνιθες.
Οὐδέτερον δὲ φωλεῖ τούτων τῶν ὀρνέων. Πάντων δὲ σπανιώτατον
ἰδεῖν ἁλκυόνα ἐστίν· σχεδὸν γὰρ περὶ Πλειάδος δύσιν
καὶ τροπὰς ὁρᾶται μόνον, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὑφόρμοις ὅσον
περιιπταμένη περὶ τὸ πλοῖον ἀφανίζεται εὐθύς, διὸ καὶ
25 Στησίχορος τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐμνήσθη περὶ αὐτῆς. Τίκτει
δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀηδὼν τοῦ θέρους ἀρχομένου, τίκτει δὲ πέντε καὶ ἓξ
ᾠά· φωλεῖ δ' ἀπὸ τοῦ μετοπώρου μέχρι τοῦ ἔαρος. Τὰ δ'
ἔντομα καὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος ὀχεύεται καὶ γίνεται, ὅταν εὐημερίαι
γένωνται καὶ νότια, ὅσα μὴ φωλεῖ αὐτῶν, οἷον μυῖαι
30 καὶ μύρμηκες. Τίκτει δ' ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν
ἀγρίων, ὅσα μὴ ἐπικυΐσκεται ὥσπερ δασύπους.
Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων οἱ πλεῖστοι ἅπαξ, οἷον οἱ
(The aithyia, or diver, and the larus, or gull, lay their eggs on rocks bordering on the sea, two or three at a time; but the gull lays in the summer, and the diver at the beginning of spring, just after the winter solstice, and it broods over its eggs as birds 20do in general. And neither of these birds resorts to a hiding-place.)
The halcyon is the most rarely seen of all birds. It is seen only about the time of the setting of the Pleiads and the winter solstice. When ships are lying at anchor in the roads, it will hover about a vessel and then disappear in a moment, and Stesichorus in one of his poems alludes 25to this peculiarity. The nightingale also breeds at the beginning of summer, and lays five or six eggs; from autumn until spring it retires to a hiding-place.
Insects copulate and breed in winter also, that is when the weather is fine and south winds prevail; such, I mean, as do not hibernate, as the fly and the ant. The greater part of wild animals 30bring forth once and once only in the year, except in the case of animals like the hare, where the female can become superfoetally impregnated.
The halcyon is the most rarely seen of all birds. It is seen only about the time of the setting of the Pleiads and the winter solstice. When ships are lying at anchor in the roads, it will hover about a vessel and then disappear in a moment, and Stesichorus in one of his poems alludes 25to this peculiarity. The nightingale also breeds at the beginning of summer, and lays five or six eggs; from autumn until spring it retires to a hiding-place.
Insects copulate and breed in winter also, that is when the weather is fine and south winds prevail; such, I mean, as do not hibernate, as the fly and the ant. The greater part of wild animals 30bring forth once and once only in the year, except in the case of animals like the hare, where the female can become superfoetally impregnated.
543a
1 χυτοί (καλοῦνται δὲ χυτοὶ οἱ τῷ δικτύῳ περιεχόμενοι),
θύννος, πηλαμύς, κεστρεύς, χαλκίδες, κολίαι, χρομίς, ψῆττα
καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, πλὴν ὁ λάβραξ· οὗτος δὲ δὶς τούτων
μόνος, γίνεται δ' ὁ τόκος αὐτῷ ὁ ὕστερος ἀσθενέστερος. Καὶ
5 ὁ τριχίας δὲ καὶ τὰ πετραῖα δίς, ἡ δὲ τρίγλη μόνη τρίς.
Τεκμαίρονται δ' ἐκ τοῦ γόνου· τρὶς γὰρ φαίνεται ὁ γόνος περί
τινας τόπους. Ὁ δὲ σκορπίος τίκτει δίς. Τίκτει δὲ καὶ ὁ σαργὸς
δίς, ἔαρος καὶ μετοπώρου· ἡ δὲ σάλπη τοῦ μετοπώρου ἅπαξ.
Ἡ δὲ θυννὶς ἅπαξ τίκτει, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ τὰ μὲν πρώϊα τὰ δ'
10 ὄψια προΐεσθαι δὶς δοκεῖ τίκτειν· ἔστι δ' ὁ μὲν πρῶτος τόκος
περὶ τὸν Ποσειδεῶνα πρὸ τροπῶν, ὁ δ' ὕστερος τοῦ ἔαρος.
Διαφέρει δ' ὁ θύννος ὁ ἄρρην τοῦ θήλεος, ὅτι ἡ μὲν ἔχει ὁ
δ' οὐκ ἔχει ὑπὸ τῇ γαστρὶ πτερύγιον, ὃ καλοῦσιν ἀφαρέα.
1In like manner the great majority of fishes breed only once a year, like the shoal-fishes (or, in other words, such as are caught in nets), the tunny, the pelamys, the grey mullet, the chalcis, the mackerel, the sciaena, the psetta and the like, with the exception of the labrax or basse; for this fish (alone amongst those mentioned) breeds twice a year, and 5the second brood is the weaker of the two. The trichias and the rock-fishes breed twice a year; the red mullet breeds thrice a year, and is exceptional in this respect. This conclusion in regard to the red mullet is inferred from the spawn; for the spawn of the fish may be seen in certain places at three different times of the year. The scorpaena breeds twice a year. The sargue breeds twice, in the spring and in the autumn. The saupe breeds once a year 10only, in the autumn. The female tunny breeds only once a year, but owing to the fact that the fish in some cases spawn early and in others late, it looks as though the fish bred twice over. The first spawning takes place in December before the solstice, and the latter spawning in the spring. The male tunny differs from the female in being unprovided with the fin beneath the belly which is called aphareus.
Book 5,Chapter 10 (543a14–543b5)
Τῶν δὲ σελαχῶν ἡ ῥίνη μόνη τίκτει δίς· τίκτει γὰρ καὶ
15 ἀρχομένου τοῦ φθινοπώρου καὶ περὶ Πλειάδος δύσιν, εὐημερεῖ
δ' ἐν τῷ φθινοπώρῳ μᾶλλον· ὁ δ' εἷς τόκος γίνεται περὶ ἑπτὰ
ἢ ὀκτώ. Δοκοῦσι δ' ἔνιοι τῶν γαλεῶν, οἷον ὁ ἀστερίας, δὶς
τοῦ μηνὸς τίκτειν· τοῦτο δὲ συμβαίνει, ὅτι οὐχ ἅμα πάντα
λαμβάνει τελέωσιν τὰ ᾠά. Ἔνια δὲ τίκτει πᾶσαν ὥραν, οἷον ἡ
20 σμύραινα. Τίκτει δ' αὕτη ᾠὰ πολλά, καὶ ἐκ μικροῦ ταχεῖαν
τὴν αὔξησιν λαμβάνουσι τὰ γενόμενα, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ
τοῦ ἱππούρου· καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα ἐξ ἐλαχίστου μέγιστα γίνεται
τάχιστα, πλὴν ἡ μὲν σμύραινα πᾶσαν ὥραν τίκτει, ὁ δ' ἵππουρος
ἔαρος. Διαφέρει δ' ὁ σμῦρος καὶ ἡ σμύραινα· ἡ μὲν
25 γὰρ σμύραινα ποικίλον καὶ ἀσθενέστερον, ὁ δὲ σμῦρος ὁμόχρους
καὶ ἰσχυρός, καὶ τὸ χρῶμα ἔχει ὅμοιον τῇ πίτυϊ,
καὶ ὀδόντας ἔχει καὶ ἔσωθεν καὶ ἔξωθεν. Φασὶ δ' ὥσπερ
καὶ τἆλλα, τὸν μὲν ἄρρενα τὴν δὲ θήλειαν εἶναι. Ἐξέρχονται
δὲ ταῦτα εἰς τὸ ξηρόν, καὶ λαμβάνονται πολλάκις. Συμβαίνει
30 μὲν οὖν σχεδὸν πᾶσι ταχεῖαν γίνεσθαι τὴν αὔξησιν
τοῖς ἰχθύσιν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ κορακίνῳ τῶν μικρῶν· τίκτει δὲ
Of cartilaginous fishes, the rhina or 15angelfish is the only one that breeds twice; for it breeds at the beginning of autumn, and at the setting of the Pleiads: and, of the two seasons, it is in better condition in the autumn. It engenders at a birth seven or eight young. Certain of the dog-fishes, for example the spotted dog, seem to breed twice a month, and this results from the circumstance that the eggs do not all reach maturity at the same time.
Some fishes breed at all seasons, as the 20muraena. This animal lays a great number of eggs at a time; and the young when hatched are very small but grow with great rapidity, like the young of the hippurus, for these fishes from being diminutive at the outset grow with exceptional rapidity to an exceptional size. (Be it observed that the muraena breeds at all seasons, but the hippurus only in the spring. The smyrus differs from the smyraena; for the muraena is mottled and weakly, whereas the 25smyrus is strong and of one uniform colour, and the colour resembles that of the pine-tree, and the animal has teeth inside and out. They say that in this case, as in other similar ones, the one is the male, and the other the female, of a single species. They come out on to the land, and are frequently caught.) Fishes, then, as a general rule, attain their full growth with great rapidity, but this is especially the case, among small fishes, with 30the coracine or crow-fish: it spawns, by the way, near the shore, in weedy and tangled spots.
Some fishes breed at all seasons, as the 20muraena. This animal lays a great number of eggs at a time; and the young when hatched are very small but grow with great rapidity, like the young of the hippurus, for these fishes from being diminutive at the outset grow with exceptional rapidity to an exceptional size. (Be it observed that the muraena breeds at all seasons, but the hippurus only in the spring. The smyrus differs from the smyraena; for the muraena is mottled and weakly, whereas the 25smyrus is strong and of one uniform colour, and the colour resembles that of the pine-tree, and the animal has teeth inside and out. They say that in this case, as in other similar ones, the one is the male, and the other the female, of a single species. They come out on to the land, and are frequently caught.) Fishes, then, as a general rule, attain their full growth with great rapidity, but this is especially the case, among small fishes, with 30the coracine or crow-fish: it spawns, by the way, near the shore, in weedy and tangled spots.
543b
1 πρὸς τῇ γῇ καὶ τοῖς βρυώδεσι καὶ δασέσιν. Ταχὺ δὲ
καὶ ὁ ὀρφὼς ἐκ μικροῦ γίνεται μέγας. Αἱ δὲ πηλαμύδες καὶ οἱ
θύννοι τίκτουσιν ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ, ἄλλοθι δ' οὔ· κεστρεῖς δὲ καὶ
χρυσόφρυες καὶ λάβρακες μάλιστα οὗ ἂν ποταμοὶ ῥέωσιν· οἱ
5 δ' ὄρκυνες καὶ σκορπίδες καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ γένη ἐν τῷ πελάγει.
1The orphus also, or sea-perch, is small at first, and rapidly attains a great size. The pelamys and the tunny breed in the Euxine, and nowhere else. The cestreus or mullet, the chrysophrys or gilt-head, and the labrax or basse, breed best where rivers run into the sea. The orcys or large-sized tunny, the scorpis, 5and many other species spawn in the open sea.
Book 5,Chapter 11 (543b6–31)
Τίκτουσι δ' οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἰχθύων ἐν μησὶ τρισί,
Μουνυχιῶνι, Θαργηλιῶνι, Σκιρροφοριῶνι· μετοπώρου δ' ὀλίγοι,
οἷον σάλπη καὶ σαργὸς καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοιαῦτα μικρὸν
πρὸ ἰσημερίας τῆς φθινοπωρινῆς, καὶ νάρκη καὶ ῥίνη. Τίκτει
10 δ' ἔνια καὶ χειμῶνος καὶ θέρους, ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη πρότερον,
οἷον χειμῶνος μὲν λάβραξ, κεστρεύς, βελόνη, θέρους δὲ περὶ
τὸν Ἑκατομβαιῶνα θυννίς, περὶ τροπὰς θερινάς· τίκτει δὲ
θυλακοειδές, ἐν ᾧ πολλὰ ἐγγίνεται καὶ μικρὰ ᾠά. Καὶ οἱ
ῥυάδες τοῦ θέρους τίκτουσιν. Ἄρχονται δὲ κύειν τῶν κεστρέων οἱ
15 μὲν χελῶνες τοῦ Ποσειδεῶνος καὶ ὁ σαργὸς καὶ ὁ σμύξων
καλούμενος καὶ ὁ κέφαλος· κύουσι δὲ τριάκοντα ἡμέρας.
Ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν κεστρέων οὐ γίνονται ἐκ συνδυασμοῦ, ἀλλὰ φύονται
ἐκ τῆς ἰλύος καὶ τῆς ἄμμου. Ὡς μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ
τοῦ ἔαρος τὰ πλεῖστα κυΐσκεται, οὐ μὴν ἀλλά, καθάπερ
20 εἴρηται, καὶ θέρους ἔνια καὶ φθινοπώρου καὶ χειμῶνος· ἀλλ'
οὔθ' ἅπασιν ὁμοίως τοῦτο συμβαίνει οὔθ' ἁπλῶς οὔτε καθ'
ἕκαστον γένος, ὥσπερ τοῖς πλείστοις τοῦ ἔαρος· οὐδὲ δὴ κύουσι
πολλὰ κυήματα ὁμοίως ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις χρόνοις. Ὅλως δὲ
δεῖ μὴ λεληθέναι ὅτι, ὥσπερ καὶ τῶν φυομένων καὶ τῶν
25 ζῴων τῶν τετραπόδων πολλὴν αἱ χῶραι ποιοῦσι διαφορὰν
οὐ μόνον πρὸς τὴν ἄλλην τοῦ σώματος εὐημερίαν ἀλλὰ καὶ
πρὸς τὸ πλεονάκις ὀχεύεσθαι καὶ γεννᾶν, οὕτω καὶ περὶ τοὺς
ἰχθῦς πολλὴν ποιοῦσι τὴν διαφορὰν αὐτοὶ οἱ τόποι οὐ μόνον
κατὰ μέγεθος καὶ εὐτροφίαν ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τοὺς τόκους
30 καὶ τὰς ὀχείας, τοῦ ἔνθα μὲν πλεονάκις ἔνθα δ' ἐλαττονάκις
γεννᾶν τὰ αὐτά.
Fish for the most part breed some time or other during the three months between the middle of March and the middle of June. Some few breed in autumn: as, for instance, the saupe and the sargus, and such others of this sort as breed shortly before the autumn equinox; likewise the electric ray and the angel-fish. Other fishes breed both 10in winter and in summer, as was previously observed: as, for instance, in winter-time the basse, the grey mullet, and the belone or pipe-fish; and in summer-time, from the middle of June to the middle of July, the female tunny, about the time of the summer solstice; and the tunny lays a sac-like enclosure in which are contained a number of small eggs. The ryades or shoal-fishes breed in 15summer.
Of the grey mullets, the chelon begins to be in roe between the middle of November and the middle of December; as also the sargue, and the smyxon or myxon, and the cephalus; and their period of gestation is thirty days. And, by the way, some of the grey mullet species are not produced from copulation, but grow spontaneously from mud and sand.
As a general rule, then, fishes 20are in roe in the spring-time; while some, as has been said, are so in summer, in autumn, or in winter. But whereas the impregnation in the spring-time follows a general law, impregnation in the other seasons does not follow the same rule either throughout or within the limits of one genus; and, further, conception in these variant seasons is not so prolific. And, indeed, we must bear 25this in mind, that just as with plants and quadrupeds diversity of locality has much to do not only with general physical health but also with the comparative frequency of sexual intercourse and generation, so also with regard to fishes locality of itself has much to do not only in regard to the size and vigour of the creature, but also in regard to its parturition and its copulations, 30causing the same species to breed oftener in one place and seldomer in another.
Of the grey mullets, the chelon begins to be in roe between the middle of November and the middle of December; as also the sargue, and the smyxon or myxon, and the cephalus; and their period of gestation is thirty days. And, by the way, some of the grey mullet species are not produced from copulation, but grow spontaneously from mud and sand.
As a general rule, then, fishes 20are in roe in the spring-time; while some, as has been said, are so in summer, in autumn, or in winter. But whereas the impregnation in the spring-time follows a general law, impregnation in the other seasons does not follow the same rule either throughout or within the limits of one genus; and, further, conception in these variant seasons is not so prolific. And, indeed, we must bear 25this in mind, that just as with plants and quadrupeds diversity of locality has much to do not only with general physical health but also with the comparative frequency of sexual intercourse and generation, so also with regard to fishes locality of itself has much to do not only in regard to the size and vigour of the creature, but also in regard to its parturition and its copulations, 30causing the same species to breed oftener in one place and seldomer in another.
Book 5,Chapter 12 (544a1–24)
544a
1 Τίκτει δὲ καὶ τὰ μαλάκια τοῦ ἔαρος, καὶ ἐν τοῖς
πρώτοις τίκτει τῶν θαλαττίων ἡ σηπία. Τίκτει δὲ πᾶσαν ὥραν,
ἀποτίκτει δ' ἐν ἡμέραις πέντε καὶ δέκα. Ὅταν δὲ τέκῃ τὰ
ᾠά, ὁ ἄρρην παρακολουθῶν καταφυσᾷ τὸν θορόν, καὶ γίνεται
5 στιφρά. Βαδίζουσι δὲ κατὰ ζυγά· ἔστι δ' ὁ ἄρρην τῆς
θηλείας ποικιλώτερος καὶ μελάντερος τὸν νῶτον. Ὁ δὲ πολύπους
ὀχεύεται τοῦ χειμῶνος, τίκτει δὲ τοῦ ἔαρος, ὅτε καὶ
φωλεῖ περὶ δύο μῆνας. Τίκτει δὲ τὸ ᾠὸν καθάπερ βοστρύχιον,
ὅμοιον τῷ τῆς λεύκης καρπῷ. Ἔστι δὲ πολύγονον
10 τὸ ζῷον· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ ἀποτικτομένου ἄπειρον γίνεται τὸ πλῆθος.
Διαφέρει δ' ὁ ἄρρην τῆς θηλείας τῷ τε τὴν κεφαλὴν
ἔχειν προμηκεστέραν καὶ τὸ καλούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἁλιέων αἰδοῖον
ἐν τῇ πλεκτάνῃ λευκόν. Ἐπῳάζει δέ, ὅταν τέκῃ· διὸ
καὶ χείριστοι γίνονται· οὐ γὰρ νέμονται κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον.
15 Γίνονται δὲ καὶ αἱ πορφύραι περὶ τὸ ἔαρ, καὶ οἱ κήρυκες
λήγοντος τοῦ χειμῶνος. Καὶ ὅλως τὰ ὀστρακόδερμα ἔν
τε τῷ ἔαρι φαίνεται τὰ καλούμενα ᾠὰ ἔχοντα καὶ ἐν τῷ
μετοπώρῳ, πλὴν τῶν ἐχίνων τῶν ἐδωδίμων· οὗτοι δὲ μάλιστα
μὲν ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ὥραις, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀεὶ
20 ἔχουσι, καὶ μάλιστα ταῖς πανσελήνοις καὶ ταῖς ἀλεειναῖς
ἡμέραις, πλὴν τῶν ἐν τῷ εὐρίπῳ τῶν Πυρραίων· ἐκεῖνοι δ'
ἀμείνους τοῦ χειμῶνος. Εἰσὶ δὲ μικροὶ μέν, πλήρεις δὲ τῶν
ᾠῶν. Κύοντες δὲ φαίνονται καὶ οἱ κοχλίαι πάντες ὁμοίως
τὴν αὐτὴν ὥραν.
1The molluscs also breed in spring. Of the marine molluscs one of the first to breed is the sepia. It spawns at all times of the day and its period of gestation is fifteen days. After the female has laid her eggs, the male comes and discharges the milt over the eggs, and the eggs thereupon harden. And the two 5sexes of this animal go about in pairs, side by side; and the male is more mottled and more black on the back than the female.
The octopus pairs in winter and breeds in spring, lying hidden for about two months. Its spawn is shaped like a vine-tendril, and resembles the fruit of the white poplar; the creature is extraordinarily prolific, for the number of individuals that come from the 10spawn is something incalculable. The male differs from the female in the fact that its head is longer, and that the organ called by the fishermen its penis, in the tentacle, is white. The female, after laying her eggs, broods over them, and in consequence gets out of condition, by reason of not going in quest of food during the hatching period.
The purple murex breeds about springtime, 15and the ceryx at the close of the winter. And, as a general rule, the testaceans are found to be furnished with their so-called eggs in spring-time and in autumn, with the exception of the edible urchin; for this animal has the so-called eggs in most abundance in these seasons, but at no season is unfurnished with them; and it is furnished with them in especial abundance in warm weather 20or when a full moon is in the sky. Only, by the way, these remarks do not apply to the sea-urchin found in the Pyrrhaean Straits, for this urchin is at its best for table purposes in the winter; and these urchins are small but full of eggs.
Snails are found by observations to become in all cases impregnated about the same season.
The octopus pairs in winter and breeds in spring, lying hidden for about two months. Its spawn is shaped like a vine-tendril, and resembles the fruit of the white poplar; the creature is extraordinarily prolific, for the number of individuals that come from the 10spawn is something incalculable. The male differs from the female in the fact that its head is longer, and that the organ called by the fishermen its penis, in the tentacle, is white. The female, after laying her eggs, broods over them, and in consequence gets out of condition, by reason of not going in quest of food during the hatching period.
The purple murex breeds about springtime, 15and the ceryx at the close of the winter. And, as a general rule, the testaceans are found to be furnished with their so-called eggs in spring-time and in autumn, with the exception of the edible urchin; for this animal has the so-called eggs in most abundance in these seasons, but at no season is unfurnished with them; and it is furnished with them in especial abundance in warm weather 20or when a full moon is in the sky. Only, by the way, these remarks do not apply to the sea-urchin found in the Pyrrhaean Straits, for this urchin is at its best for table purposes in the winter; and these urchins are small but full of eggs.
Snails are found by observations to become in all cases impregnated about the same season.
Book 5,Chapter 13 (544a25–544b11)
25 Τῶν δ' ὀρνέων τὰ μὲν ἄγρια, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἅπαξ
ὀχεύεται καὶ τίκτει τὰ πλεῖστα, χελιδὼν δὲ δὶς τίκτει καὶ
κόττυφος. Τὰ μὲν οὖν πρῶτα τοῦ κοττύφου ὑπὸ χειμῶνος
ἀπόλλυται (πρωϊαίτατα γὰρ τίκτει τῶν ὀρνέων ἁπάντων),
τὸν δ' ὕστερον τόκον εἰς τέλος ἐκτρέφει. Ὅσα δ' ἢ ἥμερα ἢ
30 ἡμεροῦσθαι δύναται, ταῦτα δὲ πλεονάκις, οἷον αἱ περιστεραὶ
καθ' ἅπαν τὸ θέρος, καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀλεκτορίδων γένος· ὀχεύουσι
γὰρ οἱ ἄρρενες καὶ ὀχεύονται αἱ θήλειαι τῶν ἀλεκτορίδων
καὶ τίκτουσιν ἀεί, πλὴν τῶν ἐν χειμῶνι τροπικῶν ἡμερῶν. Τῶν
(Of birds the wild species, as has been stated, as a 25general rule pair and breed only once a year. The swallow, however, and the blackbird breed twice. With regard to the blackbird, however, its first brood is killed by inclemency of weather (for it is the earliest of all birds to breed), but the second brood it usually succeeds in rearing.
Birds that are domesticated or that are capable of domestication breed frequently, just as the common 30pigeon breeds all through the summer, and as is seen in the barn-door hen; for the barn-door cock and hen have intercourse, and the hen breeds, at all seasons alike: excepting by the way, during the days about the winter solstice.
Birds that are domesticated or that are capable of domestication breed frequently, just as the common 30pigeon breeds all through the summer, and as is seen in the barn-door hen; for the barn-door cock and hen have intercourse, and the hen breeds, at all seasons alike: excepting by the way, during the days about the winter solstice.
544b
1 δὲ περιστεροειδῶν πλείω τυγχάνει ὄντα γένη· ἔστι γὰρ
ἕτερον περιστερὰ καὶ πελειάς. Ἐλάττων μὲν οὖν ἡ πελειάς, τιθασσὸν
δὲ γίνεται μᾶλλον ἡ περιστερά· ἡ δὲ πελειὰς καὶ μέλαν
καὶ μικρὸν καὶ ἐρυθρόπουν καὶ τραχύπουν, διὸ καὶ
5 οὐδεὶς τρέφει. Μέγιστον μὲν οὖν τῶν τοιούτων ἡ φάττα ἐστί,
δεύτερον δ' ἡ οἰνάς· αὕτη δὲ μικρῷ μείζων ἐστὶ τῆς περιστερᾶς·
ἐλάχιστον δὲ τῶν τοιούτων ἡ τρυγών. Τίκτουσι δ' αἱ
περιστεραὶ πᾶσαν ὥραν καὶ ἐκτρέφουσιν, ἂν τόπον ἔχωσιν
ἀλεεινὸν καὶ τὰ ἐπιτήδεια· εἰ δὲ μή, τοῦ θέρους μόνον. Τὰ
10 δ' ἔκγονα τοῦ ἔαρος βέλτιστα καὶ τοῦ φθινοπώρου· τὰ δὲ
τοῦ θέρους καὶ ἐν ταῖς θερμημερίαις χείριστα.
1Of the pigeon family there are many diversities; for the peristera or common pigeon is not identical with the peleias or rock-pigeon. In other words, the rock-pigeon is smaller than the common pigeon, and is less easily domesticated; it is also black, and small, red-footed and rough-footed; and in consequence of 5these peculiarities it is neglected by the pigeon-fancier. The largest of all the pigeon species is the phatta or ring-dove; and the next in size is the oenas or stock-dove; and the stock-dove is a little larger than the common pigeon. The smallest of all the species is the turtle-dove. Pigeons breed and hatch at all seasons, if they are furnished with a sunny place and all requisites; 10unless they are so furnished, they breed only in the summer. The spring brood is the best, or the autumn brood. At all events, without doubt, the produce of the hot season, the summer brood, is the poorest of the three.)
Book 5,Chapter 14 (544b12–546b14)
Διαφέρουσι δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν τὰ ζῷα πρὸς τὴν
ὀχείαν. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν οὐχ ἅμα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἄρχεταί τε
τὸ σπέρμα ἐκκρίνεσθαι καὶ γεννᾶν δύναται, ἀλλ' ὕστερον· τὸ
15 γὰρ τῶν νέων ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ζῴοις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἄγονον,
γονίμων δ' ὄντων ἀσθενέστερα καὶ ἐλάττω τὰ ἔκγονα. Τοῦτο
δὲ μάλιστα δῆλον ἐπί τε τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν ζῳοτόκων
τετραπόδων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων· τῶν μὲν γὰρ τὰ ἔκγονα
ἐλάττω, τῶν δὲ τὰ ᾠά. Αἱ δ' ἡλικίαι τοῖς ὀχεύουσιν αὐτοῖς
20 μὲν πρὸς αὑτὰ τοῖς γένεσι τοῖς πλείστοις σχεδὸν κατὰ τὸν
αὐτὸν γίνονται χρόνον, ἐὰν μή τι προτερῇ διά τι τερατῶδες
πάθος ἢ διὰ βλάβην τῆς φύσεως. Τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἀνθρώποις
ἐπισημαίνει κατά τε τὴν τῆς φωνῆς μεταβολὴν καὶ τῶν
αἰδοίων οὐ μόνον μεγέθει ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴδει, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν μαστῶν
25 ὡσαύτως, μάλιστα δὲ τῇ τριχώσει τῆς ἥβης. Ἄρχεται
δὲ φέρειν τὸ σπέρμα περὶ τὰ δὶς ἑπτὰ ἔτη, γεννητικὸς δὲ
περὶ τὰ τρὶς ἑπτά. Τοῖς δ' ἄλλοις ζῴοις ἥβη μὲν οὐ γίνεται
(τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὅλως οὐκ ἔχει τρίχας, τὰ δ' οὐκ ἔχει ἐν
τοῖς ὑπτίοις, ἢ ἐλάττους τῶν ἐν τοῖς πρανέσιν), ἡ δὲ φωνὴ
30 μεταβάλλουσα ἐν ἐνίοις ἐπίδηλός ἐστιν· τοῖς δ' ἕτερα τοῦ σώματος
μόρια ἐπισημαίνει τήν τ' ἀρχὴν τοῦ σπέρμα ἔχειν
καὶ τοῦ τὸ γόνιμον ἤδη. Τὴν δὲ φωνὴν ὅλως ἔχει τὸ θῆλυ
ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις ὀξυτέραν, καὶ τὰ νεώτερα τῶν πρεσβυτέρων,
Further, animals differ from one another in regard to the time of life that is best adapted for sexual intercourse.
