546 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book X. 



it becomes fine. This animal is so intensely cold as to extin- 

 guish fire by its contact, in the same way as ice does. It spits 

 forth a milky matter from its mouth ; and whatever part of 

 the human body is touched with this, all the hair falls off, and 

 the part assumes the appearance of leprosy. 



CHAP. 87. (68.) ANIMALS WHICH ARE BORN OF BEINGS THAT 



HAVE NOT BEEN BORN THEMSELVES ANIMALS WHICH ARE BORN 



THEMSELVES BUT ARE NOT REPRODUCTIVE ANIMALS WHICH 



ARE OF NEITHER SEX. 



Some animals, again, are engendered of beings that are not 

 engendered themselves, and have no such origin as those above 

 mentioned, which are produced in the spring, or at some stated 

 period of the year. Some of these are non-productive, the sa- 

 lamander, for instance, which is of no sex, either male or fe- 

 male ; a distinction also, which does not exist in the eel and 

 the other kinds that are neither viviparous nor oviparous. The 

 oyster also, as well as the other shell- fish that adhere to the 

 bottom of the sea or to rocks, are of neither sex. Again, as to 

 those animals which are able to engender of themselves, if they 

 are looked upon as divided into male and female, they do en- 

 gender something, it is true, by coupling, but the produce is im- 

 perfect, quite dissimilar to the animal itself, and one from which 

 nothing else is reproduced ; this we find to be the case with 

 flies, when they give birth to maggots. This fact is better illus- 

 trated by the nature of those animals which are known as in- 

 sects ; a subject, indeed, very difficult of explanation, and one 

 which requires to be treated of in a Book 49 by itself. We will, 

 therefore, proceed for the present with our remarks upon the 

 instincts of the animals that have been previously mentioned. 



CHAP. 88. (69.) THE SENSES OF ANIMALS THAT ALL HAVE THE 



SENSES OF TOUCH AND TASTE THOSE WHICH ARE MORE REMARK- 

 ABLE FOR THEIR SIGHT, SMELL, OR HEARING MOLES WHETHER 



OYSTERS HAVE THE SENSE OF HEARING. 



Man excels more especially in his sense of touch, and next, 

 in that of taste. In other respects, he is surpassed by many 

 of the animals. Eagles can see more clearly than any other 

 animals, while vultures have the better smell ; moles hear more 



49 See the following Book. 



