82 plint's natural history. [Book XI. 



grows again. That of the head in man grows the fastest, and 

 nest to it the hair of the beard. When cut, the hairs shoot, 

 not from the place where they have been cut, as is the case 

 with grass, but at the root. The hah' grows quickly in cer- 

 tain diseases, phthisis more particularly ; it grows also with 

 rapidity in old age, and on the body after death. In persons 

 of a libidinous tendency the hair that is produced at birth falls 

 off more speedily, while that which is afterwards produced 

 grows with the greatest rapidity. In quadrupeds, the hair 

 grows thicker in old age ; but on those with wool, it becomes 

 thinner. Those quadrupeds which have thick hair on the 

 back, have the belly quite smooth. From the hides of oxen, 

 and that of the bull more especially, glue is extracted by 

 boiling. 



CHAP. 95. THE PAPS : BIRDS THAT HAVE PAPS. REMARKABLE 



PACTS CONNECTED WITH THE DUGS OF ANIMALS. 



Man is the only male among animals that has nipples, all 

 the rest having mere marks only in place of them. Among 

 female animals even, the only ones that have mammseon the 

 breast are those which can nurture their young. No oviparous 

 animal has mammse, and those only have milk that are vivi- 

 parous ; the bat being the only winged animal that has it. As 

 for the stories that they tell, about the screech-owl ejecting milk 

 from its teats upon the lips of infants, I look upon it as utterly 

 fabulous : from ancient times the name " strix," 20 1 am aware, 

 has been employed in maledictions, but I do not think it is 

 well ascertained what bird is really meant by that name. 



(40.) The female ass is troubled with pains in the teats 

 after it has foaled, and it is for that reason that at the end of 

 six months it weans its young ; while the mare suckles its 

 young for nearly the whole year. The solid-hoofed animals 

 do not bear more than two young ones at a time : they all of 

 them have two paps, and nowhere but between the hind legs. 

 Animals with cloven feet and with horns, such as the cow, for 

 instance, have four paps, similarly situate, sheep and goats two. 



20 It is not improbable that, under tbis name, some kind of large vam- 

 pire bat was meant; but, as Pliny says, it is impossible to arrive at any 

 certain knowledge on the subject. The best account given of the strix is 

 that in Ovid's Fasti, B. vi. The name was given opprobiously to supposed 

 witches, the " foul and midnight hags " of Shakspeare. 



