544 
PLIISY S J^^ATUEAL HISTOBT. 
[Book X. 
also, that mares in harness desire the horse sixty days sooner 
than those that live in herds ; that it is swine only that foam 
at the mouth during the time of coupling ; and that a boar, if 
it hears the voice of a sow in heat, will refuse to take its food, 
— to such a degree, indeed, as to starve itself, if it is not al- 
lowed to cover — while the female is reduced to such a state of 
frantic madness, as to attack and tear a man, more especially if 
wearing a white garment. This frenzy, however, is appeased 
by sprinkling vinegar on the sexual parts. It is supposed also 
that salacity is promoted by certain aliments ; the herb rocket, 
for instance, in the case of man, and onions in that of cattle. 
Wild animals that have been tamed, do not conceive, the goose, 
for instance ; the wild boar and the stag will only produce late 
in life, and even then they must have been taken and tamed 
when very young ; a singular fact. The pregnant females, 
among the quadrupeds, refuse the male, with the exception, 
indeed, of the mare and the sow; superfoetation, however, 
takes place in none but the dasypus and the hare. . 
CHAP. 84. (64.) — THE POSITION OF AI^IMALS IN THE TJTEEUS. 
All those animals that are viviparous produce their young 
with the head first, the young animal about the time of yeaning 
turning itself round in the womb, where at other times it lies 
extended at full length. Quadrupeds during the time of ges- 
tation have the legs extended, and lying close to the belly ; 
while, on the other hand, man is gathered up into a ball, with 
the nose between the knees. With reference to moles, of 
which we have previously spoken, it is supposed that they 
are produced when a female has conceived, not by a male, but 
of herself only. Hence it is that there is no vitality in this 
false conception, because it does not proceed from the con- 
junction of the two sexes ; and it has only that sort of vegeta- 
tive existence in itself which we see in plants and trees. 
(65.) Of all those which produce their young in a perfect 
state, the swine is the only one that bears them in consider- 
able numbers as well ; and, indeed, several times in the year — 
a thing that is contrary to the usual natuxe of animals with a 
solid or cloven hoof. 
CHAP. 85. AITIMALS WHOSE OEIGII^ IS STILL UI^KNOWN. 
Eut it is mice that surpass all the other animals in fecundity ; 
*6 B. Yii. c. 13. 
