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1 He has already said, in B. ii. c. 3, that "the seeds of all bodies fall down from the heavens, principally into the ocean, and being mixed together, we find that a variety of monstrous forms are in this way fre- quently produced."
2 Hardouin has the following remark on this passage. "Rondelet and Aldrovandus only waste their time and pains in making their minute inquiries into the present names of these fish, which took their names from grapes, the wood, the saw, and the cucumber; for by no other writer do we find them mentioned even." Cuvier, however, does not seem to be of Hardouin's opinion, that such investigations are a waste of time, and has suggested that the eggs of the Sepia officinalis may be alluded to, the eggs of which are in clusters of a dark colour, and bearing a strong resemblance to black grapes. This resemblance to a bunch of grapes is noticed by Pliny himself, in c. 74 of the present Book.
3 He alludes, most probably, to what we call the "sword-fish," the "Xiphias gladius" of Linnæus.
4 Probably, in allusion to the "Squalus pristis" of Linnæus.
5 Cuvier suggests that he probably alludes to the "Holothuria pentactes" of Linnæus, or the sea-priapus; and remarks, that when the animal contracts itself, it bears a very strong resemblance to a cucumber.
6 Cuvier says, that he most probably alludes to the "Syngnathus hippocampus" of Linnæus. This little fish, he says, is also called the seahorse, and having the body armed with a hard coat, might very easily have been taken for a shell-fish. Its head, in miniature, bears a very strong resemblance to that of a horse.
7 It is not accurately known what fish was meant by the ancients, under the name of "balæna." According to some writers, it is considered to be the same with what we call the "grampus."
8 A space, as Hardouin remarks, greater than that occupied by some towns, the "jugerum" being 240 feet long, and 120 broad. The vast size of great fishes was a favourite subject with some of the ancient writers, and their accounts were eagerly copied by some of the early fathers. Bochart has collected these various accounts in his work on Animals, B. i. c. 7. In the "Arabian Nights" also, we find accounts of huge fishes in the eastern seas, so large as to be taken for islands. The existence of the sea-serpent is still a question in dispute; and a whale of large size, is a formidable obstacle in the way of a ship of even the largest burthen.
9 As Hardouin remarks, we can learn neither from the works of Pliny, nor yet of Ælian, what fish the pristis really was. From Nonius Marcellus, c. 13, we find that it was a very long fish of large size, but narrow body. Hardouin says that it was a fish of the cetaceous kind, found in the Indian seas, which, in his time, was known by some as the "vivella," with a long bony muzzle serrated on either side, evidently meaning the sawfish. Pristis was a favourite name given by the Romans to their ships. In the boat-race described by Virgil in the Æneid, B. v., one of the boats is so called.
10 Cuvier remarks, that he himself had often seen the "langouste," or large lobster, as much as four feet in length, and the "homard," usually a smaller kind, of an equal size. The length, however, given by Pliny would make six or eight feet, according to the length of the cubit.
11 Cuvier says, that it is an exaggeration by travellers, which there is nothing in nature at all to justify. Probably, however, some animals of the genus boa, or python, or large water-snakes may have given rise to the story.
12 On the southern coast of Arabia.
13 Ptolemy Philadelphus.
14 See B. vi. c. 23, 25. Strabo, in his fifteenth Book, tells the same story of the Ichthyophagi, situate between the Carmani and the Oritæ. Dalechamps suggests that the Gedrosi mentioned this in relation to the Ichthyophagi, who were probably their neighbours.
15 Also called the Cophetes. See B. vi. c. 25. The commander of Alexander's fleet more especially alluded to, is probably Nearchus, who wrote an account of his voyage, to which Pliny has previously made allusion in B. vi. and which is followed by Strabo, in B. xv., and by Arrian, in his "Indica."
16 Hardouin remarks, that the Basques of his day were in the habit of fencing their gardens with the ribs of the whale, which sometimes exceeded twenty feet in length; and Cuvier says, that at the present time, the jaw-bone of the whale is used in Norway for the purpose of making beams or posts for buildings.
17 Onesicritus, quoted by Strabo, B. xv., says., that in the vicinity of Taprobane, or Ceylon, there were animals which had an amphibious life, some of which resembled oxen, some horses, and various other land animals. Cuvier is of opinion, that not improbably tie "Trichecum manatum" and the "Trichecum dugong" of Linnæus are alluded to, which are herbivorous animals, though nearly allied to the cetacea, and which are in the habit of coming to pasture on the grass or sea-weed they may chance to find on the shore.
18 It is remarked by Cuvier, that there is no resemblance whatever between the domesticated animals and any of the cetacea; but that the imagination of the vulgar has pictured to itself these supposed resemblances, by the aid of a lively imagination.
19 From the Greek φυσητὴρ, "a blower," probably one of the whale species, so called from its blowing forth the water. Hardouin remarks, that Pliny mentions the Gallic Ocean, in B. vi. c. 33, as ending at the Pyrenees; and, probably, by this term he means the modern Bay of Biscay. Rondeletius, B. xvi. c. 14, says, that this fish is the same that is called by the Narbonnese peio mular, by the Italians capidolio, and by the people of Saintonge, "sedenette." Cuvier conjectures also, that this was some kind of large whale; a fish which was not unfrequently found, in former times, in the gulf of Aquitaine, the inhabitants of the shores of which were skilled in its pursuit. Ajasson states that Valmont de Bomare was of opinion that it was the porpoise; but, as he justly remarks, the size of that animal does not at all correspond with the magnitude of the "physeter," as here mentioned.
20 Cuvier suggests that the idea of such an animal as the one here mentioned. probably took its rise in the kind of sea star-fish, now known as Medusa's head, the Asterias of Linnæus; but that the enormous size here attributed to it, has no foundation whatever in reality. He remarks also, that the inhabitants of the north of Europe, have similar stories relative to a huge polypus, which they call the "kraken." We may, however, be allowed to observe, that the "kraken," or "korven," mentioned by good bishop Pontoppidan, bears a closer resemblance to the so-called "seaserpent," than to anything of the polypus or sepia genus.
21 "Rotæ." Cuvier suggests that this idea of the wheel was taken from the class of zoophytes named "Medusæ," by Linnæus, which have the form of a disc, divided by radii, and dots which may have been taken for eyes. But then, as he says, there are none of them of an excessive size, as Pliny would seem to indicate by placing them in this Chapter, and which Ælian has absolutely attributed to them in B. xiii. c. 20. Of the largest rhizostoma, Cuvier says, that he had even seen, the diameter of the disc did not exceed two feet.
22 Lisbon. See B. iv. c. 35.
23 One of the Scholiasts on Homer says, that before the discovery of the brazen trumpet by the Tyrrhenians, the conch-shell was in general use for that purpose. Hardouin, with considerable credulity, remarks here, that it is no fable, that the nereids and tritons had a human face; and says that no less than fifteen instances, ancient and modern, had been adduced, in proof that such was the fact. He says that this was the belief of Scaliger, and quotes the book of Aldrovandus on Monsters, p. 36. But, as Cuvier remarks, it is impossible to explain these stories of nereids and tritons, on any other grounds than the fraudulent pretences of those who have exhibited them, or asserted that they have seen them. "It was only last year," he says, "that all London was resorting to see a wonderful sight in what is commonly called a mermaid. I myself had the opportunity of examining a very similar object: it was the body of a child, in the mouth of which they had introduced the jaws of a sparus [probably our "gilthead]," while for the legs was substituted the body of a lizard. The body of the London mermaid," he says, "was that of an ape, and a fish attached to it supplied the place of the hind legs."
24 Primarily the nereids were sea-nymphs, the daughters of Nereus and Doris. Dalechamps informs us, that Alexander ab Alexandro states that he once saw a nereid that had been thrown ashore on the coasts of the Peloponnesus, that Trapezuntius saw one as it was swimming, and that Draconetus Bonifacius, the Neapolitan, saw a triton that had been preserved in honey, and which many had seen when taken alive on the coast of Epirus. We may here remark, that the triton is the same as our "merman," and the nereid is our "mermaid."
25 Of Gallia Lugdunensis, namely. The legatus was also called "rector," and "proprætor."
26 Or "mer-man," as we call it. Dalechamps, in his note, with all the credulity of his time, states that a similar sea-man had been captured, it was said, in the preceding age in Norway, and that another had been seen in Poland, dressed like a bishop, in the year 1531. Juvenal, in his 14th Satire, makes mention of the "monsters of the ocean, and the youths of the sea."
27 See B. iv. c. 31, 32.
28 See B. iv. c. 33.
29 Dalechamps says that this elephant is the same as the "rosmarus" of Olaus Magnus, B. xxxii. c. 11. It is remarked by Cuvier, that cetaceous animals have at all times received the names of those belonging to the land. The sea-ram, he thinks, may have been the great dolphin, which is called the "bootskopf," and which has above the eye a white spot, curved in nearly a similar manner to the horn of a ram. The "elephant," again, he suggests, may have been the Trichechus rosmarus of Linnæus, or the morse, which has large tusks projecting from its mouth, similar to those of the elephant. This animal, however, as he says, is confined to the northern seas, and does not appear ever to have come so far south as our coasts. Juba and Pausanias, however, speak of these horns of the sea-ram as being really teeth or tusks.
