1. There is a tribe of insects which has not yet received any name, although in form all the species resemble each other. This tribe includes those that form wax, as the bee and those which resemble it in shape. Of these there are nine sorts, six of which are gregarious, the bee, the king bee, the drone, which dwells among the bees, the annual wasp, the hornet, and tenthredo. These are solitary, the small siren, of a tawny colour, and another siren, which is large, black, and variegated. The third, which is larger than these, is called bombylius. The ants pursue no prey, but only collect that which is already found. The spiders do not make anything, nor lay up a store, but only hunt down their prey.
2. Of the rest of the nine kinds already mentioned we will treat hereafter. The bees do not hunt for prey, but they both produce and lay up stores. The honey is their food. This is plainly shown when the honey dealers attempt to take the combs. When they are fumigated and suffering from the effects of the smoke, they devour the honey greedily, which they are not observed to do at other times; but they spare it and store it up for food. They have also another kind of food, which is called cerinthus (bee bread), which is of an inferior quality, and sweet like figs. They carry this upon their legs as they do the wax.
3. There is great variety in their diligence and mode of life. For when a clean hive is given them, they build their combs, bringing the drops from flowers and trees, such as the willow, the elm, and other glutinous trees. With this also they smear the floor of their hive, for fear of other creatures. The honey dealers calls this substance commosis, and they build up the entrance of their hive if it is too wide. They first build cells for their own habitation, then those for the kings and the drones. They always build cells for themselves, and royal cells when there are many young; but they only build cells for the drones when there is plenty of honey.
4. They make the royal cells near their own. These are small. Those for the drones are placed next. These are of a smaller size than those of the bees. They commence the formation of their combs from the top of the hives, and carry them down until several reach the floor of the hive. The cells, whether for the honey or the grubs, are constructed with two mouths; for there are two cells built on each base, like a double cup, one on the inside, the other on the outside. The cells at the beginning of the comb, near the hives, are joined together for as much as two or three rows in a circle, and are short, and contain no honey. The cells which are formed with the greatest quantity of wax contain the most honey.
5. They spread the substance called mitys at the entrance of their hives, near the opening. This material is black, as if it was the purification of the wax, and of a harsh smell. It is considered a remedy for contusions and suppurations. Next to this the pissocerus is smeared over the floor of the hive. This substance is less useful than the mitys in the healing art. Some persons say that the drones build cells for themselves, dividing both the hive and the wax with the bees; but they make no honey, but both themselves and their young are supported by that of the bees. The drones generally remain in the hives; and if they fly out they rise in the air with a great noise, wheeling about as if they were exercising; and when they have done this they return to the hive and feast themselves on the honey.
6. The king bees never leave the hives, either for food or any other purpose, except with the whole swarm; and they say that, if a swarm wanders to a distance, they will retrace their steps and return until they find the king by his peculiar scent. They say also that, when the king is unable to fly, he is carried by the swarm; and if he perishes, the whole swarm dies with him. And if they continue for a time to form cells, they place no honey in them, and then they also perish.
7. The bees collect the wax by climbing actively on the flowers with their fore feet. They cleanse these upon the middle pair of legs, and their middle legs again on the curved part of their hind legs, and thus loaded they fly away. They are evidently heavily loaded. During each flight the bee does not settle upon flowers of different kinds, but as it were from violet to violet, and touches no other species till it returns to the hive. There they are unloaded, and two or three bees follow every one on its return to the hive. It is not easy to see what is taken, nor has their manner of working it been ever observed. Their manner of collecting wax upon the olive trees has been the subject of observation; for the thickness of the leaves makes them remain a long while in this tree.
8. After having done this they produce their young. There is nothing to prevent there being grubs, and honey, and drones in the same comb. As long as the king bee is alive, they say that the drones are produced in a separate place; but when he is dead they are produced by the bees in their own cells, and such drones are more passionate: for this cause they are called stingers, not that they have any sting, but that they would sting, if they had the power to do so. The drone cells are larger. Sometimes the drone cells are placed by themselves, but are generally combined with those of bees, for which reason they cut them off.
