iv PREFACE. 



A consideration of these and many other similar publica- 

 tions seems to show that a single work, re-examining 

 Aristotle's statements, as far as possible by first-hand 

 investigations, and utilizing the results attained by the 

 above-mentioned and other scholars, would fill a gap in 

 Aristotelian literature. The present work is intended to 

 do this, and represents the nature and value of Aristotle's 

 researches in subjects now considered to belong to physical 

 astronomy, meteorology, physical geography, physics, 

 chemistry, geology, botany, anatomy, physiology, embryo- 

 logy, and zoology. In those parts of the work relating 

 to his anatomical, embryological, and zoological researches, 

 I have tested his statements, whenever possible, by means 

 of actual dissections of the parts of, and observations on, 

 the animals to which he seems to refer. 



Throughout this work full references are given to all 

 passages from ancient and modern writers cited. It is 

 hoped that these references will be sufficient to enable the 

 reader to form his own estimate of the statements made or 

 opinions expressed in the com'se of the work. 



As the various Greek texts present differences in method 

 of division as well as in reading, it is necessary to state that 

 the numerous references to Aristotle's works are to the 

 following Greek texts : — Schneider's edition of the History 

 of Animals, Aubert and Wimmer's edition of the Genera- 

 tion of Animals, the Teubnerian editions of the Parts of 

 Animals, Parva Natiiralia, De Anima, De Coelo, and De 

 Generatione et Corruptione, and, with very few exceptions, 

 Didot's editions of the remaining works. The references 

 to Aristotelian treatises, e.g. the De Plantis, not usually 

 considered to have been written by Aristotle, are to Didot's 

 editions. 



The abbreviations H.A., P. A., and G.A., have been used 

 frequently to denote Aristotle's History of Animals, Parts 

 of Animals, and Geyieratioii of Animals, respectively. 



It should be understood that the identifications of 

 animals, attempted in various parts of the work, are not 

 necessarily complete, e.g. Apous or Kypsellos (see p. 245) 

 probably included other birds besides the swift and house- 

 martin, and Tigris (see p. 257) included other wild animals 

 besides the tiger of western India. This is evident from 

 passages in Arrian's Historia Indica, c. 15, ss. 1 and 3, 

 which read: " Nearchus says that he has seen a tiger's 

 skin, but not a real tiger. , . . and that every one of the 



