PRINCIPAL SYSTEMS OF ZOOLOGY 209 



upon this subject, as it shows to how many different kinds of groups 

 the term yhos is applied. Here he distinguishes htiv^etn^evy] ixkyiara 

 and yevf] fxeydXa and yevos shortly, revrj de ixeyiaTa T(hv ^dowv, 

 els a bLaipelrai raWa f wa, rdb' Ut'lv • Zv ixh oppWo^v, ev 5' lxdvo)v, 

 aWo de ktjtovs. aWo de yevos earl to TOiv barpaKohepiJ^oiv. .... 

 Tchv be XoLTOJv r^w!^ ovK ean ra yevT) neydXa- ov yap irepuxeL 

 TToXXa etdr] ev eldos, . . . . ra 5' exeu p.ev, dXX' dvcowtxa.''" This is 

 further insisted upon anew: tov de yevovs roiv TeTpairbbwv ^oaov Koi 

 ^oiOiTOKOiv etdr] fxev elai iroWd, dvcovvfjLa de}^ Here eUos has evidently 

 a wider meaning than our term species, and the accurate Scaliger^^ 

 translates it hy genus medium, in contradistinction to yevos, which he 

 renders by g^nii5 5iimmum. ^TSos, however, is generally used in the 

 same sense as now, and Aristotle already considers fecundity as a 

 specific character when he says of the Hemionos that it is called so 

 from its likeness to the Ass, and not because it is of the same species; 

 for, he adds, they copulate and propagate among themselves: at 

 KaXovvTat tj/jlIovol di' ofiOLOTrjTa, ovk ovaai, dTrXws to avTo elhos- 

 Kol ydp ox^vovraL Kal yevvoovTai e^ dWrjXcov. ^^ another passage 

 yevos applies, however, to a group exactly identical with our modern 

 genus Equus: ewel eoTLv ev tl yevos Kal eirl rots exoucrt x^'^tV^^ 

 \o(f)OvpoLs KaXovfxevoLS, olov linrio Kal ouco Kal bpeZ Kai ylvvco Kai. 

 'Ivvco Kai Tols ev Hvpla KaXovfjievais rjfiLovoLS.^^ 



15 |^"Y^ery extensive genera of animals, into which other subdivisions fall, are the fol- 

 lowing: one, of birds, one, of fishes, and another of Cetaceans. There is another genus 

 of the hard-shell kind. ... Of the other animals the genera are not extensive. For 

 in them one species does not comprehend many species. . . . [but in one case, as man, 

 the species is simple, admitting of no differentiation, while other cases admit of dif- 

 ferentiation,] but the forms lack particular designations." Ibid., I. 6. 490'' Thompson 

 points out that this entire passage is very troublesome, as Aristotle seems to juggle 

 the terms eidos and getios.] 



^^ ["In the genus that combines all viviparous quadrupeds are many species . . . 

 but under no common appellation." Ibid., I. 6. 490'\] 



"[Julius Caesar Scaliger, 1484-1558, tr., Historia Animalium (Toulouse, 1619), and 

 Histoire des Aniniaux (Toulouse, 1619).] 



^* [" . . . from their externally resembling mules, though they are not strictly of the 

 same species. And that they are not so is proved by the fact that they mate with and 

 breed from one another." Thompson, op. cit., I. 6. 49P.] 



10 |^"Xhere is a sort of genus that embraces all creatures that have bushy manes and 

 bushy tails, such as the horse, the ass, the mule, the jennet and the animals that are 

 called Hemioni in Syria." Thompson, loc. cit. (Both Scaliger and Thompson point out 

 that the purpose of Aristotle's discussion in this sixth chapter is not to define genera 

 but rather to denominate them by showing how familiar animals correspond to real 

 generic groups.)] 



