408 OEIGINAL ARTICLES. 



in De Bary's Plate vii. fig. 7 and 8. I did not ascertain whether 

 these latter ever resumed their ordinary outline. Although most of the 

 zoospores had become quiescent, a few were still active after the lapse 

 of 48 hours : beyond which time I was unable to carry on my obser- 

 vations. Many, if not most, of the zoosj)ores exhibited a vacuole at 

 the tliicker end, but owing to their constant motion it was impossi- 

 ble to ascertain whether this vacuole was contractile or not. 



XXXIX. — Eeplt to the Eemakks on the Translation of 

 THE First Chapter of Aristotle's History of Animals. 

 By the Eev. W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S. 



The critical observations that appeared in the last number of this 

 Journal on the translation of the first chapter of the History of 

 Animals are an admirable commentary on the truth of my remark, 

 (No. VI. p. 140) that " it is unreasonable to suppose that even a 

 small portion of the History of Animals can be fully understood and 

 accurately interpreted, until all that Aristotle has written, which 

 bears on the subject, has been thoughtfully digested." They are so 

 in a two-fold manner; in the first place because the "Remarks" 

 very justly and deservedly censure one or two undoubted errors in 

 my translation, and in the second, because they contain not a few 

 themselves. 



Without then attempting to offer any excuse for " nerve" being 

 given as the rendering of vevpov, — for it is an error I frankly 

 own, — and acknowledging also the vague and un- Aristotelian trans- 

 lation of Tzupa Tcie Twv TraOiifiaTwy havriuxxeic by " according to their 

 capabilities of distinction," I proceed to make a few comments on 

 the other criticisms of the Reviewer. 



The rendering of Xt^vala by " salt-water marshes" is condemned 

 as an error ; " there is not," says the writer, " a word about 

 salt-water in the original; the proper rendering is ' lakes' ; if the 

 translator had turned to vi. 13, he would have found that if salt-water 

 marshes be correct then the Perch, the Carp and the Silurus are 

 marine fishes," (p. 331). Now, if such an argument be allowed, it 

 follows by parity of reasoning, that the oysters which were kept in 

 Xifivai and termed Xi/jLvofTTpea (iv. 4. § 3 ; v. 13. § 9,) are freshwater 

 animals.* The fact of the matter is that Xifirrf may mean either, " a 

 salt-water," or " a fresh-water marsh or pond ;" the former is pro- 



* Since this paper was written I have had access to Spratt and Forbes' valu- 

 al)le work on Lycia, and jiccordin<;ly insert the following extracts, which bear on 

 some of the Greek names of animals under discussion. 



" The Xinvoarpta, fixed and s]iiny and of the oyster kind, was the Spondylus 

 common cnouiih in the Greek seas," {Travels,i\. p. 112). The Keviewcr is welcome 

 to either opinion. 



