GENERATION OF ANIMALS, IV. in. 



taking shape to turn out diversiform. This is just 

 what happens to athletes through eating an excess- 

 ive amount ; in their case, owing to the great bulk of 

 nourishment there is, Nature cannot gain the mastery 

 over it so as to bring about well-proportioned growth 

 and distribute the nourishment evenh" throughout ; 

 the result is that the parts turn out ill-assorted, and 

 sometimes even bear hardly any resemblance at all 

 to what they were like before. Similar to this is 

 the disease which is known as satyriasis : [in this 

 too, a large bulk of unconcocted flux or pneuma finds 

 its way into parts of the face of the animal, and in 

 consequence the face actually appears like that of a 

 satyr.] ° 



We have now expounded the cause of all the follow- 

 ing : whv male and female offspring are formed ; why 

 some take after their parents, female after female 

 and male after male, and others the other way 

 round, females taking after their father and males 

 after their mother ; and generally why some take 

 after their ancestors and some after none of them, 

 in respect both of the body as a whole and of each 

 of its parts. 



Certain of the physiologers, however, have treated Earlier 

 of these matters on different lines, explaining other- of^"em. 

 wise the cause why offspring are formed similar and biance 

 dissimilar to their parents. The cause is presented 

 by them in two ways. (1) Some say that the off- 

 spring which is formed takes more closely after that 



" This sentence is probably a marginal note which has 

 crept into the text ; in any case it is corrupt, and " uncon- 

 cocted pneuma " is meaningless. Scot has no mention of 

 animal or face ; see critical note. The disease seems to be 

 elephantiasis.— With b 30-37 however cf. Pol. 1302 b 35 ff. 



413 