30 Judging from the account of it here given, and especially in relation to the teeth, Cuvier is inclined to think that the cachelot whale, the Physeter macrocephalus of Linnæus, is the animal here alludedto.
31 Solinus, generally a faithful mimic of Pliny, makes the measure only half a foot. Cuvier says that there can be little doubt that the bones represented to have been those of the monster to which Andromeda was exposed, were the bones, and more especially the lower jaws, of the whale. Ajasson certainly appears to have mistaken the sense of this passage. He says that it must not be supposed that Pliny means the identical bones of the animal which was about to devour Andromeda, but of one of the animals of that kind; and he exercises his wit at the expense of those who would construe the passage differently, in saying that these bones ought to have been sent to those who show in their collections such articles as the knife with which Cain slew Abel. Now, there can be no doubt that these bones were not those of the monster which the poets tell us was about to devour Andromeda; but the Romans certainly supposed that they were, and Pliny evidently thought so too, for in B. v. c. 14, he speaks of the chains by which she was fastened to the rock, at Joppa, as still to be seen there. M. Æmilius Scaurus, the younger, is here referred to.
32 As already mentioned, there is considerable doubt what fish of the whale species is meant under this name. Cuvier says, that even at the present day whales are occasionally found in the Mediterranean, and says that there is the head of one in the Museum of Natural History, that was thrown ashore at Martigues. He also observes, that in the year 1829, one had been cast upon the coasts of Languedoc. Ajasson suggests, that not improbably whales once frequented the Mediterranean in great numbers, but that as commerce increased, they gradually retreated to the open ocean.
33 Rondelet, B xvi. c. 13, says that this animal was called "espaular" by the people of Saintonge. Cuvier is of opinion, also, that it is the same animal, which is also known by the name of "bootskopf," the Delphinus orca of Linnæus. (See N. 28.) This cetaceous animal, he says, is a most dangerous enemy to the whale, which it boldly attacks, devouring its tongue, which is of a tender quality and enormous size. He thinks, however, that the orca taken at the port of Ostia was no other than a cachelot.
34 The Liburna, or Liburnica, was usually a bireme, or two-oared galley, with the mast in the middle, though sometimes of larger bulk. From the description given of these by Varro, as quoted by Aulus Gellius, B. xvii. c. 3, they seem, as it has been remarked, somewhat similar to the light Indian massooliah boats, which are used to cross the serf in Madras roads. Pliny tells us, in B. xvi. c. 17, that the material of which they were constructed was pine timber, as free from resin as it could possibly be obtained. The beak of these vessels was of great comparative weight, and its sharpness is evidently alluded to in the present passage, as also in B. x. c. 32. The term "Liburna" was adopted from the assistance rendered to Augustus by the Liburni at the battle of Actium.
35 These works were completed by Nero the successor of Claudius, and consisted of a new and more capacious harbour on the right arm of the Tiber. It was afterwards enlarged and improved by Trajan. This harbour was simply called "Portus Romanus," or "Porbus Augusti;" and around it there sprang up a town known as "Portus," the inhabitants of which were called "Portuenses."
36 "Naufragiis tergorum." This may probably mean a shipwreck, in which some hides had fallen into the sea.
37 It is remarked by Rezzonico, that Palermus, in the account of this story given by him in B. i. c. 1, has mistaken Pliny's meaning, and evidently thinks that "unum" refers to the soldiers, and not the boats en- gaged in the attack.
38 "Ora." Cuvier remarks, that it is not the "mouth of the animal but the nostrils, that are situate on the top of the head, and that through these it sends forth vast columns of water." Aristotle, in his Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 3, has a similar passage, from which Pliny copied this assertion of his.
39 Cuvier remarks, that these are the animals of the cetaceous class, which resemble the quadrupeds in the formation of the viscera, their respiration, and the mammæ; and which, in fact, only differ from them in their general form, which more nearly resembles that of fishes.
40 Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 2.
41 "Doctrinæ indaginibus." This certainly seems a better reading than "doctrina indignis," which has been adopted by Sillig, and which would make complete nonsense of the passage.
42 Dalechamps states that Cælius Rhodiginus, B. iv. c. 15, has entered very fully into this subject.
43 Cuvier remarks, on this passage, that the mollusca have, instead of blood, a kind of azure or colourless liquid. He observes also, that insects respire by means of tracheæ, or elastic tubes, which penetrate into every part of the body; and that the gills of fish are as essentially an organ of respiration as the lungs. All, he says, that Pliny adds as to the introduction of air into water, is equally conformable to truth; and that it is by means of the air mingled with the water, or of the atmosphere which they inhale at the surface, that fishes respire.
44 In the shape of vapour raised by the action of the sun. In accordance with this opinion, Cicero says, De Nat. Deor. B. ii. s. 27, "The air arises from the respiration of the waters, and must be looked upon as a sort of vapour coming from them."
45 But, as Hardouin remarks, this act on the part of the fish is caused as much by the water as the air.
46 As Hardouin remarks, this is a somewhat singular notion that sleep is produced by the action of the lungs.
47 Hardouin asks, what this has to do with the question about the air which Pliny is here discussing? and then suggests that his meaning may possibly be, that the moon has an influence on bodies through the medium of the air, in accordance with the notion of the ancients that the respira- tion was more free during the time of full moon. Littré says, that Pliny's meaning is, that since the influence of the moon is able to penetrate the waters, the air and the vital breath can of course penetrate them also.
48 See B. x. c. 89, where this subject is further discussed.
49 "Infectum aera."
50 See Aristotle, De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13, and Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 2.
51 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 5.
52 Cuvier remarks, that these nostrils, or vent-holes, are placed somewhat further back on the head in the dolphin than in the whale; but at the same time they cannot be said to be situate on the back of the animal.
53 Or "seals." They will be further mentioned in c. 15 of the present Book.
54 Or "turtles," which are more fully described in c. 21 of this Book.
55 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 74.
56 Cuvier remarks, that in the present Chapter there is a confusion of the peculiarities of two different animals, and refers the reader to his Note on B. viii. c. 38, which, so far as it has not been set forth, is to the following effect:—"I may here remark, that Pliny speaks on several occasions of dolphins with spines or stings on the back, although at other times he is found to give that name to the same cetaceous animal which is so denominated by us. Thus, in his story in B. ix. c. 8, of the friendship conceived by a dolphin in Lake Lucrinus for a child at Baie, he takes care to remark that the dolphin, when taking the child on his back, concealed his spines beneath his dorsal fin. I am of opinion, however, that I have recognized the fish which Seneca, Pliny, and even Aristotle have sometimes confounded with the real dolphin, apparently because it had received that name from certain fishermen, and these are my reasons for forming this conclusion. In c. 7 of the Ninth Book, Pliny mingles with many facts that really do belong to the real dolphin, one trait which is quite foreign to it. It is so swift,' says he, 'that were it not for the fact that its mouth is situate much beneath its muzzle, almost, indeed, in the middle of its belly, not a fish would be able to escape its pursuit: in consequence of this, it can only seize its prey by turning on its back.' This, it must be observed, is not one of those mistakes which we are to put down to Pliny's own account, and of which he has so many; for we find Aristotle as well, who has so perfectly known and described the ordinary dolphin, attributing a mouth similarly situate to the dolphin and the cartilaginous animals. This fact, which is totally false as regards the real dolphin, is, in all probability, applicable to the alleged dolphin, whose back is mentioned as being armed with spines. These three characteristics, a mouth situate very far beneath the nose, spines on the back, and power and swiftness sufficient to enable it to fight the crocodile, are only to be found united in certain of the genus 'Squalus,' such as the 'Squalus centrina,' and the 'Squalus spinax' of Linnæus."
57 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5. From this description Hardouin is induced to think that Rondelet and Aldrovandus are wrong in their conclusions that it is the sea-hog, or porpoise, that is meant. Cuvier also says, that this description will not apply to the real dolphin, though it is strictly applicable to the Squalus acanthias, Squalus ricinus, and others; to the former of which also the spines or stings mentioned by Pliny appropriately belong; all the other characteristics, he says, which are here mentioned by Pliny, are applicable to the real dolphin, though in modern times it has never been brought to such a degree of tameness. Hence it is that some writers have supposed that Pliny is here speaking of the Trichechus manatus of Linnæus, by the French called "lamentin," by us the "sea-cow." Cuvier says, that he should be inclined to be of the same opinion, were it not for the fact that that animal does not frequent the coasts of the Mediterranean.
58 Copied literally from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5, and De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13.
59 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix, c. 74.
60 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 48, says not the sails, but the masts of ships; and Pintianus remarks, that Pliny has been deceived by the resemblance of the words, ἱστὸς and ἱστίον. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 12, has a similar statement also.
61 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 9. Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 1. 660.
62 Fishermen having notched the tail of the animal when young, and recognized it by these marks thirty years afterwards.
63 "Incertâ de causâ." Pintianus, following the similar account given by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 48, takes the words to mean "temere," "hap-hazard," "without any motive whatever." Ajasson says that it is their eager pursuit of small fishes which sometimes betrays them into leaping on shore, and occasionally, the pain caused by attacks of parasitical sea-insects and other animals.