9. There are several kinds of bees, as has been already observed: two kinds of kings, the better sort of which is red, and the other sort is black and variegated, and in size double that of a good bee. The best kind is small, round, and variegated; the other is long, like the wild bee. There is another called phor (the thief); it is black, and has a broad abdomen. The drone is another sort: it is the largest of them all, has no sting, and is stupid. The bees that are produced from those that inhabit cultivated places are different from the natives of mountainous countries, for those produced from wood bees are more hairy, smaller, less, more diligent, and more violent. The best bees elaborate a smooth comb, with a polished surface. The comb also is of one form, as if entirely adapted for honey, or for grubs, or drones; and if it happens that all these are produced in the same comb, each form will be elaborated in order.
10. The long bees make their combs uneven, and the covering swollen, like that of the wild bee. Their offspring, also, and the rest of their productions, are not arranged in any order, but according to chance. Among them there are many bad kings, and many drones, and thieves, as they are called; but little or no honey. The bees sit upon the combs, in order to bring them to maturity. If this is not done, they say that the cells perish and become filled with a web; but if afterwards they are able to continue sitting, something like an abortion is produced: if they cannot sit, the whole perishes. Maggots are formed in those cells that perish, which acquire wings and fly away. If a comb falls down, the bees set it up, and put props beneath it, in order that they may be able to pass underneath; for if they have no path by which to approach the place where they sit, the cells become covered with a web.
11. The thieves and the drones do not work, but only injure the other bees, and when taken they are killed by the useful bees. Many of their rulers are also frequently killed, and especially the bad ones, in order that the swarm may not be dispersed by their numbers. They are the more disposed to kill them when the swarm is not fruitful, and no casts are formed. At such times they destroy the royal cells, if any have been prepared, for they are the leaders of the swarm. They destroy also those of the drones, if honey is scarce, or the swarm is short of honey. They fight boldly for their honey with those that would take it from them, and drive out any drones that may be in the hive, and are often seen sitting upon the hives.
12. The small bees fight eagerly with the long kind, and endeavour to drive them from their hives: and if they prevail, it seems to be a sign of a very strong swarm; but if the others conquer, when left alone, they are idle, and do nothing that comes to good, but perish in the course of the autumn. Whenever the useful bees kill any of them, they endeavour to do so outside of the hive; and if any of them die in the hive, they carry them out. Those which are called thieves injure their own combs, and if they can do it in secret, they will enter those of other bees, but if discovered they are killed. It is, however, difficult to enter unperceived, for there are guards placed at each entrance; and if one contrives to enter unnoticed, he is unable to fly from repletion, and is rolled out before the whole swarm; so that it is difficult to escape.
13. The kings themselves are never seen out of the hives, except with a young swarm, and in young swarms all the rest appear to be collected round him. When a swarm is about to separate, a peculiar and singular noise is made for some days, and for two or three days beforehand a few bees are seen flying round the hive; and if the king is among them he is not seen, for it is not easy to see him. And when they are collected, all the rest fly away and separate themselves with their respective kings: and if a few of them happen to be near at hand, they join themselves with one of the numerous swarms. And if the king that they have left follows them, they kill him. This is the manner of their leaving the hive, and of swarming.
14. They all have their proper work to perform. Some bring flowers, others water, and others polish and erect the cells. Water is brought when they are rearing their young. None of them ever settle upon flesh, nor will they eat anything seasoned. They have no particular time for commencing work, but when they are properly supplied, and in good health, they are particularly diligent during the summer. When the day is fine they work without ceasing, and as soon as the young bees are three days old, they set to work, if properly fed. And when the swarm settles some depart for food, and afterwards return. In healthy swarms the progeny of the bees only cease from reproduction[228] for about forty days after the winter solstice. As soon as the young bees are grown, they offer them food, and smear the cells with it, and as soon as they are strong enough, the young bees rupture the covering of the cell, and so escape.
