BOOK X. Lxxxiv. 184-LXXXV1. 188 



is against the nature of those with solid oi" cloven 

 hoofs to produce several young. 



LXXXV. The most pi-olific of all animals whatever Fertiiity oj 

 is the mouse— one hesitates to state its fertility, even "'^ '""««''• 

 though on the authority of Aristotle and the troops 

 of Alexander the Great. It is stated that with it 

 impregnation takes place by licking and not by 

 coupUng. There is a record of 120 being born from 

 a single mother, and in Persia of mice already preg- 

 nant being found in the parent's womb ; and it is 

 believed that they are made pregnant by tasting salt. 

 Accordingly it ceases to be surprising how so large 

 an army of field-mice ravages the crops ; and in the 

 case of field-mice it is also hitherto unknown exactly 

 how this vast multitude is suddenly destroyed: 

 for they are never foimd dead, and nobody exists 

 who ever dug up a mouse in a field in winter. Vast 

 numbers thus appear in the Troad, and they have 

 by now banished the inhabitants from that country. 

 They appear during droughts. It is also related 

 that when a mouse is going to die a worm grows in 

 its head. The mice in Egypt have hard hair Uke 

 hedgehogs, and also they walk on two feet, as also 

 do the Alpine mice. — When animals of a different otherfacts 

 kind pair, the union is only fertile when the two species ^g° '"''^^'''' 

 have the same period of gestation." — There is a 

 popular behef that of the oviparous quadrupeds the 

 iizard bears through the mouth, but this is denied 

 by Aristotle. Lizards do not hatch their eggs, but 

 forget where they laid them, as this animal has no 

 memory ; and consequently the young ones break the 

 shell without assistance. 



LXXXVI. We have it from many authorities that Marveiiaus 

 a snake may be born from the spinal marrow of a "^ ' 



411 