64 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 49, says that the dolphin makes this noise when it comes to the air.
65 He would seem to imply that the dolphin knows that it is "simus," or "flat-nosed," for which reason it is particularly fond of being called "Simo," or "flat-nose," a piece of good taste and intelligence remarkable even in a dolphin. Hardouin undertakes to explain their remarkable liking for this name on other grounds, and says that when a song was sung, they were charmed by the pronunciation of the word "Simo" every now and then, the last syllable being drawn out at great length. Ajasson suggests that the only reason for which this name delighted them, was probably the sibilant or hissing sound made when it is frequently repeated.
66 "Symphoniæ cantu." Hardouin is of opinion that this means the music of the "symphonia," that being some kind of musical instrument. But, as Ajasson remarks, the meaning is much more likely to be, "singing in concert," where there are several performers, and each takes his own part in the symphony. It might, however, possibly mean singing and music combined, similar to the performance of Arion, mentioned at the end of the Chapter.
67 The organ was so called by the ancients, from the resemblance borne by its pipes to "hydraula," or water-pipes, and from the fact of the bellows being acted on by the pressure of water. According to an author quoted by Athcnaus, B. iv. c. 75, the first organist was Ctesibius of Alexandria, who lived about B. C. 200. It is not improbable that Pliny refers to this invention in B. vii. c. 38. The pipes of the organ of Ctesibius were partly of bronze and partly of reed, and Tertullian describes it as a very complicated instrument.
68 Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 15, tells this story as well, and Aulus Gellius, B. vii. c. 8, relates it from the fifth Book of the Ægyptiaca of Apion, who stated that he himself had witnessed the fact.
69 The Lucrine Lake originally communicated with the sea, but was afterwards separated from the Bay of Cumæ by a dyke eight stadia in length. In the time of Augustus, however, Agrippa opened a communication between the Lake and the Bay, for the purpose of forming the Julian harbour. If the circumstance here mentioned by Pliny happened before this period, "invectus" must mean "carried by human agency;" but if after, it is possible that the fish may have been carried into the lake by the tide. For an account of the lake, see B. iii. c. 9.
70 See B. iii. c. 9.
71 "Pinnarum aculeas." See the remarks of Cuvier on this passage, and his conclusion as to the fish meant, in his Note in p. 369.
72 Oppian, in his Halieutica, B. v. 1. 453, mentions this story also, and of course Solinus does.
73 See B. v. c. 3.
74 The island and city of Caria. See B. v. c. 29.
75 Being alarmed by the pursuit of the fish while he was swimming.
76 Athenæus, B. xiii., tells this story more at large, and states that the name of the child was Dionysius. Hardouin remarks, that Solinus, the ape of Pliny, has absolutely read this passage as though the child's name had been Babylon; upon the strength of which, Saumaise had proposed to alter the reading in Pliny, not remembering at the time that the boy's name had been given by Atheneus.
77 This story is also told by Plutarch, in his work on the Instincts of Animals.
78 Anlus Gellius, B. vii. c. 8, mentions this story, borrowing it probably from Theophrastus.
79 The people of the territory in which Amphilochian Argos was situate, and lying to the south of Ambracia. See B. iv. c. 2.
80 The people of Tarentum. See B. iii. c. 16.
81 Ovid tells the story of Arion more fully, and in beautiful language, in the Fasti, B. ii. 1. 92, et seq.
82 A promontory in the south of Laconia, now Cape Matapan. See B. iv. c. 7. Solinus, c. 7, tells us that there was a temple of Arion of Methymna, situate on this spot, in which there was a figure of him seated on a dolphin's back, and made of bronze; with an inscription stating that this wonderful circumstance took place in the 29th Olympiad, in which year Arion had been victorious in the Sicilian games. Philostorgius, in B. i. of his Ecclesiastical History, tells us also of a martyr who was saved by a dolphin, which bore him to Helenopolis, a city of Nicomedia.
83 Now Nismes. See B. iii. c. 5.
84 Still known as the Lake of Lattes, in the department of Narbonne. Cuvier says that the mullet-fishing is still carried on in this lake, which is on the shores of Languedoc, and refers to D'Astruc's Memoirs on the Natural History of that province. The dolphins, however, he says, no longer take part in the sport; and he observes that the same story is told by Ælian, B. ii. c. 8, and Albertus Magnus, De Anim. B. xxiv., with reference to other places. Oppian, in his Halieutica, B. v., makes Eubœa the scene of these adventures, while Albertus Magnus speaks of the shores of Italy. Rondelet, in his Book on Fishes, says that it used to take place on the coasts of Spain, near Palamos. Cuvier suggests, with Belon and D'Astruc, that the story arose from the fact that the dolphins, while pursuing the shoals of mullets, sometimes drove them into the creeks and salt-water lakes on the coast; a fact which has been sometimes found to cause the fish to be caught in greater abundance.
85 Dalechamps tells us that the people of Montpellier call this outlet "La Crau," and that it is in the vicinity of Mangueil.
86 Were it not for the word "nihilominus" here, it would look as if the meaning were, that although the ends of the nets are hoisted up, the fish are so active that they jump over the side, and thus get enclosed. By the use of that word, however, it would seem to mean, that although the sides are hoisted up, the fish are so nimble, that they clear the nets altogether.
87 "Quos interemere." Pintianus suggests "æquo interim jure"— "with equal rights," instead of these words, and Pelicier does not disapprove of the suggestion; for Ælian states, in B. ii. c. 8, Hist. Anim., that the dolphins used to share the fish equally with the fishermen of Eubœa. But, as Hardouin says, the words "quos interemere" have reference to the statement above, that "they content themselves for the present with killing them only." And besides, if the fishermen gave them an equal share, it is not likely that they would give them still more of the fish on the following day.
88 Ælian also mentions this, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 8.
89 The same is stated in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 74, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 6.
90 This is also mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 74.
91 Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 6.
92 Cuvier remarks, that there is some confusion here between an animal of the dolphin kind, and another of the genus Squalus. He suggests that the Delphinus tursio of Linnæus (our porpoise) is meant; but then there would be no ground for comparing its teeth with those of the dog-fish or shark. He remarks also, that Athenæus, B. vii. p. 310, speaks of pieces of salted flesh from the dog-fish, as being called by the name of tursio.
93 Under this name he probably means the shark as well as the dog-fish. This passage is curiously rendered by Holland. "But especially they are snouted like dogges, when they snarle, grin, and are readie to do a shrewd turne."
94 We may here remark, that Pliny throughout calls these animals "testudines,"—"tortoises." It has been thought better, in the translation, in order to avoid confusion, to give them their distinctive name of "turtle."
95 This passage, down to the words "to the fishermen," is found in Agatharchides, as quoted by Photius.
96 See B. xxxii. c. 4.
97 Cuvier says that this is evidently a gross exaggeration on the part of some traveller; and Ajasson remarks, that the very largest turtle known does not exceed five feet in length, and four in breadth. In such a case, the superficies of the calapash or shell would be only from twenty to twenty-four feet, and this, be it remembered, in one of the very largest size.
98 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 3, has a similar passage.
99 See B. v. c. 17.
100 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 3, states to a similar effect.
101 Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 1. 522, has a passage to a somewhat similar effect. Holland's notion of the meaning of this passage is singular in the extreme. "The female fleeth from the male, and will not abide to engender, until such time as he pricke her behind, and sticke somewhat in her taile for running away from him so fast"
102 Cuvier remarks, that it is evident that the fore-feet were here taken for horns, they being in the turtle long, narrow, and pointed.
103 From the Greek χέλυον, "tortoise-shell." See B. vi. c. 34.
104 Or "turtle eaters." See B. vi. c. 28.
105 From χερσινὰι, "land turtles," or "tortoises."
106 "Repositorium" seems to have been the name for a large tray upon which viands were brought to table; and probably for stands similar to our sideboards, as well as cabinets or wardrobes. Carvilius Pollio, a Roman eques, lived in the time of the Dictator Sylla, and was celebrated for his luxury in ornamental furniture. He is again mentioned by Pliny in B. xxx. c. 51.
107 The Latin is "cortex," which probably means a "bark," or "rind." Ajasson remarks upon the meagreness of the Latin language, in supplying appropriate words for scientific purposes, and congratulates himself upon adding the word, "carapax," (signifying "callipash," as we call it) to the Latin vocabulary.
108 By us known as the "angel-fish," the "Squalus squatina" of Linnæus, a kind of shark. From this property of its skin, it was called by the Greeks ῥινη, the "file." See B. xxxii. c. 53.
109 Probably the Muræna helena of Linnæus. See more on it in c. 23 of the present Book.
110 Spoken of more fully in c. 23 of this Book.
111 Cuvier remarks, how very inappropriately Pliny places the pristis (probably the saw-fish) and the balæna among the animals that are covered with hair. Aristotle, he says, in his Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 12, goes so far as to say that the pristis and the ox-fish (a kind of ray or thorn-back, probably) bring forth their young like the balæna and the dolphin, but does not go beyond that. Cuvier says also, that what is here stated of the sea-calf is in general correct, except the statements as to the properties of its skin and its right fin, the stories relative to which are, of course, neither more nor less than fabulous.
