GENERATION OF ANIMALS, III. xi. 



as for plants, the manner in which those plants take 

 shape which are generated spontaneously is uniform : 

 they are formed from a part " of something, and some 

 of it forms into the " principle," some into the first 

 nourishment of the germinating plants. As for the 

 animals, however, some of them are brought forth 

 as larvae, both the bloodless ones that are not 

 formed from li^ing animals, and some blooded ones 

 (examples are a kind of cestreus ^ and other river 

 fishes, also the eel tribe) : all of these, although by 

 nature they have but little blood, nevertheless are 

 blooded animals and have a heart, which is the 

 " principle " of the parts and bloodlike in constitu- 

 tion. The " earth 's-guts " as they are called have 

 the nature of a larva ; the body of the eels forms 

 within them.'^ Hence, too, with regard to the genera- Tr.-idiiionai 

 tion of human beings and quadrupeds, if once upon ori^n*^of^* 

 a time they were " earthborn " as some allege,'' one man and 

 might assume them to be formed in one of these two *°""* '• 

 ways — ^either it would be by a larva taking shape to 

 begin with, or else they were formed out of eggs, 

 since of necessity they must either contain the 

 nourishment for their growth within themselves 

 (and a fetation of this sort is a larva) or they must 

 get it from elsewhere, and that means either from 



■■ Ttie " earth's-guts " are apparently the round-worm 

 'Tordius. Cf. H.A. 570 a 15 ff., where they are said to be 

 " formed spontaneously in mud and humid ground . . . for 

 it is by the water's edge that the heat of the sun is strong and 

 causes putrefaction." See note on eels, p. oG5. 



■* This was an old and traditional belief; cf. Plato, Politi- 

 cals :269 B ; in Hdt. \'II I. 55 there is a reference to " Erechtheus, 

 who is said to have been yryyfVTjs " : cf. also Empedocles, 

 Diels, Vorsokr.' 31 B 6:2 " First whole-natured forms sprang 

 up from the earth, having a portion both of water and fire " ; 

 and ibid. B 57 ; 96 ; 98, And above, G.A. 122 b 20 fF. 



861 



