Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten BooksAristotle
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten Books
Aristotle
Zoology -- Pre-Linnaean works
12. And from the side of the stomach there is a simple intestine, which
is of equal thickness throughout, reaching to the anus. All these parts
belong to the carabi, carides, and carcini; and, besides these, the
carabi have a passage suspended from the breast and reaching to the
anus; in the female this performs the office of a uterus, in the male
it contains the spermatic fluid. This passage is in the cavity of the
flesh, so as to appear to be between portions of the flesh, for the
intestine is toward the curved part, but the passage towards the cavity
in the same way as in quadrupeds. In the male this part differs in
nothing from the female, for both are smooth and white, and contain an
ochreous fluid, and in both sexes it is appended to the breast.
13. The ova and spirals occupy the same position in the carides. The
male is distinguished from the female by having in the flesh upon the
breast two distinct white bodies, in colour and position like the
tentacula of the sepia; these appendages are spiriform, like the mecon
of the whelk; their origin is from the acetabula, which are placed
under the last feet. These contain a red sanguineous flesh, which is
smooth to the touch, and not like flesh. From the whelk-like appendage
there is another spiral fold, about as thick as a thread, below which
there are two sand-like bodies appended to the intestine, containing a
seminal fluid. These are found in the male, but the female has ova of
a red colour; these are joined to the abdomen, and on each side of the
intestine to the fleshy part of the body, enclosed in a thin membrane.
These are their internal and external parts.
CHAPTER III.
1. It happens that all the internal parts of sanguineous animals have
names, for all these have the internal viscera; but the same parts of
exsanguineous animals have no names, but both classes have in common
the stomach, œsophagus, and intestines. I have before spoken of the
carcini, and their legs and feet, and how many they have, and in what
direction, and that, for the most part, they have the right claw larger
and stronger than the left; I have also mentioned their eyes, and
that most of them are able to see sideways. The mass of their body is
undivided, and so is their head, and any other part.
2. In some the eyes are placed immediately below the upper part, and
generally far apart; in some they are placed in the middle, and near
together, as in the Heracleot carcini and the maia. The mouth is placed
below the eyes, and contains two teeth, as in the carabus, but they are
long and not round, and over these there are two coverings, between
which are the appendages, which the carabus also possesses.
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