BOOK XI. Lxxii, 188-LXX111. 190 



LXXII. Below the heart are situated the lungs, Theiung» 

 the breathing apparatus, drawing in and sending 

 back the breath, and consequently spongy in sub- 

 stance and perforated with empty tubes. As has 

 been said, few aquatic species possess lungs, and in 

 the oviparous species they are small and contain 

 froth, not blood; consequently these species do not 

 experience thirst. The same cause makes it possible 

 for frogs and seals to stay long under water. Also 

 the hmgs of the toi*toise, although very large and 

 spreading under the whole of its shell,are nevertheless 

 devoid of blood. The speed of a creature's movement 

 varies inversely with the size of its lungs. The 

 chamaeleon's lungs are extremely large in proportion 

 to its size,'* and it has no other internal organ. 



LXXIII. The liver is on the right hand side ; it J^^jj^^^n 

 contains what is called the head of the internal 

 organs, which varies a great deal. Marcus Marcellus, 

 near the time of his death,* when he was killed by 

 Hannibal, found the liver missing among the organs, 

 but on the following day a double liver was dis- 

 covered. The liver was also missing with Gaius 

 Marius when he offered sacrifice <^ at Utica, and also 

 with the Emperor Gaius ^^- on January 1 at the com- 

 mencement of his consulship in the year of his murder, 

 and with his successor Claudius in the month in which 

 he was poisoned.^ When the late lamented Augustus 

 was sacrificing at Spoleto on the first day he was in 

 power the livers of six victims were found with the 

 bottom of their tissue folded back inward, and this 

 was interpreted to mean that he would double his 

 power within a year. It is also of gloomy omen 

 when the head of the liver is accidentally cut — 

 except at a period of trouble and alarm, when it 



551 



