§3.1#3διὸ καὶ περὶ τῶν ὑπηνεμίων τινὲς εἰώθασι λέγειν ὡς οὐ γιγνομένων ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ὑπολειμμάτων ἐκ προτέρας ὀχείας ὄντων.
Wherefore concerning wind-eggs also some are accustomed to say that they do not generate of themselves but are remnants of a previous mating.
τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶ ψεῦδος· ὦπται γὰρ ἱκανῶς καὶ ἐπὶ νεοττῶν ἀλεκτορίδος καὶ χηνὸς γενόμενα ἄνευ ὀχείας.
But this is false; for it has been sufficiently observed both in the young of fowls and geese that they occur without mating.
ἔτι δὲ αἱ πέρδικες αἱ θήλειαι, αἵ τ᾽ ἀνόχευτοι καὶ αἱ ὠχευμέναι τῶν εἰς τὰς θήρας ἀγομένων, ὀσμώμεναι τοῦ ἄρρενος καὶ ἀκούουσαι τῆς φωνῆς αἱ μὲν πληροῦνται αἱ δὲ τίκτουσι παραχρῆμα.
Furthermore, female partridges, both those unmated and those mated that are taken out for hunting, on smelling the male and hearing his voice, some are filled and others lay immediately.
τοῦ δὲ πάθους αἴτιον ταὐτὸν ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν τετραπόδων· ἐὰν γὰρ ὀργῶντα τύχῃ τὰ σώματα πρὸς τὴν ὁμλίαν, τὰ μὲν ἰδόντα τὰ δὲ μικρᾶς γενομένης θίξεως προίεται σπέρμα.
The cause of this condition is the same as in humans and quadrupeds; for if their bodies happen to be eager for intercourse, some on seeing and others upon a slight touch discharge semen.
τὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα τῶν ὀρνέων ὀχευτικὰ καὶ πολύσπερμα τὴν φύσιν ἐστίν, ὥστε μικρᾶς δεῖσθαι τῆς κινήσεως, ὅταν ὀργῶντα τύχῃ, καὶ γίνεσθαι ταχὺ τὴν ἔκκρισιν αὐτοῖς, ὥστε τοῖς μὲν ἀνοχεύτοις ὑπηνέμια συνίστασθαι, τοῖς δ᾽ ὠχευμένοις αὐξάνεσθαι καὶ τελειοῦσθαι ταχέως.
Such birds are by nature mating-loving and rich in semen, so that they need only a small movement when they happen to be eager, and the excretion occurs quickly in them, so that in the unmated ones wind-eggs are formed, while in the mated ones the eggs grow and are completed quickly.
τῶν δὲ θύραζε ᾠστοκούντων οἱ μὲν ὄριθες προίενται τὸ ᾠὸν τέλειον, οἱ δ᾽ ἰχθύες ἀτελές, ἀλλ᾽ ἔξω λαμβάνει τὴν αὔξησιν, καθάπερ εἴρηται καὶ πρότερον.
Of those that lay eggs externally, birds discharge the egg complete, but fish incomplete, and it takes its growth outside, as was also said before.
αἴτιον δ᾽ ὅτι πολύγονόν ἐστι τὸ τῶν ἰχθύων γένος· ἀδύνατον οὖν ἔστω πολλὰ λαμβάνειν τέλος, διόπερ ἀποτίκτουσιν ἔξω.
The cause is that the class of fish is prolific; it is therefore impossible for many to reach completion inside, wherefore they produce them outside.
ταχεῖα δ᾽ ἡ πρόεσις· αἱ γὰρ ὑστέραι πρὸς τοῖς ἄρθροις τῶν θύραζε ᾠοτοκούντων ἰχθύων.
And the discharge is rapid; for the uteri are near the joints of fish that lay eggs externally.
ἔστι δὲ τὰ μὲν τῶν ὀρίθων δίχροα, τὰ δὲ τῶν ἰχθύων μονόχροα πάντων.
The eggs of birds are two-colored, but those of all fish are single-colored.