15. The good kinds of bees destroy any creatures that are produced in their hives and destroy the combs; but the other kinds from their inferiority overlook the destruction of their work. When the dealers in honey take the combs, they leave the bees some food for the winter. If sufficient is left, the swarm is preserved; but if not, they either die in the winter, or, if the weather continues fine, desert the hive. They eat honey both in summer and in winter. They also lay up another kind of food, which is as hard as wax, which some persons call sandarache.
16. Wasps are very injurious to them, and so is the bird called titmouse, and the swallow, and merops. The frogs also in marshes destroy them when they come for water, for which reason bee-fanciers destroy the frogs in those marshes where the bees come for water. They also destroy wasps' nests, and the nest of the swallow and merops, if near the swarms of bees. They avoid no animal, except those of their own kind. They fight among themselves, and with the wasps. When at a distance from their hives they will neither injure each other, nor any other creature; but when near at home they will destroy everything that they can conquer.
17. When they have stung anything they perish, for they cannot withdraw their sting from the wound without tearing their own entrails; but they are frequently saved, if the person stung will take care to press the sting from the wound: but when its sting is lost, the bee must perish. They will kill even large animals with their stings, and a horse has been known to perish, if attacked by bees. The rulers are the least cruel and stinging.
18. If any bees die in the hive, they carry them out; and in other respects the bee is a very clean creature. For this reason they also eject their excrement when in flight, for the smell is bad. It has been already observed that they dislike bad smells and the scent of unguents, and that they sting persons who use such things. They also die from other causes, as when the rulers in the hive are in great numbers, and each leads out a portion of the swarm. The toad also destroys bees, for it blows into the entrance of the hive, and watches for and destroys them as they fly out. The bees cannot inflict any injury upon it, but their keepers destroy it.
19. Some bee-keepers say that the kind of bee which makes an inferior and rough comb is the young of the others, and that it is the result of imperfect skill. They are young when a year old; young bees do not sting so severely as old bees; for this reason the swarms are carried to the apiaries, for they are those of young bees. When honey is short they eject the drones, and put figs and other sweet things near them. The elder bees work in the hives, and become hairy from remaining within. The younger ones go out in the fields, and are smoother: and they kill the drones when they have no longer any room for them, for they are placed in a recess of the hive. When a swarm has been weak, strange bees have been known to come and fight with them, and take away their honey; and when the bee-keeper killed them the others came out and defended themselves, and would not injure the man.
20. Other diseases, and especially one called clerus, frequently attack strong swarms. In this disease small worms are produced on the floor of the hive, and as these increase, the whole swarm is held, as it were, in a spider's web, and the combs decay. There is another disease, which is like a wildness in the bees, and causes a strong smell in the hives. The bees should be fed on thyme, the white sort is better than the red. In close weather they should have a cool place, and a warm one in the winter. They suffer the most when they work with materials affected with the rust.
21. When the wind is high, they carry a stone with them for a balance. If a river is at hand they never drink anywhere else, first of all laying down their weight. If no river is near, they drink in some other place, and then vomit up their honey, and again set to work. There are two seasons for making honey, the spring and autumn. That formed in the spring is sweeter, whiter, and, on the whole, better than that formed in autumn. The best honey is made from the new wax and young flowers. The red honey is inferior, on account of the wax; for, like wine, it is injured by the vessel which contains it; this honey therefore should be dried up. When the thyme is in flower, and the comb is full of honey, it does not become inspissated. The gold-coloured honey is also good. The white honey is not formed of pure thyme, but is good for the eyes, and for wounds. Weak honey always floats on the surface, and ought to be separated. The pure honey is beneath.
22. When the woods are in flower the bees form wax; at this season, therefore, the wax ought to be taken from the hive, for they immediately make more. These are the plants from which they collect it, atractyllis, melilot, asphodel, myrtle, phleos, agnus, broom. When they can procure thyme, they mix water with it before they smear the cells. All the bees emit their excrements either on the wing, as it has been said before, or into a single cell. The small bees, it has been already remarked, are more industrious than the large ones, so that their wings become worn at the edges, and their colour black and burnt, but the bright and shiny bees are idle, like women.
