[254] Athenæus, referring, however, solely to the Murex, “their growth is shown by the rings on their scales,” is simply quoting from Aristotle (as Dindorf’s text makes plain), whose term of six years he adopts: φανερὰ δὲ τ’αὔξησις ἐκ τῆς ἐν τῷ ὀστράκωι ἕλικος (III. 37).
[255] Plin., Nat. Hist., VIII. 17; Athen., Deipn., IX. 58; Æl., Var. Hist., IV. 19.
[256] On the other hand, Abu-Shâker, an Arab writer of the thirteenth century, makes Aristotle the material benefactor of Alexander by his present of a box in which a number of wax figures were nailed down. These were intended to represent the various kinds of armed forces that Alexander was likely to encounter. Some held leaden swords curved backwards, some spears pointed head downwards, and some bows with cut strings. All the figures were laid face downwards in the box. Aristotle bade his pupil never to let the key out of his possession, and taught him to recite certain formulæ whenever he opened the box. This is only another use of magic, for the wax, the words of power, and the position of the figures all indicate that his foes would become prostrate and unable to withstand Alexander. See Budge, Life of Alexander the Great (one vol. ed.), p. xvi.
[257] See D’Arcy Thompson, Aristotle as a Biologist, Herbert Spencer Lecture, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1913, p. 13.
[258] Athen., VIII. 50.
[259] Cf. I. V. Carus, Prodomus Faunæ Mediterranæ, vol. II., Stuttgart, 1889-93.
[260] Of the closeness of his observation may be instanced (1) the development by the cuttle fish during the breeding season of one of his arms for transference to the mantle-cavity of the female—a function of which Cuvier himself was ignorant, and which was not rediscovered till the latter end of the last century, and (2) the method of bringing forth of the shark—γαλεὸς λεῖος—which was forgotten, till Johannes Müller brought it to light. See D’Arcy Thompson, op. cit., pp. 19-21.
[261] British Fish: Salmonidæ (London, 1887), p. 19.
[262] Memories of the Months, Fourth Series (London, 1914), pp. 232-3.
[263] The experiments conducted by Alfred Ronalds and recorded in his famous Fly-Fisher’s Entomology, London, 1862, had similar results.