112 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 11, states to the like effect.
113 "Fremitu." From their lowing noise, the French have also called these animals "veaux de mer," and we call them "sea-calvs." Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 56, and Diodorus Siculus, B. iii., also speak of training the sea-calf. Hardouin says that Lopez de Gomara, one of the more recent writers on Mexico, in his day, had given an account of an Indian sea-calf, or manati, as it was called by the natives, that had become quite tame, and answered readily to its name; and that, although not very large, it was able to bear ten men on its back. He also tells us of a much more extraordinary one, which Aldrovandus says he himself had seen at Bologna, which would give a cheer (vocem ederet) for the Christian princes when asked, but would refuse to do so for the Turks; just, Hardouin says, as we see dogs bark, and monkeys grin and jump, at the mention of a particular name.
114 Oppian, Haliut. B. i. 1. 408, mentions this fact, and Juvenal, Sat. iii. 1. 238, alludes to it: "Would break the slumbers of Drusus and of sea-calves."
115 This assertion, though untrue, no doubt, as to sympathy with the tides, is in some degree supported by the statement of Rondelet, B. xvi. c. 6, who says that he had often perceived changes in the wind and weather prognosticated by the hide of this animal; for that when a south wind was about to blow, the hair would stand erect, while when a north wind was on the point of arising, it would lie so flat that you would hardly know that there was any hair on the surface.
116 Hardouin remarks, that Pliny classes the viper probably among the aquatic animals, either because it was said to couple with the muræna, or else because it has a womb not unlike that of the cartilaginous fishes.
117 Hardouin suggests that the proper reading here is probably 144, because in B. xxxii. c. 51, Pliny speaks of 174 different kinds of fishes, and here he says that the crustacea are thirty in number. Daubenton speaks of the species of fishes as being 866 in number, while Lacépede says that he had examined more than a thousand, but that was far below the real number. Cuvier mentions specimens of about 6000 kinds of fishes, in the Cabinet du Roi. Ajasson remarks upon the learned investigations of Cuvier on this subject, and his researches in Sumatra, Java, Kamschatka, New Zealand, New Guinea, and elsewhere, for the purpose of increasing the list of the known kinds of fishes.
118 B. xxx. c. 53.
119 About 1200 pounds. Cetti, in his "Natural History of Sardinia," vol. iii. p. 134, says that tunnies weighing a thousand pounds are far from uncommon, and that they have been taken weighing as much as 1800 pounds.
120 The same as the Latin "dodrans," or about nine inches. This passage is taken almost verbatim from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. c. 34. Cuvier says that this passage, although like the preceding one, taken from Aristotle, is much more incredible, (though Lacépede, by the way, disputes Pliny's statement as to the weight of the tunny). "A distance," Cuvier says, "of from seven to eight feet from one point of the fork of the tail to the other, would denote a fish twenty-five feet in length; and it must be observed, that most of the MSS. of Pliny say two cubits." Aristotle, however, beyond a doubt saysfice.
121 Now universally recognized as the sly silurus, or sheat-fish, called in the United States the horn-pout, the Silurus glanis of Linnæus. On this formerly much-discussed question, Cuvier has an interesting Note. "There can now be no longer any doubt as to the silurus; it is evidently synonymons with the 'glanis' of Aristotle; as we find Pliny, in c. 17 and 51, giving the same characteristics of the silurus, as Aristotle does of the glanis, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 20, and B. ix. c. 37; such, for instance, as the care it takes of its young, and the effects produced upon it by the dogfish and the approach of storms. It is easy to prove also that it is not the sturgeon, [as Hardouin thought it to be], but the fish that is still called 'silurus' by the naturalists, the ' wels' or 'schaid' of the Germans, the 'saluth' of the Swiss, &c."
122 Cuvier remarks, that it is by no means clear what fish is meant by this name, which is only found here and once in Hesychius, who calls it κητώδης, "of the large kind." Rondelet, in his account of river fish, suggests that "exos" is the proper reading, and that under this name is meant a species of sturgeon. Gesner asks if it might not possibly have been the "brochet;" but, as Cuvier says, that fish was well-known to the Romans under the name of "lucius" [our pike], and it is not sufficiently large for Pliny to compare it to the wels or the attilus, and for Hesychius to have enumerated it among the "large" fishes. It is in accordance, however, with this suggestion of Gesner that the pike genus bears the name of "esox" in modern Natural History.
123 Cuvier says that there are found in the river Padus, or Po, several species of very large sturgeons, and that there is one of these which still bears the name, according to Salvian and Rondelet, of adello and adilo. Aldrovandus, he says, calls it adelo or ladano. This Cuvier takes to be the attilus of Pliny. But, according to Rezzonico, Paulus Jovius denies that the attilus or adelus of the people of Ferrara is of the sturgeon genus; but says that it is so much larger than the sturgeon, and so different in shape, flavour, value, and natural habits, that the names of these two fishes were used proverbially by the people, when they were desirous to signify two objects of totally different nature. Rezzonico remarks, that the name given to it in Ferrara was properly "l'adano," which became corrupted into "ladano," and expresses it as his opinion that it was the same with the esox of the Rhine. He also states, that, from the exceeding whiteness of the flesh, the ladano was called by the fishermen, sturione bianco.
124 Rezzonico says that this may possibly have happened in Pliny's day, but that in modern times no attilus or ladano is found weighing more than 500 pounds. He says that this fish may, in comparison with the sturgeon, be aptly called an inert fish; for while the sturgeon makes the greatest possible resistance to the fishermen, the other is taken with the greatest ease.
125 Cuvier says, that this was probably the Petromyzon branchialis of Linneus, the lampillon, a little fish resembling a worm, which adheres to the gills of other fish, and sucks the blood. The same name was also given to the Clupea alosa of Linnæus, our "shad;" indeed Linnæus gave this name to the whole herring and pilchard genus, erroneously classing them with the shad.
126 The Main of the present day. But Dalechamps would read "Rheno;" for, he says, this river was not known to the ancients by the name of Mœnus.
127 According to Albertus Magnus, this fish, which so strongly resembled the sea-pig, or porpoise, was the huso, a kind of sturgeon.
128 See B. iv. c. 26. Cuvier says, that the fish here alluded to, is one of the large species of sturgeon, so common in the rivers that fall into the Black Sea, the bones of which are cartilaginous, and the flesh is generally excellent eating.
129 Cuvier says, that this is probably the dolphin of the Ganges; a fish described by Dr. Roxburgh, in his "Account of Calcutta," vol. vii. This fish, he says, has the muzzle and the tail of the common dolphin; but he declines to assert that it attains the length of sixteen cubits.
130 Solinus gives an account of these worms of the Ganges, also front Sebosus, but not exactly to the same effect as Pliny. He says, that they are of an azure colour, are six cubits in length, and that they have two arms. He gives the same account as to their extraordinary strength.
131 It is evident that there is some mistake in the MSS. either of Solinus or Pliny, as they both copied from the same source. Pliny speaks of "branchiæ," or gills, while Solinus mentions "brachia," or arms; the former, however, appears to be the preferable reading. Cuvier remarks that Ctesias, in his Indica, c. 27, has given a similar account, but that the worm mentioned by him has two teeth, and not gills, and that it only seizes oxen and camels, and not elephants. He states also, that an oil was extracted from it, which set on fire everything that it touched. Cuvier observes, that in most of the MSS. of Pliny the worm is sixty cubits long, instead of six, as in some few, a length which was quite necessary to enable it to devour an elephant; and he suggests that some large conger or muræna may have originally given rise to the story. It is by no means improbable that some individuals of the boa or python tribe, in the vicinity of the river, may have been taken for vast fish or river worms. Among the German traditions, we find the name "worm" given to huge serpents, which are said to have spread devastation far and wide; and in the north of England legends about, similar "worms," are by no means uncommon: the story about the "Laidly Worm," in the county of Durham, for instance.
132 Although taken primarily from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 9, as Cuvier observes, this assertion is incorrect, as the male does not in any way differ from the female in the conformation of the fins. Pliny, however, has exaggerated the statement of Aristotle, who only says, that the female differs from the male in having a little fin under the belly, which the male has not; and not that the male has no ventral fin whatever.
133 "Magno mari;" meaning, no doubt, the Mediterranean.
134 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 17.
135 Or "mud-fish," either from being born in mud, as Festus says, or from their concealing themselves in it.
136 "Clidio." The "clidion," or "clidium," was the part of the fish which extended, as Festus says, from the two shoulders (armos) to the breast. The "claviculæ" were thus called by the Greek physicians.
137 The Greeks called the inner part, or black-coloured heart of the oak, μέλαν δρυὸς, whence the present name. Athenæus, B. vi. speaks, f the choice parts cut from the orcyni, large tunnies, which were taken in the straits of Gades.
138 "Faucibus." Cuvier observes, that modern experience has confirmed what Pliny says, as to the difference of flavour in these various parts of the tunny. He refers to Cetti, Ist. Nat. di Sardegna, vol. iii. p. 137.
