Before Aristotle n 



After having discussed these theoretical matters the work 

 turns to its own practical concerns, and in the course of setting 

 out the natures of foods gives in effect a rough classification 

 of animals. These are set forth in groups, and from among 

 the larger groups only the reptiles and insects are missing. 

 The list has been described, perhaps hardly with justification, 

 as the Coan dassificatory system. We have here, indeed, no 

 system in the sense in which that word is now applied to the 

 animal kingdom, but we have yet some sort of definite arrange- 

 ment of animals according to their supposed natures. The 

 passage opens with mammals, which are divided into domesti- 

 cated and wild, the latter being mentioned in order according to 

 size, next follow the land-birds, then the water-fowl, and then 

 the fishes. These fish are divided into (i) the haunters of the 

 shore, (2) the free-swimming forms, (3) the cartilaginous fishes or 

 Selachii, which are not so named but are placed together, (4) the 

 mud-loving forms, and (5) the fresh-water fish. Finally come 

 invertebrates arranged in some sort of order according to their 

 structure. The characteristic feature of the ' classification ' is 

 the separation of the fish from the remaining vertebrates and 

 of the invertebrates from both. Of the fifty animals named no 

 less than twenty are fish, about a fifth of the number studied 

 by Aristotle, but we must remember that here only edible 

 species are mentioned. The existence of the work shows at 

 least that in the fifth century there was already a close and 

 accurate study of animal forms, a study that may justly be 

 called scientific. The predominance of fish and their classi- 

 fication in greater detail than the other groups is not an unex- 

 pected feature. The Mediterranean is especially rich in these 

 forms, the Greeks were a maritime people, and Greek litera- 

 ture is full of imagery drawn from the fisher's craft. From 

 Minoan to Byzantine times the variety, beauty, and colour of 

 fish made a deep impression on Greek minds as reflected in 

 their art. 



Much more important however for subsequent biological 



