Like the human
species it brings forth at all seasons of the year, but especially
at the time when the earliest kids are forthcoming. It conducts its
young ones, when they are about twelve days old, over and over again
during the day down to the sea, accustoming them by slow degrees to
the water. It slips down steep places instead of walking, from the
fact that it cannot steady itself by its feet. It can contract and
draw itself in, for it is fleshy and soft and its bones are gristly.
Owing to the flabbiness of its body it is difficult to kill a seal
by a blow, unless you strike it on the temple. It looks like a cow.
The female in regard to its genital organs resembles the female of the
ray; in all other respects it resembles the female of the human
species.

So much for the phenomena of generation and of parturition in
animals that live in water and are viviparous either internally or
externally.


Oviparous fishes have their womb bifurcate and placed low down, as
was said previously-and, by the way, all scaly fish are oviparous,
as the basse, the mullet, the grey mullet, and the etelis, and all the
so-called white-fish, and all the smooth or slippery fish except the
eel-and their roe is of a crumbling or granular substance. This
appearance is due to the fact that the whole womb of such fishes is
full of eggs, so that in little fishes there seem to be only a
couple of eggs there; for in small fishes the womb is
indistinguishable, from its diminutive size and thin contexture. The
pairing of fishes has been discussed previously.