230 THE HISTOEY OF ANIMALS. [3. 



BOOK THE NINTH. 



CHAPTER I. 



1. THE dispositions of obscure and short-lived animals are 

 less easily observed than those of long-lived animals ; for 

 they appear to have a certain inclination towards each na- 

 tural affection of the soul, such as prudence and folly, 

 courage and cowardice, mildness and cruelty, and such other 

 habits. Some also, which have the sense of hearing, appear 

 to be capable of a certain degree of instruction and disci- 

 pline, both from one another and from mankind, for they 

 not only distinguish the difference of sounds but also of 

 signs. 



2. And in all animals in which there is a distinction of 

 the sexes nature has given a similar disposition to the males 

 and to the females. This is most conspicuous in man, and 

 the larger animals, and in viviparous quadrupeds ; for the 

 disposition of the female is softer, and more tameable and 

 submissive, and more ingenious ; as the females of the Lace- 

 demonian dog are more gentle than the males. In the 

 Molossian race of dogs, those employed in hunting differ in 

 no respect from other dogs ; while those employed in fol- 

 lowing sheep are larger and more fierce in their attack on 

 wild beasts. A mixture of the Molossian and Lacedemonian 

 races is both braver and more capable of enduring fatigue. 



3. The females of all animals are less violent in their 

 passions than the males, except the female bear and pardalis, 

 for the female of these appears more courageous than the 

 male. In other animals the females are more soft and insi- 

 dious, less simple, more petulant, and more active in the 

 care of their young. The disposition of the males is opposed 

 to this ; for they are more passionate and fierce, more straight- 

 forward, and less invidious. The vestiges of these disposi- 

 tions exist, as we may say, in all, but are more conspicuous 

 in those which have the strongest moral habits, and most of 