23. Bees also appear to have pleasure in noises, so that they say that they collect them into their hives by striking earthen vessels and making noises. But it is very doubtful whether they hear or not, and if they hear, whether they collect together from pleasure or from fear. The bees drive out all that are idle or wasteful. They divide the work, as it has been already said; some work at the honey, others at the grubs, and others at the bee bread; some, again, form the comb, others carry water to the cells, and mix it with the honey, while others go to work. Early in the morning they are silent, until one bee arouses them by humming two or three times, when they all fly to their work; when they return again there is some disturbance at first, which gradually becomes less, until one of them flies round with a humming noise, as if warning them to sleep, when on a sudden they all become silent.
24. It is a sign that the swarm is strong when there is much noise and movement, as they leave and return to the hive, for they are then busy with the grubs. They are most hungry when they begin to work after winter. They are more idle if the person who takes the honey leaves much behind, but it is necessary that a quantity should be left proportionable to the strength of the swarm, for they work less actively if too little is left; they become more idle if the hive is large, for they despair of their labour. The hive is deprived of a measure or a measure and a half of honey; if it is strong, two or two measures and a half. Some few will afford three measures.
25. Sheep and wasps, as it was said above, are hostile to bees. The bee fanciers, therefore, catch the wasps in pans, in which they place pieces of flesh; when many have fallen in, they put on a lid and put them in the fire. It is good for the bees to have a few drones among them, for it makes them more industrious. Bees discern the approach of cold weather and of rain; this is plain, for they will not leave the hive, but even if the day is fine are occupied in the hive. By this the bee keepers know that they expect severe weather.
26. When they are suspended upon each other in the hive, it is a sign that the swarm is about to leave; and when the bee keepers see this, they sprinkle them with sweet wine. They usually plant about the hive the achras, beans, poa medica, syria, ochrus, myrtle, poppy, herypllus, almond. Some bee keepers recognize their own bees in the fields by sprinkling them with flour. When the spring is late or dry, and when rust is about, the bees are less diligent about their young. This, then, is the nature of bees.
1. There are two kinds of wasps, of which the wild sort are rare; they are found in mountains, and do not build their nest in the ground, but on oak trees; in form they are larger, longer, and darker than the other sort; they are variegated, all of them have stings, and are strong, and their sting is more painful than that of the other sorts, for their sting is larger in proportion to their size. These live for two years, and in winter are observed to fly out of trees, when they are cut down; during winter they live in holes. Their place of concealment is in trees; some of them are mother wasps, and some workers, as in those which are more domestic; the nature of the workers and the mother wasps will be explained when we come to speak of the more domestic kind.
2. For there are two kinds of the domestic wasps, the rulers, which they call mother wasps, and the workers; the rulers are larger and more gentle, and the workers do not survive the year, but all of them die, on the arrival of winter. This is plain, for at the beginning of winter the workers become stupid, and about the solstice are seen no more; but the rulers, which are called mother wasps, are seen during the whole of the winter, and bury themselves in the earth; for in ploughing and digging during the winter, the mother wasps have been frequently observed, but no one has ever seen a worker.
3. The following is the manner of their reproduction: when the rulers have found a place properly situated, at the beginning of summer, they form their combs and build the wasps nests, as they are called; these are small, with four holes, or thereabouts; in these working wasps are produced, and not mother wasps. When these are grown, they afterwards build larger nests, and again larger still, as the swarm increases, so at the end of autumn the nests are very numerous and large, and in these the mother wasps no longer produce workers but mothers. These larger maggots are produced on the top of the upper part of the nest, in four or rather more adjoining cells, very like those of the rulers in their combs. When the working wasps are produced in the combs, the rulers no longer labour, but the workers bring them food; this is evident, from the rulers never flying away from the workers, but remaining quietly within.
4. Whether the rulers of the previous year, when they have produced new rulers, die at the same time as the young wasps, or whether they survive a longer period, no one has ever observed, nor has anyone ever observed the old age of the mother wasps, or of the wild wasps, or any other of their affections. The mother wasp is broad and heavy, and thicker, and larger than the working wasp, and her weight prevents her from being very active in flight, neither can she fly far, but always sits in the wasps' nests, and fashions and arranges the internal parts.