139 "Exercitatissima." "In greatest request, as being most stirred and exercised," is the translation given by Holland; while Littré renders it "mieux nourries," "best nourished." According to the general notion in this country, the part about the tail is reckoned inferior, and anything but the "best nourished." It is doubtful if "exercitatissima" is the correct reading; and if it is, its precise meaning has yet to be ascertained.
140 From the Greek ἀπόλεκτοι, "choice bits," or, as we should say, "tit-bits."
142 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 16.
143 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 25.
144 This fish does not seem to have been exactly identified till recently but was generally supposed to have been of the tunny genus. Appian says, that it israther smaller than the tunny. Rondelet, B. viii., speaks of it as being, in his time, known by the name of "byza." Cuvier has the following remark. "The 'amia' of the ancients, as Rondelet was well aware, was the same fish, to which, incorrectly, upon nearly all the coasts of the Mediterranean, the name of 'pelamis' has been transferred. It is, in fact, the same as the 'limosa' of Salvianus, the 'pelamis' of Belon, the ' thynnus primus' of Aldrovandus, and the 'scomber sarda' of Bloch. The proof of all these being synonymous, is the fact, that the ' scomber sarda' is the only species of the tunny genus in the Mediterranean, which has strong, sharp, cutting teeth, and is capable of attacking large fish, which Aristotle relates respecting the amia, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 37. The same author too, was well aware of the length of its gall-bladder, which is greater than in most other fishes."
145 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 16.
146 Generally supposed, as Cuvier says, to have been the same as the mackerel, or Scomber scombrus of Linnæus, and with very fair reason. From the frequent remarks made on the subject by the Roman poets, we find that it was a very common fish at Rome, of small size, and was in little repute. It was wrapped in paper when exposed for sale, and bad poets were threatened with the mackerel, as they are at the present day with the grocer or butterman; or, as in the time of the Spectator, with the trunk-maker. Thus Persius says, Sat. i, 1. 43. "and to leave writings worthy to be preserved in cedar, and verses that dread neither mackerel nor frankincense." Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 2, enumerates this fish among those that are gregarious, and places it in company with the tunny and the pelamis, but states that it is inferior in strength, B. viii. c. 2. Cuvier says, that the mackerel still has names in different parts that are derived from the word "scomber," they being called "sgombri" at Con- stantinople, scombri at Venice, and scurmu, scrumiu, and scumbirro in Sicily.
147 Cetarias. These "cetariæ," or "cetaria," Papias says, were pieces of standing salt water, in the vicinity of the sea-shore, in which tunnies and other large fish were kept, and adjoining to which were the salting-houses. In the middle ages these preserves were called "tunnariæ," or "tunneries."
148 As in the Euxine. Tunnies were caught on the Spanish coasts, as we learn from Athenveus, who, as quoted above, mentions the fisheries off Gades, for the orcynus, or large tunny. See N. 37, p. 385.
149 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 16, from whom Pliny has here borrowed, makes a somewhat dissimilar statement. He says that "no noxious animal enters the Euxine, except the phocena [or porpoise], and the dolphin and little dolphin." Hardouin remarks, however, that Pliny is right in his statement that seals are to be found in the Euxine, and that Rondelet, B. xvi. c. 9, for that reason has suggested that the reading ought to be altered in Aristotle, and not in Pliny.
150 Aristotle, B. viii. c. 6. Plutarch on the Instinct of Animals, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 42, say the same.
151 Called "chrysoceras," in B. iv. c. 18, that being the Greek name for "golden horn." He means, that in consequence of the lucrative nature of this fishery, it thence obtained the name of the "golden" horn. Dalechamps is of opinion that some person has here substituted the Latin "Aurei cornus," for the Greek name Chrysoceras.
152 Hence, according to Strabo, Chalcedon obtained the name of the "City of the Blind," the people having neglected to choose the opposite shore for the site of their city. Still, however, a kind of pelamis, or young tunny, from this place, had the name of "Chalcedonia," and is spoken of as a most exquisite dainty by Aulus Gellius, B. vii c. 16.
153 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 16; Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix.; and Plutarch, in his Treatise on the Instincts of Animals, state to a similar effect.
154 Cuvier remarks that the "pompilos" of the ancients, which accompanied ships and left them on nearing the land, was the pilot-fish of the moderns, the Gasterosteus ductor of Linnæus. He thinks, however, that the name may have also been given to other fish as well, of similar habits.
155 Pleuronectes solea of Linnæns.
156 Pleuronectes maximus of Linnæus.
157 The cuttle-fish. The Sepia officinalis of Linnæus.
158 The ink-fish. The Sepia loligo of Linnæus.
159 Cuvier suggests that the turdus, or sea-thrush, and the merula, or sea-blackbird, were both fishes of the labrus tribe, usually known as "breams." Hippolytus Salvianus, in his book on the Water Animals, states, that in his day—both these fish were extremely well known, and that they still retained the names of tordo and merlo. Rondelet, B. vi., says, that the fish anciently called turdus, was in his time known by the name of "vielle," among the French. The dictionaries give "merling, or whiting," as the synonyme of "merula."
160 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 16, says, that on going into the Euxine, the trichiæ are either taken or else devoured by the other fishes, for that they are never seen to return.
161 The trichias, according to Cuvier, is a fish belonging to the family of herrings. A scholiast on Aristophanes attributes the origin of the name to the fine fish bones like hairs (θρὶξ), with which the flesh is filled, which is a characteristic peculiar to the herring kind. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 15, represents the membras, the trichis, and the trichias, as different ages of the same fish. The trichis was little, and very common. In Aristophanes, Knights, 1. 662, we find an obol mentioned as the price of a hundred. From the Acharnæ of the same author, we learn that it was salted as provision for the fleets. Cuvier thinks that everything combines to point out the sardine, the Clupea sprattus of Linnæus, as the trichis or else a similar kind of fish, the melette of the African coast, the Clupea meletta of the naturalists. In this latter case the trichias, he thinks, may have been the sardine, or, perhaps, the Clupea ficta of Lacépede, which is called the "sardine" in some places, and at Lake Garda, in Lombardy, more especially.
162 The Danube. Cuvier says, that this passage probably bears reference to the clupea ficta or finte, which, as well as the shad, is in the habit of passing up streams. As for the story of the fish finding their way to the Adriatic, it is utterly without foundation. Cuvier adds, that the main difference between the finte and the clupea alosa, or shad, is, that the former has very fine teeth, the latter none at all.
163 Pliny has already remarked, B. iii. c. 18, in reference to the supposed descent of the Argonauts from the Ister into the Adriatic, that such a passage by water was totally impossible; hence, as Hardouin says, he is obliged here to have recourse to subterraneous passages.
164 The Pleiades. See B. ii. c. 47. The rising of the Pleiades was considered the beginning of summer, being the forty-eighth day after the vernal equinox. See also B. xviii. c. 59.
165 The evening setting, namely. This took place on the fourth day before the nones of November. See B. xviii. c. 74.
166 Aristotle, Hist. Anim, B. vi. c. 16.
167 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 16. Hardouin remarks, that the tunny which Pliny mentions in c. 17, as weighing so many hundreds of pounds, must certainly have been older than this.
168 This is, as Cuvier has remarked, a crustaceous insect of the parasitical class Lernæa, which are monoculcus [and form the modern class of the Epizoa]. Gmelin, he says, has called it "Pennatula filosa," though, in fact, it is not a pennatula [or polyp] at all. As Dalechamps observes, its ap- pearance is very different from that of a scorpion. Penetrating the flesh of the tunny or sword-fish, it almost drives the creature to a state of madness.
169 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 19. Appian also, in his Halieutics, B ii., makes mention of this animal. Pintianus remarks, that Athenæus, on reading this passage of Aristotle, read it not as "arachnes," but "drachmes;" not the size of a spider, but the weight of a "drachma," or Roman denarius.
170 Or the emperor fish, Cuvier says, the Xiphias gladius of Linnæus.
171 In confirmation of this, Suetonius says, "The day before Augustus fought the sea-battle off Sicily, while he was walking on the sea-shore, a fish leapt out of the sea and fell at his feet."
172 Appian tells us, B. v., that Sextus Pompeius, on gaining some successes against Augustus at sea, caused himself to be called the "Son of Neptune," as having been adopted by that divinity. There is also a coin of Pompey extant, which attests that he adopted the surname of "Neptunius."
173 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. e. 5. Cuvier remarks, that this is true, and more especially during the spawning season.
174 Aristotle says the same, but with the expression of some doubt as to the truth of the assertion. B. vi. c. 13.
175 The erythinus is supposed to be the roach, or rochet, of the present day, and the channe, the ruff or perch. Ovid, in his Halieuticon, 1. 107, alludes to the same notion that is here mentioned: "And the channe, that reproduces itself, deprived of two-fold parents." Cuvier remarks, that, wonderful as these assertions may be, they are not devoid, to all appearance, of a certain foundation; for that Cavolini has observed in the Perca cabrilla and Perca scriba of Linnæus, a species of hermaphroditism; the ovary having always in the interior a lobe, which, from its conformation, would appear to be for the milt; and that he is strongly of opinion that in this species, and some others of the same genus, all the fish produce eggs, and fecundate them themselves.
