B. TT.] THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. 167 



some cases it appears seven, and in others four days before- 

 hand ; the milk is good as soon as the young are born. The 

 Lacedemonian bitch gives milk in thirty days after sexual 

 intercourse ; at first it is thick, but becomes thinner after- 

 wards. The milk of the bitch is thicker than that of other 

 animals, except the sow and the hare. 



3. There is evidence of their having reached the age of pu- 

 berty, for as in the human subject the mammae begin to 

 enlarge and become cartilaginous ; it is, however, difficult to 

 detect this without practice, for the enlargement is not very 

 great. This takes place in the female, nothing of the kind 

 occurs in the male. The males generally begin to lift up their 

 leg to make water when they are six months old. Some do 

 not do so till they are eight months old, and others before 

 they are six months old, for, to speak plainly, they do this as 

 soon as they reach puberty ; all the females sit down to make 

 water : some, however, even of these lift up their leg for 

 this purpose. The female never produces more than twelve 

 puppies, generally five or six, and sometimes only one ; 

 those of Lacedremon generally have eight ; both sexes con- 

 tinue to enjoy sexual intercourse as long as they live. 



4. It is a peculiarity of the Lacedemonian dog, that it is 

 more ready for sexual intercourse after hard work than when 

 idle ; the male of this kind lives ten years, the female for twelve, 

 most other dogs live fourteen or fifteen years, some even 

 twenty, for which reason some persons think that Homer is 

 right when he makes the dog of Ulysses to have died at 

 the age of twenty. On account of the hard work which the 

 Lacedemonian dogs have to endure the female lives longer 

 than the male ; in other races this is not so plainly observed, 

 but the male is usually longer lived than the female. The 

 dog does not shed any teeth except those called the canine 

 teeth, these are shed by both sexes at four months old. 

 Because they shed these only, a question is raised, for some 

 persons altogether deny that they shed only two teeth, for 

 it is difficult to meet with these, and others, when they see 

 that they shed these, think that they must shed all their 

 teeth. People judge of the age of a dog by its teeth, for in 

 voung dogs they are white and sharp, in old ones they are 

 black and blunted. 



