animals

Sunday, January 22, 2006

An animal

that is blooded and capable of movement on dry land,
but is naturally unprovided with feet, belongs to the serpent genus;
and animals of this genus are coated with the tessellated horny
substance. Serpents in general are oviparous; the adder, an
exceptional case, is viviparous: for not all viviparous animals are
hair-coated, and some fishes also are viviparous.

All animals, however, that are hair-coated are viviparous. For,
by the way, one must regard as a kind of hair such prickly hairs as
hedgehogs and porcupines carry; for these spines perform the office of
hair, and not of feet as is the case with similar parts of
sea-urchins.