176 Cuvier says, that the channe is the Perca cabrilla of Linnæus, one of the serrans or trumpet-fish of the coasts of Provence. According to Forskal, Fauna Arabica, and Sonnini, it still has the name among the Turks and modern Greeks, of "chani," or "channo," and it was in these that Cavolini observed the singular organization previously mentioned. According to Athenæus, B. vii., Aristotle has described this fish as of a red colour, variegated with black rays, which answers very well to the Perca scriba of Linnæus, approaching most nearly to the Perca cabrilla.
177 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 75.
178 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 7.
179 Aristotle makes the same remark, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 25.
180 Cuvier observes, that all fishes are found to have in the membranous labyrinth of the ear, bodies like stone, enclosed in a certain kind of gelatinous liquor. These bodies, however, he says, are not equally large in all kinds of fish. He says that it is found largest in the sciæna.
181 The Perca labrax of Linnæus. Called "loup," or "wolf," on the Mediterranean coasts of France, and "bar" on the shores of the ocean.
182 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 19, attributes to the chromis, Cuvier says, stones in the head, B. iv. c. 8, an acute hearing, B. iv. c. 9, the power of making a sort of grunting noise, and the habit of living gregariously, and depositing the eggs once a year, B. iv. c. 9; all which characteristics, he says, are found in the Sciæna umbra of the naturalists, the maigre of the French. In addition to this, Epicharmus, as quoted by Athenæus, B. vii., says that the chromis and the xiphias are, at the beginning of spring, the very best of fish; a quality which must be admitted to belong to the maigre, for its size and its excellent flavour. However, he says, seeing that the glaucus, which Aristotle has distinguished from the chromis, has a still stronger resemblance to the maigre, and that, as Belon informs us, the ombrine, or Sciæna cirrhosa, is still sometimes called at Marseilles the "chro," or the "chrau," and that, as Gyllius says, on the coast of Genoa it has the name of "chro," it would not be improbable that this is really the chromis of the Greeks, as Belon supposes.
183 From σκιἀ, the Greek for "shadow;" which name, as Cuvier says, has been translated by the moderns by the word "ombre," or "umbra." But this name has been given at the present day to so many fish of various kinds, from the "ombra" of the Italians and the "maigre" of the French, the Sciæna umbra of the naturalists, the ombrine or Sciæna cirrhosa of Linnæus, to the ombre of Auvergne, the Salmo thymallus of Linnæus, and the ombre chevalier, the Salmo umbra of Linnæus, that this synonyme does not aid us in discovering its identity. Aristotle says nothing relative to his sciæna, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 19, except that it has stones in the head, a thing that is common to this with many other fish. Pliny, in copying this passage, preserves the Greek name; but Ovid, Columella, and Ausonius give it the name of "umbra:" the one, however, described by the first two is a sea-fish, while that of Ausonius is a fresh-water fish. Varro, who cites the name of umbra among those given to fish, adds that the species which bears it owes its name to its peculiar colour; and as Ovid calls it "liveus," or "livid," it may be presumed to have been of a dark colour. It is very possible, then, that it may have been the corvus marinus, or sea-crow, the Sciæna nigra of Linnæus.
184 Or pagrus. This passage is from Aristotle, Hist. Nat. B. viii. c. 19. Cuvier says that there are several names of fish, known in the Mediteranean at the present day, as being from the φάγρος of Aristotle, such as the pagri or pageau, the fragolino, &c. names of a fish of a red silvery hue, the Sparus erythrinus of Linnæus, his Sparus pagrus being another species. The modern Greeks also call it φάγρος, the best proof of its identity with the phagros of Aristotle, or pager or phagrus of Pliny. This phagrus, Cuvier says, was not improbably the same as the modern pagre, as their characteristics quite agree, so far as those of the ancient phagrus are described. It is of red colour, and we find Ovid (Halieut. 1. 108,) speaking of the "rutilus pagur," and it was, according to Aristotle, 13. viii. c. 13, caught equally out at sea and near the shore, and had stones in the head, B. viii. c. 19, or, in other words, stony bodies of large size in the labyrinthine cavities of the ear. Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. 1. 185, says that the channe forms a delicate morsel for the pagrus, which shows that it was of considerable size; and several authors quoted by Athenæus, B. vii., give it the epithet of "great." Hicesius says, in the same place, that it resembles the erythrus, the chromis, the anthias, and other fish of very different character among themselves; but it is only in relation to the flesh that he makes these comparisons, so that we are unable to come to any conclusion as to the form. But we find Numenius, also quoted by Athenæus, speaking of the φάγρον λοφίην, the "crested phagrus," possibly in allusion to the height of the neck. The properties of its flesh are, if possible, still less characteristic. Hecesius says that it is of sweet flavour and nourishing, but rather astringent. Galen, however, says that it is hard, and difficult of digestion, when old.
185 Hardouin says that Aristotle, B. viii. c. 20, from whom this account is taken, does not say this of all kinds of fish, but only of those which have large heads.
186 In B. viii. c. 54 and 55, where he is speaking of bears and other animals.
187 Cuvier states that Pliny takes this name from Aristotle, and that Athenæus, B. vii., says that it is synonymous with the Greek name, κορύ- φαινη. He also informs us, that modern naturalists have applied these two names to the dorade of navigators, the lampuga of the Spaniards and Sicilians, the Coryphæna hippurus of Linnæus, but that it is not clear that it has been applied on sufficient grounds: as there is no trace whatever of either of the two ancient names on the coasts of the Mediterranean, and the ancient writers have given no sufficient characteristics of the coryphæna or hippurus. It was, we learn, of excellent flavour, and in the habit of springing out of the water, from which, Athenæus says, it received the name of "arneutes," from ἀρνὸς, "a lamb."
188 Cuvier remarks, that Rondelet and others of the moderns have thought that this was synonymous with the crow-fish, the corb of the French, the Sciæna nigra of Linnæus, but that his own researches on the subject had led him to a different conclusion. Its name was derived, he says, from the Greek κόραξ, "a crow," on account of the blackness of its colour, as Oppian says, Halieut. B. i. 1. 133; but there were white ones as well, which Athenæus, 13. viii., says, were the best eating, though the black ones were the most common. Aristophanes, as quoted by Athenæus, B. viii., calls it also the fish with black gills, μελανοπτέρυγον. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 10, says that it was a small fish, and one of those that increase rapidly in growth. It was little esteemed, and was much used, as we learn from Athenæus and the Geoponica, for salting, and making garum or fish-sauce. It was also used as a bait for the anthias or flower-fish. Strabo, B. xiii., also speaks of a river-fish of this name, as being found in the Nile; the flesh of which Athenæus mentions as being remarkably good eating, and the best among the fishes of the Nile. Martial also, B. xiii. Ep. 85, calls it "princeps Niliaci macelli," the "prince of the produce of the Nile." That fish, however, Pliny says, B. xxxii. c. 5, was peculiar to the Nile; and he states, B. v. c. 9, that in consequence of finding it in a lake of Lower Mauritania, Juba pretended that the Nile took its rise in that lake. Athenæus says, B. iii., that the dwellers on the Nile called it πέλτη, "the buckler;" and in B. vii., that the people of Alexandria called it πλάταξ from its broad shape. Now, Cuvier remarks, it is well known that the best fish of the Nile at the present day is the bolty, the Labrus Niloticus of Linnæus, and the Chromis Nilotica of his own system, and this he takes to be the Coracinus albus. It is flat and compressed, and when held on the side, would appear almost circular in shape. Its colour appears white in comparison with that of another little fish of the same genus, the Sparus chromis of Linnæus, the Chromis castanea of Cuvier, which is of a brownish colour, and is found on the coast of France, where it has never been held in high esteem, except for the purposes of salting or making bait for other fish. He concludes, then, that this last was the sea coracinus, and the "bolty" of the present day that of the Nile.
189 Cuvier says, that it has been doubted, upon the authority of Paulus Jovius, whether by this name was signified the muræna of the present day, the Muræna helena of Linnæus, or the Petromizon marinus of Linnæus, the modern lamprey. These two fishes, he says, have in common a long smooth body, and are devoid of the symmetrical fins, and the flesh of both is of a delicate flavour. There are, however, several other characteristics mentioned, he says, from which it can be easily proved that in most of the passages of Pliny, Aristotle, and Ælian, where the muræna is mentioned, it is the Muræna helena that is meant. Ovid says, Halieut. 11. 114, 115, "the muræna burning with its spots of gold"—but the lamprey has no yellow spots whatever: and in 1. 27, he speaks of it as "ferox," or "fierce," a characteristic which also belongs to the muræna, but not to the lamprey. Ælian also states, B. x. c. 40, that the muræna defends itself with its teeth, which form a double row, and Aristotle says, B. viii. c. 2, that it lives upon flesh; while Pliny says, in c. 88 of the present Book, that it bites off the tail of the conger. It was the Muræna helena only, and not the lamprey, that could have devoured the slaves whom Vedius Pollio ordered to be thrown into their preserves, as is mentioned by our author in the present Book, and by Seneca and Tertullian. Finally, a thing that he considers quite decisive on the point, Aristotle says, B. ii. c. 13, that the muræna has four gills on each side, like the eel; while the fact is that the lamprey has only seven in all. Where we find Pliny speaking of the seven spots upon the muræna found in Northern Gaul, it appears most likely, Cuvier says, that he speaks after some traveller, who had observed the seven branchial orifices on the lamprey, and had taken them for spots.
