Chap. 83.] GENERATION OF TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS. 543 
years, the female twelve ; while other kinds, again, live fifteen 
years, and sometimes as much as twenty ; but they are not 
fit for breeding to the end of their life, as they generally cease 
at about the twelfth year. The cat and the ichneumon 
are, in other respects,*^ like the dog ; but they only live six 
years. 
The dasypus brings forth every month in the year, and is 
subject to superfoetation, like the hare. It conceives immedi- 
ately after it has littered, even though it is still suckling its 
young, which are blind at their birth. The elephant, as we 
have already*^ stated, produces but one, and that the size of a, 
calf three months old. The gestation of the camel lasts twelve 
months ; the female conceives when three years old, and 
brings forth in the spring ; at the end of a year from that 
time, she is ready to conceive again. It is thought advisable 
to have the mare covered so soon as three days, and indeed, 
sometimes, only one, after she has foaled ; and. however unwil- 
ling she may be, means are taken to compel her. It is be- 
lieved also, that it is by no means an uncommon thing for a 
woman to conceive on the seventh day after her delivery. It 
is recommended that the manes of mares should be cut, so as to 
humble their pride, in order to make them submit to be covered 
by the male ass ; for when the mane is long, they are liable to 
be proud and vain. This is the only animal, the female of 
which, after covering, runs, facing the north or the south, ac- 
cording as she has conceived a male or a female. They change 
their colour immediately after, and the hair becomes of a 
redder hue, and deeper, whatever the colour may naturally be ; 
it is this that indicates that they must no longer be covered, 
and they, themselves, will even resist it. Gestation does not, 
however, preclude some of them from being worked, and they 
are often with foal long before it is kno wn. We read that 
the mare of Echecrates, the Thessalian, conquered at the 
Olympic games, while with foal. 
Those who are more careful enquirers into these matters, tell 
lis that in the horse, the dog, and the swine, the males are 
most ardent for sexual intercourse in the morning, while the 
female seeks the society of the male after mid-day. They say 
*3 The number that they bear. 4* See B. vii. c. 81. 
^ E. viii. c. 10, and in the present Chapter. 