To begin with, in most animals the secretion of the seminal 15fluid and its generative capacity are not phenomena simultaneously manifested, but manifested successively. Thus, in all animals, the earliest secretion of sperm is unfruitful, or if it be fruitful the issue is comparatively poor and small. And this phenomenon is especially observable in man, in viviparous quadrupeds, and in birds; for in the case of man and the quadruped the offspring 20is smaller, and in the case of the bird, the egg.
For animals that copulate, of one and the same species, the age for maturity is in most species tolerably uniform, unless it occurs prematurely by reason of abnormality, or is postponed by physical injury.
In man, then, maturity is indicated by a change of the tone of voice, by an increase in size and an alteration in appearance of the sexual 25organs, as also in an increase of size and alteration in appearance of the breasts; and above all, in the hair-growth at the pubes. Man begins to possess seminal fluid about the age of fourteen, and becomes generatively capable at about the age of twenty-one years.
In other animals there is no hair-growth at the pubes (for some animals have no hair at all, and others have none on the belly, 30or less on the belly than on the back), but still, in some animals the change of voice is quite obvious; and in some animals other organs give indication of the commencing secretion of the sperm and the onset of generative capacity.
To begin with, in most animals the secretion of the seminal 15fluid and its generative capacity are not phenomena simultaneously manifested, but manifested successively. Thus, in all animals, the earliest secretion of sperm is unfruitful, or if it be fruitful the issue is comparatively poor and small. And this phenomenon is especially observable in man, in viviparous quadrupeds, and in birds; for in the case of man and the quadruped the offspring 20is smaller, and in the case of the bird, the egg.
For animals that copulate, of one and the same species, the age for maturity is in most species tolerably uniform, unless it occurs prematurely by reason of abnormality, or is postponed by physical injury.
In man, then, maturity is indicated by a change of the tone of voice, by an increase in size and an alteration in appearance of the sexual 25organs, as also in an increase of size and alteration in appearance of the breasts; and above all, in the hair-growth at the pubes. Man begins to possess seminal fluid about the age of fourteen, and becomes generatively capable at about the age of twenty-one years.
In other animals there is no hair-growth at the pubes (for some animals have no hair at all, and others have none on the belly, 30or less on the belly than on the back), but still, in some animals the change of voice is quite obvious; and in some animals other organs give indication of the commencing secretion of the sperm and the onset of generative capacity.
545a
1 ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ ἔλαφοι οἱ ἄρρενες τῶν θηλειῶν φθέγγονται
βαρύτερον. Φθέγγονται δ' οἱ μὲν ἄρρενες, ὅταν ἡ ὥρα
τῆς ὀχείας ᾖ, αἱ δὲ θήλειαι, ὅταν φοβηθῶσιν. Ἔστι δ' ἡ
μὲν τῆς θηλείας φωνὴ βραχεῖα, ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἄρρενος ἔχει μῆκος.
5 Καὶ ἡ τῶν κυνῶν δὲ γηρασκόντων γίνεται βαρυτέρα
φωνή. Καὶ τῶν ἵππων δὲ διαφέρουσιν αἱ φωναί· εὐθὺς μὲν
γὰρ γενόμεναι ἀφιᾶσι φωνὴν λεπτὴν καὶ μικρὰν αἱ θήλειαι,
οἱ δ' ἄρρενες μικρὰν μέν, μείζω μέντοι γε καὶ βαρυτέραν
τῆς θηλείας· τοῦ δὲ χρόνου προϊόντος μείζονα· διετὴς
10 δ' ἐπειδὰν γένηται καὶ τῆς ὀχείας ἄρξηται, φωνὴν
ἀφίησιν ὁ μὲν ἄρρην μεγάλην καὶ βαρεῖαν, ἡ δὲ θήλεια
μείζω καὶ λαμπροτέραν ἢ τέως, ἄχρι ἐτῶν εἴκοσιν ὡς ἐπὶ
τὸ πολύ· μετὰ μέντοι τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ἀσθενεστέραν ἀφιᾶσι
καὶ οἱ ἄρρενες καὶ αἱ θήλειαι. Ὡς μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, καθάπερ
15 εἴπομεν, διαφέρει ἡ φωνὴ τῶν ἀρρένων καὶ τῶν θηλειῶν
ἐν τῷ βαρύτερον φθέγγεσθαι τὰ ἄρρενα τῶν θηλειῶν,
ὅσων ἐστὶν ἀπότασις τῆς φωνῆς· οὐ μὴν ἐν πᾶσί γε τοῖς ζῴοις,
ἀλλ' ἐνίοις τοὐναντίον, οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν βοῶν· ἐπὶ γὰρ τούτων
τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος βαρύτερον φθέγγεται, καὶ οἱ μόσχοι
20 τῶν τελείων. Διὸ καὶ τὰς φωνὰς τὰ ἐκτεμνόμενα μεταβάλλουσιν
ἐναντίως· εἰς τὸ θῆλυ γὰρ μεταβάλλουσι τὰ ἐκτεμνόμενα.
Οἱ δὲ χρόνοι τῆς ὀχείας κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ἔχουσιν ὧδε
τοῖς ζῴοις. Πρόβατον μὲν καὶ αἲξ αὐτοετὲς ὀχεύεται καὶ
25 κύει, μᾶλλον δ' ἡ αἴξ· καὶ οἱ ἄρρενες δ' ὀχεύουσιν ὡσαύτως.
Τὰ δ' ἔκγονα τῶν ἀρρένων διαφέρει ἐπὶ τούτων καὶ τῶν
ἄλλων· οἱ γὰρ ἄρρενες βελτίους γίνονται τῷ ὕστερον ἔτει,
ὅταν γηράσκωσιν. Ὗς δ' ὀχεύεται μὲν καὶ ὀχεύει πρῶτον
ὀκτάμηνος, τίκτει δ' ἡ θήλεια μὲν ἐνιαυσία (οὕτω γὰρ συμβαίνει
30 ὁ χρόνος τῆς κυήσεως). Ὁ δ' ἄρρην γεννᾷ μὲν ὀκτάμηνος,
φαῦλα μέντοι πρὶν γενέσθαι ἐνιαύσιος. Οὐ πανταχοῦ δέ,
ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ὁμοίως συμβαίνουσιν αἱ ἡλικίαι· ἐνιαχοῦ μὲν
1As a general rule the female is sharper-toned in voice than the male, and the young animal than the elder; for, by the way, the stag has a much deeper-toned bay than the hind. Moreover, the male cries chiefly at rutting time, and the female under terror and alarm; and the cry of the female is short, and that of the male prolonged. With 5dogs also, as they grow old, the tone of the bark gets deeper.
There is a difference observable also in the neighings of horses. That is to say, the female foal has a thin small neigh, and the male foal a small neigh, yet bigger and deeper-toned than that of the female, and a louder one as time goes on. And when the young male and female are two years old and take to breeding, the neighing of the stallion becomes loud and 10deep, and that of the mare louder and shriller than heretofore; and this change goes on until they reach the age of about twenty years; and after this time the neighing in both sexes becomes weaker and weaker.
As a rule, then, as was stated, the voice of the male differs from the voice of the female, in animals where the voice admits of a continuous and prolonged sound, in the fact that the note in the male voice is more 15deep and bass; not, however, in all animals, for the contrary holds good in the case of some, as for instance in kine: for here the cow has a deeper note than the bull, and the calves a deeper note than the cattle. And we can thus understand the change of voice in animals that undergo gelding; for male animals that undergo this process assume the characters of the female.
The following are the ages at which various 20animals become capacitated for sexual commerce. The ewe and the she-goat are sexually mature when one year old, and this statement is made more confidently in respect to the she-goat than to the ewe; the ram and the he-goat are sexually mature at the same age. The progeny of very young individuals among these animals differs from that of other males: for the males improve in the course of the second year, when they become 25fully mature. The boar and the sow are capable of intercourse when eight months old, and the female brings forth when one year old, the difference corresponding to her period of gestation. The boar is capable of generation when eight months old, but, with a sire under a year in age, the litter is apt to be a poor one. The ages, however, are not invariable; now and then the boar and the sow are capable of intercourse when 30four months old, and are capable of producing a litter which can be reared when six months old; but at times the boar begins to be capable of intercourse when ten months.
There is a difference observable also in the neighings of horses. That is to say, the female foal has a thin small neigh, and the male foal a small neigh, yet bigger and deeper-toned than that of the female, and a louder one as time goes on. And when the young male and female are two years old and take to breeding, the neighing of the stallion becomes loud and 10deep, and that of the mare louder and shriller than heretofore; and this change goes on until they reach the age of about twenty years; and after this time the neighing in both sexes becomes weaker and weaker.
As a rule, then, as was stated, the voice of the male differs from the voice of the female, in animals where the voice admits of a continuous and prolonged sound, in the fact that the note in the male voice is more 15deep and bass; not, however, in all animals, for the contrary holds good in the case of some, as for instance in kine: for here the cow has a deeper note than the bull, and the calves a deeper note than the cattle. And we can thus understand the change of voice in animals that undergo gelding; for male animals that undergo this process assume the characters of the female.
The following are the ages at which various 20animals become capacitated for sexual commerce. The ewe and the she-goat are sexually mature when one year old, and this statement is made more confidently in respect to the she-goat than to the ewe; the ram and the he-goat are sexually mature at the same age. The progeny of very young individuals among these animals differs from that of other males: for the males improve in the course of the second year, when they become 25fully mature. The boar and the sow are capable of intercourse when eight months old, and the female brings forth when one year old, the difference corresponding to her period of gestation. The boar is capable of generation when eight months old, but, with a sire under a year in age, the litter is apt to be a poor one. The ages, however, are not invariable; now and then the boar and the sow are capable of intercourse when 30four months old, and are capable of producing a litter which can be reared when six months old; but at times the boar begins to be capable of intercourse when ten months.
545b
1 γὰρ αἱ ὕες ὀχεύονται μὲν καὶ ὀχεύουσι τετράμηνοι, ὥστε
δὲ γεννᾶν καὶ ἐκτρέφειν ἑξάμηνοι, ἐνιαχοῦ δ' οἱ κάπροι δεκάμηνοι
ἄρχονται ὀχεύειν, ἀγαθοὶ δὲ μέχρι ἐπὶ τριετές. Κύων
δ' ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ μὲν ὀχεύεται ἐνιαυσία καὶ ὀχεύει ἐνιαύσιος,
5 ἐνίοτε δὲ συμβαίνει ταῦτα καὶ ὀκταμήνοις· μᾶλλον
δὲ τοῦτο γίνεται ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρρένων ἢ τῶν θηλειῶν. Κύει δ' ἑξήκοντα
καὶ μίαν ἢ καὶ δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἡμέρας τὸ μακρότατον·
ἔλαττον δ' οὐ φέρει τῶν ἑξήκονθ' ἡμερῶν, ἀλλ' ἄν τι καὶ
γένηται, οὐκ ἐκτρέφεται εἰς τέλος. Τεκοῦσα δὲ πάλιν ὀχεύεται
10 ἕκτῳ μηνί, καὶ οὐ πρότερον. Ἵππος δ' ὀχεύειν ἄρχεται
διετὴς καὶ ὀχεύεσθαι, ὥστε καὶ γεννᾶν· τὰ μέντοι ἔκγονα
τὰ κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους ἐλάττω καὶ ἀσθενικώτερα.
Ὡς δ' ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον τριετὴς ὀχεύει καὶ ὀχεύεται. Καὶ
ἐπιδίδωσι δ' ἀεὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βελτίω τὰ ἔκγονα γεννᾶν μέχρι
15 ἐτῶν εἴκοσιν. Ὀχεύει δ' ὁ ἵππος ὁ ἄρρην μέχρι ἐτῶν
τριάκοντα καὶ τριῶν, ἡ δὲ θήλεια ὀχεύεται μέχρι τετταράκοντα
ἐτῶν, ὥστε συμβαίνει σχεδὸν διὰ βίου γίνεσθαι τὴν
ὀχείαν· ζῇ γὰρ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ ὁ μὲν ἄρρην περὶ πέντε
καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη, ἡ δὲ θήλεια πλείω τῶν τετταράκοντα·
20 ἤδη δέ τις ἐβίωσεν ἵππος ἔτη ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ πέντε. Ὄνος
δὲ τριακοντάμηνος ὀχεύει καὶ ὀχεύεται. Οὐ μέντοι γεννῶσί γ'
ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ ἀλλ' ἢ τριετὴς ἢ τριετὴς καὶ ἑξάμηνος. Ἤδη δὲ
καὶ ἐνιαυσία ἐκύησεν ὥστε καὶ ἐκτραφῆναι. Καὶ βοῦς ἐνιαυσία
ἔτεκεν ὥστε καὶ ἐκτραφῆναι· καὶ τὸ μέγεθος ηὐξήθη
25 ὅσον ἔμελλε, καὶ οὐκέτι. Αἱ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαὶ τοῖς ζῴοις τούτοις
τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦτον ἔχουσι τὸν τρόπον. Γεννᾷ δ' ἄνθρωπος
μὲν τὸ ἔσχατον μέχρι ἑβδομήκοντα ἐτῶν ὁ ἄρρην, γυνὴ δὲ
μέχρι πεντήκοντα. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν σπάνιον· ὀλίγοις γὰρ
γεννᾶται ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ἡλικίαις τέκνα· ὡς δ' ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ
30 τοῖς μὲν πέντε καὶ ἑξήκοντα ὅρος, ταῖς δὲ πέντε καὶ
τετταράκοντα. Πρόβατον δὲ τίκτει μέχρι ἐτῶν ὀκτώ, ἐὰν δὲ
θεραπεύηται καλῶς, καὶ μέχρι ἕνδεκα· σχεδὸν δὲ διὰ βίου
1He continues sexually mature until he is three years old. The dog and the bitch are, as a rule, sexually capable and sexually receptive when a year old, and sometimes when eight months old; but the priority in date is more common with the dog than with the bitch. The period of gestation with the 5bitch is sixty days, or sixty-one, or sixty-two, or sixty-three at the utmost; the period is never under sixty days, or, if it is, the litter comes to no good. The bitch, after delivering a litter, submits to the male in six months, but not before. The horse and the mare are, at the earliest, sexually capable and sexually mature when two years old; the issue, however, of 10parents of this age is small and poor. As a general rule these animals are sexually capable when three years old, and they grow better for breeding purposes until they reach twenty years. The stallion is sexually capable up to the age of thirty-three years, and the mare up to forty, so that, in point of fact, the animals are sexually capable all their lives long; for the 15stallion, as a rule, lives for about thirty-five years, and the mare for a little over forty; although, by the way, a horse has known to live to the age of seventy-five. The ass and the she-ass are sexually capable when thirty months old; but, as a rule, they are not generatively mature until they are three years old, or three years and a half. An instance has been known of 20a she-ass bearing and bringing forth a foal when only a year old. A cow has been known to calve when only a year old, and the calf grew as big as might be expected, but no more. So much for the dates in time at which these animals attain to generative capacity.
In the human species, the male is generative, at the longest, up to seventy years, and the female up to fifty; 25but such extended periods are rare. As a rule, the male is generative up to the age of sixty-five, and to the age of forty-five the female is capable of conception.
The ewe bears up to eight years, and, if she be carefully tended, up to eleven years; in fact, the ram and the ewe are sexually capable pretty well all their lives long. He-goats, if they be fat, are more or 30less unserviceable for breeding; and this, by the way, is the reason why country folk say of a vine when it stops bearing that it is 'running the goat'.
In the human species, the male is generative, at the longest, up to seventy years, and the female up to fifty; 25but such extended periods are rare. As a rule, the male is generative up to the age of sixty-five, and to the age of forty-five the female is capable of conception.
The ewe bears up to eight years, and, if she be carefully tended, up to eleven years; in fact, the ram and the ewe are sexually capable pretty well all their lives long. He-goats, if they be fat, are more or 30less unserviceable for breeding; and this, by the way, is the reason why country folk say of a vine when it stops bearing that it is 'running the goat'.
546a
1 συμβαίνει ὀχεύειν καὶ ὀχεύεσθαι ἀμφοτέροις. Οἱ δὲ τράγοι
πίονες ὄντες ἧττον γόνιμοί εἰσιν (ἀφ' ὧν καὶ τὰς ἀμπέλους,
ὅταν μὴ φέρωσι, τραγᾶν καλοῦσιν), ἀλλὰ παρισχναινόμενοι
δύνανται ὀχεύοντες γεννᾶν. Ὀχεύουσι δ' οἱ κριοὶ τὰς πρεςβυτάτας
5 πρῶτον, τὰς δὲ νέας οὐ διώκουσιν. Τίκτουσι δ', ὥςπερ
εἴρηται ἐν τοῖς πρότερον, αἱ νέαι ἐλάττω τὰ ἔκγονα τῶν
πρεσβυτέρων. Κάπρος δ' ἀγαθὸς μὲν ὀχεύειν μέχρι ἐπὶ τριετές,
τῶν δὲ πρεσβυτέρων χείρω τὰ ἔκγονα· οὐ γὰρ ἔτι γίνεται
αὐτῷ ἐπίδοσις οὐδὲ ῥώμη. Ὀχεύειν δ' εἴωθε χορτασθεὶς
10 καὶ μὴ προβιβάσας ἄλλην· εἰ δὲ μή, ὀλιγοχρονιωτέρα ἡ
ὀχεία γίνεται καὶ μικρότερα τὰ ἔκγονα. Τίκτει δ' ἐλάχιστα
μὲν ὗς, ὅταν ᾖ πρωτοτόκος· δευτεροτόκος δ' οὖσα ἀκμάζει·
γηράσκουσα δὲ τίκτει μὲν ὁμοίως, ὀχεύεται δὲ βραδύτερον·
ὅταν δὲ πεντεκαιδεκαετεῖς ὦσιν, οὐκέτι γεννῶσιν ἀλλὰ γραῖαι
15 γίνονται. Ἐὰν δ' εὐτραφὴς ᾖ, θᾶττον ὁρμᾷ πρὸς τὰς ὀχείας
καὶ νέα καὶ γηράσκουσα· ἔγκυος δ' οὖσα ἐὰν πιαίνηται σφόδρα,
ἔλαττον ἴσχει τὸ γάλα μετὰ τὸν τόκον. Τὰ δ' ἔκγονα κατὰ
μὲν τὴν ἡλικίαν βέλτιστα <ἃ> ἐν ἀκμῇ, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ὥρας, ὅσα
τοῦ χειμῶνος ἀρχομένου γίνεται· χείριστα δὲ τὰ θερινά· καὶ
20 γὰρ μικρὰ καὶ λεπτὰ καὶ ὑγρά. Ὁ δ' ἄρρην, ἐὰν μὲν εὐτραφὴς
ᾖ, πᾶσαν ὥραν ὀχεύειν δύναται, καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν
καὶ νύκτωρ· εἰ δὲ μή, μάλιστα τό γ' ἕωθεν· καὶ γηράσκων
ἧττον ἀεί, ὥσπερ εἴρηται καὶ πρότερον. Πολλάκις δ' οἱ ἀδύνατοι
ἢ διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ἢ δι' ἀσθένειαν, οὐ δυνάμενοι ταχέως
25 ὀχεύειν, κατακλινομένης τῆς θηλείας διὰ τὸ κάμνειν τῇ
στάσει συγκατατακλιθέντες πλησιάζουσιν. Κυΐσκεται δὲ μάλιστα
ἡ ὗς, ἐπειδὰν θυῶσα καταβάλλῃ τὰ ὦτα· εἰ δὲ μή,
ἀναθυᾷ πάλιν. Αἱ δὲ κύνες ὀχεύονται οὐ διὰ βίου ἀλλὰ μέχρι
τινὸς ἀκμῆς ὡς μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ μέχρι ἐτῶν δώδεκα
30 αἵ τ' ὀχεῖαι συμβαίνουσι καὶ αἱ κυήσεις αὐτῶν· οὐ μὴν ἀλλ'
ἤδη τισὶ καὶ ὀκτωκαίδεκα ἔτη γεγονόσι καὶ εἴκοσι συνέβη
καὶ θηλείαις ὀχευθῆναι καὶ ἄρρεσι γεννῆσαι. Ἀφαιρεῖται δὲ
καὶ τὸ γῆρας ὥστε μὴ γεννᾶν μηδὲ τίκτειν, καθάπερ καὶ
1However, if an over-fat he-goat be thinned down, he becomes sexually capable and generative.
Rams single out the oldest ewes for copulation, and show no regard for the young ones. And, as has been stated, the issue of the younger ewes is poorer than that of the older ones.
The boar is good for breeding purposes 5until he is three years of age; but after that age his issue deteriorates, for after that age his vigour is on the decline. The boar is most capable after a good feed, and with the first sow it mounts; if poorly fed or put to many females, the copulation is abbreviated, and the litter is comparatively poor. The first litter of the sow is the fewest in number; at the second litter she is at 10her prime. The animal, as it grows old, continues to breed, but the sexual desire abates. When they reach fifteen years, they become unproductive, and are getting old. If a sow be highly fed, it is all the more eager for sexual commerce, whether old or young; but, if it be over-fattened in pregnancy, it gives the less milk after parturition. With regard to the age of the parents, the litter 15is the best when they are in their prime; but with regard to the seasons of the year, the litter is the best that comes at the beginning of winter; and the summer litter the poorest, consisting as it usually does of animals small and thin and flaccid. The boar, if it be well fed, is sexually capable at all hours, night and day; but otherwise is peculiarly salacious early in the morning. As 20it grows old the sexual passion dies away, as we have already remarked. Very often a boar, when more or less impotent from age or debility, finding itself unable to accomplish the sexual commerce with due speed, and growing fatigued with the standing posture, will roll the sow over on the ground, and the pair will conclude the operation side by side of one another. The sow is sure of conception 25if it drops its lugs in rutting time; if the ears do not thus drop, it may have to rut a second time before impregnation takes place.
Bitches do not submit to the male throughout their lives, but only until they reach a certain maturity of years. As a general rule, they are sexually receptive and conceptive until they are twelve years old; although, by the way, cases have been known 30where dogs and bitches have been respectively procreative and conceptive to the ages of eighteen and even of twenty years. But, as a rule, age diminishes the capability of generation and of conception with these animals as with all others.
Rams single out the oldest ewes for copulation, and show no regard for the young ones. And, as has been stated, the issue of the younger ewes is poorer than that of the older ones.
The boar is good for breeding purposes 5until he is three years of age; but after that age his issue deteriorates, for after that age his vigour is on the decline. The boar is most capable after a good feed, and with the first sow it mounts; if poorly fed or put to many females, the copulation is abbreviated, and the litter is comparatively poor. The first litter of the sow is the fewest in number; at the second litter she is at 10her prime. The animal, as it grows old, continues to breed, but the sexual desire abates. When they reach fifteen years, they become unproductive, and are getting old. If a sow be highly fed, it is all the more eager for sexual commerce, whether old or young; but, if it be over-fattened in pregnancy, it gives the less milk after parturition. With regard to the age of the parents, the litter 15is the best when they are in their prime; but with regard to the seasons of the year, the litter is the best that comes at the beginning of winter; and the summer litter the poorest, consisting as it usually does of animals small and thin and flaccid. The boar, if it be well fed, is sexually capable at all hours, night and day; but otherwise is peculiarly salacious early in the morning. As 20it grows old the sexual passion dies away, as we have already remarked. Very often a boar, when more or less impotent from age or debility, finding itself unable to accomplish the sexual commerce with due speed, and growing fatigued with the standing posture, will roll the sow over on the ground, and the pair will conclude the operation side by side of one another. The sow is sure of conception 25if it drops its lugs in rutting time; if the ears do not thus drop, it may have to rut a second time before impregnation takes place.
Bitches do not submit to the male throughout their lives, but only until they reach a certain maturity of years. As a general rule, they are sexually receptive and conceptive until they are twelve years old; although, by the way, cases have been known 30where dogs and bitches have been respectively procreative and conceptive to the ages of eighteen and even of twenty years. But, as a rule, age diminishes the capability of generation and of conception with these animals as with all others.
546b
1 ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων. Ἡ δὲ κάμηλός ἐστι μὲν ὀπισθουρητικόν, καὶ
ὀχεύεται ὥσπερ εἴρηται πρότερον· τῆς δ' ὀχείας ὁ χρόνος
ἐν τῇ Ἀραβίᾳ κατὰ τὸν Μαιμακτηριῶνα μῆνα. Κύει δὲ δώδεκα
μῆνας, τίκτει δ' ἕν· ἔστι γὰρ μονοτόκον. Ἄρχεται δὲ
5 τῆς ὀχείας ἡ θήλεια τριετὴς οὖσα καὶ ὁ ἄρρην τριετὴς ὤν·
μετὰ δὲ τὸν τόκον ἓν ἔτος διαλιποῦσα ὀχεύεται ἡ θήλεια. Ὁ
δ' ἐλέφας ἄρχεται μὲν βαίνεσθαι ὁ μὲν νεώτατος δέκ' ἐτῶν,
ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτατος πεντεκαίδεκα· ὁ δ' ἄρρην βαίνει πεντέτης
ὢν ἢ ἑξέτης. Χρόνος δὲ τῆς ὀχείας τὸ ἔαρ. Πάλιν δὲ βαίνει
10 μετὰ τὴν ὀχείαν διὰ τρίτου ἔτους· ὃν δ' ἂν ἐγκύμονα ποιήσῃ,
τούτου πάλιν οὐχ ἅπτεται. Κύει δ' ἔτη δύο, τίκτει δ' ἕν· ἔστι
γὰρ μονοτόκον· τὸ δ' ἔμβρυον γίνεται ὅσον μόσχος δίμηνος
ἢ τρίμηνος.
Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς ὀχείας τῶν ζῴων τῶν ὀχευομένων τοῦτον
15 ἔχει τὸν τρόπον.
1The female of the camel is opisthuretic, and submits to the male in the way above described; and the season for copulation in Arabia is about the month of October. Its period of gestation is twelve months; and it is never delivered of more than one foal at a time. The female becomes sexually receptive and the male sexually 5capable at the age of three years. After parturition, an interval of a year elapses before the female is again receptive to the male.
The female elephant becomes sexually receptive when ten years old at the youngest, and when fifteen at the oldest; and the male is sexually capable when five years old, or six. The season for intercourse is spring. The male allows an interval of three years to elapse 10after commerce with a female: and, after it has once impregnated a female, it has no intercourse with her again. The period of gestation with the female is two years; and only one young animal is produced at a time, in other words it is uniparous. And the embryo is the size of a calf two or three months old.