190 This fish, Cuvier says, was of a reddish colour, had rough scales, sharp teeth, large eyes, and a tough flesh. It lived a solitary life in the sea, near rocks which were the resort of shell-fish, which formed its principal nutriment. It passed the winter in the crevices of rocks under water. Its growth was rapid, and the length of its life two years; when cut in pieces, its muscles, were still seen to palpitate. Rondelet, having gathered these characteristics, looks upon the orphus as belonging to the genus Pagrus. Cuvier says, however, that it would not be easy to prove that this is a warranted conclusion, and that it is not justified by tradition, as the name has utterly disappeared from the coasts of France and Italy; though, according to Gillius and Belon, it is found among the modern Greeks, in the shape of the "ropho." Cuvier suggests that it may have been the Anthias sacer of Bloch, the "barbier" of the French.—It is supposed by some that it is our "gilt-head."
191 The Muræna conger of Linnæus.
192 "Percæ." Cuvier says that it is most probable that he is Lere speaking of this opinion, he says, and the serran [our trumpet-fish] which bears this resemblance, is in many parts of Italy, at the present day, called the "Percia marina."
193 The Raia torpedo of Linnæus.
194 Cuvier states, that Athenæus, B. vii., says that the psetta was the same as the rhombus of the Romans, the modern turbot, the Pleuronectes maximus of Linnæus. From a passage, however, of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 37, he feels convinced that it is the Pleuronectes rhombus of Linnæus, the barbue of the French, and with us the dab or sandling. Aristotle says in that passage, that it is in the habit of concealing itself in the sand, while it moves to and fro the filaments around the mouth, and so attracts the little fish. These filaments, Cuvier says, are small radii of the anterior part of the dorsal fin, which form a sort of fringe around the mouth, whence its French name of barbue. The turbot has no such filaments.
195 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 20. As Hardouin remarks, Aristotle appears to assign the sixty days to the glaucus only.
196 Naturalists have generally supposed, following Rondelet, Cuvier says, that the ancient glaucus was one of the class of centronotal fishes, the Scomber amia, or the Scomber glaucus of Linnæus; but that the incorrectness of this notion is easily proved. Aristotle says, that in the glaucus the appendices to the pylorus are few in number, as in the dorado (the Sparus aurata of Linnæus), while on the other hand the centronoti have them in almost greater number than any other kind of fish. Athenæus says, B. iii., that the glaucus was a large fish, and Oppian, Hal. iii. 1. 193, speaks of it as taken with mullet. Aristotle, B. ii. c. 13, says, that it dwelt in deep water; but, according to Oppian, Hal. i. 170, it sought its food among rocks and in the sand; in addition to which characteristics, we find that it was a fish highly esteemed as a delicacy, the head being the part more especially preferred. From all these circumstances, Cuvier concludes that it was more probably a maigre, the Sciæna aquila of Cuvier, than one of the centronotal fishes.
197 Literally, the "little ass." Cuvier says, that nearly all the naturalists, following Rondelet, apply this name to the merlus, the Gadus merluccius of Linnæus, or else the genus of the gadus, or cod, in general. It is true, he says, that the "onos," or "ass" of the Greeks, the "asellus" of the Romans, was also known as the γαδὸς, by the Greeks; but still this onos had very different characteristics from those of the Gadus merluccius; and among all the gadi of Linnæus, he finds the only one that presents any of them to be the Gadus tricirrhatus, or sea-weasel, which he therefore thinks to represent the ancient "asellus."
198 Aurata, "golden-fish." Cuvier observes, that by the Greeks this was called χρύσοφρυς, "eye-brow of gold." It is the French daurade of the Mediterranean, the "Sparus aurata" of Linnæus, and is remarkable for a golden line in form of a crescent over the eyes. Ajasson remarks, that it was also called ᾿ιώνισκος, and suggests that it may have been originally called so from being first found in the Ionian Sea. From an epigram of Martial, B. xiii. Ep. 110, it would appear that this fish was considered a very great dainty, and that it was fattened with Lucrine oysters.
199 This fish has been already mentioned in c. 17 of the present Book. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 20, says this of the glanis.
200 Further mention is made of this fish in c. 74 of the present Book. Aristotle mentions it in B. viii. c. 25, but says nothing about it being a sea-fish; while Dorion, as quoted by Athenæus, B. vii., expressly mentions it among the lake and river fish. Hence Daldechamps seems inclined to censure our author for this addition; but we find Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 11. 101 and 592, speaking of the sea cyprinus; and Athenæus speaks of the cyprinus of Aristotle as being a sea-fish.
201 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 20. This subject is also treated of by Pliny in B. ii. c. 40, and is again mentioned in B. xviii. c. 58.
202 Cuvier remarks, that it does not appear that the characteristics of the mullet, here mentioned by Pliny, have been observed in modern times.
203 The same story is told of the ostrich.
204 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 4, states to a similar effect.
205 Cuvier says, that the peculiarity in the scales here mentioned is not found in any fish; but that the sturgeon genus has, in place of scales, laminæ disposed in longitudinal lines in such a way, that the one does not lap over the other, as is the case with fish in general. It was this fact, misstated probably, that gave rise to the story; and it is most likely this that has led Rondelet, and most of the modern naturalists, to look upon the acipenser as the common sturgeon, and to give that name to the sturgeon genus. Athenæus reckons it among the cartilaginous fishes, and in the family of the squali; but Pliny here speaks of it as very rare, and Martial and Cicero say the same, which cannot be so accurately said of the sturgeon. Archestratus, in Athenæus, speaks of it as small, having a sharp-pointed muzzle, and of triangular shape, and tells us that a very inferior one was valued at 1000 Attic drachmæ. The sturgeon, on the other hand, is often ten or twelve feet in length. The acipenser was not always in vogue with the Romans, but when it was, it was most highly esteemed; and according to Athenæus, B. vii., and Sammonicus Severus, as quoted by Macrobius, B. ii. c. 12, it was brought to table by servants crowned with flowers and preceded by a piper. All these circumstances lead Cuvier to be of opinion that under this name is meant a kind of small sturgeon with a sharp muzzle, greatly esteemed by the Russians, and by them known as the sterlet, the Acipenser Ruthenus of Linnæus, the Acipenser Pygmæus of Pallas. It is found in the Black Sea, and in the rivers that fall into it; and has been carried with success to Lake Ladoga, as also Lake Meler, in Sweden. This is the smallest and most delicate of the sturgeon genus, and Professor Pallas says that they are sold at St. Petersburgh at "insane prices," when more than two feet in length. it is not improbable that it was found in the rivers of Asia Minor, and thence carried to Rome occasionally. Pliny, indeed, B. xxxiii. c. 11, says that it is not a stranger to Italy; if so, it would seem to be different from the "elops," of which Ovid says, Halieut. 1. 96, "and the precious elops, unknown in our waters," though he also says of the "acipenser," in 1. 132, "and thou, acipenser, famed in distant waters." Still, however, Cuvier says, the use of names was not so accurate among the ancients, but what that of "acipenser" may have been given to the sturgeon in general; and this may have given rise to the present assertions of Pliny. Oppian, in Athenæus, B. vii., says, like Pliny, that the elops was the same as the acipenser, and we find no characteristics given of the elops to make us conclude that the two were not synonymous. Indeed, we find that Varro, De Re Rustica, B. ii. c. 6, and Pliny in c. 54 of the present Book, speak of the elops as being most excellent at Rhodes, while we find Archestratus in Athenæus, B. vii., speaking of the same as being the locality of the acipenser; and Columella, B. viii. c. 16, and Ælian, B. viii. c. 28, place it in the Pamphylian Sea, which is not far distant from Rhodes. Pliny, B. xxxii. c. 11, states, that the palm of fine flavour was by many accorded to the elops; while Matron Parodus, in Athenæus, calls it the "most noble of all fishes, food worthy of the gods." From the immense sums that were given for it, as we learn from Varro, quoted by Nonius Marcellus, it was called the "multum munus," or "multinummus," the "much-money fish." Ælian says, B. viii. c. 28, that the fishermen who were fortunate enough to take an elops, were in the habit of crowning themselves and their vessel with garlands, and announcing it, on entering harbour, by the sound of the trumpet. Professor Pallas, in his work on the Russian Zoography, takes the elops to be a kind of sturgeon, more spiny than the rest, which is represented by Marsigli under the name of "Huso sextus." He does not, however, give his reason for fixing on this as the elops of the ancients. It has been also suggested that the elops was the same as the sword-fish.
