Chap. 91.] ANIMALS SOMETIMES WITHOUT BLOOD. 79 



THICKEST BLOOD : THOSE THE BLOOD OF WHICH IS THE THIN- 

 NEST : ANIMALS WHICH HAYE NO BLOOD. 



Those animals in which the blood is more abundant and of 

 an unctuous nature, are irascible ; it is darker in males than 

 in females, and in the young than in the aged : the blood of the 

 lower extremities is the thickest. There is great vitality, too, 

 in the blood, and when it is discharged from the body, it 

 carries the life with it : it is not sensible, however, of touch. 

 Those animals in which the blood is the thickest are the most 

 courageous, and those in which it is the thinnest the most 

 intelligent ; while those, again, which have little or no blood are 

 the most timorous of all. The blood of the bull coagulates and 

 hardens the most speedily of all, and hence it is so particu- 

 larly deadly 10 when drunk. On the other hand, the blood of 

 the wild boar, the stag, the roe-buck, and oxen of all kinds, 

 does not coagulate. Blood is of the richest quality in the ass, 

 and the poorest in man. Those animals which have more than 

 four feet have no blood. In animals which are very fat, the 

 blood is less abundant than in others, being soaked up by the 

 fat. Man is the only creature from which the blood flows at 

 the nostrils ; some persons bleed at one nostril only, some at 

 both, while others again void blood by the lower 11 parts. 

 Many persons discharge blood from the mouth at stated periods, 

 such, for instance, as Macrinus Viscus, lately, a man of prae- 

 torian dignity, and Yolusius Saturninus, 12 the Prefect of the 

 City, who every year did the same, and yet lived to beyond 

 ninety. The blood is the only substance in the body that is 

 sensible of any temporary increase, for a larger quantity will 

 come from the victims if they happen to have drunk just 

 before thev are sacrificed. 



CHAP. 91. ANIMALS WHICH AEE WITHOUT BLOOD AT CERTAIN 



PEKIODS OF THE TEAB. 



Those animals which conceal themselves 13 at certain periods 

 of the year, as already mentioned, have no blood at those times, 

 with the exception, indeed, of some very small drops about the 



10 See B. xxviii. c. 41. 



11 In allusion, probably, to haemorrhoids, or piles. 



12 See B. vii. c. 12. 13 Bears, dormice, serpents, &c. 