The female elephant becomes sexually receptive when ten years old at the youngest, and when fifteen at the oldest; and the male is sexually capable when five years old, or six. The season for intercourse is spring. The male allows an interval of three years to elapse 10after commerce with a female: and, after it has once impregnated a female, it has no intercourse with her again. The period of gestation with the female is two years; and only one young animal is produced at a time, in other words it is uniparous. And the embryo is the size of a calf two or three months old.
Book 5,Chapter 15 (546b15–548a21)
Περὶ δὲ τῆς γενέσεως καὶ τῶν ὀχευομένων
καὶ τῶν ἀνοχεύτων λεκτέον, καὶ πρῶτον περὶ τῶν
ὀστρακοδέρμων· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἀνόχευτον μόνον ὡς εἰπεῖν
ὅλον τὸ γένος. Αἱ μὲν οὖν πορφύραι τοῦ ἔαρος συναθροιζόμεναι
εἰς ταὐτὸ ποιοῦσι τὴν καλουμένην μελίκηραν. Τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶν
20 οἷον κηρίον, πλὴν οὐχ οὕτω γλαφυρόν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ ἐκ
λεπυρίων ἐρεβίνθων λευκῶν πολλὰ συμπαγείη. Οὐκ ἔχει δ'
ἀνεῳγμένον πόρον οὐδὲν τούτων, οὐδὲ γίνονται ἐκ τούτων αἱ
πορφύραι, ἀλλὰ φύονται καὶ αὗται καὶ τἆλλα τὰ ὀστρακόδερμα
ἐξ ἰλύος καὶ συσσήψεως. Τοῦτο δὲ συμβαίνει ὥσπερ
25 ἀποκάθαρμα καὶ ταύταις καὶ τοῖς κήρυξιν· κηριάζουσι γὰρ
καὶ οἱ κήρυκες. Γίνονται μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰ κηριάζοντα τῶν
ὀστρακοδέρμων τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τοῖς ἄλλοις ὀστρακοδέρμοις,
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὅταν προϋπάρχῃ τὰ ὁμοιογενῆ·
ἀφιᾶσι γὰρ ἀρχόμενα κηριάζειν γλισχρότητα μυξώδη, ἐξ
30 ἧς τὰ λεπυριώδη συνίσταται. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἅπαντα διαχεῖται,
ἀφίησι δ' ὃ εἶχεν εἰς τὴν γῆν· καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ τόπῳ
γίνεται ἐν τῇ γῇ συστάντα πορφύρια μικρά, ἃ ἔχουσαι ἁλίσκονται
αἱ πορφύραι ἐφ' αὑτῶν, ἔνια δ' οὔπω διηκριβωμένα
So much for the copulations of such animals as copulate.
We now proceed to treat of generation 15both with respect to copulating and non-copulating animals, and we shall commence with discussing the subject of generation in the case of the testaceans.
The testacean is almost the only genus that throughout all its species is non-copulative.
The porphyrae, or purple murices, gather together to some one place in the spring-time, and deposit the so-called 'honeycomb'. This substance resembles the 20comb, only that it is not so neat and delicate; and looks as though a number of husks of white chick-peas were all stuck together. But none of these structures has any open passage, and the porphyra does not grow out of them, but these and all other testaceans grow out of mud and decaying matter. The substance, is, in fact, an excretion of the porphyra and the ceryx; for it is deposited by the ceryx as 25well. Such, then, of the testaceans as deposit the honeycomb are generated spontaneously like all other testaceans, but they certainly come in greater abundance in places where their congeners have been living previously. At the commencement of the process of depositing the honeycomb, they throw off a slippery mucus, and of this the husklike formations are composed. These formations, then, all melt 30and deposit their contents on the ground, and at this spot there are found on the ground a number of minute porphyrae, and porphyrae are caught at times with these animalculae upon them, some of which are too small to be differentiated in form.
We now proceed to treat of generation 15both with respect to copulating and non-copulating animals, and we shall commence with discussing the subject of generation in the case of the testaceans.
The testacean is almost the only genus that throughout all its species is non-copulative.
The porphyrae, or purple murices, gather together to some one place in the spring-time, and deposit the so-called 'honeycomb'. This substance resembles the 20comb, only that it is not so neat and delicate; and looks as though a number of husks of white chick-peas were all stuck together. But none of these structures has any open passage, and the porphyra does not grow out of them, but these and all other testaceans grow out of mud and decaying matter. The substance, is, in fact, an excretion of the porphyra and the ceryx; for it is deposited by the ceryx as 25well. Such, then, of the testaceans as deposit the honeycomb are generated spontaneously like all other testaceans, but they certainly come in greater abundance in places where their congeners have been living previously. At the commencement of the process of depositing the honeycomb, they throw off a slippery mucus, and of this the husklike formations are composed. These formations, then, all melt 30and deposit their contents on the ground, and at this spot there are found on the ground a number of minute porphyrae, and porphyrae are caught at times with these animalculae upon them, some of which are too small to be differentiated in form.
547a
1 τὴν μορφήν. Ἐὰν δὲ πρὶν ἐκτεκεῖν ἁλῶσιν, ἐνίοτε ἐν ταῖς
φορμίσιν οὐχ ὅπου ἔτυχεν ἐκτίκτουσιν, ἀλλ' εἰς ταὐτὸ ἰοῦσαι,
ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ, καὶ διὰ τὴν στενοχωρίαν γίνονται
οἱονεὶ βότρυς. Εἰσὶ δὲ τῶν πορφυρῶν γένη πλείω, καὶ ἔνιαι
5 μὲν μεγάλαι, οἷον αἱ περὶ τὸ Σίγειον καὶ Λεκτόν, αἱ δὲ
μικραί, οἷον ἐν τῷ Εὐρίπῳ καὶ περὶ τὴν Καρίαν, καὶ αἱ
μὲν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις μεγάλαι καὶ τραχεῖαι, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος
αὐτῶν αἱ μὲν πλεῖσται μέλαν ἔχουσιν, ἔνιαι δ' ἐρυθρὸν καὶ
μικρόν. Γίνονται δ' ἔνιαι τῶν μεγάλων καὶ μναῖαι· αἱ δ'
10 ἐν τοῖς αἰγιαλοῖς καὶ περὶ τὰς ἀκτὰς τὸ μὲν μέγεθος γίνονται
μικραί, τὸ δ' ἄνθος ἐρυθρὸν ἔχουσιν. Ἔτι δ' ἐν μὲν τοῖς
προσβορείοις μέλαιναι, ἐν δὲ τοῖς νοτίοις ἐρυθραὶ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ
πλεῖστον εἰπεῖν. Ἁλίσκονται δὲ τοῦ ἔαρος, ὅταν κηριάζωσιν·
ὑπὸ κύνα δ' οὐχ ἁλίσκονται· οὐ γὰρ νέμονται, ἀλλὰ κρύπτουσιν
15 ἑαυτὰς καὶ φωλοῦσιν. Τὸ δ' ἄνθος ἔχουσιν ἀνὰ μέσον
τῆς μήκωνος καὶ τοῦ τραχήλου· τούτων δ' ἐστὶν ἡ σύμφυσις
πυκνή, τὸ δὲ χρῶμα ἰδεῖν ὥσπερ ὑμὴν λευκός, ὃν
ἀφαιροῦσιν· θλιβόμενος δὲ βάπτει καὶ ἀνθίζει τὴν χεῖρα.
Διατείνει δ' αὐτὴν οἷον φλέψ· τοῦτο δὲ δοκεῖ εἶναι τὸ ἄνθος.
20 Ἡ δ' ἄλλη φύσις οἷον στυπτηρία. Ὅταν δὲ κηριάζωσιν
αἱ πορφύραι, τότε χείριστον ἔχουσι τὸ ἄνθος. Τὰς μὲν οὖν μικρὰς
μετὰ τῶν ὀστράκων κόπτουσιν· οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον ἀφελεῖν·
τῶν δὲ μειζόνων περιελόντες τὸ ὄστρακον ἀφαιροῦσι τὸ ἄνθος.
Διὸ καὶ χωρίζεται ὁ τράχηλος καὶ ἡ μήκων· μεταξὺ γὰρ τούτων
25 τὸ ἄνθος, ἐπάνω τῆς καλουμένης κοιλίας· ἀφαιρεθέντος
οὖν ἀνάγκη διῃρῆσθαι. Σπουδάζουσι δὲ ζώσας κόπτειν· ἐὰν
γὰρ πρότερον ἀποθάνῃ, συνεξεμεῖ τὸ ἄνθος· διὸ καὶ φυλάττουσιν
ἐν τοῖς κύρτοις, ἕως ἂν ἀθροίσωσι καὶ σχολάσωσιν. Οἱ μὲν
οὖν ἀρχαῖοι πρὸς τοῖς δελέασιν οὐ καθίεσαν οὐδὲ προσῆπτον
30 τοὺς κύρτους, ὥστε συνέβαινεν ἀνεσπασμένην ἤδη πολλάκις
ἀποπίπτειν· οἱ δὲ νῦν προσάπτουσιν, ὅπως ἐὰν ἀποπέσῃ, μὴ
ἀπολλύηται. Μάλιστα δ' ἀποπίπτει, ἐὰν πλήρης ᾖ· κενῆς
δ' οὔσης καὶ ἀποσπάσαι χαλεπόν. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ συμβαίνοντα
1If the porphyrae are caught before producing this honey-comb, they sometimes go through the process in fishing-creels, not here and there in the baskets, but gathering to some one spot all together, just as they do in the sea; and owing to the narrowness of their new quarters they cluster together like a 5bunch of grapes.
There are many species of the purple murex; and some are large, as those found off Sigeum and Lectum; others are small, as those found in the Euripus, and on the coast of Caria. And those that are found in bays are large and rough; in most of them the peculiar bloom from which their name is derived is dark to blackness, in others it is reddish and small in size; 10some of the large ones weigh upwards of a mina apiece. But the specimens that are found along the coast and on the rocks are small-sized, and the bloom in their case is of a reddish hue. Further, as a general rule, in northern waters the bloom is blackish, and in southern waters of a reddish hue. The murex is caught in the spring-time when engaged in the construction of the 15honeycomb; but it is not caught at any time about the rising of the dog-star, for at that period it does not feed, but conceals itself and burrows. The bloom of the animal is situated between the mecon (or quasi-liver) and the neck, and the co-attachment of these is an intimate one. In colour it looks like a white membrane, and this is what people extract; and if it be removed and 20squeezed it stains your hand with the colour of the bloom. There is a kind of vein that runs through it, and this quasi-vein would appear to be in itself the bloom. And the qualities, by the way, of this organ are astringent. It is after the murex has constructed the honeycomb that the bloom is at its worst. Small specimens they break in pieces, shells and all, for it is no easy 25matter to extract the organ; but in dealing with the larger ones they first strip off the shell and then abstract the bloom. For this purpose the neck and mecon are separated, for the bloom lies in between them, above the so-called stomach; hence the necessity of separating them in abstracting the bloom. Fishermen are anxious always to break the animal in pieces while it is yet 30alive, for, if it die before the process is completed, it vomits out the bloom; and for this reason the fishermen keep the animals in creels, until they have collected a sufficient number and can attend to them at their leisure.
There are many species of the purple murex; and some are large, as those found off Sigeum and Lectum; others are small, as those found in the Euripus, and on the coast of Caria. And those that are found in bays are large and rough; in most of them the peculiar bloom from which their name is derived is dark to blackness, in others it is reddish and small in size; 10some of the large ones weigh upwards of a mina apiece. But the specimens that are found along the coast and on the rocks are small-sized, and the bloom in their case is of a reddish hue. Further, as a general rule, in northern waters the bloom is blackish, and in southern waters of a reddish hue. The murex is caught in the spring-time when engaged in the construction of the 15honeycomb; but it is not caught at any time about the rising of the dog-star, for at that period it does not feed, but conceals itself and burrows. The bloom of the animal is situated between the mecon (or quasi-liver) and the neck, and the co-attachment of these is an intimate one. In colour it looks like a white membrane, and this is what people extract; and if it be removed and 20squeezed it stains your hand with the colour of the bloom. There is a kind of vein that runs through it, and this quasi-vein would appear to be in itself the bloom. And the qualities, by the way, of this organ are astringent. It is after the murex has constructed the honeycomb that the bloom is at its worst. Small specimens they break in pieces, shells and all, for it is no easy 25matter to extract the organ; but in dealing with the larger ones they first strip off the shell and then abstract the bloom. For this purpose the neck and mecon are separated, for the bloom lies in between them, above the so-called stomach; hence the necessity of separating them in abstracting the bloom. Fishermen are anxious always to break the animal in pieces while it is yet 30alive, for, if it die before the process is completed, it vomits out the bloom; and for this reason the fishermen keep the animals in creels, until they have collected a sufficient number and can attend to them at their leisure.
547b
1 ἴδια περὶ τὰς πορφύρας ἐστίν. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον
γίνονται ταῖς πορφύραις καὶ οἱ κήρυκες, καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ὥραν.
Ἔχουσι δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐπικαλύμματα κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἀμφότερα,
καὶ τἆλλα τὰ στρομβώδη, ἐκ γενετῆς ἅπαντα· νέμονται δ'
5 ἐξείροντα τὴν καλουμένην γλῶτταν ὑπὸ τὸ κάλυμμα. Τὸ δὲ
μέγεθος τῆς γλώττης ἔχει ἡ πορφύρα μεῖζον δακτύλου, ᾧ
νέμεται καὶ διατρυπᾷ τὰ κογχύλια καὶ τὸ αὐτῆς ὄστρακον.
Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἡ πορφύρα καὶ ὁ κῆρυξ ἀμφότερα μακρόβια·
ζῇ γὰρ ἡ πορφύρα περὶ ἔτη ἕξ, καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν
10 φανερά ἐστιν ἡ αὔξησις τοῖς διαστήμασι τοῖς ἐν τῷ ὀστράκῳ
τῆς ἕλικος. Κηριάζουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ μύες. Τὰ δὲ λιμνόστρεα
καλούμενα, ὅπου ἂν βόρβορος ᾖ, ἐνταῦθα συνίσταται πρῶτον
αὐτῶν ἡ ἀρχή. Αἱ δὲ κόγχαι καὶ αἱ χῆμαι καὶ οἱ σωλῆνες
καὶ οἱ κτένες ἐν τοῖς ἀμμώδεσι λαμβάνουσι τὴν σύστασιν.
15 Αἱ δὲ πίνναι ὀρθαὶ φύονται ἐκ τοῦ βυσσοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἀμμώδεσι
καὶ βορβορώδεσιν. Ἔχουσι δ' ἐν αὑταῖς πιννοφύλακα,
αἱ μὲν καρίδιον αἱ δὲ καρκίνιον· οὗ στερισκόμεναι διαφθείρονται
θᾶττον. Ὅλως δὲ πάντα τὰ ὀστρακώδη γίνεται ἐν τῇ
ἰλύϊ καὶ αὐτόματα, κατὰ τὴν διαφορὰν τῆς ἰλύος ἕτερα,
20 ἐν μὲν τῇ βορβορώδει τὰ ὄστρεα, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀμμώδει κόγχαι
καὶ τὰ εἰρημένα, περὶ δὲ τὰς σήραγγας τῶν πετριδίων τήθυα
καὶ βάλανοι καὶ τὰ ἐπιπολάζοντα, οἷον αἱ λεπάδες
καὶ οἱ νηρεῖται. Ἅπαντα μὲν οὖν τὰ τοιαῦτα τὴν αὔξησιν
ἔχει ταχεῖαν, μάλιστα δ' αἵ τε πορφύραι καὶ οἱ κτένες·
25 ταῦτα γὰρ ἐν ἐνιαυτῷ γίνεται τέλεια. Ἐμφύονται δ' ἐν ἐνίοις
τῶν ὀστρακοδέρμων καρκίνοι λευκοί, τὸ μέγεθος μικροὶ πάμπαν,
πλεῖστοι μὲν ἐν τοῖς μυσὶ τοῖς πυελώδεσιν, ἔπειτα
καὶ ἐν ταῖς πίνναις οἱ καλούμενοι πιννοτῆραι. Γίνονται δὲ
καὶ ἐν τοῖς κτεσὶ καὶ ἐν τοῖς λιμνοστρέοις· αὔξησιν δ' ἐπίδηλον
30 οὐδεμίαν οὗτοι λαμβάνουσιν. Φασὶ δ' αὐτοὺς οἱ ἁλιεῖς
ἅμα συγγίνεσθαι γινομένοις. Ἀφανίζονται δέ τινα χρόνον
ἐν τῇ ἄμμῳ καὶ οἱ κτένες, ὥσπερ καὶ αἱ πορφύραι. Φύεται
μὲν οὖν τὰ ὄστρεα καθάπερ εἴρηται, φύεται δὲ τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν
1Fishermen in past times used not to lower creels or attach them to the bait, so that very often the animal got dropped off in the pulling up; at present, however, they always attach a basket, so that if the animal fall off it is not lost. The animal is more inclined to slip off the bait if 5it be full inside; if it be empty it is difficult to shake it off. Such are the phenomena connected with the porphyra or murex.
The same phenomena are manifested by the ceryx or trumpet-shell; and the seasons are the same in which the phenomena are observable. Both animals, also, the murex and the ceryx, have their opercula similarly situated-and, in fact, all 10the stromboids, and this is congenital with them all; and they feed by protruding the so-called tongue underneath the operculum. The tongue of the murex is bigger than one's finger, and by means of it, it feeds, and perforates conchylia and the shells of its own kind. Both the murex and the ceryx are long lived. The murex lives for about six years; and the yearly 15increase is indicated by a distinct interval in the spiral convolution of the shell.
The mussel also constructs a honeycomb. With regard to the limnostreae, or lagoon oysters, wherever you have slimy mud there you are sure to find them beginning to grow. Cockles and clams and razor-fishes and scallops row spontaneously in sandy places. The pinna grows straight up 20from its tuft of anchoring fibres in sandy and slimy places; these creatures have inside them a parasite nicknamed the pinna-guard, in some cases a small carid and in other cases a little crab; if the pinna be deprived of this pinna-guard it soon dies.
As a general rule, then, all testaceans grow by spontaneous generation in mud, differing from one another 25according to the differences of the material; oysters growing in slime, and cockles and the other testaceans above mentioned on sandy bottoms; and in the hollows of the rocks the ascidian and the barnacle, and common sorts, such as the limpet and the nerites. All these animals grow with great rapidity, especially the murex and the scallop; for the murex and the 30scallop attain their full growth in a year. In some of the testaceans white crabs are found, very diminutive in size; they are most numerous in the trough shaped mussel. In the pinna also is found the so-called pinna-guard.
The same phenomena are manifested by the ceryx or trumpet-shell; and the seasons are the same in which the phenomena are observable. Both animals, also, the murex and the ceryx, have their opercula similarly situated-and, in fact, all 10the stromboids, and this is congenital with them all; and they feed by protruding the so-called tongue underneath the operculum. The tongue of the murex is bigger than one's finger, and by means of it, it feeds, and perforates conchylia and the shells of its own kind. Both the murex and the ceryx are long lived. The murex lives for about six years; and the yearly 15increase is indicated by a distinct interval in the spiral convolution of the shell.
The mussel also constructs a honeycomb. With regard to the limnostreae, or lagoon oysters, wherever you have slimy mud there you are sure to find them beginning to grow. Cockles and clams and razor-fishes and scallops row spontaneously in sandy places. The pinna grows straight up 20from its tuft of anchoring fibres in sandy and slimy places; these creatures have inside them a parasite nicknamed the pinna-guard, in some cases a small carid and in other cases a little crab; if the pinna be deprived of this pinna-guard it soon dies.
As a general rule, then, all testaceans grow by spontaneous generation in mud, differing from one another 25according to the differences of the material; oysters growing in slime, and cockles and the other testaceans above mentioned on sandy bottoms; and in the hollows of the rocks the ascidian and the barnacle, and common sorts, such as the limpet and the nerites. All these animals grow with great rapidity, especially the murex and the scallop; for the murex and the 30scallop attain their full growth in a year. In some of the testaceans white crabs are found, very diminutive in size; they are most numerous in the trough shaped mussel. In the pinna also is found the so-called pinna-guard.
548a
1 ἐν τοῖς τενάγεσι, τὰ δ' ἐν τοῖς αἰγιαλοῖς, τὰ δ' ἐν
τοῖς πηλώδεσι τόποις, ἔνια δ' ἐν τοῖς σκληροῖς καὶ τραχέσι,
τὰ δ' ἐν τοῖς ἀμμώδεσιν. Καὶ τὰ μὲν μεταβάλλει
τοὺς τόπους, τὰ δ' οὔ. Τῶν δὲ μὴ μεταβαλλόντων αἱ μὲν
5 πίνναι ἐρρίζωνται, οἱ δὲ σωλῆνες καὶ αἱ κόγχαι ἀρρίζωτοι
διαμένουσιν· ὅταν δ' ἀνασπασθῶσιν, οὐκέτι δύνανται ζῆν. Ὁ
δὲ καλούμενος ἀστὴρ οὕτω θερμός ἐστι τὴν φύσιν, ὥσθ' ὅ τι
ἂν λάβῃ, παραχρῆμα ἐξαιρούμενον δίεφθον εἶναι. Φασὶ δὲ
καὶ σίνος μέγιστον εἶναι τοῦτο ἐν τῷ εὐρίπῳ τῷ τῶν Πυρραίων.
10 Τὴν δὲ μορφὴν ὅμοιόν ἐστι τοῖς γραφομένοις. Γίνονται
δὲ καὶ οἱ κανούμενοι πνεύμονες αὐτόματοι. Ὧι δ' οἱ γραφεῖς
ὀστρέῳ χρῶνται, πάχει τε πολὺ ὑπερβάλλει, καὶ
ἔξωθεν τοῦ ὀστράκου τὸ ἄνθος ἐπιγίνεται· εἰσὶ δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα
μάλιστα περὶ τοὺς τόπους τοὺς περὶ Καρίαν. Τὸ δὲ καρκίνιον
15 γίνεται μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἰλύος, εἶτ' εἰς τὰ
κενὰ τῶν ὀστράκων εἰσδύεται, καὶ αὐξανόμενον μετεισδύνει
πάλιν εἰς ἄλλο μεῖζον ὄστρακον, οἷον εἴς τε τὸ τοῦ νηρείτου
καὶ τὸ τοῦ στρόμβου καὶ τὸ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων, πολλάκις
δ' εἰς τοὺς κήρυκας τοὺς μικρούς. Ὅταν δ' εἰσδύσῃ, συμπεριφέρει
20 τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τρέφεται πάλιν· καὶ αὐξανόμενον
πάλιν εἰς ἄλλο μετεισδύνει μεῖζον.
1They are found also in the scallop and in the oyster; these parasites never appear to grow in size. Fishermen declare that the parasite is congenital with the larger animal. (Scallops burrow for a time in the sand, like the murex., Shell-fish, then, grow in the way above mentioned; and some of them grow in shallow water, some on 5the sea-shore, some in rocky places, some on hard and stony ground, and some in sandy places.) Some shift about from place to place, others remain permanent on one spot. Of those that keep to one spot the pinnae are rooted to the ground; the razor-fish and the clam keep to the same locality, but are not so rooted; but still, if forcibly removed they die.
(The star-fish is naturally so warm that whatever it lays 10hold of is found, when suddenly taken away from the animal, to have undergone a process like boiling. Fishermen say that the star-fish is a great pest in the Strait of Pyrrha. In shape it resembles a star as seen in an ordinary drawing. The so-called 'lungs' are generated spontaneously. The shells that painters use are a good deal thicker, and the bloom is outside the shell on the surface. These creatures are mostly 15found on the coast of Caria.)
The hermit-crab grows spontaneously out of soil and slime, and finds its way into untenanted shells. As it grows it shifts to a larger shell, as for instance into the shell of the nerites, or of the strombus or the like, and very often into the shell of the small ceryx. After entering new shell, it carries it about, and begins again to feed, and, by and by, as it grows, it shifts 20again into another larger one.
(The star-fish is naturally so warm that whatever it lays 10hold of is found, when suddenly taken away from the animal, to have undergone a process like boiling. Fishermen say that the star-fish is a great pest in the Strait of Pyrrha. In shape it resembles a star as seen in an ordinary drawing. The so-called 'lungs' are generated spontaneously. The shells that painters use are a good deal thicker, and the bloom is outside the shell on the surface. These creatures are mostly 15found on the coast of Caria.)
The hermit-crab grows spontaneously out of soil and slime, and finds its way into untenanted shells. As it grows it shifts to a larger shell, as for instance into the shell of the nerites, or of the strombus or the like, and very often into the shell of the small ceryx. After entering new shell, it carries it about, and begins again to feed, and, by and by, as it grows, it shifts 20again into another larger one.
Book 5,Chapter 16 (548a22–549a13)
Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον γίνονται τοῖς ὀστρακοδέρμοις καὶ
τὰ μὴ ἔχοντα ὄστρακον, οἷον αἵ τε κνῖδαι καὶ οἱ σπόγγοι,
ἐν ταῖς σήραγξι τῶν πετρῶν. Ἔστι δὲ τῶν κνιδῶν δύο γένη·
25 αἱ μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς κοίλοις οὐκ ἀπολύονται τῶν πετρῶν, αἱ
δ' ἐπὶ τοῖς λείοις καὶ πλαταμώδεσιν ἀπολυόμεναι μεταχωροῦσιν.
Καὶ αἱ λεπάδες δ' ἀπολύονται καὶ μεταχωροῦσιν.
Τῶν δὲ σπόγγων ἐν ταῖς θαλάμαις γίνονται πιννοφύλακες.
Ἔπεστι δ' οἷον ἀράχνιον ἐπὶ τῶν θαλαμῶν, ὃ διοίγοντες καὶ
30 συνάγοντες θηρεύουσι τὰ ἰχθύδια τὰ μικρά, πρὸς μὲν τὸ
εἰσελθεῖν διοίγοντες αὐτά, ὅταν δ' εἰσέλθῃ, συνάγοντες. Ἔστι
δὲ τῶν σπόγγων τρία γένη, ὁ μὲν μανός, ὁ δὲ πυκνός,
Moreover, the animals that are unfurnished with shells grow spontaneously, like the testaceans, as, for instance, the sea-nettles and the sponges in rocky caves.
Of the sea-nettle, or sea-anemone, there are two species; and of these one species lives in hollows and never loosens its hold upon the rocks, and the other lives on smooth flat reefs, free and detached, and shifts its position 25from time to time. (Limpets also detach themselves, and shift from place to place.)
In the chambered cavities of sponges pinna-guards or parasites are found. And over the chambers there is a kind of spider's web, by the opening and closing of which they catch mute fishes; that is to say, they open the web to let the fish get in, and close it again to entrap them.
Of sponges there are three species; the first 30is of loose porous texture, the second is close textured, the third, which is nicknamed 'the sponge of Achilles', is exceptionally fine and close-textured and strong.
Of the sea-nettle, or sea-anemone, there are two species; and of these one species lives in hollows and never loosens its hold upon the rocks, and the other lives on smooth flat reefs, free and detached, and shifts its position 25from time to time. (Limpets also detach themselves, and shift from place to place.)
In the chambered cavities of sponges pinna-guards or parasites are found. And over the chambers there is a kind of spider's web, by the opening and closing of which they catch mute fishes; that is to say, they open the web to let the fish get in, and close it again to entrap them.
Of sponges there are three species; the first 30is of loose porous texture, the second is close textured, the third, which is nicknamed 'the sponge of Achilles', is exceptionally fine and close-textured and strong.