τῆς δὲ διχροίας τὴν αἰτίαν ἴδοι τις ἂν ἐκ τῆς δυνάμεως ἑκατέρου τῶν μορίων, τοῦ τε λευκοῦ καὶ τοῦ ὠχροῦ.
One might see the cause of this two-coloration from the capacity of each of the two parts, the white and the yolk.
γίνεται μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἀπόκρισις ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος οὐθὲν γὰρ ἄναιμον ᾠοτοκεῖ ζῷον), τὸ δ᾽ αἷμα ὅτι ἐστὶν ὕλη τοῖς σώμασιν, εἴρηται πολλάκις.
For the excretion comes from the blood (for no bloodless animal lays eggs), and that blood is the matter for bodies has been said many times.
τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐστὶν ἐγγύτερον αὐτοῦ τῆς μορφῆς τῶν μορίων γινομένων, τὸ θερμόν· τὸ δὲ γεωδέστερον τὴν τοῦ σώματος παρέχεται σύστασιν καὶ πορρώτερόν ἐστιν.
Therefore, one part is closer to the blood, namely the warm part, which is closer to the form of the parts being generated; the other, being more earthy, provides the composition of the body and is further away.
διόπερ ὅσα δίχρρά ἐστι τῶν ᾠῶν, τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν τὸ ζῷον λαμβάνει ἐκ τοῦ λευκοῦ τῆς γενέσεως (ἐν γὰρ τῷ θερμῷ ἡ ψυχικὴ ἀρχή), τὴν δὲ τροφὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὠχροῦ.
Wherefore, in those eggs that are two-colored, the animal receives the principle of generation from the white (for the psychical principle is in the warm), and nourishment from the yolk.
τοῖς μὲν οὖν τὴν φύσιν θερμοτέροις τῶν ζῴων διακέκριται χωρὶς ἐξ οὗ τε ἡ ἀρχὴ γίνεται καὶ ἐξ οὗ τρέφεται, καὶ τὸ μὲν λευκόν ἐστι τὸ δ᾽ ὠχρόν, καὶ πλέον ἀεὶ τὸ λευκὸν καὶ καθαρὸν τοῦ ὠχροῦ καὶ γεώδους· τοῖς δ᾽ ἧττον θερμοῖς καὶ ὑγροτέροις τὸ ὠχρὸν πλέον καὶ ὑγρότερον.
In those animals, therefore, that are warmer by nature, that from which the principle arises and that from which it is nourished are separated, and one is white and the other yolk, and the white and pure is always more than the yolk and earthy; but in those that are less warm and more moist, the yolk is more and more moist.
ὅπερ συμβαίνει ἐπὶ τῶν λιμναίων ὀρνέων· ὑγρότεροι γὰρ τὴν φύσιν καὶ ψυχρότεροι τῶν πεζευόντων εἰσὶν ὀρνέων, ὥστε καὶ τὰ ᾠὰ τῶν τοιούτων πολλὴν ἔχει τὴν καλουμένην λέκιθον καὶ ἧττον ὠχρὰν διὰ τὸ ἧττον ἀποκεκρίσθαι τὸ λευκόν.
This happens in the case of water-birds; for they are by nature more moist and colder than land-birds, so that the eggs of such birds have much of what is called yolk, and are less yellow because the white is less separated.
τὰ δ᾽ ἤδη καὶ ψυχρὰ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ᾠοτοκούντων καὶ ἔτι ὑγρὰ μᾶλλον (τοιοῦτον δ’ ἐστὶ τὸ τῶν ἰχθύων γένος) οὐδ’ ἀποκεκριμένον ἔχει τὸ λευκὸν διά τε μικρότητα καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ ψυχροῦ καὶ γεώδους· διόπερ γίνεται μονόχροα πάντα τὰ τῶν ἰχθύων, καὶ ὡς μὲν ὠχρὰ λευκά, ὡς δὲ λευκὰ ὠχρά.
But those egg-laying animals which are already cold by nature and still more moist (such as the class of fish) do not even have the white separated because of their smallness and because of the abundance of the cold and earthy; wherefore all the eggs of fish are single-colored, being white as yolk, and yolk as white.
