THE NATURAL 



CHAPTER XI 



THE MECHANISM OF LOVE 



///. Of birds and fish. Males without penis. Coup- 

 ling by simple contact. Salacity of birds. Copulation 

 of batrachians: accoucheur toad, aquatic toad, earth 

 toad, pipa toad. Foetal parasitism. Chastity of fish. 

 Sexes separated in love. Onanistic fecundation. 

 Cephalopodes, the spermatophore. 



III. Of birds and fish. It is toward the middle of the 

 second month that the separation of the cloaca into two 

 regions is marked in the human foetus: a partition is 

 formed which will absolutely isolate the digestive chan- 

 nel from the uro-genital. The persistence of the cloaca 

 is not a sign of primitivity, since one finds it in selacians, 

 batrachians, reptiles, monotremes and birds. The uro- 

 genital region of marsupials and of several rodents is 

 submitted to a single sphincter, witness of original union. 

 The bird's cloaca is divided into three chambers, for 

 the three functions, the outer orifice being necessarily 

 unique, by definition. It is with this rudimentary ap- 

 paratus that most birds turn to the pleasures of love. 

 The male being wholly deprived of any erectile tissue, 

 coition is by simple contact, a pressure, perhaps a rub- 

 bing; displeasing as the comparison may be, it is a play 

 analogous to the mouth to mouth kiss, or, if one prefer, 

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