548b
1 τρίτος δ' ὃν καλοῦσιν Ἀχίλλειον λεπτότατος καὶ πυκνότατος
καὶ ἰσχυρότατος· ὃν ὑπὸ τὰ κράνη καὶ τὰς κνημῖδας
ὑποτιθέασι, καὶ ἧττον ἡ πληγὴ ψοφεῖ. Σπανιώτατος δὲ γίνεται
οὗτος. Τῶν δὲ πυκνῶν οἱ σκληροὶ σφόδρα καὶ τραχεῖς
5 τράγοι καλοῦνται. Φύονται δ' ἢ πρὸς πέτρᾳ πάντες ἢ ἐν
ταῖς θισί, τρέφονται δ' ἐν τῇ ἰλύϊ. Σημεῖον δέ· ὅταν γὰρ
ληφθῶσι, φαίνονται μεστοὶ ἰλύος· ὅπερ συμβαίνει καὶ τοῖς
ἄλλοις τοῖς φυομένοις ἀπὸ τῆς προσφύσεως οὖσα ἡ τροφή.
Ἀσθενέστεροι δ' εἰσὶν οἱ πυκνοὶ τῶν μανῶν διὰ τὸ τὴν πρόςφυσιν
10 εἶναι κατ' ἔλαττον. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ αἴσθησιν, ὡς φασίν.
Σημεῖον δέ· ἐὰν γὰρ μέλλοντος ἀποσπᾶν αἴσθηται,
συνάγει ἑαυτὸν καὶ χαλεπὸν ἀφελεῖν ἐστιν. Ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο
ποιεῖ καὶ ὅταν ᾖ πνεῦμα πολὺ καὶ κλύδων, πρὸς τὸ μὴ
ἀποπίπτειν. Εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ περὶ τούτου ἀμφισβητοῦσιν, ὥςπερ
15 οἱ ἐν Τορώνῃ. Τρέφει δ' ἐν ἑαυτῷ ζῷα, ἕλμινθάς τε
καὶ ἕτερ' ἄττα, ἃ κατεσθίει, ὅταν ἀποσπασθῇ, τὰ ἰχθύδια
τὰ πετραῖα, καὶ τὰς ῥίζας τὰς ὑπολοίπους· ἐὰν δ'
ἀπορραγῇ, φύεται πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ καταλοίπου καὶ ἀναπληροῦται.
Μέγιστοι μὲν οὖν γίνονται οἱ μανοί, καὶ πλεῖστοι περὶ
20 τὴν Λυκίαν, μαλακώτατοι δ' οἱ πυκνοί· οἱ γὰρ Ἀχίλλειοι
στιφρότεροι τούτων εἰσίν. Ὅλως δ' οἱ ἐν τοῖς βαθέσι καὶ εὐδιεινοῖς
μαλακώτατοί εἰσιν· τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα καὶ ὁ χειμὼν
σκληρύνει, καθάπερ καὶ τἆλλα τὰ φυόμενα, καὶ ἀφαιρεῖται
τὴν αὔξησιν· διὸ καὶ οἱ ἐν Ἑλλησπόντῳ τραχεῖς εἰσι
25 καὶ πυκνοί, καὶ ὅλως οἵ τ' ἐπέκεινα Μαλέας καὶ οἱ ἐντὸς
διαφέρουσι μαλακότητι καὶ σκληρότητι. Δεῖ δὲ μηδ' ἀλέαν
εἶναι σφόδρα· σήπεται γάρ, ὥσπερ τὰ φυόμενα. Διὸ οἱ
πρὸς ταῖς ἀκταῖς εἰσι κάλλιστοι, ἂν ὦσιν ἀγχιβαθεῖς· εὖ
γὰρ κέκρανται πρὸς ἄμφω διὰ τὸ βάθος. Ἄπλυτοι δ' ὄντες
30 καὶ ζῶντες ἰδεῖν μέν εἰσι μέλανες. Ἡ δὲ πρόσφυσίς
ἐστιν οὔτε καθ' ἓν οὔτε κατὰ πᾶν· μεταξὺ γάρ εἰσι πόροι
κενοί. Περιτέταται δ' ὥσπερ ὑμὴν περὶ τὰ κάτω· κατὰ
1This sponge is used as a lining to helmets and greaves, for the purpose of deadening the sound of the blow; and this is a very scarce species. Of the close textured sponges such as are particularly hard and rough are nicknamed 'goats'.
Sponges grow spontaneously either attached to a rock or on sea-beaches, and they get their nutriment 5in slime: a proof of this statement is the fact that when they are first secured they are found to be full of slime. This is characteristic of all living creatures that get their nutriment by close local attachment. And, by the way, the close-textured sponges are weaker than the more openly porous ones because their attachment extends over a smaller area.
It is said that the sponge is sensitive; and as a proof of this 10statement they say that if the sponge is made aware of an attempt being made to pluck it from its place of attachment it draws itself together, and it becomes a difficult task to detach it. It makes a similar contractile movement in windy and boisterous weather, obviously with the object of tightening its hold. Some persons express doubts as to the truth of this assertion; as, for instance, the people of Torone.
The 15sponge breeds parasites, worms, and other creatures, on which, if they be detached, the rock-fishes prey, as they prey also on the remaining stumps of the sponge; but, if the sponge be broken off, it grows again from the remaining stump and the place is soon as well covered as before.
The largest of all sponges are the loose-textured ones, and these are peculiarly abundant on the coast of Lycia. The softest are the 20close-textured sponges; for, by the way, the so-called sponges of Achilles are harder than these. As a general rule, sponges that are found in deep calm waters are the softest; for usually windy and stormy weather has a tendency to harden them (as it has to harden all similar growing things), and to arrest their growth. And this accounts for the fact that the sponges found in the Hellespont are rough and close-textured; 25and, as a general rule, sponges found beyond or inside Cape Malea are, respectively, comparatively soft or comparatively hard. But, by the way, the habitat of the sponge should not be too sheltered and warm, for it has a tendency to decay, like all similar vegetable-like growths. And this accounts for the fact that the sponge is at its best when found in deep water close to shore; for owing to the depth of the 30water they enjoy shelter alike from stormy winds and from excessive heat.
Whilst they are still alive and before they are washed and cleaned, they are blackish in colour.
Sponges grow spontaneously either attached to a rock or on sea-beaches, and they get their nutriment 5in slime: a proof of this statement is the fact that when they are first secured they are found to be full of slime. This is characteristic of all living creatures that get their nutriment by close local attachment. And, by the way, the close-textured sponges are weaker than the more openly porous ones because their attachment extends over a smaller area.
It is said that the sponge is sensitive; and as a proof of this 10statement they say that if the sponge is made aware of an attempt being made to pluck it from its place of attachment it draws itself together, and it becomes a difficult task to detach it. It makes a similar contractile movement in windy and boisterous weather, obviously with the object of tightening its hold. Some persons express doubts as to the truth of this assertion; as, for instance, the people of Torone.
The 15sponge breeds parasites, worms, and other creatures, on which, if they be detached, the rock-fishes prey, as they prey also on the remaining stumps of the sponge; but, if the sponge be broken off, it grows again from the remaining stump and the place is soon as well covered as before.
The largest of all sponges are the loose-textured ones, and these are peculiarly abundant on the coast of Lycia. The softest are the 20close-textured sponges; for, by the way, the so-called sponges of Achilles are harder than these. As a general rule, sponges that are found in deep calm waters are the softest; for usually windy and stormy weather has a tendency to harden them (as it has to harden all similar growing things), and to arrest their growth. And this accounts for the fact that the sponges found in the Hellespont are rough and close-textured; 25and, as a general rule, sponges found beyond or inside Cape Malea are, respectively, comparatively soft or comparatively hard. But, by the way, the habitat of the sponge should not be too sheltered and warm, for it has a tendency to decay, like all similar vegetable-like growths. And this accounts for the fact that the sponge is at its best when found in deep water close to shore; for owing to the depth of the 30water they enjoy shelter alike from stormy winds and from excessive heat.
Whilst they are still alive and before they are washed and cleaned, they are blackish in colour.
549a
1 πλείω δ' ἐστὶν ἡ πρόσφυσις. Ἄνωθεν δ' οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι
πόροι συγκεκλεισμένοι, φανεροὶ δ' εἰσὶ τέτταρες ἢ πέντε· διό
φασιν ἔνιοι τούτους εἶναι καθ' οὓς δέχεται τὴν τροφήν. Ἔστι δ'
ἄλλο γένος ὃ καλοῦσιν ἀπλυσίας διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι πλύνεσθαι·
5 τοῦτο δὲ τοὺς μὲν μεγάλους πόρους ἔχει, τὸ δ' ἄλλο
πυκνόν ἐστι πᾶν· διατμηθὲν δὲ πυκνότερόν ἐστι καὶ γλισχρότερον
τοῦ σπόγγου, καὶ τὸ σύνολον πνευμονῶδες. Ὁμολογεῖται
δὲ μάλιστα παρὰ πάντων τοῦτο τὸ γένος αἴσθησιν ἔχειν καὶ
πολυχρόνιον εἶναι. Διάδηλοι δ' εἰσὶν ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ πρὸς
10 τοὺς σπόγγους τῷ τοὺς σπόγγους μὲν εἶναι λευκοὺς ἐφιζούσης
τῆς ἰλύος, τούτους δ' ἀεὶ μέλανας. Τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τοὺς
σπόγγους καὶ τὴν τῶν ὀστρακοδέρμων γένεσιν τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν
τρόπον.
1Their attachment is not made at one particular spot, nor is it made all over their bodies; for vacant pore-spaces intervene. There is a kind of membrane stretched over the under parts; and in the under parts the points of attachment are the more numerous. On the top most of the pores are closed, but four or five are open and visible; 5and we are told by some that it is through these pores that the animal takes its food.
There is a particular species that is named the 'aplysia' or the 'unwashable', from the circumstance that it cannot be cleaned. This species has the large open and visible pores, but all the rest of the body is close-textured; and, if it be dissected, it is found to be closer and more glutinous than the ordinary sponge, and, 10in a word, something lung like in consistency. And, on all hands, it is allowed that this species is sensitive and long-lived. They are distinguished in the sea from ordinary sponges from the circumstance that the ordinary sponges are white while the slime is in them, but that these sponges are under any circumstances black.
And so much with regard to sponges and to generation in the testaceans.
There is a particular species that is named the 'aplysia' or the 'unwashable', from the circumstance that it cannot be cleaned. This species has the large open and visible pores, but all the rest of the body is close-textured; and, if it be dissected, it is found to be closer and more glutinous than the ordinary sponge, and, 10in a word, something lung like in consistency. And, on all hands, it is allowed that this species is sensitive and long-lived. They are distinguished in the sea from ordinary sponges from the circumstance that the ordinary sponges are white while the slime is in them, but that these sponges are under any circumstances black.
And so much with regard to sponges and to generation in the testaceans.
Book 5,Chapter 17 (549a14–549b28)
Τῶν δὲ μαλακοστράκων οἱ κάραβοι μετὰ τὴν ὀχείαν
15 κύουσι καὶ ἴσχουσι τὰ ᾠὰ περὶ τρεῖς μῆνας, Σκιρροφοριῶνα
καὶ Ἑκατομβαιῶνα καὶ Μεταγειτνιῶνα· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα
προεκτίκτουσιν ὑπὸ τὴν κοιλίαν εἰς τὰς πτύχας, καὶ αὐξάνεται
αὐτῶν τὰ ᾠὰ ὥσπερ οἱ σκώληκες. Τὸ δ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ
ἐπὶ τῶν μαλακίων ἐστὶ καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων, ὅσοι ᾠοτοκοῦσιν·
20 αὐξάνεται γὰρ πάντων τὸ ᾠόν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ᾠὸν γίνεται ψαθυρὸν
τῶν καράβων, διῃρημένον εἰς ὀκτὼ μοίρας. Καθ' ἕκαστον
γὰρ τῶν ἐπικαλυμμάτων τῶν ἐκ τοῦ πλαγίου πεφυκότων
ἐστὶ χονδρῶδές τι πρὸς ὃ περιφύεται, καὶ τὸ ὅλον γίνεται
ὥσπερ βότρυς· σχίζεται γὰρ ἕκαστον εἰς πλείω τῶν
25 χονδρωδῶν. Ταῦτα δὲ διαστέλλοντι μὲν γίνεται φανερά,
προσβλέποντι δὲ συνεστηκός τι φαίνεται· καὶ γίνεται δὲ μέγιστα
οὐ τὰ πρὸς τῷ πόρῳ ἀλλὰ τὰ κατὰ μέσον, ἐλάχιστα δὲ
τὰ ἔσχατα. Τὸ δὲ μέγεθος τῶν ᾠῶν τῶν μικρῶν ἐστιν ἡλίκον
κεγχραμίς. Οὐκ ἔστι δ' εὐθὺς ἐχόμενα τοῦ πόρου, ἀλλὰ
30 κατὰ μέσον· ἑκατέρωθεν γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς κέρκου καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ
θώρακος δύο διαστήματα ἐπέχει μάλιστα· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὰ
ἐπικαλύμματα πέφυκεν. Αὐτὰ μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐκ τοῦ πλαγίου
οὐ δύναται συμπεριλαμβάνειν, τοῦ δ' ἄκρου προσεπιτεθέντος
καλύπτει πάντα, καὶ γίνεται τοῦτ' αὐτοῖς οἷον πῶμα. Ἔοικε
Of crustaceans, 15the female crawfish after copulation conceives and retains its eggs for about three months, from about the middle of May to about the middle of August; they then lay the eggs into the folds underneath the belly, and their eggs grow like grubs. This same phenomenon is observable in molluscs also, and in such fishes as are oviparous; for in all these cases the egg continues to grow.
The spawn of the crawfish is of a 20loose or granular consistency, and is divided into eight parts; for corresponding to each of the flaps on the side there is a gristly formation to which the spawn is attached, and the entire structure resembles a cluster of grapes; for each gristly formation is split into several parts. This is obvious enough if you draw the parts asunder; but at first sight the whole appears to be one and indivisible. And the 25largest are not those nearest to the outlet but those in the middle, and the farthest off are the smallest. The size of the small eggs is that of a small seed in a fig; and they are not quite close to the outlet, but placed middleways; for at both ends, tailwards and trunkwards, there are two intervals devoid of eggs; for it is thus that the flaps also grow. The side flaps, then, cannot close, but by placing the 30end flap on them the animal can close up all, and this end-flap serves them for a lid. And in the act of laying its eggs it seems to bring them towards the gristly formations by curving the flap of its tail, and then, squeezing the eggs towards the said gristly formations and maintaining a bent posture, it performs the act of laying.
The spawn of the crawfish is of a 20loose or granular consistency, and is divided into eight parts; for corresponding to each of the flaps on the side there is a gristly formation to which the spawn is attached, and the entire structure resembles a cluster of grapes; for each gristly formation is split into several parts. This is obvious enough if you draw the parts asunder; but at first sight the whole appears to be one and indivisible. And the 25largest are not those nearest to the outlet but those in the middle, and the farthest off are the smallest. The size of the small eggs is that of a small seed in a fig; and they are not quite close to the outlet, but placed middleways; for at both ends, tailwards and trunkwards, there are two intervals devoid of eggs; for it is thus that the flaps also grow. The side flaps, then, cannot close, but by placing the 30end flap on them the animal can close up all, and this end-flap serves them for a lid. And in the act of laying its eggs it seems to bring them towards the gristly formations by curving the flap of its tail, and then, squeezing the eggs towards the said gristly formations and maintaining a bent posture, it performs the act of laying.
549b
1 δὲ τὰ ᾠὰ τίκτουσα προσάγειν πρὸς τὰ χονδρώδη τῷ πλάτει
τῆς κέρκου προσαναπτυττομένης, καὶ προσπιέσασα εὐθὺς
καὶ κεκαμμένη ἀποτίκτειν. Τὰ δὲ χονδρώδη κατὰ τοὺς καιροὺς
τούτους αὐξάνεται καὶ δεκτικὰ γίνεται τῶν ᾠῶν· πρὸς τὰ
5 χονδρώδη γὰρ ἀποτίκτουσι, καθάπερ αἱ σηπίαι πρὸς τὰ
κλήματα καὶ τὸν φορυτόν. Ἀποτίκτει μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον,
συμπέψασα δ' ἐνταῦθα μάλιστα ἐν εἴκοσιν ἡμέραις
ἀποβάλλει συνεστηκὸς καὶ ἀθρόον, ὥσπερ φαίνεται καὶ ἐκτός·
εἶτ' ἐκ τούτων γίνονται οἱ κάραβοι ἐν ἡμέραις μάλιστα
10 πεντεκαίδεκα, καὶ λαμβάνονται πολλάκις ἐλάττους ἢ δακτυλιαῖοι.
Προεκτίκτει μὲν οὖν πρὸ ἀρκτούρου, μετὰ δ' ἀρκτοῦρον
ἀποβάλλει τὰ ᾠά. Τῶν δὲ κυφῶν καρίδων ἡ κύησίς ἐστι
περὶ τέτταρας μῆνας. Γίνονται δ' οἱ μὲν κάραβοι ἐν τοῖς
τραχέσι καὶ πετρώδεσιν, οἱ δ' ἀστακοὶ ἐν τοῖς λείοις· ἐν δὲ
15 τοῖς πηλώδεσιν οὐδέτεροι· διὸ καὶ ἐν Ἑλλησπόντῳ μὲν καὶ
περὶ Θάσον ἀστακοὶ γίνονται, περὶ δὲ τὸ Σίγειον καὶ τὸν
Ἄθων κάραβοι. Διασημαίνονται δὲ τοὺς τόπους οἱ ἁλιεῖς τούς
τε τραχεῖς καὶ τοὺς πηλώδεις ταῖς τ' ἀκταῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις
τοῖς τοιούτοις σημείοις, ὅταν βούλωνται ἐν τῷ πελάγει
20 ποιεῖσθαι τὴν θήραν. Γίνονται δ' ἐν μὲν τῷ χειμῶνι καὶ τῷ
ἔαρι πρὸς τῇ γῇ μᾶλλον, τοῦ δὲ θέρους ἐν τῷ πελάγει, διώκοντα
ὁτὲ μὲν τὴν ἀλέαν ὁτὲ δὲ τὸ ψῦχος. Τοῖς δὲ χρόνοις
παραπλησίως καὶ αἱ καλούμεναι ἄρκτοι τίκτουσι τοῖς καράβοις·
διὸ καὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος καὶ πρὶν ἐκτεκεῖν τοῦ ἔαρος ἄρισταί
25 εἰσιν, ὅταν δ' ἐκτέκωσι, χείρισται. Ἐκδύνουσι δὲ τὸ κέλυφος
τοῦ ἔαρος, ὥσπερ οἱ ὄφεις τὸ καλούμενον γῆρας, καὶ
εὐθὺς γενόμενοι καὶ ὕστερον καὶ οἱ καρκίνοι καὶ οἱ κάραβοι.
Εἰσὶ δ' οἱ κάραβοι μακρόβιοι πάντες.
1The gristly formations at these seasons increase in size and become receptive of the eggs; for the animal lays its eggs into these formations, just as the sepia lays its eggs among twigs and driftwood.
It lays its eggs, then, in this manner, and after hatching them for about 5twenty days it rids itself of them all in one solid lump, as is quite plain from outside. And out of these eggs crawfish form in about fifteen days, and these crawfish are caught at times less then a finger's breadth, or seven-tenths of an inch, in length. The animal, then, lays its eggs before the middle of September, and after the middle of 10that month throws off its eggs in a lump. With the humped carids or prawns the time for gestation is four months or thereabouts.
Crawfish are found in rough and rocky places, lobsters in smooth places, and neither crawfish nor lobsters are found in muddy ones; and this accounts for the fact that lobsters are found in the Hellespont and on the 15coast of Thasos, and crawfish in the neighbourhood of Sigeum and Mount Athos. Fishermen, accordingly, when they want to catch these various creatures out at sea, take bearings on the beach and elsewhere that tell them where the ground at the bottom is stony and where soft with slime. In winter and spring these animals keep in near to land, in summer 20they keep in deep water; thus at various times seeking respectively for warmth or coolness.
The so-called arctus or bear-crab lays its eggs at about the same time as the crawfish; and consequently in winter and in the spring-time, before laying their eggs, they are at their best, and after laying at their worst.
They cast their shell in the 25spring-time (just as serpents shed their so-called 'old-age' or slough), both directly after birth and in later life; this is true both of crabs and crawfish. And, by the way, all crawfish are long lived.
It lays its eggs, then, in this manner, and after hatching them for about 5twenty days it rids itself of them all in one solid lump, as is quite plain from outside. And out of these eggs crawfish form in about fifteen days, and these crawfish are caught at times less then a finger's breadth, or seven-tenths of an inch, in length. The animal, then, lays its eggs before the middle of September, and after the middle of 10that month throws off its eggs in a lump. With the humped carids or prawns the time for gestation is four months or thereabouts.
Crawfish are found in rough and rocky places, lobsters in smooth places, and neither crawfish nor lobsters are found in muddy ones; and this accounts for the fact that lobsters are found in the Hellespont and on the 15coast of Thasos, and crawfish in the neighbourhood of Sigeum and Mount Athos. Fishermen, accordingly, when they want to catch these various creatures out at sea, take bearings on the beach and elsewhere that tell them where the ground at the bottom is stony and where soft with slime. In winter and spring these animals keep in near to land, in summer 20they keep in deep water; thus at various times seeking respectively for warmth or coolness.
The so-called arctus or bear-crab lays its eggs at about the same time as the crawfish; and consequently in winter and in the spring-time, before laying their eggs, they are at their best, and after laying at their worst.
They cast their shell in the 25spring-time (just as serpents shed their so-called 'old-age' or slough), both directly after birth and in later life; this is true both of crabs and crawfish. And, by the way, all crawfish are long lived.
Book 5,Chapter 18 (549b29–550b21)
Τὰ δὲ μαλάκια ἐκ τοῦ συνδυασμοῦ καὶ τῆς ὀχείας
30 ᾠὸν ἴσχει λευκόν· τοῦτο δὲ γίνεται τῷ χρόνῳ, ὥσπερ τὰ
τῶν σκληροδέρμων, ψαθυρόν. Καὶ ἀποτίκτει ὁ μὲν πολύπους
εἰς τὰς θαλάμας ἢ εἰς κεράμιον ἤ τι ἄλλο κοῖλον ὅμοιον
βοστρυχίοις οἰνάνθης καὶ λεύκης καρπῷ, καθάπερ εἴρηται
πρότερον. Ἐκκρεμάννυνται δὲ περὶ τὴν θαλάμην τὰ ᾠά, ὅταν
Molluscs, after pairing and copulation, lay a white spawn; and this spawn, as in the case of the testacean, gets granular in time. The octopus 30discharges into its hole, or into a potsherd or into any similar cavity, a structure resembling the tendrils of a young vine or the fruit of the white poplar, as has been previously observed. The eggs, when the female has laid them, are clustered round the sides of the hole.
550a
1 ἐκτέκῃ. Τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ἔχει τοσαῦτα ᾠὰ ὥστ' ἐξαιρεθέντων
ἐμπίπλαται ἀγγεῖον πολλῷ μεῖζον τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἐν ᾗ ἔχει
τὰ ᾠά. Τὰ μὲν οὖν τῶν πολυπόδων μεθ' ἡμέρας μάλιστα
πεντήκοντα γίνεται ἐκ τῶν ἀπορραγέντων πολυπόδια, καὶ
5 ἐξέρπει, ὥσπερ τὰ φαλάγγια, πολλὰ τὸ πλῆθος· ὧν ἡ
μὲν καθ' ἕκαστα φύσις τῶν μελῶν οὔπω διάδηλος, ἡ δ' ὅλη
μορφὴ φανερά. Διὰ δὲ τὴν μικρότητα καὶ τὴν ἀσθένειαν
φθείρεται τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῶν. Ἤδη δ' ὦπται καὶ οὕτω πάμπαν
μικρὰ ὥστ' ἀδιάρθρωτα μὲν εἶναι, ἁπτομένων δὲ κινεῖσθαι.
10 Αἱ δὲ σηπίαι ἀποτίκτουσι, καὶ γίνεται ὅμοια μύρτοις μεγάλοις
καὶ μέλασιν· καὶ ἀλλήλων ἐχόμενά ἐστιν, οἷον βότρυς
τὸ πᾶν, περιπεπλεγμένα τινὶ ἑνί, καὶ οὐκ εὐαπόσπαστα ἀλλήλων.
Ἐπαφίησι γὰρ ὁ ἄρρην ὑγρότητά τινα μυξώδη· ὃ
τὴν γλισχρότητα παρέχει. Καὶ αὐξάνεται δὲ ταῦτα τὰ ᾠά,
15 καὶ εὐθὺς μέν ἐστι λευκά, ὅταν δ' ἀφῇ τὸν θορόν, καὶ μείζω
καὶ μέλανα. Ὅταν δὲ σηπίδιον γένηται, ὅλον ἐκ τοῦ λευκοῦ
γενόμενον ἔσω, τούτου περιρραγέντος ἐξέρχεται. Γίνεται
δ' ὅταν πρῶτον ἀπορράνῃ ἡ θήλεια, οἱονεὶ χάλαζα· ἐκ γὰρ
τούτου τὸ σηπίδιον φύεται ἐπὶ κεφαλήν, ὥσπερ οἱ ὄρνιθες
20 κατὰ τὴν κοιλίαν προσηρτημένοι. Ποία δέ τίς ἐστιν ἡ πρόςφυσις
ἡ ὀμφαλώδης, οὔπω ὦπται, πλὴν ὅτι αὐξανομένου τοῦ
σηπιδίου ἀεὶ ἔλαττον γίνεται τὸ λευκόν, καὶ τέλος, ὥσπερ
τὸ ὠχρὸν τοῖς ὄρνισι, τούτοις τὸ λευκὸν ἀφανίζεται. Μέγιστοι
δὲ φαίνονται πρῶτον, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις, καὶ ἐν
25 τούτοις οἱ ὀφθαλμοί. Ὠὸν ἐφ' οὗ τὸ Α, ὀφθαλμοὶ ἐφ' ὧν τὸ
ΒΓ, τὸ σηπίδιον αὐτὸ ἐφ' οὗ Δ. Κύει δὲ τοῦ ἔαρος, ἀποτίκτει
δ' ἐν ἡμέραις πεντεκαίδεκα· ὅταν δ' ἀποτέκῃ τὰ ᾠά, γίνεται
ἐν ἄλλαις πεντεκαίδεκα ἡμέραις οἷον ῥάγες βότρυος,
ὧν περιρραγέντων ἐκδύεται ἔσωθεν τὰ σηπίδια. Ἐὰν δέ τις
30 περισχίσῃ πρότερον ἤδη τετελειωμένων, προΐενται κόπρον τὰ
σηπίδια, καὶ τὸ χρῶμα μεταβάλλει ἐρυθρότερον γινόμενον
ἐκ λευκοῦ διὰ τὸν φόβον. Τὰ μὲν οὖν μαλακόστρακα αὐτὰ
1They are so numerous that, if they be removed they suffice to fill a vessel much larger than the animal's body in which they were contained. Some fifty days later, the eggs burst and the little polypuses creep out, like little spiders, in great numbers; the characteristic form of their limbs is not yet 5to be discerned in detail, but their general outline is clear enough. And, by the way, they are so small and helpless that the greater number perish; it is a fact that they have been seen so extremely minute as to be absolutely without organization, but nevertheless when touched they moved. The eggs of the sepia look like big black myrtle-berries, and they are linked all 10together like a bunch of grapes, clustered round a centre, and are not easily sundered from one another: for the male exudes over them some moist glairy stuff, which constitutes the sticky gum. These eggs increase in size; and they are white at the outset, but black and larger after the sprinkling of the male seminal fluid.
