Chap. 83.] GENERATION OF TERRESTBIAL ANIMALS. 543 



years, the female twelve ; while other kinds, again, live fifteen 

 years, and sometimes as much as twenty ; but they are not 

 fit for breeding to the end of their life, as they generally cease 

 at about the twelfth year. The cat and the ichneumon 

 are, in other respects,*^ like the dog ; but they only live six 

 years. 



The dasypus ** brings forth every month in the year, and is 

 subject to superfoetation, like the hare. It conceives immedi- 

 ately after it has littered, even though it is still suckling its 

 young, which are blind at their birth. The elephant, as we 

 have already^^ stated, produces but one, and that the size of a 

 calf three months old. The gestation of the camel lasts twelve 

 months ; the female conceives when three years old, and 

 brings forth in the spring ; at the end of a year from that 

 time, she is ready to conceive again. It is thought advisable 

 to have the mare covered so soon as three days, and indeed, 

 sometimes, only one, after she has foaled; and, however unwil- 

 ling she may be, means are taken to compel her. It is be- 

 lieved also, that it is by no means an uncommon thing for a 

 woman to conceive on the seventh day after her delivery. It 

 is recommended that the manes of mares should be cut, so as to 

 humble their pride, in order to make them submit to be covered 

 by the male ass ; for when the mane is long, they are liable to 

 be proud and vain. This is the only animal, the female of 

 which, after covering, runs, facing the north or the south, ac- 

 cording as she has conceived a male or a female. They change 

 their colour immediately after, and the hair becomes of a 

 redder hue, and deeper, whatever the colour may naturally be ; 

 it is this that indicates that they must no longer be covered, 

 and they, themselves, will even resist it. Gestation does not, 

 however, preclude some of them from being worked, and they 

 are often with foal long before it is known. We read that 

 the mare of Echecrates, the Thessalian, conquered at the 

 Olympic games, while with foal. 



Those who are more careful enquirers into these matters, tell 

 us that in the horse, the dog, and the swine, the males are 

 most ardent for sexual intercourse in the morning, while the 

 female seeks the society of the male after mid-day. They say 



43 The number that they bear. ^^ See B. vii. c. 81. 



^ B. viii. c. 10, and La the present Chapter. 



