GENERATION OF ANIMALS, III. v. 



a perfected state when they are discharged, this 

 must happen while they are as yet within the mother ; 

 but the eggs of fish, without exception, are imperfect 

 when discharged and continue their gro\^'th after- 

 wards ; hence, even if the egg has come into being 

 as the result of impregnation, still, the ones which 

 persist safe and sound are those which get sprinkled 

 after they have been discharged ; that is where the 

 milt of the males is used up, and that is why it 

 comes down in smaller quantities at the same time 

 that the production of eggs by the females dimin- 

 ishes, for the males always follow up the eggs and 

 sprinkle them as thev are laid. 



Thus fish are male and female, and they copulate, 

 all of them (unless there be some species ° where the 

 sexes are not distinct), and no fish at all of any sort 

 comes into being apart from the semen of the male. 



Another point which helps to deceive these people 

 is this. Fish of this sort take only a very short 

 time over their copulation, with the result that many 

 fishermen even never see it happening, for of course 

 no fisherman ever watches this sort of thing for the 

 sake of pure knowledge. All the same, the copula- 

 tion has been observed. The fish copulate in the 

 same way as dolphins do, by placing themselves 

 alongside of each other [that is, those which are 

 (not) hampered by the tail]. Dolphins, however, 

 take longer to relieve * themselves, whereas fish of 

 this sort do so quickly. The fishermen do not notice 

 this, but they do notice the swallowing of the milt 

 and eggs by the female, and so they join the chorus 

 and repeat the same old stupid tale that we find told 



" Erythrinus and channa. 

 *> See note, 718 a 2. 



313 