When it has come into being the young sepia is first 15distinctly formed inside out of the white substance, and when the egg bursts it comes out. The inner part is formed as soon as the female lays the egg, something like a hail-stone; and out of this substance the young sepia grows by a head-attachment, just as young birds grow by a belly-attachment. What is the exact nature of the navel-attachment has not yet been observed, except 20that as the young sepia grows the white substance grows less and less in size, and at length, as happens with the yolk in the case of birds, the white substance in the case of the young sepia disappears. In the case of the young sepia, as in the case of the young of most animals, the eyes at first seem very large. To illustrate this by way of a figure, let A represent the 25ovum, B and C the eyes, and D the sepidium, or body of the little sepia. (See diagram.)
The female sepia goes pregnant in the spring-time, and lays its eggs after fifteen days of gestation; after the eggs are laid there comes in another fifteen days something like a bunch of grapes, and at the bursting of these the young sepiae issue forth. But if, when the young ones are fully 30formed, you sever the outer covering a moment too soon, the young creatures eject excrement, and their colour changes from white to red in their alarm.
When it has come into being the young sepia is first 15distinctly formed inside out of the white substance, and when the egg bursts it comes out. The inner part is formed as soon as the female lays the egg, something like a hail-stone; and out of this substance the young sepia grows by a head-attachment, just as young birds grow by a belly-attachment. What is the exact nature of the navel-attachment has not yet been observed, except 20that as the young sepia grows the white substance grows less and less in size, and at length, as happens with the yolk in the case of birds, the white substance in the case of the young sepia disappears. In the case of the young sepia, as in the case of the young of most animals, the eyes at first seem very large. To illustrate this by way of a figure, let A represent the 25ovum, B and C the eyes, and D the sepidium, or body of the little sepia. (See diagram.)
The female sepia goes pregnant in the spring-time, and lays its eggs after fifteen days of gestation; after the eggs are laid there comes in another fifteen days something like a bunch of grapes, and at the bursting of these the young sepiae issue forth. But if, when the young ones are fully 30formed, you sever the outer covering a moment too soon, the young creatures eject excrement, and their colour changes from white to red in their alarm.
550b
1 ὑφ' αὑτὰ θέμενα τὰ ᾠὰ ἐπῳάζει, ὁ δὲ πολύπους καὶ ἡ
σηπία καὶ τἆλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐκτεκόντα, οὗ ἂν τὰ κυήματα
αὐτῶν ᾖ, μάλιστα μὲν ἡ σηπία· πολλάκις γὰρ ὑπερφαίνεται
πρὸς τῇ γῇ τὸ κύτος αὐτῆς. Ὁ δὲ πολύπους ὁ θῆλυς ὁτὲ
5 μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς ᾠοῖς ὁτὲ δ' ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι προκάθηται τῆς θαλάμης,
τὴν πλεκτάνην ἐπέχων. Ἡ δὲ σηπία πρὸς τὴν γῆν
ἐκτίκτει περὶ τὰ φυκία καὶ τὰ καλαμώδη, κἄν τι ᾖ τοιοῦτον
ἐκβεβλημένον, οἷον ὕλη <ἢ> κλήματα ἢ λίθοι· καὶ οἱ ἁλιεῖς
δὲ κλήματα τιθέασιν ἐπίτηδες· καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα ἐκτίκτει
10 μακρὸν καὶ συνεχὲς ἐκ τῶν ᾠῶν, οἷον τὸ τῶν βοστρύχων.
Ἀποτίκτει δὲ καὶ ἀπορραίνει ἐξ ἀναγωγῆς, ὡς μετὰ πόνου
γινομένης τῆς προέσεως. Αἱ δὲ τευθίδες πελάγιαι ἀποτίκτουσιν·
τὸ δ' ᾠόν, ὥσπερ ἡ σηπία, ἀποτίκτει συνεχές. Ἔστι δὲ
καὶ ὁ τεῦθος καὶ ἡ σηπία βραχύβιον· οὐ γὰρ διετίζουσιν, εἰ
15 μή τινες ὀλίγαι αὐτῶν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ πολύποδες. Γίνεται
δ' ἐξ ἑνὸς ᾠοῦ ἓν σηπίδιον· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τευθίδων
ἔχει. Διαφέρει δ' ἡ ἄρρην τευθὶς τῆς θηλείας· ἔχει γὰρ
ἡ θήλεια, ἐάν τις διαστείλας θεωρήσῃ τὴν κόμην εἴσω, ἐρυθρὰ
δύο οἷον μαστούς, ὁ δ' ἄρρην οὐκ ἔχει. Ἡ δὲ σηπία τοῦτό
20 τ' ἔχει διάφορον, καὶ ὅτι ποικιλώτερός ἐστιν ὁ ἄρρην τῆς
θηλείας, καθάπερ εἴρηται πρότερον.
1Crustaceans, then, hatch their eggs by brooding over them as they carry them about beneath their bodies; but the octopus, the sepia, and the like hatch their eggs without stirring from the spot where they may have laid them, and this statement is particularly applicable to the sepia; in 5fact, the nest of the female sepia is often seen exposed to view close in to shore. The female octopus at times sits brooding over her eggs, and at other times squats in front of her hole, stretching out her tentacles on guard.
The sepia lays her spawn near to land in the neighbourhood of sea-weed or reeds or any off-sweepings such as brushwood, twigs, or stones; 10and fishermen place heaps of faggots here and there on purpose, and on to such heaps the female deposits a long continuous roe in shape like a vine tendril. It lays or spirts out the spawn with an effort, as though there were difficulty in the process. The female calamary spawns at sea; and it emits the spawn, as does the sepia, in the mass.
The calamary and 15the cuttle-fish are short-lived, as, with few exceptions, they never see the year out; and the same statement is applicable to the octopus.
From one single egg comes one single sepia; and this is likewise true of the young calamary.
The male calamary differs from the female; for if its gill-region be dilated and examined there are found two red formations 20resembling breasts, with which the male is unprovided. In the sepia, apart from this distinction in the sexes, the male, as has been stated, is more mottled than the female.
The sepia lays her spawn near to land in the neighbourhood of sea-weed or reeds or any off-sweepings such as brushwood, twigs, or stones; 10and fishermen place heaps of faggots here and there on purpose, and on to such heaps the female deposits a long continuous roe in shape like a vine tendril. It lays or spirts out the spawn with an effort, as though there were difficulty in the process. The female calamary spawns at sea; and it emits the spawn, as does the sepia, in the mass.
The calamary and 15the cuttle-fish are short-lived, as, with few exceptions, they never see the year out; and the same statement is applicable to the octopus.
From one single egg comes one single sepia; and this is likewise true of the young calamary.
The male calamary differs from the female; for if its gill-region be dilated and examined there are found two red formations 20resembling breasts, with which the male is unprovided. In the sepia, apart from this distinction in the sexes, the male, as has been stated, is more mottled than the female.
Book 5,Chapter 19 (550b22–552b25)
Τὰ δ' ἔντομα τῶν ζῴων ὅτι μὲν ἐλάττω ἐστὶ τὰ ἄρρενα
τῶν θηλειῶν καὶ ἐπιβαίνει ἄνωθεν, καὶ πῶς ποιεῖται
τὴν ὀχείαν, καὶ ὅτι διαλύεται μόλις, εἴρηται πρότερον· ὅταν
25 δ' ὀχευθῇ, ταχέως ποιεῖται τὰ πλεῖστα τὸν τόκον. Τίκτει
δὲ πάντα ὅσα ὀχεύεται σκώληκας πλὴν γένος τι ψυχῶν·
αὗται δὲ σκληρόν, ὅμοιον κνήκου σπέρματι, ἔσω δὲ χύμα.
Ἐκ δὲ τῶν σκωλήκων οὐκ ἐκ μέρους τινὸς γίνεται τὸ ζῷον,
ὥσπερ ἐκ τῶν ᾠῶν, ἀλλ' ὅλον αὐξάνεται καὶ διαρθρούμενον
30 γίνεται τὸ ζῷον. Γίνεται δ' αὐτῶν τὰ μὲν ἐκ ζῴων τῶν συγγενῶν,
οἷον φαλάγγιά τε καὶ ἀράχνια ἐκ φαλαγγίων καὶ
ἀραχνίων, καὶ ἀττέλαβοι καὶ ἀκρίδες καὶ τέττιγες· τὰ δ'
With regard to insects, that the male is less than the female and that he mounts upon her back, and how he performs the act of copulation and the circumstance that he gives over reluctantly, all 25this has already been set forth, most cases of insect copulation this process is speedily followed up by parturition.
All insects engender grubs, with the exception of a species of butterfly; and the female of this species lays a hard egg, resembling the seed of the cnecus, with a juice inside it. But from the grub, the young animal does not grow out of a mere 30portion of it, as a young animal grows from a portion only of an egg, but the grub entire grows and the animal becomes differentiated out of it.
All insects engender grubs, with the exception of a species of butterfly; and the female of this species lays a hard egg, resembling the seed of the cnecus, with a juice inside it. But from the grub, the young animal does not grow out of a mere 30portion of it, as a young animal grows from a portion only of an egg, but the grub entire grows and the animal becomes differentiated out of it.
551a
1 οὐκ ἐκ ζῴων ἀλλ' αὐτόματα, τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῆς δρόσου τῆς
ἐπὶ τοῖς φύλλοις πιπτούσης, κατὰ φύσιν μὲν ἐν τῷ ἔαρι, πολλάκις
δὲ καὶ τοῦ χειμῶνος, ὅταν εὐδία καὶ νοτία γένηται
πλείω χρόνον· τὰ δ' ἐν βορβόρῳ καὶ κόπρῳ σηπομένοις, τὰ
5 δ' ἐν ξύλοις, τὰ μὲν φυτῶν, τὰ δ' ἐν αὔοις ἤδη, τὰ δ' ἐν
θριξὶ ζῴων, τὰ δ' ἐν σαρκὶ τῶν ζῴων, τὰ δ' ἐν τοῖς περιττώμασι,
καὶ τούτων τὰ μὲν ἐκκεχωρισμένων, τὰ δ' ἔτι ὄντων
ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις, οἷον αἱ καλούμεναι ἕλμινθες. Ἔστι δ' αὐτῶν
γένη τρία, ἥ τε ὀνομαζομένη πλατεῖα, καὶ αἱ στρογγύλαι,
10 καὶ τρίται αἱ ἀσκαρίδες. Ἐκ μὲν οὖν τούτων ἕτερον
οὐδὲν γίνεται· ἡ δὲ πλατεῖα προσπέφυκέ τε μόνη τῷ ἐντέρῳ
καὶ ἀποτίκτει οἷον σικύου σπέρμα, ᾧ γινώσκουσι σημείῳ οἱ
ἰατροὶ τοὺς ἔχοντας αὐτήν. Γίνονται δ' αἱ μὲν καλούμεναι
ψυχαὶ ἐκ τῶν καμπῶν, αἳ γίνονται ἐπὶ τῶν φύλλων τῶν
15 χλωρῶν, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπὶ τῆς ῥαφάνου, ἣν καλοῦσί τινες
κράμβην, πρῶτον μὲν ἔλαττον κέγχρου, εἶτα μικροὶ σκώληκες
αὐξανόμενοι, ἔπειτα ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις κάμπαι μικραί·
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα αὐξηθεῖσαι ἀκινητίζουσι, καὶ μεταβάλλουσι
τὴν μορφήν, καὶ καλοῦνται χρυσαλλίδες, καὶ
20 σκληρὸν ἔχουσι τὸ κέλυφος, ἁπτομένου δὲ κινοῦνται. Προςέχονται
δὲ πόροις ἀραχνιώδεσιν οὔτε στόμα ἔχουσαι οὔτ'
ἄλλο τῶν μορίων διάδηλον οὐδέν. Χρόνου δ' οὐ πολλοῦ διελθόντος
περιρρήγνυται τὸ κέλυφος, καὶ ἐκπέτεται ἐξ αὐτῶν
πτερωτὰ ζῷα, ἃς καλοῦμεν ψυχάς. Τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον, ὅταν
25 ὦσι κάμπαι, τρέφονται καὶ περίττωμα ἀφιᾶσιν· ὅταν δὲ
γένωνται χρυσαλλίδες, οὐδενὸς οὔτε γεύονται οὔτε προΐενται
περίττωμα. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ τἆλλα ὅσα γίνεται ἐκ
σκωλήκων, καὶ ὅσοι ἐκ συνδυασμοῦ γίνονται ζῴων σκώληκες,
καὶ ὅσοι ἄνευ ὀχείας. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ τῶν μελιττῶν καὶ
30 ἀνθρηνῶν καὶ σφηκῶν ὅταν μὲν νέοι σκώληκες ὦσι, τρέφονταί
1And of insects some are derived from insect congeners, as the venom-spider and the common-spider from the venom-spider and the common-spider, and so with the attelabus or locust, the acris or grasshopper, and the tettix or cicada. Other insects are not derived from living parentage, but are generated 5spontaneously: some out of dew falling on leaves, ordinarily in spring-time, but not seldom in winter when there has been a stretch of fair weather and southerly winds; others grow in decaying mud or dung; others in timber, green or dry; some in the hair of animals; some in the flesh of animals; some in excrements: and some from excrement after it has been voided, and some from 10excrement yet within the living animal, like the helminthes or intestinal worms. And of these intestinal worms there are three species: one named the flat-worm, another the round worm, and the third the ascarid. These intestinal worms do not in any case propagate their kind. The flat-worm, however, in an exceptional way, clings fast to the gut, and lays a thing like a melon-seed, by 15observing which indication the physician concludes that his patient is troubled with the worm.
The so-called psyche or butterfly is generated from caterpillars which grow on green leaves, chiefly leaves of the raphanus, which some call crambe or cabbage. At first it is less than a grain of millet; it then grows into a small grub; and in three days it is a tiny caterpillar. After 20this it grows on and on, and becomes quiescent and changes its shape, and is now called a chrysalis. The outer shell is hard, and the chrysalis moves if you touch it. It attaches itself by cobweb-like filaments, and is unfurnished with mouth or any other apparent organ. After a little while the outer covering bursts asunder, and out flies the winged creature that we call the psyche 25or butterfly. At first, when it is a caterpillar, it feeds and ejects excrement; but when it turns into the chrysalis it neither feeds nor ejects excrement.
The same remarks are applicable to all such insects as are developed out of the grub, both such grubs as are derived from the copulation of living animals and such as are generated without copulation on the part of parents.
The so-called psyche or butterfly is generated from caterpillars which grow on green leaves, chiefly leaves of the raphanus, which some call crambe or cabbage. At first it is less than a grain of millet; it then grows into a small grub; and in three days it is a tiny caterpillar. After 20this it grows on and on, and becomes quiescent and changes its shape, and is now called a chrysalis. The outer shell is hard, and the chrysalis moves if you touch it. It attaches itself by cobweb-like filaments, and is unfurnished with mouth or any other apparent organ. After a little while the outer covering bursts asunder, and out flies the winged creature that we call the psyche 25or butterfly. At first, when it is a caterpillar, it feeds and ejects excrement; but when it turns into the chrysalis it neither feeds nor ejects excrement.
The same remarks are applicable to all such insects as are developed out of the grub, both such grubs as are derived from the copulation of living animals and such as are generated without copulation on the part of parents.
551b
1 τε καὶ κόπρον ἔχοντες φαίνονται· ὅταν δ' ἐκ τῶν
σκωλήκων εἰς τὴν διατύπωσιν ἔλθωσι, καλοῦνται μὲν νύμφαι
τότε, οὐ λαμβάνουσι δὲ τρυφὴν οὐδὲ κόπρον ἔτ' ἔχουσιν,
ἀλλὰ περιειργμένοι ἀκινητίζουσιν ἕως ἂν αὐξηθῶσιν· τότε δ'
5 ἐξέρχονται διακόψαντες ᾧ καταλήλειπται ὁ κύτταρος. Γίνονται
δὲ καὶ τὰ ὕπερα καὶ τὰ πηνία ἔκ τινων τοιούτων ἄλλων,
αἳ κυμαίνουσι τῇ πορείᾳ καὶ προβᾶσαι τῷ ἑτέρῳ κάμψασαι
ἐπιβαίνουσιν· ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν γινομένων τὸ οἰκεῖον
χρῶμα λαμβάνει ἀπὸ τῆς κάμπης. Ἐκ δέ τινος σκώληκος
10 μεγάλου, ὃς ἔχει οἷον κέρατα καὶ διαφέρει τῶν ἄλλων, γίνεται
πρῶτον μὲν μεταβάλλοντος τοῦ σκώληκος κάμπη, ἔπειτα
βομβυλίς, ἐκ δὲ τούτου νεκύδαλος· ἐν ἓξ δὲ μησὶ μεταβάλλει
ταύτας τὰς μορφὰς πάσας. Ἐκ δὲ τούτου τοῦ ζῴου
καὶ τὰ βομβύκια ἀναλύουσι τῶν γυναικῶν τινὲς ἀναπηνιζόμεναι,
15 κἄπειτα ὑφαίνουσιν· πρώτη δὲ λέγεται ὑφῆναι ἐν
Κῷ Παμφίλη Πλάτεω θυγάτηρ. Ἐκ δὲ τῶν σκωλήκων τῶν
ἐν τοῖς ξύλοις τοῖς αὔοις οἱ καράμβιοι γίνονται τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον·
πρῶτον μὲν ἀκινητισάντων τῶν σκωλήκων, εἶτα περιρραγέντος
τοῦ κελύφους ἐξέρχονται οἱ καράμβιοι. Ἐκ δὲ τῶν
20 κραμβῶν ... γίνονται αἱ πρασοκουρίδες· ἴσχουσι δὲ πτερὰ καὶ
αὐταί. Ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ποταμοῖς πλατέων ζωδαρίων τῶν
ἐπιθεόντων οἱ οἶστροι· διὸ καὶ οἱ πλεῖστοι περὶ τὰ ὕδατα γίνονται
οὗ τὰ τοιαῦτα ζῷά ἐστιν. Ἐκ δὲ μελαινῶν τινων καὶ
δασειῶν οὐ μεγάλων καμπῶν πρῶτον γίνονται πυγολαμπίδες,
25 οὐχ αἱ πετόμεναι· αὗται δὲ πάλιν μεταβάλλουσι, καὶ
γίνονται πτερωτὰ ζῷα ἐξ αὐτῶν, οἱ καλούμενοι βόστρυχοι.
Αἱ δ' ἐμπίδες γίνονται ἐκ τῶν ἀσκαρίδων. Αἱ δ' ἀσκαρίδες
γίνονται ἔν τε τῇ ἰλύϊ τῶν φρεάτων καὶ ὅπου ἂν σύρρευσις
γένηται ὕδατος γεώδη ἔχουσα ὑπόστασιν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον
30 αὐτὴ ἡ ἰλὺς σηπομένη χρῶμα λαμβάνει λευκόν, εἶτα μέλαν,
1For the grub of the bee, the anthrena, and the wasp, whilst it is young, takes food and voids excrement; but when it has passed from the grub shape to its defined form and become what is termed a 'nympha', it ceases to take food and to void excrement, and remains tightly wrapped up and motionless 5until it has reached its full size, when it breaks the formation with which the cell is closed, and issues forth. The insects named the hypera and the penia are derived from similar caterpillars, which move in an undulatory way, progressing with one part and then pulling up the hinder parts by a bend of the body. The developed insect in each case takes its peculiar 10colour from the parent caterpillar.
From one particular large grub, which has as it were horns, and in other respects differs from grubs in general, there comes, by a metamorphosis of the grub, first a caterpillar, then the cocoon, then the necydalus; and the creature passes through all these transformations within six months. A class of women unwind and reel off 15the cocoons of these creatures, and afterwards weave a fabric with the threads thus unwound; a Coan woman of the name of Pamphila, daughter of Plateus, being credited with the first invention of the fabric. After the same fashion the carabus or stag-beetle comes from grubs that live in dry wood: at first the grub is motionless, but after a while the shell bursts and 20the stag-beetle issues forth.
From the cabbage is engendered the cabbageworm, and from the leek the prasocuris or leekbane; this creature is also winged. From the flat animalcule that skims over the surface of rivers comes the oestrus or gadfly; and this accounts for the fact that gadflies most abound in the neighbourhood of waters on whose surface these animalcules 25are observed. From a certain small, black and hairy caterpillar comes first a wingless glow-worm; and this creature again suffers a metamorphosis, and transforms into a winged insect named the bostrychus (or hair-curl).
Gnats grow from ascarids; and ascarids are engendered in the slime of wells, or in places where there is a deposit left by the draining off of water.
From one particular large grub, which has as it were horns, and in other respects differs from grubs in general, there comes, by a metamorphosis of the grub, first a caterpillar, then the cocoon, then the necydalus; and the creature passes through all these transformations within six months. A class of women unwind and reel off 15the cocoons of these creatures, and afterwards weave a fabric with the threads thus unwound; a Coan woman of the name of Pamphila, daughter of Plateus, being credited with the first invention of the fabric. After the same fashion the carabus or stag-beetle comes from grubs that live in dry wood: at first the grub is motionless, but after a while the shell bursts and 20the stag-beetle issues forth.
From the cabbage is engendered the cabbageworm, and from the leek the prasocuris or leekbane; this creature is also winged. From the flat animalcule that skims over the surface of rivers comes the oestrus or gadfly; and this accounts for the fact that gadflies most abound in the neighbourhood of waters on whose surface these animalcules 25are observed. From a certain small, black and hairy caterpillar comes first a wingless glow-worm; and this creature again suffers a metamorphosis, and transforms into a winged insect named the bostrychus (or hair-curl).
Gnats grow from ascarids; and ascarids are engendered in the slime of wells, or in places where there is a deposit left by the draining off of water.
552a
1 τελευτῶσα δ' αἱματῶδες· ὅταν δὲ τοιαύτη γένηται,
φύεται ἐξ αὐτῆς ὥσπερ τὰ φυκία μικρὰ σφόδρα καὶ ἐρυθρά·
ταῦτα δὲ χρόνον μέν τινα κινεῖται προσπεφυκότα,
ἔπειτ' ἀπορραγέντα φέρεται κατὰ τὸ ὕδωρ, αἱ καλούμεναι
5 ἀσκαρίδες. Μεθ' ἡμέρας δ' ὀλίγας ἵστανται ὀρθαὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ
ὕδατος ἀκινητίζουσαι καὶ σκληραί, κἄπειτα περιρραγέντος
τοῦ κελύφους ἡ ἐμπὶς ἄνω ἐπικάθηται, ἕως ἂν ἥλιος ἢ πνεῦμα
κινήσῃ· τότε δ' ἤδη πέτεται. Πᾶσι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις
σκώληξι καὶ τοῖς ζῴοις τοῖς ἐκ τῶν σκωλήκων περιρρηγνυμένοις
10 ἡ ἀρχὴ γίνεται τῆς γενέσεως ὑφ' ἡλίου ἢ ὑπὸ πνεύματος.
Μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ θᾶττον γίνονται αἱ ἀσκαρίδες ἐν τοῖς
ἔχουσι παντοδαπὴν ὑπόστασιν, οἷον ἐν μαγειρείοις τε γίνεται
καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις· σήπεται γὰρ τὰ τοιαῦτα θᾶττον. Καὶ μετοπώρου
δὲ γίνονται μᾶλλον· τότε γὰρ τὸ ὑγρὸν συμβαίνει
15 εἶναι ἔλαττον. Οἱ δὲ κρότωνες γίνονται ἐκ τῆς ἀγρώστεως, αἱ
δὲ μηλολόνθαι ἐκ τῶν σκωλήκων τῶν ἐν τοῖς βολίτοις καὶ
τῶν ὀνίδων. Οἱ δὲ κάνθαροι ἣν κυλίουσι κόπρον, ἐν ταύτῃ φωλοῦσί
τε τὸν χειμῶνα καὶ ἐντίκτουσι σκωλήκια, ἐξ ὧν
γίνονται κάνθαροι. Γίνονται δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν σκωλήκων τῶν ἐν
20 τοῖς ὀσπρίοις πτερωτὰ ζῷα ὁμοίως τοῖς εἰρημένοις. Αἱ δὲ
μυῖαι ἐκ τῶν σκωλήκων τῶν ἐν τῇ κόπρῳ τῇ χωριζομένῃ
κατὰ μέρος· διὸ καὶ οἱ περὶ ταύτην τὴν ἐργασίαν ὄντες
μηχανῶνται χωρίζειν τὴν ἄλλην τὴν μεμιγμένην, καὶ λέγουσι
τότε κατειργάσθαι τὴν κόπρον. Ἡ δ' ἀρχὴ τῶν σκωληκίων
25 μικρά· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐρυθραίνεται καὶ ἐξ
ἀκινησίας λαμβάνει κίνησιν οἷον πεφυκότα· εἶτα σκωλήκιον
ἀποβαίνει ἀκίνητον· εἶτα κινηθὲν ὕστερον γίνεται ἀκίνητον πάλιν·
ἐκ δὲ τούτου μυῖα ἀποτελεῖται, καὶ κινεῖται πνεύματος
ἢ ἡλίου γενομένου. Οἱ δὲ μύωπες γίνονται ἐκ τῶν ξύλων. Αἱ
30 δ' ὀρσοδάκναι ἐκ τῶν σκωληκίων μεταβαλλόντων· τὰ δὲ
σκωλήκια ταῦτα γίνεται ἐν τοῖς καυλοῖς τῆς κράμβης. Αἱ
1This slime decays, and first turns white, then black, and finally blood-red; and at this stage there originate in it, as it were, little tiny bits of red weed, which at first wriggle about all clinging together, and finally break loose and swim in the water, and are hereupon known as ascarids. After a few days they stand straight 5up on the water motionless and hard, and by and by the husk breaks off and the gnats are seen sitting upon it, until the sun's heat or a puff of wind sets them in motion, when they fly away.
With all grubs and all animals that break out from the grub state, generation is due primarily to the heat of the sun or to wind.
Ascarids are more likely to be found, and grow with unusual rapidity, in places where 10there is a deposit of a mixed and heterogeneous kind, as in kitchens and in ploughed fields, for the contents of such places are disposed to rapid putrefaction. In autumn, also, owing to the drying up of moisture, they grow in unusual numbers.
The tick is generated from couch-grass. The cockchafer comes from a grub that is generated in the dung of the cow or the ass. The cantharus or scarabeus rolls a piece 15of dung into a ball, lies hidden within it during the winter, and gives birth therein to small grubs, from which grubs come new canthari. Certain winged insects also come from the grubs that are found in pulse, in the same fashion as in the cases described.
Flies grow from grubs in the dung that farmers have gathered up into heaps: for those who are engaged in this work assiduously gather up the compost, 20and this they technically term 'working-up' the manure. The grub is exceedingly minute to begin with; first even at this stage-it assumes a reddish colour, and then from a quiescent state it takes on the power of motion, as though born to it; it then becomes a small motionless grub; it then moves again, and again relapses into immobility; it then comes out a perfect fly, and moves away under the influence 25of the sun's heat or of a puff of air. The myops or horse-fly is engendered in timber. The orsodacna or budbane is a transformed grub; and this grub is engendered in cabbage-stalks. The cantharis comes from the caterpillars that are found on fig-trees or pear-trees or fir-trees--for on all these grubs are engendered-and also from caterpillars found on the dog-rose; and the cantharis takes eagerly to ill-scented 30substances, from the fact of its having been engendered in ill-scented woods.
