250 Dr. J. Young on the Malacostraca of Aristotle. 



to terminate at the tail. As already said, it is regarded as the 

 common passage for excrements and ova. To this Carcinus does 

 not seem an exception ; for though the clause following that in 

 which the vent is placed in the middle of the operculum is not 

 very clear, it cannot be regarded as an admission of the distinct- 

 ness of the genital apertures : i/cros Be teal ovtoc (or rovrots:) fj 

 ra wci i/cTifCTovcrLv (H. An. iv. 2. 10). The emendation in 

 brackets does not help us much ; for not only is its authority 

 doubtful, but there is nothing to which tovtois can refer except 

 to evrepov : besides, waiving the grammatical difficulty, the vent 

 is not external to the genital apertures. All it can be held as 

 affirming is that the products of generation reach the surface. 

 We learn from other passages that it was by the vent. 



The position of the gut is dorsal, and separated by the mus- 

 cular mass from the genital ducts, as in quadrupeds. This is 

 not the fact, as will appear from his own statements under the 

 generative organs. The analogy is probably suggested by those 

 male quadrupeds in which the external organs are slung along 

 the under surface of the abdomen (H. An. ii. 1.3); but this will 

 not apply to the female. 



Other viscera there are none (De Part. iv. 5). "None of these 

 animals have blood from which arises the nature (rj <f)vcrt<;, the 

 originating principle, Lewes) of the viscera, because the con- 

 dition (Trddos) of their existence (i. e. of the viscera) is some 

 such condition (irddos;) of it, i. e. rf/s (£ucre&)<?. For that there 

 are bloodless and blood-possessing animals lies in the Final 

 Cause (6 X0709) which determines their being. Further, those 

 things for which blood-possessing animals have viscera are want- 

 ing in these (the bloodless) ; for they have neither veins, nor 

 bladder, nor respiration: but only it is necessary for them to 

 have the analogue of a heart ; for the sensitive part of the soul 

 and the cause of life is present in all animals, in some element 

 of the organs and body." But this heart is here a metaphysical, 

 not an anatomical organ; it is conjectured to exist as the seat 

 of sensation. The only contents of the shell, then, are, besides 

 the digestive apparatus described and the generative organs, a 

 pale fluid, the jaim? or firj/cwv, the diffluent hepatic mass so 

 named in Malakia and Ostracoderma. 



The Malacostraca are said to be omnivorous (H. An. viii. 3. 5), 

 devouring stones, wood, dung, and flesh ; their food is carried 

 to the mouth by the pincers. How they acquired the reputation 

 of eating stones and wood is not easy to see. 



The digestive organs have plainly been examined by Aristotle, 

 but in no way justifying his being called an anatomist : the 

 separation of viscera has not, as will appear under the generative 

 organs, been attempted. Everything stated is ascertainable by 

 simple inspection. 