5. There are generally mother wasps in the nests, but there is some doubt whether they have stings or not; they seem, however, like the rulers among the bees, to have stings, though they never put them out nor sting; some wasps, like the drones, are without stings, others have a sting. Those that are without stings are smaller, and not so angry, neither do they defend themselves; those which are furnished with a sting are larger, and strong; some call these the males, and those which have no sting the females. Towards winter many of those that have stings appear to lose them, though we have never met with eye-witnesses of this circumstance.
6. Wasps are more abundant in dry seasons and rough places; they are produced beneath the earth, they make their combs of collected materials and of earth, each springing from one origin, as if from a root. They procure their food from some flowers and fruits, but generally, they are carnivorous. Some persons have observed them in the act of sexual intercourse, but whether one or both had stings or not, was not seen. Some wild wasps also have been seen in the act of intercourse, one of them had a sting, whether the other had was not observed. Their offspring does not seem to be produced from this intercourse, but is always larger than the offspring of the wasp should be.
7. If a person takes hold of the legs of a wasp, and permits it to buzz with its wings, those that have no stings will fly towards him, which those with stings will not do, and some persons consider this to be a sign that the one are males, the other females. Some are taken in caverns during the winter with stings, and others without them. Some of them make small nests and few in number; others make many large nests. Many of those called mother wasps are taken at the turn of the season in the neighbourhood of elms, for they collect the sticky and glutinous matter. There are a great many mother wasps, when wasps have been abundant during the previous year, and the weather rainy. They are captured in the neighbourhood of precipitous places and straight fissures in the earth, and all appear to have stings. This, then, is the nature of wasps.
1. The wild bees do not live by gathering honey from flowers like the bees, but are entirely carnivorous, for which reason they frequent the neighbourhood of dung; for they pursue large flies, and when they have taken them they tear off the head and fly away, carrying the rest of the body with them. They will also eat sweet fruit. This, then, is the nature of their food. They have rulers, like the bees and wasps; and in proportion to the size of the wild bee these rulers are larger than those of the bees and wasps. Their rulers also keep in the nest, like those of the wasps.
2. The wild bees make their nest under the soil, which they remove like the ants. They never swarm like bees, neither do wasps; but the young ones always remain with them, and as the nest increases they carry out the heap of earth. The nests become large; and from a flourishing nest three or four baskets of comb have been taken. They do not lay up any food like bees, but conceal themselves during the winter. The greater number of them die, but it is not known whether all of them perish. There is never more than one ruler in the nest as in the swarm of bees, or they would divide the nest.
3. When some of the wild bees wander from the nest, they turn aside to some material and form another nest, such as are often seen on the surface of the soil, and in this they work themselves out a ruler; and when he is grown he goes out and leads them with him to take possession of a nest, in which they may dwell. No one has ever made any observation on the mode of sexual intercourse in the wild bee, nor on the origin of their offspring. Among bees the drones and kings have no stings, and some of the wasps also are without stings, as it has been remarked already; but all the wild bees appear to have stings, but more accurate inquiry should be instituted as to the rulers, whether they have stings or not.
The humble bees produce their young under stones on the surface of the ground in two or a few more cells. The commencement of a kind of inferior honey is found in them. The tenthredo is like the wild bee, but it is variegated, and as broad as the bee. It is a dainty creature, and the only one which resorts to kitchens, and enjoys fish and such like things. It deposits its young under the earth like the wasps. It is a very productive creature, and its nest is much larger and longer than that of the wasp. This is the nature of the work and economy of bees, wasps, and their congeners.
1. It has been already observed that we can distinguish a difference in the dispositions of animals, especially in the courage and cowardice, and then in their mildness and fierceness, even in wild animals. The lion in his manner of feeding is very cruel; but when he is not hungry, and is full fed, his disposition is gentle. He is not either jealous or suspicious. He is fond of playing with and affectionate towards those animals which have been brought up with him, and to which he has become accustomed. When hunted, he has never been seen to retreat or be alarmed; and if compelled to yield to the numbers of his hunters, he retreats slowly and leisurely, and turns himself round at short intervals. If overtaken in a thicket, he flies rapidly till he reaches the open plain, and then again he withdraws slowly. If compelled by numbers to retreat openly on the plain ground, he runs at full stretch, and does not leap. His manner of running is continuous, like that of a dog at full stretch. When pursuing his prey, he throws himself upon it when he comes within reach.