With all grubs and all animals that break out from the grub state, generation is due primarily to the heat of the sun or to wind.
Ascarids are more likely to be found, and grow with unusual rapidity, in places where 10there is a deposit of a mixed and heterogeneous kind, as in kitchens and in ploughed fields, for the contents of such places are disposed to rapid putrefaction. In autumn, also, owing to the drying up of moisture, they grow in unusual numbers.
The tick is generated from couch-grass. The cockchafer comes from a grub that is generated in the dung of the cow or the ass. The cantharus or scarabeus rolls a piece 15of dung into a ball, lies hidden within it during the winter, and gives birth therein to small grubs, from which grubs come new canthari. Certain winged insects also come from the grubs that are found in pulse, in the same fashion as in the cases described.
Flies grow from grubs in the dung that farmers have gathered up into heaps: for those who are engaged in this work assiduously gather up the compost, 20and this they technically term 'working-up' the manure. The grub is exceedingly minute to begin with; first even at this stage-it assumes a reddish colour, and then from a quiescent state it takes on the power of motion, as though born to it; it then becomes a small motionless grub; it then moves again, and again relapses into immobility; it then comes out a perfect fly, and moves away under the influence 25of the sun's heat or of a puff of air. The myops or horse-fly is engendered in timber. The orsodacna or budbane is a transformed grub; and this grub is engendered in cabbage-stalks. The cantharis comes from the caterpillars that are found on fig-trees or pear-trees or fir-trees--for on all these grubs are engendered-and also from caterpillars found on the dog-rose; and the cantharis takes eagerly to ill-scented 30substances, from the fact of its having been engendered in ill-scented woods.
552b
1 δὲ κανθαρίδες ἐκ τῶν πρὸς ταῖς συκαῖς καμπῶν καὶ
ταῖς ἀπίοις καὶ ταῖς πεύκαις (πρὸς πᾶσι γὰρ τούτοις γίνονται
σκώληκες) καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐν τῇ κυνακάνθῃ· ὁρμῶσι δὲ καὶ
πρὸς τὰ δυσώδη διὰ τὸ ἐκ τοιαύτης γεγονέναι ὕλης. Οἱ δὲ
5 κώνωπες ἐκ σκωλήκων οἳ γίνονται ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὸ ὄξος ἰλύος·
καὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς δοκοῦσιν ἀσηπτοτάτοις εἶναι ἐγγίνονται
ζῷα, οἷον ἐν χιόνι τῇ παλαιᾷ. Γίνεται δ' ἡ παλαιὰ ἐρυθροτέρα,
διὸ καὶ οἱ σκώληκες τοιοῦτοι καὶ δασεῖς· οἱ δ' ἐκ
τῆς ἐν Μηδίᾳ χιόνος μεγάλοι καὶ λευκοί· δυσκίνητοι δὲ
10 πάντες. Ἐν δὲ Κύπρῳ, οὗ ἡ χαλκῖτις λίθος καίεται, ἐπὶ
πολλὰς ἡμέρας ἐμβαλλόντων, ἐνταῦθα γίνεται θηρία ἐν τῷ
πυρί, τῶν μεγάλων μυιῶν μικρόν τι μείζονα, ὑπόπτερα,
ἃ διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς πηδᾷ καὶ βαδίζει. Ἀποθνήσκουσι δὲ καὶ
οἱ σκώληκες καὶ ταῦτα χωριζόμενα τὰ μὲν τοῦ πυρός, οἱ
15 δὲ τῆς χιόνος. Ὅτι δ' ἐνδέχεται καὶ μὴ καίεσθαι συστάσεις
τινὰς ζῴων, ἡ σαλαμάνδρα ποιεῖ φανερόν· αὕτη γάρ, ὡς
φασί, διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς βαδίζουσα κατασβέννυσι τὸ πῦρ. Περὶ δὲ
τὸν Ὕπανιν ποταμὸν τὸν περὶ Βόσπορον τὸν Κιμμέριον ὑπὸ
τροπὰς θερινὰς καταφέρονται ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ οἷον θύλακοι
20 μείζους ῥαγῶν, ἐξ ὧν ῥηγνυμένων ἐξέρχεται ζῷον πτερωτὸν
τετράπουν· ζῇ δὲ καὶ πέτεται μέχρι δείλης, καταφερομένου
δὲ τοῦ ἡλίου ἀπομαραίνεται, καὶ ἅμα δυομένου ἀποθνήσκει
βιῶσαν ἡμέραν μίαν, διὸ καὶ καλεῖται ἐφήμερον. Τὰ πλεῖστα
δὲ τῶν γινομένων ἔκ τε καμπῶν καὶ σκωλήκων ὑπὸ
25 ἀραχνίων κατέχεται τὸ πρῶτον. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν γίνεται τοῦτον
τὸν τρόπον.
1The conops comes from a grub that is engendered in the slime of vinegar.
And, by the way, living animals are found in substances that are usually supposed to be incapable of putrefaction; for instance, worms are found in long-lying snow; and snow of this description gets reddish 5in colour, and the grub that is engendered in it is red, as might have been expected, and it is also hairy. The grubs found in the snows of Media are large and white; and all such grubs are little disposed to motion. In Cyprus, in places where copper-ore is smelted, with heaps of the ore piled on day after day, an animal is engendered in the 10fire, somewhat larger than a blue bottle fly, furnished with wings, which can hop or crawl through the fire. And the grubs and these latter animals perish when you keep the one away from the fire and the other from the snow. Now the salamander is a clear case in point, to show us that animals do actually exist that fire cannot destroy; for this 15creature, so the story goes, not only walks through the fire but puts it out in doing so.
On the river Hypanis in the Cimmerian Bosphorus, about the time of the summer solstice, there are brought down towards the sea by the stream what look like little sacks rather bigger than grapes, out of which at their bursting issues a winged quadruped. The 20insect lives and flies about until the evening, but as the sun goes down it pines away, and dies at sunset having lived just one day, from which circumstance it is called the ephemeron.
As a rule, insects that come from caterpillars and grubs are held at first by filaments resembling the threads of a spider's web.
Such is the mode of generation 25of the insects above enumerated. but if the latter impregnation takes placeduring the change of the yellow
And, by the way, living animals are found in substances that are usually supposed to be incapable of putrefaction; for instance, worms are found in long-lying snow; and snow of this description gets reddish 5in colour, and the grub that is engendered in it is red, as might have been expected, and it is also hairy. The grubs found in the snows of Media are large and white; and all such grubs are little disposed to motion. In Cyprus, in places where copper-ore is smelted, with heaps of the ore piled on day after day, an animal is engendered in the 10fire, somewhat larger than a blue bottle fly, furnished with wings, which can hop or crawl through the fire. And the grubs and these latter animals perish when you keep the one away from the fire and the other from the snow. Now the salamander is a clear case in point, to show us that animals do actually exist that fire cannot destroy; for this 15creature, so the story goes, not only walks through the fire but puts it out in doing so.
On the river Hypanis in the Cimmerian Bosphorus, about the time of the summer solstice, there are brought down towards the sea by the stream what look like little sacks rather bigger than grapes, out of which at their bursting issues a winged quadruped. The 20insect lives and flies about until the evening, but as the sun goes down it pines away, and dies at sunset having lived just one day, from which circumstance it is called the ephemeron.
As a rule, insects that come from caterpillars and grubs are held at first by filaments resembling the threads of a spider's web.
Such is the mode of generation 25of the insects above enumerated. but if the latter impregnation takes placeduring the change of the yellow
Book 5,Chapter 20 (552b26–553a16)
Οἱ δὲ σφῆκες οἱ ἰχνεύμονες καλούμενοι (εἰσὶ
δ' ἐλάττους τῶν ἑτέρων) τὰ φαλάγγια ἀποκτείναντες φέρουσι
πρὸς τειχίον ἤ τι τοιοῦτον τρώγλην ἔχον, καὶ πηλῷ προςκαταλείψαντες
ἐντίκτουσιν ἐνταῦθα, καὶ γίνονται ἐξ αὐτῶν
30 οἱ σφῆκες οἱ ἰχνεύμονες. Ἔνια δὲ τῶν κολεοπτέρων καὶ μικρῶν
καὶ ἀνωνύμων ζῴων τοῦ πηλοῦ τρώγλας ποιοῦνται μικρὰς
The wasps that are nicknamed 'the ichneumons' (or hunters), less in size, by the way, than the ordinary wasp, kill spiders and carry off the dead bodies to a wall or some such place with a hole in it; this hole they smear over with mud and 30lay their grubs inside it, and from the grubs come the hunter-wasps.
553a
1 ἢ πρὸς τάφοις ἢ τειχίοις, καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὰ σκωλήκια
ἐντίκτουσιν. Ὁ δὲ χρόνος τῆς γενέσεως ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀρχῆς
μέχρι τοῦ τέλους σχεδὸν τοῖς πλείστοις ἑπτάσι μετρεῖται
τρισὶν ἢ τέτταρσιν. Τοῖς μὲν οὖν σκώληξι καὶ τοῖς σκωληκοειδέσι
5 τοῖς πλείστοις τρεῖς γίνονται ἑπτάδες, τοῖς δ' ᾠοτοκοῦσι
τέτταρες ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ. Τούτων δ' ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς
ὀχείας ἐν ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἡ σύστασις γίνεται, ἐν δὲ ταῖς λοιπαῖς
τρισὶν ἐπῳάζουσι καὶ ἐκλέπουσιν ὅσα γόνῳ τίκτεται,
οἷον ὑπ' ἀράχνου ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τοιούτου. Αἱ δὲ μεταβολαὶ
10 γίνονται τοῖς πλείστοις κατὰ τριήμερον ἢ τετραήμερον, ὥςπερ
καὶ αἱ τῶν νόσων συμβαίνουσι κρίσεις.
Τῶν μὲν οὖν ἐντόμων οὗτος ὁ τρόπος ἐστὶ τῆς γενέσεως·
φθείρονται δ' ἐρρικνωμένων τῶν μορίων, ὥσπερ γήρᾳ τὰ μείζω
τῶν ζῴων· ὅσα δὲ πτερωτά, καὶ τῶν πτερῶν συσπωμένων
15 περὶ τὸ μετόπωρον· οἱ δὲ μύωπες καὶ τῶν ὀμμάτων
ἐξυδρωπιώντων.
1Some of the coleoptera and of the small and nameless insects make small holes or cells of mud on a wall or on a grave-stone, and there deposit their grubs.
With insects, as a general rule, the time of generation from its commencement to its completion comprises three or four weeks. With grubs and grub-like 5creatures the time is usually three weeks, and in the oviparous insects as a rule four. But, in the case of oviparous insects, the egg-formation comes at the close of seven days from copulation, and during the remaining three weeks the parent broods over and hatches its young; i.e. where this is the result of copulation, as in the case of the spider and its congeners. As a 10rule, the transformations take place in intervals of three or four days, corresponding to the lengths of interval at which the crises recur in intermittent fevers.
So much for the generation of insects. Their death is due to the shrivelling of their organs, just as the larger animals die of old age.
Winged insects die in autumn from the shrinking of their wings. The myops dies from 15dropsy in the eyes.
With insects, as a general rule, the time of generation from its commencement to its completion comprises three or four weeks. With grubs and grub-like 5creatures the time is usually three weeks, and in the oviparous insects as a rule four. But, in the case of oviparous insects, the egg-formation comes at the close of seven days from copulation, and during the remaining three weeks the parent broods over and hatches its young; i.e. where this is the result of copulation, as in the case of the spider and its congeners. As a 10rule, the transformations take place in intervals of three or four days, corresponding to the lengths of interval at which the crises recur in intermittent fevers.
So much for the generation of insects. Their death is due to the shrivelling of their organs, just as the larger animals die of old age.
Winged insects die in autumn from the shrinking of their wings. The myops dies from 15dropsy in the eyes.
Book 5,Chapter 21 (553a17–553b6)
Περὶ δὲ τὴν γένεσιν τὴν τῶν μελιττῶν οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν
τρόπον πάντες ὑπολαμβάνουσιν. Οἱ μὲν γάρ φασιν οὐ τίκτειν
οὐδ' ὀχεύεσθαι τὰς μελίττας, ἀλλὰ φέρειν τὸν γόνον, καὶ
20 φέρειν οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄνθους τοῦ καλλύντρου, οἱ δ' ἀπὸ τοῦ
ἄνθους τοῦ καλάμου, ἄλλοι δ' ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄνθους τῆς ἐλαίας· καὶ
σημεῖον λέγουσιν ὅτι, ἂν ἐλαιῶν φορὰ γένηται, τότε καὶ
ἑσμοὶ ἀφίενται πλεῖστοι. Οἱ δέ φασι τὸν μὲν τῶν κηφήνων
γόνον αὐτὰς φέρειν ἀπό τινος ὕλης τῶν προειρημένων, τὸν
25 δὲ τῶν μελιττῶν τίκτειν τοὺς ἡγεμόνας. Τῶν δ' ἡγεμόνων
ἐστὶ γένη δύο, ὁ μὲν βελτίων πυρρός, ὁ δ' ἕτερος μέλας καὶ
ποικιλώτερος, τὸ δὲ μέγεθος διπλάσιος τῆς χρηστῆς μελίττης·
τὸ δὲ κάτω τοῦ διαζώματος ἔχουσιν ἡμιόλιον μάλιστα
τῷ μήκει, καὶ καλοῦνται ὑπό τινων μητέρες ὡς γεννῶντες.
30 Σημεῖον δὲ λέγουσιν ὅτι ὁ μὲν τῶν κηφήνων ἐγγίνεται
γόνος κἂν μὴ ἐνῇ ἡγεμών, ὁ δὲ τῶν μελιττῶν οὐκ
ἐγγίνεται. Οἱ δέ φασιν ὀχεύεσθαι, καὶ εἶναι ἄρρενας μὲν
With regard to the generation of bees different hypotheses are in vogue. Some affirm that bees neither copulate nor give birth to young, but that they fetch their young. And some say that they fetch their young from the flower of the callyntrum; others assert that they bring them from the flower of the reed, others, from the flower of the olive. And in respect 20to the olive theory, it is stated as a proof that, when the olive harvest is most abundant, the swarms are most numerous. Others declare that they fetch the brood of the drones from such things as above mentioned, but that the working bees are engendered by the rulers of the hive.
Now of these rulers there are two kinds: the better kind is red in colour, the inferior kind is 25black and variegated; the ruler is double the size of the working bee. These rulers have the abdomen or part below the waist half as large again, and they are called by some the 'mothers', from an idea that they bear or generate the bees; and, as a proof of this theory of their motherhood, they declare that the brood of the drones appears even when there is no ruler-bee in the 30hive, but that the bees do not appear in his absence. Others, again, assert that these insects copulate, and that the drones are male and the bees female.
Now of these rulers there are two kinds: the better kind is red in colour, the inferior kind is 25black and variegated; the ruler is double the size of the working bee. These rulers have the abdomen or part below the waist half as large again, and they are called by some the 'mothers', from an idea that they bear or generate the bees; and, as a proof of this theory of their motherhood, they declare that the brood of the drones appears even when there is no ruler-bee in the 30hive, but that the bees do not appear in his absence. Others, again, assert that these insects copulate, and that the drones are male and the bees female.
553b
1 τοὺς κηφῆνας, θηλείας δὲ τὰς μελίττας. Ἔστι δὲ τῶν μὲν
ἄλλων ἡ γένεσις ἐν τοῖς κοίλοις τοῦ κηρίου, οἱ δέ γ' ἡγεμόνες
γίνονται κάτω πρὸς τῷ κηρίῳ, ἀποκρεμάμενοι χωρίς, ἓξ
ἢ ἑπτά, ἐναντίως τῷ ἄλλῳ γόνῳ πεφυκότες. Κέντρον δ' αἱ
5 μὲν μέλιτται ἔχουσιν, οἱ δὲ κηφῆνες οὐκ ἔχουσιν· οἱ δὲ βασιλεῖς
καὶ ἡγεμόνες ἔχουσι μὲν κέντρον, ἀλλ' οὐ τύπτουσι,
διὸ ἔνιοι οὐκ οἴονται ἔχειν αὐτούς.
1The ordinary bee is generated in the cells of the comb, but the ruler-bees in cells down below attached to the comb, suspended from it, apart from the rest, six or seven in number, and growing in a way quite different from the mode of growth of the ordinary brood.
Bees are provided with a sting, but the drones are 5not so provided. The rulers are provided with stings, but they never use them; and this latter circumstance will account for the belief of some people that they have no stings at all.
Bees are provided with a sting, but the drones are 5not so provided. The rulers are provided with stings, but they never use them; and this latter circumstance will account for the belief of some people that they have no stings at all.
Book 5,Chapter 22 (553b7–554b21)
Εἰσὶ δὲ γένη τῶν μελιττῶν,
ἡ μὲν ἀρίστη μικρὰ καὶ στρογγύλη καὶ ποικίλη, ἄλλη
δὲ μακρά, ὁμοία τῇ ἀνθρήνῃ, τρίτος δ' ὁ φὼρ καλούμενος
10 (οὗτος δ' ἐστὶ μέλας καὶ πλατυγάστωρ), τέταρτος δ' ὁ
κηφήν, μεγέθει μὲν μέγιστος ἁπάντων, ἄκεντρος δὲ καὶ νωθρός·
διὸ καὶ πλέκουσί τινες περὶ τὰ σμήνη ὥστε τὰς μὲν
μελίττας εἰσδύεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ κηφῆνας μὴ διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς
μείζους. Ἡγεμόνων δὲ γένη δύο ἐστίν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται καὶ
15 πρότερον. Εἰσὶ δὲ πλείους ἐν ἑκάστῳ σμήνει ἡγεμόνες, καὶ
οὐχ εἷς μόνος· ἀπόλλυται δὲ τὸ σμῆνος, ἄν τε ἡγεμόνες
μὴ ἱκανοὶ ἐνῶσιν (οὐχ οὕτω διὰ τὸ ἄναρχοι εἶναι, ἀλλ' ὡς
φασίν, ὅτι συμβάλλονται εἰς τὴν γένεσιν τὴν τῶν μελιττῶν)
ἄν τε πολλοὶ ὦσιν οἱ ἡγεμόνες· διασπῶσι γάρ. Ὅταν
20 μὲν οὖν ἔαρ ὄψιον γένηται, καὶ ὅταν αὐχμοὶ καὶ ἐρυσίβη,
ἐλάττων γίνεται ὁ γόνος· ἀλλ' αὐχμοῦ μὲν ὄντος μέλι ἐργάζονται
μᾶλλον, ἐπομβρίας δὲ γόνον, διὸ καὶ ἅμα συμβαίνει
ἐλαιῶν φορὰ καὶ ἐσμῶν. Ἐργάζονται δὲ πρῶτον μὲν
τὸ κηρίον, εἶτα τὸν γόνον ἐναφιᾶσιν, ὡς μὲν ἔνιοι λέγουσιν,
25 ἐκ τοῦ στόματος, ὅσοι φέρειν φασὶν ἄλλοθεν, εἶθ' οὕτω τὸ
μέλι τροφὴν τὴν μὲν τοῦ θέρους τὴν δὲ τοῦ μετοπώρου· ἄμεινον
δ' ἐστὶ τὸ μετοπωρινὸν μέλι. Γίνεται δὲ κηρίον μὲν ἐξ
ἀνθέων, κήρωσιν δὲ φέρουσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ δακρύου τῶν δένδρων,
μέλι δὲ τὸ πῖπτον ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν ταῖς τῶν
30 ἄστρων ἐπιτολαῖς, καὶ ὅταν κατασκήψῃ ἡ ἶρις· ὅλως δ' οὐ
γίνεται μέλι πρὸ Πλειάδος ἐπιτολῆς. Τὸ μὲν οὖν κηρίον
ποιεῖ, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἐκ τῶν ἀνθέων· τὸ δὲ μέλι ὅτι οὐ
Of bees there are various species. The best kind is a little round mottled insect; another is long, and resembles the anthrena; a third is a black and flat-bellied, and is nick-named the 'robber'; a fourth kind 10is the drone, the largest of all, but stingless and inactive. And this proportionate size of the drone explains why some bee-masters place a net-work in front of the hives; for the network is put to keep the big drones out while it lets the little bees go in.
Of the king bees there are, as has been stated, two kinds. In every hive there are more kings than one; and a hive goes to ruin if 15there be too few kings, not because of anarchy thereby ensuing, but, as we are told, because these creatures contribute in some way to the generation of the common bees. A hive will go also to ruin if there be too large a number of kings in it; for the members of the hives are thereby subdivided into too many separate factions.
Whenever the spring-time is late a-coming, and when there is drought 20and mildew, then the progeny of the hive is small in number. But when the weather is dry they attend to the honey, and in rainy weather their attention is concentrated on the brood; and this will account for the coincidence of rich olive-harvests and abundant swarms.
The bees first work at the honeycomb, and then put the pupae in it: by the mouth, say those who hold the theory of their 25bringing them from elsewhere. After putting in the pupae they put in the honey for subsistence, and this they do in the summer and autumn; and, by the way, the autumn honey is the better of the two.
The honeycomb is made from flowers, and the materials for the wax they gather from the resinous gum of trees, while honey is distilled from dew, and is deposited chiefly at the risings of the 30constellations or when a rainbow is in the sky: and as a general rule there is no honey before the rising of the Pleiads. (The bee, then, makes the wax from flowers.
Of the king bees there are, as has been stated, two kinds. In every hive there are more kings than one; and a hive goes to ruin if 15there be too few kings, not because of anarchy thereby ensuing, but, as we are told, because these creatures contribute in some way to the generation of the common bees. A hive will go also to ruin if there be too large a number of kings in it; for the members of the hives are thereby subdivided into too many separate factions.
Whenever the spring-time is late a-coming, and when there is drought 20and mildew, then the progeny of the hive is small in number. But when the weather is dry they attend to the honey, and in rainy weather their attention is concentrated on the brood; and this will account for the coincidence of rich olive-harvests and abundant swarms.
The bees first work at the honeycomb, and then put the pupae in it: by the mouth, say those who hold the theory of their 25bringing them from elsewhere. After putting in the pupae they put in the honey for subsistence, and this they do in the summer and autumn; and, by the way, the autumn honey is the better of the two.
The honeycomb is made from flowers, and the materials for the wax they gather from the resinous gum of trees, while honey is distilled from dew, and is deposited chiefly at the risings of the 30constellations or when a rainbow is in the sky: and as a general rule there is no honey before the rising of the Pleiads. (The bee, then, makes the wax from flowers.
554a
1 ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ φέρει τὸ πῖπτον, σημεῖον· ἐν μιᾷ γὰρ ἢ δυσὶν
ἡμέραις πλήρη εὑρίσκουσι τὰ σμήνη οἱ μελιττουργοὶ μέλιτος.
Ἔτι δὲ τοῦ μετοπώρου ἄνθη μὲν γίνεται, μέλι δ' οὔ,
ὅταν ἀφαιρεθῇ. Ἀφῃρημένου οὖν ἤδη τοῦ γενομένου μέλιτος,
5 καὶ τροφῆς ἢ οὐκ ἐνούσης ἔτι ἢ σπανίας, ἐνεγίνετο ἄν, εἴπερ
ἐποίουν ἐκ τῶν ἀνθέων. Συνίσταται δὲ τὸ μέλι πεττόμενον·
ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ οἷον ὕδωρ γίνεται, καὶ ἐφ' ἡμέρας μέν τινας
ὑγρόν ἐστι (διὸ κἂν ἀφαιρεθῇ ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις,
οὐκ ἔχει πάχος), ἐν εἴκοσι δὲ μάλιστα συνίσταται.
10 Δῆλον δ' ἐστὶν εὐθέως τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ χυμοῦ· διαφέρει γὰρ τῇ
γλυκύτητι καὶ τῷ πάχει. Φέρει δ' ἀπὸ πάντων ἡ μέλιττα
ὅσα ἐν κάλυκι ἀνθεῖ, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων δ' ὅσα
ἂν γλυκύτητα ἔχῃ, οὐδένα βλάπτουσα καρπόν· τοὺς δὲ χυμοὺς
τούτων τῷ ὁμοίῳ τῇ γλώττῃ ἀναλαμβάνουσα κομίζει.
15 Βλίττεται δὲ τὰ σμήνη, ὅταν ἐρινεὸν σῦκον φανῇ· σχάδονας
δ' ἀρίστας ποιοῦσιν, ὅταν μέλι ἐργάζωνται. Φέρει δὲ
κηρὸν μὲν καὶ ἐριθάκην περὶ τοῖς σκέλεσι, τὸ δὲ μέλι ἐμεῖ
εἰς τὸν κύτταρον. Τὸν δὲ γόνον ὅταν ἀφῇ, ἐπῳάζει ὥσπερ
ὄρνις. Ἐν δὲ τῷ κηρίῳ τὸ σκωλήκιον μικρὸν μὲν ὂν κεῖται
20 πλάγιον, ὕστερον δ' ἀνίσταται αὐτὸ ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τρέφεται,
πρὸς δὲ τῷ κηρίῳ ἔχεται ὥστε καὶ ἀντειλῆφθαι. Ὁ
δὲ γόνος ἐστὶ τῶν μελιττῶν καὶ τῶν κηφήνων λευκός, ἐξ οὗ
τὰ σκωλήκια γίνεται· αὐξανόμενα δὲ γίνονται μέλιτται
καὶ κηφῆνες. Ὁ δὲ τῶν βασιλέων γόνος τὴν χρόαν γίνεται
25 ὑπόπυρρος, τὴν δὲ λεπτότητά ἐστιν οἷον μέλι παχύ· τὸν
δ' ὄγκον εὐθέως ἔχει παραπλήσιον τῷ γινομένῳ ἐξ αὐτοῦ.
Σκώληξ δ' οὐ γίνεται πρότερον ἐκ τούτου, ἀλλ' εὐθέως ἡ μέλιττα,
ὡς φασίν. Ὅταν δὲ τέκῃ ἐν τῷ κηρίῳ, μέλι ἐκ τοῦ
ἀπαντικρὺ γίνεται. Φύει δ' ἡ σχάδων πόδας καὶ πτερά,
30 ὅταν καταλειφθῇ· ὅταν δὲ λάβῃ τέλος, τὸν ὑμένα περιρρήξασ'
1The honey, however, it does not make, but merely gathers what is deposited out of the atmosphere; and as a proof of this statement we have the known fact that occasionally bee-keepers find the hives filled with honey within the space of two or three days. Furthermore, in autumn flowers are found, but honey, if 5it be withdrawn, is not replaced; now, after the withdrawal of the original honey, when no food or very little is in the hives, there would be a fresh stock of honey, if the bees made it from flowers.) Honey, if allowed to ripen and mature, gathers consistency; for at first it is like water and remains liquid for several days. If it be drawn off during these days it has no consistency; 10but it attains consistency in about twenty days. The taste of thyme-honey is discernible at once, from its peculiar sweetness and consistency.
The bee gathers from every flower that is furnished with a calyx or cup, and from all other flowers that are sweet-tasted, without doing injury to any fruit; and the juices of the flowers it takes up with the organ that resembles a tongue and 15carries off to the hive.
Swarms are robbed of their honey on the appearance of the wild fig. They produce the best larvae at the time the honey is a-making. The bee carries wax and bees' bread round its legs, but vomits the honey into the cell. After depositing its young, it broods over it like a bird. The grub when it is small lies slantwise in the comb, but by and by rises up straight by 20an effort of its own and takes food, and holds on so tightly to the honeycomb as actually to cling to it.
