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



quoted bring into prominence the windings of these ducts in 

 animals of a cold habit, in whom he finds no sufficient cause 

 for the movements of the sperm being retarded. 



The ova and spiral ducts are similar in Caris (H. An. iv. 2. 

 13) : the spiral arrangement was not alluded to, however, in 

 Carabus. " Peculiar to the male are two white bodies, similar in 

 colour and structure to the proboscis of Sepia ; they are convo- 

 luted like the fir'j/ccov of Buccinum (? Kijpv^) ; they begin at the 

 cotyledons beneath the last feet. There is also in it (i. e. the 

 thorax) a flesh-like substance, red and blood-like in colour, 

 clammy to the touch, and not similar to flesh. From the con- 

 voluted mass just mentioned there is another spiral (duct) like 

 a thread in thickness ; beneath these are two granular masses 

 attached to the seminal duct [in Schneider's text, two granular 

 seminal bodies attached to the gut] . Such are the parts in the 

 male. The eggs (ovaries) of the female are red ; their attach- 

 ment is near the stomach and on either side of the gut as far 

 as the flesh-like bodies, being surrounded by a thin membrane." 



I have given this passage as it stands, confessing my inability 

 to unravel the anatomical statements it contains. In the trea- 

 tise 'De Generatione' (iii. 8) the ovaries of Malacostraca are 

 said to be double; the genital duct may therefore be inferred to 

 be double. The duality of the organs in Caris is clearly stated : 

 what these organs are is not so clear. The granular hepatic organ 

 of the Squilla lies on either side of the gut, and may have been 

 taken for a genital structure. But for the precision with which 

 the genital passages are said to terminate in the vent (De Gen. 

 loc. cit.), the testes would seem to be correctly described. The 

 corresponding apertures in the female, however, are not recog- 

 nized ; and since the ovaries are only traced to the flesh-like 

 masses, i. e. probably to the point opposite the second pair of 

 feet, where they turn downwards to reach the surface of the 

 body, they at least seem supposed to pass to the usual termina- 

 tion. The two granular bodies may represent the bursse copu- 

 latrices; but what of the thread-like spirals ? It is possible that 

 some of the testicular ramifications are meant, not discovered 

 to be integral parts of the mass. If anatomists have erred in 

 more recent times, with fuller knowledge and better appliances, 

 the acknowledgment that Aristotle is obscure at least, if not in- 

 accurate, may be safely made without detracting from his merit, 

 more especially when we remember that functions, not struc- 

 tures, were the chief objects of his studies. Every reperusal of 

 the f History of Animals ' strengthens the impression that, as it 

 now stands, it is an unfinished treatise — as it were, the rough 

 draft in which memoranda were inserted as they occurred. 



Congress takes place in the spring (H. An. v. 6). Among 



