426 ON GENERATION. 



this line or in that; as if nature had intended that he who 

 could best defend himself and his, should be preferred to others 

 for the continuance of the kind. And indeed all animals which 

 are better furnished with weapons of offence, and more warlike 

 than others, fall out and fight, either in defence of their young, 

 of their nests or dens, or of their prey ; but more than all for 

 the possession of their females. Once vanquished, they yield 

 up possession of these, lay aside their strut and haughty de- 

 meanour, and, crest-fallen and submissive, they seem to con- 

 sume with grief; the victor, on the contrary, who has gained 

 possession of the females by his prowess, exults and boastfully 

 proclaims the glory of his conquest. 



Nor is this ornamenting anything adventitious and for a 

 season only ; it is a lasting and special gift of nature, who has 

 not been studious to deck out animals, and especially birds 

 only, but has also thrown an infinite variety of beautiful dyes 

 over the lowly and insensate herbs and flowers. 



EXERCISE THE FIFTY-SEVENTH. 



Of certain paradoxes and problems to be considered in connexion 

 with this subject. 



Thus far have we spoken of the order of generation, whereby 

 the differences between those creatures that are engendered by 

 metamorphosis and those that are developed by epigenesis, as 

 well as between those that are said to proceed from a worm 

 and those that arise from an egg, have been made to appear. 

 The latter are partly incorporated from a prepared matter, 

 and are nourished and increased from a certain remaining 

 matter; the former are incorporated from the whole of the 

 matter present; the latter grow and are formed simultaneously, 

 and after their birth continue to wax in size and finally attain 

 maturity; the former increase at once, and from a grub or 

 caterpillar grow into an aurelia, and are then produced, con- 

 summately formed, as butterflies, moths, and the like. Where- 

 fore Aristotle, as Fabricius 1 observes : " As he assigns a sort 



1 Fabricius, Op. cit. p. 46. 