The young of bees and of drones is white, and from the young come the grubs; and the grubs grow into bees and drones. The egg of the king bee is reddish in colour, and its substance is about as consistent as thick honey; and from the first it is about as big as the bee that is 25produced from it. From the young of the king bee there is no intermediate stage, it is said, of the grub, but the bee comes at once.
Whenever the bee lays an egg in the comb there is always a drop of honey set against it. The larva of the bee gets feet and wings as soon as the cell has been stopped up with wax, and when it arrives at its completed form it breaks its membrane and flies away.
The bee gathers from every flower that is furnished with a calyx or cup, and from all other flowers that are sweet-tasted, without doing injury to any fruit; and the juices of the flowers it takes up with the organ that resembles a tongue and 15carries off to the hive.
Swarms are robbed of their honey on the appearance of the wild fig. They produce the best larvae at the time the honey is a-making. The bee carries wax and bees' bread round its legs, but vomits the honey into the cell. After depositing its young, it broods over it like a bird. The grub when it is small lies slantwise in the comb, but by and by rises up straight by 20an effort of its own and takes food, and holds on so tightly to the honeycomb as actually to cling to it.
The young of bees and of drones is white, and from the young come the grubs; and the grubs grow into bees and drones. The egg of the king bee is reddish in colour, and its substance is about as consistent as thick honey; and from the first it is about as big as the bee that is 25produced from it. From the young of the king bee there is no intermediate stage, it is said, of the grub, but the bee comes at once.
Whenever the bee lays an egg in the comb there is always a drop of honey set against it. The larva of the bee gets feet and wings as soon as the cell has been stopped up with wax, and when it arrives at its completed form it breaks its membrane and flies away.
554b
1 ἐκπέταται. Κόπρον δὲ προΐεται, ἕως ἂν ᾖ σκωλήκιον,
ὕστερον δ' οὐκέτι, πλὴν ἐὰν μὴ ἐξέλθῃ, ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη
πρότερον. Ἐὰν δέ τις ἀφέλῃ τὰς κεφαλὰς τῆς σχάδονος πρὶν
πτερὰ ἔχειν, ἐξεσθίουσιν αὐταὶ αἱ μέλιτται· καὶ κηφῆνος
5 πτερὸν ἂν ἀποκνίσας ἀφῇ τις, τῶν λοιπῶν αὐταὶ τὰ πτερὰ
ἀπεσθίουσιν. Βίος δὲ τῶν μελιττῶν ἔτη ἕξ· ἔνιαι δ' ἑπτὰ
ζῶσιν. Σμῆνος δ' ἂν διαμείνῃ ἔτη ἐννέα ἢ δέκα, εὖ δοκεῖ
διαγεγενῆσθαι. Ἐν δὲ τῷ Πόντῳ εἰσί τινες μέλιτται λευκαὶ
σφόδρα, αἳ τὸ μέλι ποιοῦσι δὶς τοῦ μηνός. Αἱ δ' ἐν Θεμισκύρᾳ
10 περὶ τὸν Θερμώδοντα ποταμὸν ἐν τῇ γῇ καὶ ἐν τοῖς σμήνεσι
ποιοῦσι κηρία οὐκ ἔχοντα κηρὸν πολὺν ἀλλὰ πάνυ
σμικρόν, μέλι δὲ παχύ· τὸ δὲ κηρίον λεῖον καὶ ὁμαλόν
ἐστιν. Οὐκ ἀεὶ δὲ τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ χειμῶνος· ὁ γὰρ
κιττὸς πολὺς ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ ἐστίν, ἀνθεῖ δὲ ταύτην τὴν ὥραν,
15 ἀφ' οὗ φέρουσι τὸ μέλι. Κατάγεται δὲ καὶ εἰς Ἀμισὸν
μέλι ἄνωθεν λευκὸν καὶ παχὺ σφόδρα, ὃ ποιοῦσιν αἱ μέλιτται
ἄνευ κηρίων πρὸς τοῖς δένδρεσιν· γίνεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλοθι
τοιοῦτον ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ. Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ μέλιτται αἳ ποιοῦσι
κηρία τριπλᾶ ἐν τῇ γῇ· ταῦτα δὲ μέλι μὲν ἴσχει, σκώληκας
20 δ' οὐκ ἴσχει. Ἔστι δ' οὔτε τὰ κηρία πάντα τοιαῦτα,
οὔτε πᾶσαι αἱ μέλιτται τοιαῦτα ποιοῦσιν.
1It ejects excrement in the grub state, but not afterwards; that is, not until it has got out of the encasing membrane, as we have already described. If you remove the heads from off the larvae before the coming of the wings, the bees will eat them up; and if you nip off the wings from a drone and let it 5go, the bees will spontaneously bite off the wings from off all the remaining drones.
The bee lives for six years as a rule, as an exception for seven years. If a swarm lasts for nine years, or ten, great credit is considered due to its management.
In Pontus are found bees exceedingly white in colour, and these bees produce their honey twice a month. (The bees in Themiscyra, 10on the banks of the river Thermodon, build honeycombs in the ground and in hives, and these honeycombs are furnished with very little wax but with honey of great consistency; and the honeycomb, by the way, is smooth and level.) But this is not always the case with these bees, but only in the winter season; for in Pontus the ivy is abundant, and it flowers at this time of the 15year, and it is from the ivy-flower that they derive their honey. A white and very consistent honey is brought down from the upper country to Amisus, which is deposited by bees on trees without the employment of honeycombs: and this kind of honey is produced in other districts in Pontus.
There are bees also that construct triple honeycombs in the ground; and these honeycombs supply 20honey but never contain grubs. But the honeycombs in these places are not all of this sort, nor do all the bees construct them.
The bee lives for six years as a rule, as an exception for seven years. If a swarm lasts for nine years, or ten, great credit is considered due to its management.
In Pontus are found bees exceedingly white in colour, and these bees produce their honey twice a month. (The bees in Themiscyra, 10on the banks of the river Thermodon, build honeycombs in the ground and in hives, and these honeycombs are furnished with very little wax but with honey of great consistency; and the honeycomb, by the way, is smooth and level.) But this is not always the case with these bees, but only in the winter season; for in Pontus the ivy is abundant, and it flowers at this time of the 15year, and it is from the ivy-flower that they derive their honey. A white and very consistent honey is brought down from the upper country to Amisus, which is deposited by bees on trees without the employment of honeycombs: and this kind of honey is produced in other districts in Pontus.
There are bees also that construct triple honeycombs in the ground; and these honeycombs supply 20honey but never contain grubs. But the honeycombs in these places are not all of this sort, nor do all the bees construct them.
Book 5,Chapter 23 (554b22–555a12)
Αἱ δ' ἀνθρῆναι καὶ οἱ σφῆκες ποιοῦσι κηρία τῷ γόνῳ,
ὅταν μὲν μὴ ἔχωσιν ἡγεμόνα ἀλλ' ἀποπλανηθῶσι καὶ μὴ
εὑρίσκωσιν, αἱ μὲν ἀνθρῆναι ἐπὶ μετεώρου τινός, οἱ δὲ σφῆκες
25 ἐν τρώγλαις, ὅταν δ' ἔχωσιν ἡγεμόνα, ὑπὸ γῆν. Ἑξάγωνα
μὲν οὖν πάντα ἐστὶ τὰ κηρία αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ
τῶν μελιττῶν, σύγκειται δ' οὐκ ἐκ κηροῦ ἀλλ' ἐκ φλοιώδους
καὶ ἀραχνιώδους ὕλης τὸ κηρίον· γλαφυρώτερον δὲ πολλῷ
τὸ τῶν ἀνθρηνῶν ἐστὶν ἢ τὸ τῶν σφηκῶν κηρίον. Ἐναφιᾶσι δὲ
30 γόνον, ὥσπερ αἱ μέλιτται, ὅσον σταλαγμὸν εἰς τὸ πλάγιον
Anthrenae and wasps construct combs for their young. When they have no king, but are wandering about in search of one, the anthrene constructs its comb on some high place, and the wasp inside a hole. When the anthrene and the wasp have a king, they 25construct their combs underground. Their combs are in all cases hexagonal like the comb of the bee. They are composed, however, not of wax, but of a bark-like filamented fibre, and the comb of the anthrene is much neater than the comb of the wasp. Like the bee, they put their young just like a drop of liquid on to the side of the cell, and the egg clings to the wall of the cell.
555a
1 τοῦ κυττάρου, καὶ ἔχεται πρὸς τῷ τοίχῳ. Οὐχ ἅμα δὲ
πᾶσι τοῖς κυττάροις ἔνεστι γόνος, ἀλλ' ἐνίοις μὲν ἤδη μεγάλα
ἔνεστιν ὥστε καὶ πέτεσθαι, ἐνίοις δὲ νύμφαι, ἐν τοῖς δὲ
σκώληκες ἔτι. Κόπρος δὲ μόνον περὶ τοῖς σκώληξιν, ὥσπερ
5 καὶ ταῖς μελίτταις. Καὶ ἔστ' ἂν νύμφαι ὦσιν, ἀκινητίζουσι
καὶ ἐπαλήλιπται ὁ κύτταρος. Καταντικρὺ δ' ἐν τῷ κυττάρῳ
τοῦ γόνου ὅσον σταλαγμὸς μέλιτος ἐγγίνεται ἐν τοῖς τῆς
ἀνθρήνης κηρίοις. Γίνονται δ' αἱ σχάδονες οὐκ ἐν τῷ ἔαρι τούτων,
ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ μετοπώρῳ· τὴν δ' αὔξησιν ἐπίδηλον λαμβάνουσι
10 μάλιστ' ἐν ταῖς πανσελήνοις. Ἔχεται δὲ καὶ ὁ γόνος
καὶ οἱ σκώληκες οὐ κάτωθεν τοῦ κυττάρου, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ
πλαγίου.
1But the eggs are not deposited in the cells simultaneously; on the contrary, in some cells are creatures big enough to fly, in others are nymphae, and in others are mere grubs. As in the case of bees, excrement is observed only in the cells where the grubs are found. As long as the creatures 5are in the nymph condition they are motionless, and the cell is cemented over. In the comb of the anthrene there is found in the cell of the young a drop of honey in front of it. The larvae of the anthrene and the wasp make their appearance not in the spring but in the autumn; and their growth is especially discernible in times of full moon. And, by the way, the 10eggs and the grubs never rest at the bottom of the cells, but always cling on to the side wall.
Book 5,Chapter 24 (555a13–18)
Ἔνια δὲ τῶν βομβυλιοειδῶν πρὸς λίθῳ ἢ τοιούτῳ τινὶ
ποιοῦσι πήλινον ὀξύ, ὥσπερ σιάλῳ καταλείφοντα· τοῦτο δὲ
15 σφόδρα καὶ παχὺ καὶ σκληρόν· λόγχῃ γὰρ μόλις διαιροῦσιν.
Ἐνταῦθα δὲ τίκτουσι, καὶ γίνεται σκωλήκια λευκὰ ἐν ὑμένι
μέλανι. Χωρὶς δὲ τοῦ ὑμένος ἐν τῷ πηλῷ ἐγγίνεται κηρός·
οὗτος δ' ὁ κηρὸς πολύ ἐστιν ὠχρότερος τοῦ τῶν μελιττῶν.
There is a kind of humble-bee that builds a cone-shaped nest of clay against a stone or in some similar situation, besmearing the clay with something like spittle. And this nest or hive is exceedingly thick and hard; in point of fact, one can hardly break it open with 15a spike. Here the insects lay their eggs, and white grubs are produced wrapped in a black membrane. Apart from the membrane there is found some wax in the honeycomb; and this a wax is much sallower in hue than the wax in the honeycomb of the bee.
Book 5,Chapter 25 (555a19–21)
Ὀχεύονται δὲ καὶ οἱ μύρμηκες καὶ τίκτουσι σκωλήκια,
20 ἃ οὐ προσπέφυκεν οὐδενί· αὐξανόμενα δὲ ταῦτα ἐκ μικρῶν
καὶ στρογγύλων τὸ πρῶτον μακρὰ γίνεται καὶ διαρθροῦται·
ἡ δὲ γένεσίς ἐστι τούτοις τοῦ ἔαρος.
Ants copulate and engender grubs; and these grubs attach themselves to nothing in particular, but grow on and on from 20small and rounded shapes until they become elongated and defined in shape: and they are engendered in spring-time.
Book 5,Chapter 26 (555a22–26)
Τίκτουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ
σκορπίοι οἱ χερσαῖοι σκωλήκια ᾠοειδῆ πολλά, καὶ ἐπῳάζουσιν.
Ὅταν δὲ τελειωθῇ, ἐκβάλλονται, ὥσπερ οἱ ἀράχναι,
25 καὶ ἀπόλλυνται ὑπὸ τῶν τέκνων· πολλάκις γὰρ γίνονται
περὶ ἕνδεκα τὸν ἀριθμόν.
The land-scorpion also lays a number of egg shaped grubs, and broods over them. When the hatching is completed, the parent animal, as happens with the parent spider, is ejected and put to death by the young ones; for very often the young ones are about 25eleven in number.
Book 5,Chapter 27 (555a27–555b17)
Τὰ δ' ἀράχνια ὀχεύεται μὲν πάντα τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον,
γεννᾷ δὲ σκωλήκια μικρὰ πρῶτον· ὅλα γὰρ μεταβάλλοντα
γίνεται ἀράχνια, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ μέρους, ἐπεὶ στρογγύλα
30 ἐστὶ κατ' ἀρχάς· ὅταν δὲ τέκῃ, ἐπῳάζει τε καὶ ἐν
Spiders in all cases copulate in the way above mentioned, and generate at first small grubs. And these grubs metamorphose in their entirety, and not partially, into spiders; for, by the way, the grubs are round-shaped at the outset. And the spider, when it lays its eggs, broods over them, and in three days the eggs or grubs take definite shape.
555b
1 τρισὶν ἡμέραις διαρθροῦται. Τίκτει δὲ πάντα μὲν ἐν ἀραχνίῳ,
ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἐν λεπτῷ καὶ μικρῷ, τὰ δ' ἐν παχεῖ,
καὶ τὰ μὲν ὅλως ἐν κύτει στρογγύλῳ, τὰ δὲ μέχρι τινὸς
περιέχεται ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀραχνίου. Οὐχ ἅμα δὲ πάντα <τὰ> ἀράχνια,
5 γίνεται· πηδᾷ δ' εὐθὺς καὶ ἀφίησιν ἀράχνιον. Ὁ δὲ χυμὸς
ὅμοιος ἐν τοῖς σκώληξι θλιβομένοις καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς νέοις οὖσι,
παχὺς καὶ λευκός. Αἱ δὲ λειμώνιαι ἀράχναι προαποτίκτουσιν
εἰς ἀράχνιον, οὗ τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ πρὸς αὐταῖς ἐστι, τὸ δ'
ἥμισυ ἔξω· καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἐπῳάζουσαι ζῳοποιοῦσιν. Τὰ δὲ
10 φαλάγγια τίκτει εἰς γύργαθον πλεξάμενα παχύν, ἐφ' ᾧ
ἐπῳάζουσιν. Τίκτουσι δ' αἱ μὲν γλαφυραὶ ἐλάττω τὸ πλῆθος,
τὰ δὲ φαλάγγια πολὺ τὸ πλῆθος· καὶ αὐξηθέντα περιέχει
κύκλῳ τὸ φαλάγγιον, καὶ ἀποκτείνει τὴν τεκοῦσαν ἐκβάλλοντα,
πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὸν ἄρρενα, ἐὰν λάβωσιν· συνεπῳάζει
15 γὰρ τῇ θηλείᾳ. Ἐνίοτε δὲ τὸ πλῆθος γίνονται καὶ τριακόσια
περὶ ἓν φαλάγγιον. Ἐκ δὲ μικρῶν τέλειοι οἱ ἀράχναι γίνονται
περὶ τὰς ἑπτάδας τὰς τέτταρας.
1All spiders lay their eggs in a web; but some spiders lay in a small and fine web, and others in a thick one; and some, as a rule, lay in a round-shaped case or capsule, and some are only partially enveloped in the web. The young grubs are not all developed at one and the same time into young spiders; but the moment the 5development takes place, the young spider makes a leap and begins to spin his web. The juice of the grub, if you squeeze it, is the same as the juice found in the spider when young; that is to say, it is thick and white.
The meadow spider lays its eggs into a web, one half of which is attached to itself and the other half is free; and on this the parent broods until the eggs are hatched. The phalangia lay their 10eggs in a sort of strong basket which they have woven, and brood over it until the eggs are hatched. The smooth spider is much less prolific than the phalangium or hairy spider. These phalangia, when they grow to full size, very often envelop the mother phalangium and eject and kill her; and not seldom they kill the father-phalangium as well, if they catch him: for, by the way, he has the habit of 15co-operating with the mother in the hatching. The brood of a single phalangium is sometimes three hundred in number. The spider attains its full growth in about four weeks.
The meadow spider lays its eggs into a web, one half of which is attached to itself and the other half is free; and on this the parent broods until the eggs are hatched. The phalangia lay their 10eggs in a sort of strong basket which they have woven, and brood over it until the eggs are hatched. The smooth spider is much less prolific than the phalangium or hairy spider. These phalangia, when they grow to full size, very often envelop the mother phalangium and eject and kill her; and not seldom they kill the father-phalangium as well, if they catch him: for, by the way, he has the habit of 15co-operating with the mother in the hatching. The brood of a single phalangium is sometimes three hundred in number. The spider attains its full growth in about four weeks.
Book 5,Chapter 28 (555b18–556a7)
Αἱ δ' ἀκρίδες ὀχεύονται μὲν τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τοῖς
ἄλλοις ἐντόμοις, ἐπιβαίνοντος τοῦ ἐλάττονος ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον (τὸ
20 γὰρ ἄρρεν ἔλαττόν ἐστι), τίκτουσι δ' εἰς τὴν γῆν καταπήξασαι
τὸν πρὸς τῇ κέρκῳ καυλόν, ὃν οἱ ἄρρενες οὐκ ἔχουσιν.
Ἀθρόα δὲ τίκτουσι καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον, ὥστε εἶναι καθαπερεὶ
κηρίον. Εἶθ' ὅταν τέκωσιν, ἐνταῦθα γίνονται σκώληκες
ᾠοειδεῖς, οἳ περιλαμβάνονται ὑπό τινος γῆς λεπτῆς ὥςπερ
25 ὑμένος· ἐκ ταύτης δ' ἐκπέττονται. Γίνεται δὲ μαλακὰ
τὰ κυήματα οὕτως ὥστ' ἄν τις ἅψηται συνθλίβεσθαι. Ταῦτα
δ' οὐκ ἐπιπολῆς ἀλλὰ μικρὸν ὑπὸ γῆς ἐστιν. Ὅταν δ'
ἐκπεφθῶσιν, ἐκδύνουσιν ἐκ τοῦ γεοειδοῦς τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀκρίδες
μικραὶ καὶ μέλαιναι· εἶτα περιρρήγνυται αὐταῖς τὸ δέρμα
30 καὶ γίνονται εὐθὺς μείζους. Τίκτουσι δὲ λήγοντος τοῦ θέρους,
Grasshoppers (or locusts) copulate in the same way as other insects; that is to say, with the lesser covering the larger, for the male is smaller than the female. The females first insert the hollow tube, which they have at their tails, in 20the ground, and then lay their eggs: and the male, by the way, is not furnished with this tube. The females lay their eggs all in a lump together, and in one spot, so that the entire lump of eggs resembles a honeycomb. After they have laid their eggs, the eggs assume the shape of oval grubs that are enveloped by a sort of thin clay, like a membrane; in this membrane-like formation they grow on to maturity. 25The larva is so soft that it collapses at a touch. The larva is not placed on the surface of the ground, but a little beneath the surface; and, when it reaches maturity, it comes out of its clayey investiture in the shape of a little black grasshopper; by and by, the skin integument strips off, and it grows larger and larger.
The grasshopper lays its eggs at the close of summer, and dies after laying them.
The grasshopper lays its eggs at the close of summer, and dies after laying them.
556a
1 καὶ τεκοῦσαι ἀποθνήσκουσιν· ἅμα γὰρ τικτούσαις σκώληκες
ἐγγίνονται περὶ τὸν τράχηλον. Καὶ οἱ ἄρρενες δ' ἀποθνήσκουσι
περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον. Ἐκδύνουσι δ' ἐκ τῆς γῆς τοῦ ἔαρος.
Οὐ γίνονται δ' ἀκρίδες οὔτ' ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ οὔτ' ἐν τῇ λυπρᾷ,
5 ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ πεδιάδι καὶ κατερρωγυίᾳ· ἐν ταῖς ῥωγμαῖς γὰρ
ἐκτίκτουσιν. Διαμένει δὲ τὰ ᾠὰ τὸν χειμῶνα ἐν τῇ γῇ· ἅμα
δὲ τῷ θέρει γίνονται ἐκ τῶν περυσινῶν κυημάτων ἀκρίδες.
1The fact is that, at the time of laying the eggs, grubs are engendered in the region of the mother grasshopper's neck; and the male grasshoppers die about the same time. In spring-time they come out of the ground; and, by the way, no grasshoppers are found in mountainous land or in poor land, 5but only in flat and loamy land, for the fact is they lay their eggs in cracks of the soil. During the winter their eggs remain in the ground; and with the coming of summer the last year's larva develops into the perfect grasshopper.
Book 5,Chapter 29 (556a8–13)
Ὁμοίως δὲ τίκτουσι καὶ οἱ ἀττέλαβοι, καὶ τεκόντες
ἀποθνήσκουσιν. Φθείρεται δ' αὐτῶν τὰ ᾠὰ ὑπὸ τῶν μετοπωρινῶν
10 ὑδάτων, ὅταν πολλὰ γένηται· ἂν δ' αὐχμὸς συμβῇ,
τότε γίνονται μᾶλλον πολλοὶ οἱ ἀττέλαβοι διὰ τὸ μὴ φθείρεσθαι
ὁμοίως, ἐπεὶ ἄτακτός γε δοκεῖ ἡ φθορὰ αὐτῶν, καὶ
γίνεσθαι ὅπως ἂν τύχῃ.
The attelabi or locusts lay their eggs and die in like manner after laying them. Their eggs are subject to destruction by the autumn 10rains, when the rains are unusually heavy; but in seasons of drought the locusts are exceedingly numerous, from the absence of any destructive cause, since their destruction seems then to be a matter of accident and to depend on luck.
Book 5,Chapter 30 (556a14–556b20)
Τῶν δὲ τεττίγων γένη μέν ἐστι δύο, οἱ μὲν μικροί, οἳ
15 πρῶτοι φαίνονται καὶ τελευταῖοι ἀπόλλυνται, οἱ δὲ μεγάλοι,
[οἱ ᾄδοντες] οἳ καὶ ὕστερον γίνονται καὶ πρότερον
ἀπόλλυνται. Ὁμοίως δ' ἔν τε τοῖς μικροῖς καὶ τοῖς μεγάλοις
οἱ μὲν διῃρημένοι εἰσὶ τὸ ὑπόζωμα, οἱ ᾄδοντες, οἱ δ'
ἀδιαίρετοι, οἱ οὐκ ᾄδοντες. Καλοῦσι δὲ τοὺς μὲν μεγάλους
20 καὶ ᾄδοντας ἀχέτας, τοὺς δὲ μικροὺς τεττιγόνια· ᾄδουσι δὲ
μικρὸν καὶ τούτων οἱ διῃρημένοι. Οὐ γίνονται δὲ τέττιγες ὅπου
μὴ δένδρα ἐστίν· διὸ καὶ ἐν Κυρήνῃ οὐ γίνονται ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ,
περὶ δὲ τὴν πόλιν πολλοί, μάλιστα δ' οὗ ἐλαῖαι· οὐ γὰρ γίνονται
παλίνσκιοι. Ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ψυχροῖς οὐ γίνονται τέττιγες,
25 διὸ οὐδ' ἐν τοῖς συσκίοις ἄλσεσιν. Ὀχεύονται δ' ὁμοίως οἱ μεγάλοι
ἀλλήλοις καὶ οἱ μικροί, ὕπτιοι συνδυαζόμενοι πρὸς
ἀλλήλους· ἐναφίησι δ' ὁ ἄρρην εἰς τὴν θήλειαν, ὥσπερ καὶ
τἆλλα ἔντομα. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἡ θήλεια αἰδοῖον ἐσχισμένον·
θήλεια δ' ἐστὶν εἰς ἣν ἀφίησιν ὁ ἄρρην. Τίκτουσι δ' ἐν τοῖς
30 ἀργοῖς, τρυπῶντες ᾧ ἔχουσιν ὄπισθεν ὀξεῖ, καθάπερ καὶ οἱ
Of the cicada there are two kinds; one, small in size, the first to come and the last to disappear; the other, large, the singing one 15that comes last and first disappears. Both in the small and the large species some are divided at the waist, to wit, the singing ones, and some are undivided; and these latter have no song. The large and singing cicada is by some designated the 'chirper', and the small cicada the 'tettigonium' or cicadelle. And, by the way, such of the tettigonia as are divided at the 20waist can sing just a little.
The cicada is not found where there are no trees; and this accounts for the fact that in the district surrounding the city of Cyrene it is not found at all in the plain country, but is found in great numbers in the neighbourhood of the city, and especially where olive-trees are growing: for an olive grove is not thickly shaded. And the 25cicada is not found in cold places, and consequently is not found in any grove that keeps out the sunlight.
The large and the small cicada copulate alike, belly to belly. The male discharges sperm into the female, as is the case with insects in general, and the female cicada has a cleft generative organ; and it is the female into which the male discharges the sperm.
The cicada is not found where there are no trees; and this accounts for the fact that in the district surrounding the city of Cyrene it is not found at all in the plain country, but is found in great numbers in the neighbourhood of the city, and especially where olive-trees are growing: for an olive grove is not thickly shaded. And the 25cicada is not found in cold places, and consequently is not found in any grove that keeps out the sunlight.
The large and the small cicada copulate alike, belly to belly. The male discharges sperm into the female, as is the case with insects in general, and the female cicada has a cleft generative organ; and it is the female into which the male discharges the sperm.
556b
1 ἀττέλαβοι· καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἀττέλαβοι τίκτουσιν ἐν τοῖς ἀργοῖς,
διὸ πολλοὶ ἐν τῇ Κυρηναίᾳ γίνονται. Ἐντίκτουσι δὲ καὶ ἐν
τοῖς καλάμοις ἐν οἷς ἱστᾶσι τὰς ἀμπέλους, διατρυπῶντες τοὺς
καλάμους, καὶ ἐν τοῖς τῆς σκίλλης καυλοῖς. Ταῦτα δὲ τὰ
5 κυήματα καταρρεῖ εἰς τὴν γῆν. Γίνονται δὲ πολλοὶ ὅταν
ἐπομβρία γένηται. Ὁ δὲ σκώληξ αὐξηθεὶς ἐν τῇ γῇ γίνεται
τεττιγομήτρα· καὶ εἰσὶ τότε ἥδιστοι, πρὶν περιρραγῆναι τὸ
κέλυφος. Ὅταν δ' ἡ ὥρα ἔλθῃ περὶ τροπάς, ἐξέρχονται νύκτωρ,
καὶ εὐθὺς ῥήγνυταί τε τὸ κέλυφος καὶ γίνονται τέττιγες
10 ἐκ τῆς τεττιγομήτρας, καὶ γίνονται μέλανες καὶ σκληρότεροι
εὐθὺς καὶ μείζους, καὶ ᾄδουσιν. Εἰσὶ δ' ἄρρενες μὲν οἱ
ᾄδοντες ἐν ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς γένεσι, θήλεις δ' οἱ ἕτεροι. Καὶ
τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἡδίους οἱ ἄρρενες, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ὀχείαν αἱ θήλειαι·
ἔχουσι γὰρ ᾠὰ λευκά. Ἀναπετόμενοι δ' ὅταν σοβήσῃ
15 τις, ἀφιᾶσιν ὑγρὸν οἷον ὕδωρ, ὃ λέγουσιν οἱ γεωργοὶ ὡς κατουρούντων
καὶ ἐχόντων περίττωμα καὶ τρεφομένων τῇ δρόσῳ.