τὰ δὲ τῶν ὀρνέων καὶ τὰ ὑπηνέμια ἔχει ταύτην τὴν δίχροιαν· ἔχει γὰρ ἐξ οὗ ἑκάτερον ἔσται τῶν μορίων, καὶ ὅθεν ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ ὅθεν ἡ τροφή, ἀλλὰ ταῦτ’ ἀτελῆ καὶ προσδεόμενα τοῦ ἄρρενος· γίνεται γὰρ τὰ ὑπηνέμια γόνιμα, ἐὰν ἔν τινι καιρῷ ὀχευθῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος.
But the eggs of birds, even the wind-eggs, have this two-coloration; for they contain that from which each of the parts will be, both whence the principle is and whence the nourishment is, but these are incomplete and in need of the male; for wind-eggs become fertile if they are mated by the male at some proper time.
οὐκ ἔστι δὲ τῆς διχροίας αἴτιον τὸ ἄρρεν καὶ τὸ θῆλυ, ὡς τοῦ μὲν λευκοῦ ὄντος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρρενος, τοῦ δ’ ὠχροῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ θήλεος· ἀλλ’ ἄμφω γίνεται ἀπὸ τοῦ θήλεος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ψυχρὸν τὸ δὲ θερμόν.
The cause of the two-coloration is not the male and the female, as if the white were from the male and the yolk from the female; but both come from the female, though one is cold and the other warm.
ἐν ὅσοις μὲν οὖν ἐστὶ πολὺ τὸ θερμόν, ἀποκρίνεται, ἐν ὅσοις δ’ ὀλίγον, οὐ δύναται· διὸ μονόχροα τὰ κυήματα, καθάπερ εἴρηται, τὰ τῶν τοιούτων.
In those, then, in which there is much of the warm, separation takes place, but in those in which there is little, it cannot; wherefore the embryos of such, as has been said, are single-colored.
ἡ δὲ γονὴ συνέστησε μόνον· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ μὲν πρῶτον φαίνεται λευκὸν καὶ μικρὸν τὸ κύημα ἐν τοῖς ὄρνισι, προϊὸν δὲ ὠχρὸν ἅπαν, συμμιγνυμένου ἀεὶ πλείονος αἱματώδους· τέλος δ’ ἀποκρινομένου τοῦ θερμοῦ κύκλῳ περιίσταται τὸ λευκόν, ὥσπερ ὑγροῦ ζέοντος, ὁμοίως πάντῃ· τὸ γὰρ λευκὸν φύσει μὲν ὑγρόν, ἔχει δ’ ἐν αὑτῷ τὴν θερμότητα τὴν ψυχικήν· διὸ κύκλῳ ἀποκρίνεται, τὸ δ’ ὠχρὸν καὶ γεῶδες ἐντός.
And the semen of the male only coagulates; and because of this, at first the embryo in birds appears white and small, but as it proceeds it becomes entirely yellow, as more of the bloody element is always mixed in; and finally, as the warm part separates, the white surrounds it on all sides, just as in a boiling liquid, in the same way everywhere; for the white is by nature moist, but has within itself the psychical warmth; wherefore it separates on the outside, and the yolk and earthy part within.
κἂν πολλὰ συνεράσας τις ᾠὰ εἰς κύστιν ἤ τι τοιοῦτον ἕψῃ πυρὶ μὴ θάττονα ποιοῦντι τὴν τοῦ θερμοῦ κίνησιν ἢ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ᾠοῖς διάκρισιν, ὥσπερ ἐν ἑνὶ ᾠῷ, καὶ τὸ ἐκ πάντων τῶν ᾠῶν σύστημα τὸ μὲν ὠχρὸν ἐν μέσῳ γίνεται, κύκλῳ δὲ τὸ λευκόν.
And if one collects many eggs into a bladder or some such thing and boils them over a fire that does not make the movement of the heat faster than the separation in the eggs, then, just as in a single egg, the mass formed from all the eggs becomes yolk in the middle, and white on the outside.