Chap. 86.] SALAMANDEES. 545 



and it is not without some hesitation that I speak of them, al- 

 though I have Aristotle and some of the officers of Alexander 

 the Great for my authority. It is said that these animals ge- 

 nerate by licking one another, and not by copulation. They 

 have related cases where a single female has given birth to one 

 hundred and twenty young ones, and in Persia some were 

 found, even pregnant themselves, 47 while yet in the womb 

 of the parent. It is believed also that these animals will be- 

 come pregnant on tasting salt. Hence we find that we have 

 no longer any reason to wonder how such vast multitudes of 

 field-mice devastate the standing corn ; though it is still a 

 mystery, with reference to them, in what way it is that such 

 multitudes die so suddenly ; for their dead bodies are never 

 to be found, and there is not a person in existence that has ever 

 dug up a mouse in a field during the winter. Multitudes of 

 these animals visit Troas, and before this they have driven 

 away the inhabitants in consequence of their vast numbers. 



They multiply greatly during times of drought ; it is said 

 also that when they are about to die, a little worm grows in 

 their head. The mice of Egypt have hard hairs, just like those 

 of the hedge-hog. They walk on their hind feet, as also do those 

 of the Alps. When two animals couple of different kinds, the 

 union is only prolific if the time of gestation is the same in 

 both. Among the oviparous quadrupeds, it is generally believed 

 that the lizard brings forth by the mouth, though Aristotle 

 denies the fact. These animals, too, do not sit upon their eggs, 

 as they forget in what place they have laid them, being utterly 

 destitute of memory; hence it is that the young ones are 

 hatched spontaneously. 



CHAP. 86. (66.) SALAMANDERS. 



We find it stated by many authors, 48 that a serpent is pro- 

 duced from the spinal marrow of a man. Many creatures, in 

 fact, among the quadrupeds even, have a secret and mysterious 

 origin. 



(67 ) Thus, for instance, the salamander, an animal like a 

 lizard in shape, and with a body starred all over, never comes 

 out except during heavy showers, and disappears the moment 



47 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 37, does not quite say this. He says 

 that the young ones looked "as if" they were pregnant, oiov KVOVTO. 



48 Ovid, Met. B. xv. 1. 389, makes mention of this belief. 



TOL. II. N N 



