250 ARISTOTLE'S ENAIMA, 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



AEISTOTLE'S ENAIMA, OR ANIMALS WITH 

 BLOOD {continued). 



The best-defined group of Aristotle's Enalma is his 

 Kete or Ketode. He says that they are truly viviparous, 

 that they have mammge and furnish milk, and that they have 

 lungs and a blowhole.* The fish-like forms of these animals, 

 and their habit of coming to the surface of the sea to spout 

 were known to him,t but he states erroneously that they 

 turn on their backs to take their prey, because their mouths, 

 like those of his Selache, are on their ventral sides.! 



By his researches on his Kete or Ketode, Aristotle 

 achieved an important result, for he clearly distinguished 

 them from fishes and from other viviparous animals. The 

 word Kete had been used by Homer, Arrian, and other 

 writers to denote very large aquatic animals, but Aristotle 

 clearly uses it and also Ketode to denote a distinct group. 

 He fully deserves the praise accorded by Sir Richard Owen, 

 who says : — " The apodal Vivipara, which form the third 

 of Aristotle's more comprehensive groups, embraces the 

 Ketode, now called Cetacea, and affords, by its position and 

 co-ordinates in the great philosopher's zoological system, 

 one of the most striking examples of his sagacity and re- 

 search." § 



The Kete or Ketode mentioned by Aristotle are DelpJiis, 

 Phalaina, Mystiketos, and Phokaina. In the numerous 

 passages relating to Delphis, or the dolphin, he refers par- 

 ticularly to its well-known carnivorous habits, sportiveness, 

 swiftness, and attentiveness to its young. He says also that, 

 when it comes to the surface, it squeaks and makes a mur- 

 muring noise, li The latter part of this statement is correct, 

 for it is known that the dolphin makes a murmuring noise. 



=•- H. A. i. c. 4, s. 1, iii. c. 16, s. 1. 



f H. A. viii. c. 2, s. 3 ; P. A. iv. c. 13, 697a ; De Bespir. c. 12, 4766. 



I H. A. viii. c. 4, s. 4. 



§ Clasnfic. and Qeogr. Distrib. of the Mammalia, Sc, 1859, p. 3. 



il H. A. iv. c. 9, s. 4. 



