PARTS OF ANIMALS, IV. x. 



This concludes our remarks on the mammae. 



After the breast comes the region around the 

 stomach, which is not enclosed by the ribs for 

 the reason stated earlier,** viz. to avoid interference 

 (a) with the food when it swells, as it must do when 

 it is heated, and (6) with the womb during pregnancy. 



At the end of what is called the trunk are the parts Excretory 

 that have to do with the discharge of the residue, °^^^^^- 

 both solid and fluid. Nature employs one and the 

 same part for the discharge of the fluid residue and 

 for copulation in all blooded animals (v/ith a few 

 exceptions), male and female alike, and in all Vivipara 

 without exception. The reason is that the semen is a 

 fluid, and a residue. (This statement may stand for 

 the present : the proof of it will be given later on.^) 

 The same applies to the catamenia in females, and 

 the part where they emit the semen.'' This also will be 

 dealt with particularly later on. For the present, let 

 the statement stand simply that the catamenia in 

 females (like the semen in males) are a residue. Now 

 both semen and catamenia are fluids, so it is reason- 

 able that things which are alike should be discharged 

 through the same parts. A clear account of the 

 internal structure of these parts, showing the differ- 

 ences between the parts connected with semen and 

 those connected with conception, is given in the 

 Researches upon Animals ^ and the Dissections, and 

 there will be a discussion of them in the book on 



* In De gen. an. 724 b 21 ff. 



" This seems to agree with what Aristotle says on the 

 subject in the Hist. An., but contradicts what he says in De 

 gen. an. Piatt's suggested emendation would make the 

 translation read : " and to the semen, if so be they emit any." 



" At 493 a 24-b 6, 497 a 24 ff., book iii, ch. 1. 



383 



