In History of Animals, Aristotle analyzes "differences"--in parts,
activities, modes of life, and character--across the animal kingdom, in
preparation for establishing their causes, which are the concern of his
other zoological works. Over 500 species of animals are considered:
shellfish, insects, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and
mammals--including human beings. In Books I-IV, Aristotle gives a
comparative survey of internal and external body parts, including
tissues and fluids, and of sense faculties and voice. Books V-VI study
reproductive methods, breeding habits, and embryogenesis as well as some
secondary sex differences. In Books VII-IX, Aristotle examines
differences among animals in feeding; in habitat, hibernation,
migration; in enmities and sociability; in disposition (including
differences related to gender) and intelligence. Here too he describes
the human reproductive system, conception, pregnancy, and obstetrics.
Book X establishes the female's contribution to generation. The Loeb
Classical Library(R) edition of History of Animals is in three
volumes. A full index to all ten books is included in the third (Volume
XI of the Aristotle edition). Related Volumes Aristotle's biological
corpus includes not only History of Animals, but also Parts of
Animals, Movement of Animals, Progression of Animals, Generation of
Animals, and significant parts of On the Soul and Parva Naturalia.
Aristotle's general methodology--"first we must grasp the differences,
then try to discover the causes" (Ha 1.6)--is applied to the study of
plants by his younger co-worker and heir to his school, Theophrastus:
Enquiry into Plants studies differences across the plant kingdom,
while De Causis Plantarum studies their causes. In the later ancient
world, both Pliny's Natural History and Aelian's On the
Characteristics of Animals draw significantly on Aristotle's biological
work.
