3. V.] THE HISTOEY OF ANIMALS. 121 



manner of depositing them ; but after they have been 

 ripened twenty days, they are cast oft' altogether in a mass, 

 as they appear when separated from the parent ; in fifteen 

 days, at the outside, the carabi are produced from these ova, 

 and they are often taken off less than a finger's length. The 

 ova are produced before Arcturus, and after Arcturus they 

 are cast off. 



5. The cyphse among the carides contain their ova about 

 four months. The carabi are found in rough and rocky places, 

 the astaci in those that are smooth ; but neither of them 

 inhabit mud. For this cause the astaci are found in the 

 Hellespont and near Thasus ; the carabi in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sigeum and Athos. Fishermen, when they pursue 

 their calling in the open sea, distinguish the rough and 

 muddy places by the nature of the shore, and other signs. 

 In the spring and winter they come near the shore ; in sum- 

 mer time they go into deep water, sometimes for the sake of 

 warmth, and sometimes for the cold. 



6. Those called arcti 1 breed nearly at the same time as the 

 carabi, wherefore they are most excellent in winter and in 

 spring before the breeding season, and they are worst after 

 they have deposited their ova. They change their shell in 

 the spring, like the serpent, which puts off its old age, as it 

 is called. Both the carabi and the carcini do this when they 

 are young, as well as afterwards. All the carabi are long- 

 lived. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



1. THE malacia produce a white ovum after sexual inter- 

 course ; in the course of time this becomes sandy, like that 

 of the testacea. The polypus deposits its ova in holes or 

 pots, or any other hollow place ; the ovum is like bunches of 

 the wild vine and of the white poplar, as was observed 

 before ; when the ova are produced they remain suspended 

 from the hole in which they were deposited : and the ova 

 are so numerous, that when taken out they will fill a vessel 

 much larger than the head of the polypus in which they 

 were contained. 



2. About fifty days afterwards the young polypi burst the 

 eggs and escape, like phalangia, in great numbers. The par- 

 ticular shape of each limb is not distinct, though the general 

 1 Perhaps, Cancer spinosissimus. 