2. It is, however, true, as they say, that the lion is afraid of the fire, as Homer also writes, "The burning faggots which he fears when urged against him;" and that he observes the person who strikes him and attacks him; and if a person aims a blow at him without hitting him, the lion, if he can rush upon and seize him, does not do him any injury, nor tear him with his claws, but shakes and frightens him, and then leaves him. They are more disposed to enter towns and attack mankind when they grow old; for old age renders them unable to hunt, from the disease which attacks their teeth. They live many years; and a lame lion has been captured which had many of its teeth broken, which some persons considered as a sign that it had lived many years. For this could not have happened except by the lapse of time.
3. There are two kinds of lions. One of these has a round body and more curly hair, and is a more cowardly animal. The other is of a longer form, has straight hair, and is more courageous. Sometimes, when retreating, they stretch out their tails like dogs; and a lion has been at times observed, when about to attack a hog, to retreat when that animal erected its bristles. The lion is weak if struck in the belly, but will bear many blows on other parts of the body, and its head is very strong. If they bite or tear anything, a large quantity of yellow serum flows from the wound, which can never be stopped by bandages or sponges. The mode of healing is the same as in the bite of a dog.
4. The jackal is an animal attached to mankind. It does not injure men, nor is it much afraid of them, but it will fight with the dog and the lion. They are not, therefore, found in the same locality. The small jackal is the best. Some persons say that there are two, others that there are three sorts; but, like some fish, birds, and quadrupeds, the jackal changes at different seasons, and has a different colour in summer and in winter. In summer it is smooth; in winter, rough.
1. The bonassus is found in Pæonia, in Mount Messapius, which forms the boundary between Pæonia and Mædia. The Pæonians call it monapus. It is as large as a bull, and more heavily built; for it is not a long animal, and its skin, when stretched out, will cover a couch for seven persons to recline upon. In form it resembles a bull, but it has a mane as far as the point of the shoulder like the horse, but its hair is softer than that of the horse, and shorter. The colour of its hair is red. The hair is deep and thick as far down as the eyes, and in colour between ash-coloured and red, not like that of roan horses, but darker. Its hair below is like wool. They are never either very black or very red.
2. Their voice is like that of the ox. Their horns are crooked and bent together, of no use for defence, a span long or a little more, so thick that each of them would hold half a measure or a little more. The black part of their horn is good and smooth. The fore lock is so placed between the eyes that the creature can look sideways better than forwards. Like the ox, it has no upper teeth in front, neither have any horned animals. Its legs are rough and its hoofs cloven. Its tail is small in proportion to its size, like that of the ox, and it tears up the ground and digs with its hoof like the bull. The skin upon its sides is strong. Its flesh is excellent food, and for this it is hunted.
3. When wounded it retreats, and stays when it can proceed no farther. It defends itself by kicking and ejecting its dung, which it can do to the distance of four fathoms from itself. It uses this means of defence easily and frequently. Its dung is so caustic as to burn the hair from dogs. The dung is only caustic when the creature is disturbed and alarmed. It is not so when undisturbed. This is the form and nature of this creature. At the season of parturition they collect together in numbers in the mountains, and make a circle of their dung round the place, as it were a fortification, for this animal ejects a large quantity of this excrement.
Of all wild animals the elephant is the most tame and gentle; for many of them are capable of instruction and intelligence, and they have been taught to worship the king. It is a very sensitive creature, and abounding in intellect. The male never again touches a female that he has once impregnated. Some persons say that the elephant will live for two hundred years, others an hundred and twenty, and the female lives nearly as long as the male. They arrive at perfection when sixty years old. They bear winter and cold weather very badly. It is an animal that lives in the neighbourhood of rivers, though not in them. It can also walk through rivers, and will advance as long as it can keep its proboscis above the surface; for it blows and breathes through this organ, but it cannot swim on account of the weight of its body.