Ἐὰν δέ τις κινῶν τὸν δάκτυλον προσίῃ ἀπ' ἄκρου ἐπικάμπτων
τε καὶ ἐπεκτείνων πάλιν, μᾶλλον ὑπομένουσιν ἢ ἐὰν εὐθὺς ἐκτείνας,
καὶ ἀναβαίνουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν δάκτυλον· διὰ τὸ ἀμυδρῶς
20 γὰρ ὁρᾶν ὡς ἐπὶ φύλλον ἀναβαίνουσι κινούμενον.
1They lay their eggs in fallow lands, boring a hole with the pointed organ they carry in the rear, as do the locusts likewise; for the locust lays its eggs in untilled lands, and this fact may account for their numbers in the territory adjacent to the city of Cyrene. The cicadae also lay their eggs in the canes on which husbandmen 5prop vines, perforating the canes; and also in the stalks of the squill. This brood runs into the ground. And they are most numerous in rainy weather. The grub, on attaining full size in the ground, becomes a tettigometra (or nymph), and the creature is sweetest to the taste at this stage before the husk is broken. When the summer solstice comes, the creature issues from the husk at night-time, and in a moment, 10as the husk breaks, the larva becomes the perfect cicada. creature, also, at once turns black in colour and harder and larger, and takes to singing. In both species, the larger and the smaller, it is the male that sings, and the female that is unvocal. At first, the males are the sweeter eating; but, after copulation, the females, as they are full then of white eggs.
If you make a sudden noise as they are flying 15overhead they let drop something like water. Country people, in regard to this, say that they are voiding urine, ie. that they have an excrement, and that they feed upon dew.
If you present your finger to a cicada and bend back the tip of it and then extend it again, it will endure the presentation more quietly than if you were to keep your finger outstretched altogether; and it will set to climbing your 20finger: for the creature is so weak-sighted that it will take to climbing your finger as though that were a moving leaf.
If you make a sudden noise as they are flying 15overhead they let drop something like water. Country people, in regard to this, say that they are voiding urine, ie. that they have an excrement, and that they feed upon dew.
If you present your finger to a cicada and bend back the tip of it and then extend it again, it will endure the presentation more quietly than if you were to keep your finger outstretched altogether; and it will set to climbing your 20finger: for the creature is so weak-sighted that it will take to climbing your finger as though that were a moving leaf.
Book 5,Chapter 31 (556b21–557a32)
Τῶν δ' ἐντόμων ὅσα σαρκοφάγα μὲν μή ἐστι, ζῇ δὲ
χυμοῖς σαρκὸς ζώσης, οἷον οἵ τε φθεῖρες καὶ αἱ ψύλλαι
καὶ κόρεις, ἐκ μὲν τῆς ὀχείας πάντα γεννᾷ τὰς καλουμένας
κόνιδας, ἐκ δὲ τούτων ἕτερον οὐδὲν γίνεται πάλιν. Αὐτῶν δὲ γίνονται
25 τούτων αἱ μὲν ψύλλαι ἐξ ἐλαχίστης σηπεδόνος (ὅπου
γὰρ ἂν κόπρος ξηρὰ γένηται, ἐνταῦθα συνίστανται), αἱ δὲ
κόρεις ἐκ τῆς ἰκμάδος τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ζῴων συνισταμένης ἐκτός,
οἱ δὲ φθεῖρες ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν. Γίνονται δ' ὅταν μέλλωσιν,
οἷον ἴονθοι μικροί, οὐκ ἔχοντες πύον· τούτους ἄν τις κεντήσῃ,
30 ἐξέρχονται φθεῖρες. Ἐνίοις δὲ τοῦτο συμβαίνει τῶν ἀνθρώπων
Of insects that are not carnivorous but that live on the juices of living flesh, such as lice and fleas and bugs, all, without exception, generate what are called 'nits', and these nits generate nothing.
Of these insects the flea is generated out of the slightest amount of putrefying matter; for 25wherever there is any dry excrement, a flea is sure to be found. Bugs are generated from the moisture of living animals, as it dries up outside their bodies. Lice are generated out of the flesh of animals.
When lice are coming there is a kind of small eruption visible, unaccompanied by any discharge of purulent matter; and, if you prick an animal when in this condition at the spot of eruption, the lice jump out.
Of these insects the flea is generated out of the slightest amount of putrefying matter; for 25wherever there is any dry excrement, a flea is sure to be found. Bugs are generated from the moisture of living animals, as it dries up outside their bodies. Lice are generated out of the flesh of animals.
When lice are coming there is a kind of small eruption visible, unaccompanied by any discharge of purulent matter; and, if you prick an animal when in this condition at the spot of eruption, the lice jump out.
557a
1 νόσημα, ὅταν ὑγρασία πολλὴ ἐν τῷ σώματι ᾖ· καὶ διεφθάρησάν
τινες ἤδη τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον, ὥσπερ Ἀλκμᾶνά τέ
φασι τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ Φερεκύδην τὸν Σύριον. Καὶ ἐν νόσοις
δέ τισι γίνεται πλῆθος φθειρῶν. Ἔστι δὲ γένος φθειρῶν οἳ
5 καλοῦνται ἄγριοι, καὶ σκληρότεροι τῶν ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς γινομένων·
εἰσὶ δ' οὗτοι καὶ δυσαφαίρετοι ἀπὸ τοῦ χρωτός.
Παισὶ μὲν οὖν οὖσιν αἱ κεφαλαὶ γίνονται φθειρώδεις, τοῖς
δ' ἀνδράσιν ἧττον. Γίνονται δὲ καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες τῶν ἀνδρῶν
μᾶλλον φθειρώδεις. Ὅσοις δ' ἂν ἐγγίνωνται ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ,
10 ἧττον πονοῦσι τὰς κεφαλάς. Ἐγγίνονται δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ζῴων ἐν πολλοῖς φθεῖρες. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ ὄρνιθες ἔχουσι, καὶ οἱ
καλούμενοι φασιανοὶ ἐὰν μὴ κονιῶνται, διαφθείρονται ὑπὸ
τῶν φθειρῶν. Καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δ' ὅσα πτερὰ ἔχει ἔχοντα
καυλόν, καὶ τῶν ἐχόντων τρίχας. Πλὴν ὄνος οὐκ ἔχει οὔτε
15 φθεῖρας οὔτε κρότωνας. Οἱ δὲ βόες ἔχουσιν ἄμφω· τὰ δὲ
πρόβατα καὶ <αἱ> αἶγες κρότωνας, φθεῖρας δ' οὐκ ἔχουσιν·
καὶ αἱ ὕες φθεῖρας μεγάλους καὶ σκληρούς. Ἐν δὲ τοῖς κυσὶν
οἱ καλούμενοι γίνονται κυνοραϊσταί. Πάντες δ' οἱ φθεῖρες ἐν
τοῖς ἔχουσιν ἐξ αὐτῶν γίνονται τῶν ζῴων. Γίνονται δ' οἱ φθεῖρες
20 μᾶλλον ὅταν μεταβάλλωσι τὰ ὕδατα οἷς λούονται, ὅσα
ἔχει τῶν λουομένων φθεῖρας. Ἐν δὲ τῇ θαλάττῃ γίνονται μὲν
ἐν τοῖς ἰχθύσι φθεῖρες, οὗτοι δ' οὐκ ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἰχθύων ἀλλ'
ἐκ τῆς ἰλύος· εἰσὶ δὲ τὰς ὄψεις ὅμοιοι τοῖς ὄνοις τοῖς πολύποσι,
πλὴν τὴν οὐρὰν ἔχουσι πλατεῖαν. Ἓν δ' εἶδός ἐστι τῶν
25 φθειρῶν τῶν θαλαττίων, καὶ γίνονται πανταχοῦ, μάλιστα
δὲ περὶ τὰς τρίγλας. Πάντα δὲ πολύποδα ταῦτ' ἐστὶ καὶ
ἄναιμα καὶ ἔντομα. Ὁ δὲ τῶν θύννων οἶστρος γίνεται μὲν
περὶ τὰ πτερύγια, ἔστι δ' ὅμοιος τοῖς σκορπίοις, καὶ τὸ
μέγεθος ἡλίκος ἀράχνης. Ἐν δὲ τῇ θαλάττῃ τῇ ἀπὸ Κυρήνης
30 πρὸς Αἴγυπτον ἔστι περὶ τὸν δελφῖνα ἰχθὺς ὃν καλοῦσι
φθεῖρα· ὃς γίνεται πάντων πιότατος διὰ τὸ ἀπολαύειν
τροφῆς ἀφθόνου θηρεύοντος τοῦ δελφῖνος.
1In some men the appearance of lice is a disease, in cases where the body is surcharged with moisture; and, indeed, men have been known to succumb to this louse-disease, as Alcman the poet and the Syrian Pherecydes are said to have done. Moreover, in certain diseases lice appear in 5great abundance.
There is also a species of louse called the 'wild louse', and this is harder than the ordinary louse, and there is exceptional difficulty in getting the skin rid of it. Boys' heads are apt to be lousy, but men's in less degree; and women are more subject to lice than men. But, whenever people are troubled with lousy heads, they are 10less than ordinarily troubled with headache. And lice are generated in other animals than man. For birds are infested with them; and pheasants, unless they clean themselves in the dust, are actually destroyed by them. All other winged animals that are furnished with feathers are similarly infested, and all hair-coated creatures also, with the single 15exception of the ass, which is infested neither with lice nor with ticks.
Cattle suffer both from lice and from ticks. Sheep and goats breed ticks, but do not breed lice. Pigs breed lice large and hard. In dogs are found the flea peculiar to the animal, the Cynoroestes. In all animals that are subject to lice, the latter originate from the animals 20themselves. Moreover, in animals that bathe at all, lice are more than usually abundant when they change the water in which they bathe.
In the sea, lice are found on fishes, but they are generated not out of the fish but out of slime; and they resemble multipedal wood-lice, only that their tail is flat. Sea-lice are uniform in shape and universal in 25locality, and are particularly numerous on the body of the red mullet. And all these insects are multipedal and devoid of blood.
The parasite that feeds on the tunny is found in the region of the fins; it resembles a scorpion, and is about the size of a spider. In the seas between Cyrene and Egypt there is a fish that attends on the dolphin, which is 30called the 'dolphin's louse'. This fish gets exceedingly fat from enjoying an abundance of food while the dolphin is out in pursuit of its prey.
There is also a species of louse called the 'wild louse', and this is harder than the ordinary louse, and there is exceptional difficulty in getting the skin rid of it. Boys' heads are apt to be lousy, but men's in less degree; and women are more subject to lice than men. But, whenever people are troubled with lousy heads, they are 10less than ordinarily troubled with headache. And lice are generated in other animals than man. For birds are infested with them; and pheasants, unless they clean themselves in the dust, are actually destroyed by them. All other winged animals that are furnished with feathers are similarly infested, and all hair-coated creatures also, with the single 15exception of the ass, which is infested neither with lice nor with ticks.
Cattle suffer both from lice and from ticks. Sheep and goats breed ticks, but do not breed lice. Pigs breed lice large and hard. In dogs are found the flea peculiar to the animal, the Cynoroestes. In all animals that are subject to lice, the latter originate from the animals 20themselves. Moreover, in animals that bathe at all, lice are more than usually abundant when they change the water in which they bathe.
In the sea, lice are found on fishes, but they are generated not out of the fish but out of slime; and they resemble multipedal wood-lice, only that their tail is flat. Sea-lice are uniform in shape and universal in 25locality, and are particularly numerous on the body of the red mullet. And all these insects are multipedal and devoid of blood.
The parasite that feeds on the tunny is found in the region of the fins; it resembles a scorpion, and is about the size of a spider. In the seas between Cyrene and Egypt there is a fish that attends on the dolphin, which is 30called the 'dolphin's louse'. This fish gets exceedingly fat from enjoying an abundance of food while the dolphin is out in pursuit of its prey.
Book 5,Chapter 32 (557b1–31)
557b
1 Γίνεται δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ζῳδάρια, ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη
καὶ πρότερον, τὰ μὲν ἐν ἐρίοις καὶ ὅσα ἐξ ἐρίων ἐστίν, οἷον οἱ
σῆτες, οἳ ἐμφύονται μᾶλλον ὅταν κονιορτώδη τὰ ἔρια ᾖ,
μάλιστα δὲ γίνονται ἂν ἀράχνης συγκατακλεισθῇ· ἐκπίνων
5 γάρ, ἄν τι ἐνῇ ὑγρόν, ξηραίνει. Γίνεται δὲ καὶ ἐν χιτῶνι
ὁ σκώληξ οὗτος. Καὶ ἐπὶ κηρίῳ δὲ γίνεται παλαιουμένῳ,
ὥσπερ ἐν ξύλῳ ζῷον, ὃ δὴ δοκεῖ ἐλάχιστον εἶναι τῶν ζῴων
πάντων καὶ καλεῖται ἀκαρί, λευκὸν καὶ μικρόν. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς
βιβλίοις ἄλλα γίνεται, τὰ μὲν ὅμοια τοῖς ἐν τοῖς ἱματίοις,
10 τὰ δὲ τοῖς σκορπίοις ἄνευ τῆς οὐρᾶς, μικρὰ πάμπαν· καὶ
ὅλως ἐν πᾶσιν ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἔν τε τοῖς ξηροῖς ὑγραινομένοις καὶ
ἐν τοῖς ὑγροῖς ξηραινομένοις, ὅσα ἔχει αὐτῶν ζωήν. Ἔστι δέ
τι σκωλήκιον ὃ καλεῖται ξυλοφθόρον, οὐδενὸς ἧττον ἄτοπον
τῶν ζῴων. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ κεφαλὴ ἔξω τοῦ κελύφους προέρχεται
15 ποικίλη, καὶ οἱ πόδες ἐπ' ἄκρου, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἄλλοις σκώληξιν,
ἐν χιτῶνι δὲ τὸ ἄλλο σῶμα ἀραχνιώδει, καὶ περὶ
αὐτὸ κάρφη, ὥστε δοκεῖν προσέχεσθαι βαδίζοντι· ταῦτα δὲ
σύμφυτα τῷ χιτῶνί ἐστιν· ὥσπερ κοχλίᾳ τὸ ὄστρακον, οὕτω
τὸ ἅπαν τῷ σκώληκι, καὶ οὐκ ἀποπίπτει ἀλλ' ἀποσπᾶται
20 ὥσπερ προσπεφυκότα· καὶ ἐάν τις τὸν χιτῶνα περιέλῃ,
ἀποθνήσκει καὶ γίνεται ὁμοίως ἀχρεῖος ὥσπερ ὁ κοχλίας
περιαιρεθέντος τοῦ ὀστράκου. Χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος γίνεται καὶ
οὗτος ὁ σκώληξ χρυσαλλὶς ὥσπερ αἱ κάμπαι, καὶ ζῇ ἀκινητίζων·
ὅ τι δ' ἐξ αὐτοῦ γίνεται τῶν πτερωτῶν ζῴων, οὔπω
25 συνῶπται. Τὰ δ' ἐρινεὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἐρινεοῖς ἔχουσι τοὺς καλουμένους
ψῆνας. Γίνεται δὲ τοῦτο πρῶτον σκωλήκιον, εἶτα περιρραγέντος
τοῦ δέρματος ἐκπέτεται τοῦτο ἐγκαταλιπὼν ὁ ψήν,
καὶ εἰσδύεται εἰς τὰ τῶν συκῶν ἐρινεά, καὶ διὰ στιγμάτων
ποιεῖ μὴ ἀποπίπτειν τὰ ἐρινεά· διὸ περιάπτουσί τε τὰ ἐρινεὰ
30 πρὸς τὰς συκᾶς οἱ γεωργοί, καὶ φυτεύουσι πλησίον ταῖς
συκαῖς ἐρινεούς.
1Other animalcules besides these are generated, as we have already remarked, some in wool or in articles made of wool, as the ses or clothes-moth. And these animalcules come in greater numbers if the woollen substances are dusty; and they come in especially large numbers if a spider be shut up in the cloth or wool, for the creature 5drinks up any moisture that may be there, and dries up the woollen substance. This grub is found also in men's clothes.
A creature is also found in wax long laid by, just as in wood, and it is the smallest of animalcules and is white in colour, and is designated the acari or mite. In books also other animalcules are found, some resembling the grubs found in garments, and some resembling tailless scorpions, 10but very small. As a general rule we may state that such animalcules are found in practically anything, both in dry things that are becoming moist and in moist things that are drying, provided they contain the conditions of life.
There is a grub entitled the 'faggot-bearer', as strange a creature as is known. Its head projects outside its shell, mottled in colour, and its feet are near the end or apex, as is 15the case with grubs in general; but the rest of its body is cased in a tunic as it were of spider's web, and there are little dry twigs about it, that look as though they had stuck by accident to the creature as it went walking about. But these twig-like formations are naturally connected with the tunic, for just as the shell is with the body of the snail so is the whole superstructure with our grub; and they do 20not drop off, but can only be torn off, as though they were all of a piece with him, and the removal of the tunic is as fatal to this grub as the removal of the shell would be to the snail. In course of time this grub becomes a chrysalis, as is the case with the silkworm, and lives in a motionless condition. But as yet it is not known into what winged condition it is transformed.
The fruit of the wild fig 25contains the psen, or fig-wasp. This creature is a grub at first; but in due time the husk peels off and the psen leaves the husk behind it and flies away, and enters into the fruit of the fig-tree through its orifice, and causes the fruit not to drop off; and with a view to this phenomenon, country folk are in the habit of tying wild figs on to fig-trees, and of planting wild fig-trees near domesticated ones.
A creature is also found in wax long laid by, just as in wood, and it is the smallest of animalcules and is white in colour, and is designated the acari or mite. In books also other animalcules are found, some resembling the grubs found in garments, and some resembling tailless scorpions, 10but very small. As a general rule we may state that such animalcules are found in practically anything, both in dry things that are becoming moist and in moist things that are drying, provided they contain the conditions of life.
There is a grub entitled the 'faggot-bearer', as strange a creature as is known. Its head projects outside its shell, mottled in colour, and its feet are near the end or apex, as is 15the case with grubs in general; but the rest of its body is cased in a tunic as it were of spider's web, and there are little dry twigs about it, that look as though they had stuck by accident to the creature as it went walking about. But these twig-like formations are naturally connected with the tunic, for just as the shell is with the body of the snail so is the whole superstructure with our grub; and they do 20not drop off, but can only be torn off, as though they were all of a piece with him, and the removal of the tunic is as fatal to this grub as the removal of the shell would be to the snail. In course of time this grub becomes a chrysalis, as is the case with the silkworm, and lives in a motionless condition. But as yet it is not known into what winged condition it is transformed.
The fruit of the wild fig 25contains the psen, or fig-wasp. This creature is a grub at first; but in due time the husk peels off and the psen leaves the husk behind it and flies away, and enters into the fruit of the fig-tree through its orifice, and causes the fruit not to drop off; and with a view to this phenomenon, country folk are in the habit of tying wild figs on to fig-trees, and of planting wild fig-trees near domesticated ones.
Book 5,Chapter 33 (557b32–558a24)
Τῶν δὲ τετραπόδων καὶ ἐναίμων καὶ ᾠοτόκων αἱ μὲν
In 30the case of animals that are quadrupeds and red-blooded and oviparous, generation takes place in the spring, but copulation does not take place in an uniform season.
558a
1 γενέσεις εἰσὶ τοῦ ἔαρος, ὀχεύεται δ' οὐ πάντα τὴν αὐτὴν
ὥραν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἔαρος τὰ δὲ θέρους τὰ δὲ περὶ τὸ μετόπωρον,
ὡς ἑκάστοις πρὸς τὴν γένεσιν τῶν ἐκγόνων ἡ ἐπιοῦσα
ὥρα συμφέρει. Ἡ μὲν οὖν χελώνη τίκτει ᾠὰ σκληρόδερμα
5 καὶ δίχροα ὥσπερ τὰ τῶν ὀρνίθων, τεκοῦσα δὲ κατορύττει
καὶ τὸ ἄνω ποιεῖ ἐπίκροτον· ὅταν δὲ τοῦτο ποιήσῃ, φοιτῶσα
ἐπῳάζει ἄνωθεν· ἐκλέπεται δὲ τὰ ᾠὰ τῷ ὑστέρῳ ἔτει. Ἡ δ'
ἑμὺς ἐξιοῦσα ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τίκτει, ὀρύξασα βόθυνον πιθώδη,
καὶ ἐντεκοῦσα καταλείπει· ἐάσασα δ' ἡμέρας ἐλάττους ἢ τριάκοντα
10 ἀνορύττει καὶ ἐκλέπει ταχύ, καὶ ἀπάγει τοὺς νεοττοὺς
εὐθὺς εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ. Τίκτουσι δὲ καὶ αἱ θαλάττιαι χελῶναι ἐν
τῇ γῇ ᾠὰ ὅμοια τοῖς ὄρνισι τοῖς ἡμέροις, καὶ κατορύξασαι
ἐπῳάζουσι τὰς νύκτας. Τίκτουσι δὲ πολὺ πλῆθος ᾠῶν· καὶ
γὰρ εἰς ἑκατὸν τίκτουσιν ᾠά. Τίκτουσι δὲ καὶ σαῦροι καὶ κροκόδειλοι
15 οἱ χερσαῖοι καὶ οἱ ποτάμιοι εἰς τὴν γῆν. Ἐκλέπεται
δὲ τὰ τῶν σαύρων αὐτόματα ἐν τῇ γῇ· οὐ γὰρ διετίζει
ὁ σαῦρος· λέγεται γὰρ ἕκμηνος εἶναι βίος σαύρας. Ὁ δὲ
ποτάμιος κροκόδειλος τίκτει μὲν ᾠὰ πολλά, τὰ πλεῖστα
περὶ ἑξήκοντα, λευκὰ τὴν χρόαν, καὶ ἐπικάθηται δ' ἡμέρας
20 ἑξήκοντα (καὶ γὰρ καὶ βιοῖ χρόνον πολύν), ἐξ ἐλαχίστων
δ' ᾠῶν ζῷον μέγιστον γίνεται ἐκ τούτων· τὸ μὲν γὰρ
ᾠὸν οὐ μεῖζόν ἐστι χηνείου, καὶ ὁ νεοττὸς τούτου κατὰ λόγον,
αὐξανόμενος δὲ γίνεται καὶ ἑπτακαίδεκα πήχεων. Λέγουσι
δέ τινες ὅτι καὶ αὐξάνεται ἕως ἂν ζῇ.
1In some cases it takes place in the spring, in others in summer time, and in others in the autumn, according as the subsequent season may be favourable for the young.
The tortoise lays eggs with a hard shell and of two colours within, like birds' eggs, and after laying them buries them in the ground and treads 5the ground hard over them; it then broods over the eggs on the surface of the ground, and hatches the eggs the next year. The hemys, or fresh-water tortoise, leaves the water and lays its eggs. It digs a hole of a casklike shape, and deposits therein the eggs; after rather less than thirty days it digs the eggs up again and hatches them with great rapidity, and leads its young at once 10off to the water. The sea-turtle lays on the ground eggs just like the eggs of domesticated birds, buries the eggs in the ground, and broods over them in the night-time. It lays a very great number of eggs, amounting at times to one hundred.
Lizards and crocodiles, terrestrial and fluvial, lay eggs on land. The eggs of lizards hatch spontaneously on land, for the lizard does not live on 15into the next year; in fact, the life of the animal is said not to exceed six months. The river-crocodile lays a number of eggs, sixty at the most, white in colour, and broods over them for sixty days: for, by the way, the creature is very long-lived. And the disproportion is more marked in this animal than in any other between the smallness of the original egg and the huge size of the 20full-grown animal. For the egg is not larger than that of the goose, and the young crocodile is small, answering to the egg in size, but the full-grown animal attains the length of twenty-six feet; in fact, it is actually stated that the animal goes on growing to the end of its days.
The tortoise lays eggs with a hard shell and of two colours within, like birds' eggs, and after laying them buries them in the ground and treads 5the ground hard over them; it then broods over the eggs on the surface of the ground, and hatches the eggs the next year. The hemys, or fresh-water tortoise, leaves the water and lays its eggs. It digs a hole of a casklike shape, and deposits therein the eggs; after rather less than thirty days it digs the eggs up again and hatches them with great rapidity, and leads its young at once 10off to the water. The sea-turtle lays on the ground eggs just like the eggs of domesticated birds, buries the eggs in the ground, and broods over them in the night-time. It lays a very great number of eggs, amounting at times to one hundred.
Lizards and crocodiles, terrestrial and fluvial, lay eggs on land. The eggs of lizards hatch spontaneously on land, for the lizard does not live on 15into the next year; in fact, the life of the animal is said not to exceed six months. The river-crocodile lays a number of eggs, sixty at the most, white in colour, and broods over them for sixty days: for, by the way, the creature is very long-lived. And the disproportion is more marked in this animal than in any other between the smallness of the original egg and the huge size of the 20full-grown animal. For the egg is not larger than that of the goose, and the young crocodile is small, answering to the egg in size, but the full-grown animal attains the length of twenty-six feet; in fact, it is actually stated that the animal goes on growing to the end of its days.
Book 5,Chapter 34 (558a25–558b4)
25 Τῶν δ' ὄφεων ὁ μὲν ἔχις ζῳοτοκεῖ ἔξω, ἐν αὑτῷ
πρῶτον ᾠοτοκήσας· τὸ δ' ᾠόν, ὥσπερ τῶν ἰχθύων, μονόχρουν
ἐστὶ καὶ μαλακόδερμον. Ὁ δὲ νεοττὸς ἄνω ἐπιγίνεται,
καὶ οὐ περιέχει φλοιὸς ὀστρακώδης, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὰ τῶν
ἰχθύων. Τίκτει δὲ μικρὰ ἐχίδια ἐν ὑμέσιν, οἳ περιρρήγνυνται
30 τριταῖοι· ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ τὰ ἔσω διαφαγόντα αὐτὰ ἐξέρχεται.
Τίκτει δ' ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ καθ' ἕν, τίκτει δὲ πλείω ἢ εἴκοσιν.
With regard to serpents or snakes, the viper is externally viviparous, having been previously oviparous 25internally. The egg, as with the egg of fishes, is uniform in colour and soft-skinned. The young serpent grows on the surface of the egg, and, like the young of fishes, has no shell-like envelopment. The young of the viper is born inside a membrane that bursts from off the young creature in three days; and at times the young viper eats its way out from the inside of the egg. The mother 30viper brings forth all its young in one day, twenty in number, and one at a time.
558b
1 Οἱ δ' ἄλλοι ὄφεις ᾠοτοκοῦσιν ἔξω, τὰ δ' ᾠὰ ἀλλήλοις
συνεχῆ ἐστιν ὥσπερ αἱ τῶν γυναικῶν ὑποδερίδες· ὅταν δὲ τέκῃ
εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἐπῳάζει. Ἐκλέπεται δὲ καὶ ταῦτα τῷ ὑστέρῳ
ἔτει.
1The other serpents are externally oviparous, and their eggs are strung on to one another like a lady's necklace; after the dam has laid her eggs in the ground she broods over them, and hatches the eggs in the following year.
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