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"or apes,
lest they should bear children who look like the
things they have seen. For it is said to be the nature
of women that they produce as offspring whatever they
see or imagine at the height of their ardour as they
conceive; animals, indeed, when they are mating,
transmit inwardly the forms they see outwardly and,
imbued with these images, take on their appearance as
their own.
Among
living things the name 'hybrid' is given to those born
from the mating of two different species, such as the
mule from a mare and an ass, the hinny from a stallion
and a she-ass, the hybrid from the wild boar and the
sow, the animal called tyrius from the sheep
and the he-goat, and the moufflon rom the she-goat and
the ram; the moufflon is the leader of the flock.
Of
the cat
The
cat is called musio, mouse-catcher, because it
is the enemy of mice. It is commonly called catus,
cat, from captura, the act of catching. Others
say it gets the name from capto, because it catches
mice with its sharp eyes. For it has such piercing
sight that it overcomes the dark of night with the
gleam of light from its eyes. As a result, the Greek
word catus means sharp, or cunning.
Of
mice
The
mouse is a puny animal; its name, mus, comes from the
Greek, the Latin word deriving from it. Others say
mures, mice, because they are produced ex
humore, from the damp soil, of the earth; for
humus means earth and from that comes mus,
mouse. Their liver grows bigger at full moon, like the
tides rise then fall with the waning of the moon.
Of
the weasel
The
weasel is called mustela, 'a long mouse', so to speak,
for theon [telos] in Greek means 'long'.
It is cunning by nature; when it has produced its
offspring in its nest, it carries them from place to
place, settling them in a series of different
locations." |
