224 AEISTOTLE S ANAIMA, 



Numerous statements about bees and wasps are made 

 by Aristotle. Some of these have been considered in 

 Chapter xiv., when dealing with the generation of bees. Of 

 the rest, one is specially worthy of mention, because it 

 is evidence of close and patient observation. He says that, 

 during each flight, bees do not visit flowers of different kinds, 

 but go, from violet to violet, as it were, and do not touch 

 any other kind until they arrive at the hive.* This has 

 long been proved to be substantially correct. 



The book scorpion (Chetifer cancroides) is clearly re 

 ferred to in H. A. iv. c. 7, s. 4, and v. c. 26, s. 1, where it is 

 said to be like a scorpion, except that it has no tail, and to 

 be of small size and found among scrolls or manuscripts. 



Aristotle s MalaJcostraka, in which he includes Karabos, 

 AstaJcos, Karkinos, Karis, Krangon, and several other 

 crustaceans, have their external coverings soft, compared 

 with those of his typical OstraJcoderma, but of a somewhat 

 tough nature.! He sometimes calls them SJderoderma, or 

 animals with harsh or hard skins. I Their voracity, the 

 existence of large and also very small kinds of them, the 

 periodic casting of their skins, their peculiar modes of pro 

 gression, the carrying of their eggs beneath the abdomen of 

 the female, and some differences between the appendages of 

 the males and those of the females, are all mentioned by 

 Aristotle. 



He makes numerous statements about Karabos which 

 show sufficiently clearly that he refers to the rock lobster 

 (Palinurus vulgaris). The most important characteristics 

 of Karabos, clearly given by Aristotle, are that it is elon 

 gated, and has a tail and also five swimming plates (wTEpuyia) 

 on its telson, that it has two large and rough horns 

 (antennae) in front of the eyes and two small and smooth 

 ones (antennules) below, || that its eyes are large, and 

 compared with Astakos (to be discussed later), its rostrum is 

 short and cephalothorax rough, 11 and that its ova are red.** 



The rock lobster, whether male or female, has chelae on 

 the first pair of feet, but these chelae are not well-developed 

 like those of the crayfish or common lobster. In different 

 rock lobsters the extent of development of the chelae varies, 

 but in those I have seen the inner part of the chela was 



* H. A. ix. c. 27, s. 7. | Ibid. iv. c. 1, s. 2. 



| P. A. ii. c. 13, 6576. H. A. iv. c. 2, s. 4. 



|| Ibid. iv. c. 2, s. 5. 11 Ibid. iv. c. 2, s. 8. 

 ** Ibid. iv. c. 2, s. 13. 