Camels refuse to have sexual intercourse with their dams, even when forced; for once a camel driver, who was in want of a male camel, veiled the dam and introduced her young to her. When the covering fell off in the act of copulation, he finished what he was about, and soon afterwards bit the camel driver to death. It is said also that the king of Scythia had an excellent mare, which always produced good colts. He wished to have a colt out of the mare by the best of these horses, and introduced him for copulation, but he would not do it. When she was covered up, however, he performed the act unwittingly. As soon as the form of the mare was shown after copulation, and the horse saw what was done, he ran away and threw himself down a precipice.
1. Among marine animals there are many instances reported of the mild, gentle disposition of the dolphin, and of its love of its children, and its affection, in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, Caria, and other places. It is said that when a dolphin was captured and wounded on the coast of Caria, so great a number came up to the harbour, that the fishermen let him go, when they all went away together. And one large dolphin, it is said, always follows the young ones, to take care of them; and sometimes a herd of large and small dolphins has been seen together, and two of these having left appeared soon after, supporting and carrying on their back a small dead dolphin, that was ready to sink, as if in pity for it, that it might not be devoured by any other wild creature.
2. Some incredible things are also told of their swiftness, for it appears to be the swiftest of all animals, whether marine or terrestrial. They will leap over the sails of large ships. This is especially the case when they pursue a fish for the sake of food; for their hunger will make them pursue their prey into the depths of the sea, if it retreats to the bottom. And when they have to return from a great depth, they hold their breath, as if they were reckoning the distance, and then they gather themselves up, and dart forward like an arrow, desirous of shortening their distance from a breathing-place. And if they meet with a ship they will throw themselves over its sails. Divers also do the same thing when they have sunk themselves into deep water, for they also gather up their strength in order to rise to the surface. The males and females live in pairs with each other. There is some doubt as to the reason why they cast themselves on the land, for they say that sometimes they appear to do this without any cause.
1. As the actions of all animals agree with their dispositions, so also their dispositions will change with their actions, and some of their parts also. This takes place among birds; for hens, when they have conquered the cock, desire to copulate with others, and their crest and rump become elevated, so that it is difficult to say whether they are hens or not. In some, also, small spurs are found; and some males, after the death of the female, have been seen to take the same care of the young as the female would have done, leading them about and feeding them, and neither crowing, nor desiring sexual intercourse. And some male birds have been seen to be so effeminate from their birth, that they neither crowed, nor desired sexual intercourse, and would submit themselves to any males that desired them.
3. Many birds at particular seasons change both their colour and their voice, as the blackbird, which becomes russet instead of black, and assumes another voice, for it sings in the summer time, but in winter it chatters and screams violently. The thrush also alters its colour, for in winter it is grey, and in summer is variegated on the neck; but its voice does not alter. The nightingale sings unceasingly for fifteen days and nights, when the mountains become thick with leaves. As the summer advances it utters another voice, not quick and varied, but simple; its colour also is altered, and in Italy it is called by another name at this season of the year. It only shews itself for a short time, for it lies concealed.
3. The erithacus, and the bird called phœnicurus, are changed one into the other. The erithacus is a winter bird, the phœnicurus a summer bird; they differ in nothing but the colour. The sycalis and melancoryphus are the same, for these also are interchanged. The sycalis is found in the autumn, and the melancoryphus immediately after the end of the autumn. They also differ from each other in nothing but their colour and voice, and to prove that it is the same bird, each kind has been seen immediately after the change took place; and when the change was not quite complete, there was nothing characteristic of either form. Nor is it absurd to suppose that these birds change their voices or their colours, for the dove utters no sound in the winter, unless it may be on a fine day in a severe winter, when it will utter its sound to the astonishment of those that know its habits; and as soon as spring commences, it begins to utter its voice: and, on the whole, birds make the greatest number and variety of voices at the season of coition.
