AND THEIE FUNCTIONS. 169 



it will be evident that this cephalopod was carefully examined 

 by him. 



The very well-known account, given in Owen s Anat. 

 Invertebr., 1855, pp. 630-1, and in many other zoological 

 works, of the way in which several investigators rediscovered 

 the hectocotylus and determined its nature, reads like a 

 romance. A comparison of the views of some of these 

 investigators with those expressed by Aristotle should increase 

 his reputation as an investigator. 



Aristotle noticed the vasa deferentia of the Earides, 

 crustaceans which cannot be identified satisfactorily but 

 seem to have comprised prawns and shrimps, for he says 

 that the males have two coiled, white tubes extending from 

 the bases of the last pair of legs into the body.* The rest 

 of his description is not clear, but he seems to have believed 

 erroneously that seminal ducts extended alongside the in 

 testine from the coiled tubes to the telson. This is borne 

 out by his statement that in the male Karabos, or spiny 

 lobster, ducts containing seminal fluid extend to the anus 

 from the thoracic part. I 



It has been stated already that the two hard white 

 bodies below the crop of the Kochlost were probably the 

 dart sacs, but Aristotle did not understand their sexual 

 functions. He did not consider his Ostmkoderma to have 

 any separate male seminal organs. This seems to be a fair 

 conclusion from the numerous statements which he makes. 

 One of these may be specially cited. In G. A. iii. c. 11, 7616, 

 he says that Buccinum, Murex, and others said to make cells 

 like bee-hives, or egg-cases, eject a sticky fluid from some 

 thing of a spermatic nature, but that we ought not to 

 consider this to be semen but something which, in a sense, 

 partakes of the nature of what is in plants. 



He recognized that there was a distinction of sexes in 

 some of his Entoma, but be does not seem to have believed 

 that the males had any seminal ducts. He says distinctly 

 that, among those which copulate, the males do not appear 

 to have any seminal ducts. The idea that sexual genera 

 tion under such circumstances could take place may seem 

 to be strange, but it will be seen from Chapter xiv. that it 

 was in accordance with some of Aristotle s views on generation. 



When describing the female organs, Aristotle repeatedly 

 uses an important anatomical term, viz., hystera, to denote 



* H. A. iv. c. 2, s. 13. f Ibid. iv. c. 2, s. 12 



J Ibid. iv. c. 4, s. 8. O. A. i. c. 1G, 721*. 



