GENERATION OF ANIMALS, III. v.-vi. 



by Herodotus " the fable-teller, to the effect that fish 

 conceive by swallowing the milt. It never strikes 

 them 'that this is impossible, but of course it is, 

 because the passage whose entrance is through the 

 mouth passes do-s^-n into the stomach, not into the 

 uterus, and whatever goes down into the stomach 

 must of necessity be turned into nourishment, because 

 it undergoes concoction. The uterus, however, as 

 we can see is full of eggs ; so we ask, how did they 

 find their way there ? 



It is the same with the generation of birds. Thus VI 

 there are those who say that ravens and ibises unite ^rroneous 

 by the mouth, and that one of the quadrupeds, the about 

 weasel, brings forth its young by the mouth. This is, ^^frd"**" 

 in fact, alleged by Anaxagoras and some of the other «*«- 

 physiologers ; but their verdict is based on insufli- 

 cient e^^dence and inadequate consideration of the 

 matter. (1) So far as the birds are concerned, thev ' 

 have reasoned themselves into an erroneous con- 

 clusion, since the copulation of ravens is seldom 

 witnessed, whereas they are frequently observed 

 uniting with each other by their beaks, which is 

 something that all birds of the raven family do, as is 

 plain for everyone to see in the case of domesticated 

 jackdaws. Precisely the same thing is done by birds 

 of the pigeon family ; but as their copulation is 

 plainly observable as well, they have not succeeded 

 in quaUf^ing for the heroes' part in this amazing 

 storv'. Actually, birds of the raven group are not 

 unduly sexual : it is one of the groups that produce 

 but few young ; still, like other birds, they have 

 been observed in the act of copulation. It is odd, 

 however, that our friends do not reason out how the 



» Hdt II. 93. 



315 