4. The cuckoo also changes its colour, and its voice is not distinct, when it is about to leave us. It goes away about the time when the dog-star rises, it having been with us from the commencement of spring to that time. The œnanthe, as it is called, disappears when Sirius rises, and comes again when it sets, for sometimes it retreats before the cold, and sometimes before the heat. The hoopoe also changes its colour and its forms, as Æschylus writes. "He had variegated this hoopoe, the witness of its own evils, and has displayed the bold bird that dwells in the rock in all armour. In the early spring it shakes the feathers of the white hawk; for it has two forms, that of the young bird and of itself, from one origin. And when the young corn of the harvest begins to grow, it is clothed in spotted feathers; and it always hates this place of Pallene, and inhabits deserted forests and mountains."
5. Some birds dust themselves, and others bathe. Some neither dust nor bathe. Those that do not fly, but live on the ground, dust themselves, as the domestic fowl, partridge, grouse, lark, and pheasant. Those birds which have straight claws, and live near rivers, marshes, and the sea, bathe themselves. Some, like the pigeon and sparrow, both dust and bathe. Most of those with crooked claws do neither the one nor the other. This is their nature in these matters. The act of breaking wind backwards is peculiar to some birds, as the turtle. Such birds make a strong motion with their rumps when they utter their voice.
1. Animals not only change their forms and dispositions at particular ages and seasons, but also when castrated. All animals that have testicles may be castrated. Birds and oviparous quadrupeds have internal testicles near their loins. In viviparous animals with feet, they are generally external, though sometimes internal; in all they are situated at the extremity of the abdomen. Birds are castrated near the rump, the part with which they touch the female in copulation, for if they are burnt in that part two or three times with irons after they are full grown, the comb turns yellow, and they cease to crow, and no longer desire sexual intercourse. If they are not full grown, these parts never reach perfection.
2. The same is the case with the human subject, for if a boy is castrated, the hair that is produced after birth never appears, nor does his voice change, but continues sharp; but if a full grown man is castrated, all the hair produced after birth falls off except that on the pubes, this becomes weaker, but still remains. The hair produced at birth does not fall off, for the eunuch never becomes bald. The voice also of castrated animals changes to that of the female. Other animals, if not castrated when young, are destroyed by the operation; with the boar it makes no difference. All animals, if castrated when young, become larger and more graceful than those not castrated; but if already grown, they never become any larger.
8. If stags are castrated before they are old enough to have horns, these never appear; but if castrated after they have horns, their size never varies, nor are they subject to their annual change. Calves are castrated at a year old, if not they become bad and inferior. The steer is castrated in this manner: they lay down the animal and cut the scrotum, and press out the testicles; they next contract the root of the testicle as much as possible, and fill up the wound with hair in order that the discharge may escape, and if it inflames, they cauterize and sprinkle the scrotum. If adult bulls are castrated, they are still apparently capable of sexual intercourse.
4. The capria of the sow is also cut out, so that they should not desire coition, but fatten rapidly. They are cut after fasting two days. They hang them up by the hind legs and make an incision in the lower part of the belly, where the testicles of the male are generally found; the capria is there formed upon the matrix, from which they cut off a portion, and sew up the wound again.
5. The female camels also are cut when they wish to take them to war, that they may not become pregnant. Some of those in the upper parts of Asia possess as many as three thousand. Such camels, when they run, are far more swift than the Nisæan horses, from the length of their stretch. And on the whole, castrated animals are longer-bodied than those not castrated.
6. All animals that ruminate, derive as much use and pleasure from rumination as from eating. Animals that have not cutting-teeth in both jaws ruminate, as the ox, sheep, and goat. No observations have been made on wild animals except those which occasionally associate with men, as the stag, though this animal ruminates. They all lie down to ruminate, and do so most in the winter; those which are brought up in shelter ruminate for nearly seven months. Those that live in herds, ruminate for a shorter period, for they live out of doors. Some animals with cutting teeth in both jaws, ruminate, as the Pontic mice and the fish, which, from this process, is called meryx. Animals with long legs have loose bellies, and those with broad chests vomit more easily than others, in quadrupeds, birds, and the generality of mankind.