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The Natural History Volume 2

by PLINY THE ELDER (23 - 79)

35 - Book 9, Chapters 68-78: Bodies which have a third nature, that of the animal and vegetable combined; the sea-nettle; sponges: the various kinds of them, and where they are produced; proofs that they are gifted with life by nature; dog-fish; fishes which are enclosed in a stony-shell; sea-animals which have no sensation; other animals which live in the mud; venomous sea-animals; the maladies of fishes; the generation of fishes; fishes which are both oviparous and viviparous; fishes the belly of which opens in spawning, and then closes again; fishes that have a womb; those which impregnate themselves; the longest lives known among fishes

Naturalis Historia (Latin for "Natural History") is an encyclopedia published circa AD 77-79 by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. The work became a model for all later encyclopedias in terms of the breadth of subject matter examined, the need to reference original authors, and a comprehensive index list of the contents. The scheme of his great work is vast and comprehensive, being nothing short of an encyclopedia of learning and of art so far as they are connected with nature or draw their materials from nature. The work divides neatly into the organic world of plants and animals, and the realm of inorganic matter, although there are frequent digressions in each section. He is especially interested in not just describing the occurrence of plants, animals and insects, but also their exploitation (or abuse) by man, especially Romans. The description of metals and minerals is particularly detailed, and valuable for the history of science as being the most extensive compilation still available from the ancient world. (Summary from Wikipedia)This second volume includes books six to ten, covering the following subjects:Book 6 - An account of countries, nations, seas, towns, havens, mountains, rivers, distances, and peoples who now exist or formerly existedBook 7 - Man, his birth, his organization and the invention of the artsBook 8 - The nature of the terrestrial animalsBook 9 - The natural history of fishesBook 10 - The natural history of birds

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Listen next episodes of The Natural History Volume 2:
36 - Book 9, Chapters 79-88: The first person that formed artificial oyster-beds; who was the first inventor of preserves for other fish; who invented preserves for murenae; who invented preserves for sea-snails; land-fishes; the mice of the Nile; how the fish called the anthias is taken; sea-stars; the marvellous properties of the dactylus; the anthipaties and sympathies that exist between aquatic animals; summary; Roman authors quoted; foreign authors quoted , 37 - Book 10, Chapters 1-12: The ostrich; the phoenix; the different kinds of eagles; the natural characteristics of the eagle; when the eagle was first used as the standard of the Roman legions; an eagle which precipitated itself on the funeral pile of a girl; the vulture; the birds called sangualis and immusulus; hawks; the buteo; in what places hawks and men pursue the chase in company with each other; the only bird that is killed by those of its own kind; a bird that lays only one egg; the kite , 38 - Book 10, Chapters 13-32: The classification of birds; crows; birds of ill omen; at what season they are not inauspicious; the raven; the horned owl; birds, the race of which is extinct or of which all knowledge has been lost; birds which are born with the tail first; the owlet; the wood-pecker of Mars; birds which have hooked talons; the peacock; who was the first to kill the peacock for food; who first taught the art of cramming them; the dunghill cock; how cocks are castrated; a cock that once spoke; the goose; who first taught us to use the liver of the goose for food; the Commagenian medicament; the chenalopex, the cheneros, the tetrao and the oris; cranes; storks; swans , 39 - Book 10, Chapters 33-49: Foreign birds which visit us; swallows; birds that take their departure from us, and whither they go; birds which remains with us throughout the year; birds that remain with us only six or three months; the Memnonides; the Meleagrides; the Seleucides, the ibis; places in which certain birds are never found; the various kinds of birds which afford omens by their note; birds which change their colour and their voice; the nightingale; the melancoryphus; the erithacus and the phoenicurus; the oenanthe, the chlorion, the blackbird and the ibis; the times of incubation of birds; the halcyones: the halcyon days that are favourable to navigation; other kinds of aquatic birds; the instinctive cleverness displayed by birds in the construction of their nests; the wonderful works of the swallow , 40 - Book 10, Chapters 50-62: The acanthyllis and other birds; the merops - partidges; pigeons; wonderful things done by them; prices at which they have been sold; different modes of flight and progression in birds; the birds called apodes or cypseli; respecting the food of birds - the caprimulgus, the platea; the instinct of birds - the carduelis, the taurus, the anthus; birds which speak - the parrot; the pie which feeds on acorns; a sedition that arose among the Roman people in consequence of a raven speaking; the birds of Diomedes; animals that can learn nothing , 41 - Book 10, Chapters 63-81: The mode of drinking with birds; the porphyrio; the haematopous; the food of birds; the pelican; foreign birds: the phalerides, the pheasant and the numidicae; the phoenicopterus, the attagen, the phalacrocorax, the pyrrhocorax and the lagopus; the new birds; the vipio; fabulous birds; who first invented the art of cramming poultry: why the first Censors forbade this practice; who first invented aviaries; the dish of Aesopus; the generation of birds: other oviparous animals; the various kinds of eggs and their nature; defects in brood-hens and their remedies; an augury derived from eggs by an empress; the best kinds of fowls; the diseases of fowls and their remedies; when birds lay and how many eggs; the various kinds of herons; what eggs are called hypenemia and what cynosura; how eggs are best kept; the only winged animal that is viviparous and nurtures its young with milk , 42 - Book 10, Chapters 82-98: Terrestrial animals that are oviparous; various kinds of serpents; generation of all kinds of terrestrial animals; the position of animals in the uterus; animals whose origin is still unknown; salamanders; animals which are born of beings that have not been born themselves - animals which are born themselves, but are not reproductive - animals which are of neither sex; the senses of animals - that all have the senses of touch and taste - those which are more remarkable for their sight, smell or hearing - moles - whether oysters have the sense of hearing; which fishes have the best hearing; which fishes have the finest sense of smell; diversities in the feeding of animals; animals which live on poisons; animals which live on earth - animals which will not die of hunger or thirst; diversities in the drinking of animals; antipathies of animals; proofs that they are sensible of frienship and other affections; instances of affection shown by serpents; the sleep of animals; what animals are subject to dreams;summary; Roman authors quoted; foreign authors quoted