206 The wolf-fish. Generally supposed to be the basse, or lubin of the French, much esteemed for their delicacy.
207 See N. 97 above.
208 Cuvier remarks, that we find this name in Euthydemus, as quoted by Athenæus, B. vii., used synonymously with that of "onos." We also find the names Callarias, Galerias, and Galerides; but none of the characteristics are given, by which to distinguish them.
209 Cuvier says that this fish held, as Pliny here states, the very highest place at the Roman tables, and was especially famous: First, because it was supposed to ruminate; in allusion to which, Ovid says, Halieut. 1. 118, "But, on the other hand, some fishes extend themselves on the sands covered with weeds, as the scarus, which fish alone ruminates the food it has eaten." Secondly, because, as Aristotle, B. viii. c. 2, and Ælian, B. i. c. 2, inform us, it lived solely on vegetables. Thirdly, because it had the faculty of producing a sound, as we learn from Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 1. 134, and Suidas. Fourthly, for its salacious propensities, numbers being taken by means of a female attached to a string, Oppian, Halieut. B. iv. 1. 78, and Ælian, B. i. c. 2. Fifthly, for its remarkable sagacity in affording assistance to another, when taken in the net; relative to which Ovid has the following curious passage, Halieut. 1. 9, et seq. "The scarus is caught by stratagem beneath the waves, and at length dreads the bait fraught with treachery. It dares not strike the osiers with an effort of its head; but, turning away, as it loosens the twigs with frequent blows of its tail, it makes its passage, and escapes safely into the deep. Moreover, if perchance any kind scarus, swimming behind, sees it struggling within the osiers, he takes hold of its tail in his mouth, as it is thus turned away, and so it makes its escape." Oppian, Halieut. B. iv. 1. 40, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 4, mention the same circumstance. We find that it was highly esteemed by the Roman epicures, even in early times, it being mentioned by Ennius and Horace. It was salted with the intestines in it; and Martial, B. xiii. Ep. 84, seems to speak of it as not being good to eat without them. It was a high-coloured fish, so much so, that Marcellus Sidetes called it "floridum," while by Oppian it is called ποικίλον, or "variegated." Rondelet thinks that it was one of spari or the labri, while Belon describes as such, a fish now unknown to zoologists, the tail of which, he says, has projecting spines. Aldrovandus calls it by the name of Scarus Cretensis, a species of the genus which at present goes by the name of Scarus, and which is distinguished by osseous jaw-bones, resembling in shape the beak of a parrot. Cuvier says, that on finding from Belon that the name σκάρος was still in use in the Ægean Sea, he ordered the various kinds of it to be brought to Paris; upon which he found that they exactly resembled the Scarus Cretensis of Aldrovandus, and he consequently has no doubt that it is essentially the same fish as the scarus of the Greeks and Romans. From the resemblance above stated, it is not uncommonly called the "parrotfish;" while by some it has been thought to have resembled our char.
210 See B. v. cc. 32, 41.
211 Or weasel-fish. Cuvier is of opinion that Hardouin is right in his conjecture, that this is the Lote, or Gadus lota of Linnæus, which is still called motelle in some of the provinces of France. Its liver, he says, is one of the greatest delicacies that can be eaten.
212 The present Boden See, or Lake of Constance.
213 Instead of "marinis," Sillig adopts the reading "murænis," making them to rival the muræna even. The other, however, seems to be the pre- ferable reading.
214 Cuvier says that this is the τριγλαof the Greeks, the triglia of modern Italy, the rouget of Provence, and the Mullus barbatus of Linnæus.
215 The coasts of La Manche, Cuvier says, and the Gulf of Gascony produce a kind of mullet of larger size than usual, varied with stripes of a yellow colour. This, the Mullus surmuletus of Linnæus, is also to be found in the Mediterranean, but much more rarely than the smaller kind, which is red all over.
216 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii c. 5; Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 41; and Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. 1. 435.
217 Hardouin says that it is larger than the sea-mullet; and that it dwells in muddy or slimy spots in the vicinity of the sea-shore.
218 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5.
219 Probably from the fact of its living in the mud. "Doctors differ" on this point. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 16, says that shore-fish are superior to those caught out at sea; while Seneca, on the other hand, Nat. Quæst. B. iii. c. 18, says that rock-fish and those caught out at sea are the best.
220 He would almost seem to imply by this that they feed upon shell-fish: but Hardouin has a note to the effect, that Pliny does not mean that they live on shell-fish, as it would be impossible for them to break the shell to devour the fish within, but only that they have the same flavour as shellfish. But query as to this explanation.
221 On the other hand, Isidorus says that the mullet-coloured shoes were so called from the colour of the fish, which, indeed, is most probable. These shoes were made of a kind of red Parthian leather, probably not unlike our morocco leather. Festus seems to say that they were worn in general by all the patricians; but the passage of Varro which he quotes, only shows that they were worn by the curule magistrates, the consul, prætor, and curule ædile.
222 Hence their Greek name,τρίγλα, according to Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 1. 590.
223 Seneca has a passage on this subject, Quæst. Nat. B. iii. c. 18, which strongly bespeaks the barbarous tastes of the Romans. He says: "A mul- let even, if just caught, is thought little of, unless it is allowed to die in the hand of your guest. They are carried about enclosed in globes of glass, and their colour is watched as they die, which is changed by the struggles of death into various shades and hues." And again: "There is nothing, you say, more beautiful than the colours of the dying mullet; as it struggles and breathes forth its life, it is first purple, and then a paleness gradually comes over it; and then, placed as it is between life and death, an uncertain hue comes over it."
224 This anchovy, pickle, or fish-sauce, will be found more fully spoken of in B. xxxi. c. 44.
225 Alecem. See B. xxxi. c. 44. Seneca speaks of this cruel custom of pickling fish alive, Quæst. Nat. B. iii. c. 17. "Other fish, again, they kill in sauces, and pickle them alive. There are some persons who look upon it as quite incredible that a fish should be able to live under-ground. How much more so would it appear to them, if they were to hear of a fish swimming in sauce, and that the chief dish of the banquet was killed at the banquet, feeding the eye before it does the gullet?"
226 He may have been the son of C. Asinius Gallus, who was consul B. C. 8; but he does not appear to have ever been consul himself.
227 The reign of the Emperor Caligula.
228 Juvenal, Sat. iv. 1. 15, speaks of a mullet being bought for 6000 sesterces, a thousand for every pound, and Suetonius tells us that in the reign of Tiberius three mullets were sold for 30,000 sesterces. It is in allusion to this kind of extravagance that Juvenal says, in the same Satire, that it is not unlikely that the fisherman could be bought as a slave for a smaller sum than the fish itself. At the above rate, each of these mullets sold for about £70 of our money.
229 Cuvier says that although the mullet of the Indian Seas is in general larger than ours, it is never found at all approaching the weight here mentioned.
230 The bolty of the modern Egyptians, as previously mentioned.
231 Or Jove-fish. Cuvier says that Gillius has applied the name of "faber" to the dory, or fish of Saint Peter, and has stated that the Dalmatians, who call it the "forga," pretend that they can find in its bones all the instruments of a forge. After him, other modern naturalists have called the same fish Zeus faber; but nothing, Cuvier says, goes to prove that the dory is the fish so called by the ancients. The epithet even of "rare," given to it by Ovid, Halieut. 1. 112, is far from applicable to the dory, which is common enough in the Mediterranean. If, indeed, the χαλκέυς of the Greeks were the same as the "faber," as, indeed, we have reason to suppose, it would be something in favour of the dory, as Athenæus, B. vii., says that the χαλκέυς is of a round shape: but then, on the other hand, Oppian, Halicut. B. v. 1. 135, ranks it among the rock-fish which feed near rocks with herbage on them; while the dory is found only in the deep sea.
232 Or "blacksmith."
233 Cuvier says that this fish has still the same name in Italy; that it is called the "saupe" in Provence, and the "vergadelle" in Languedoc, being the Sparus salpa of Linnæus; and that it still answers to all the ancient characteristics of the salpa, eating grass and filling its stomach, and having numerous red lines upon the body. It is common, and bad eating, but is no better at Ivica, the ancient Ebusus, than anywhere else. M. De la Roche, when describing the fishes of that island, says expressly that the flesh of the saupe is but very little esteemed there. Ovid, Halieut. 1. 122, speaks of it as "deservedly held in little esteem."
234 See B. iii. c. 11.
235 Neither at Ebusus nor anywhere else.
236 Hardouin remarks, that Pliny and Ausonius are the only Latin writers that mention this fish; while not one among the Greeks speaks of it. It was probably a native of regions too far to the north for them to know much about it. In this country it holds the same rank that the scarus and the mullet seem to have held at the Roman tables.
237 He must mean single ones, on each side of the head. Cuvier remarks, that the present passage is from a longer one in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 13, which, however, has come down to us in such a corrupt and fragmentary state, that it is totally unintelligible, or, at all events, does not correspond with modern experience. No fish, he says, is known to us that has one or two gills only. The Lophii of the system of Linnæus have three gills on each side, and the greater number of fish four, with a half one attached to the opercule. Some cartilaginous fish, again, have five or six, and the lampreys seven.
238 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iii. c. 10.
239 The modern Lago di Como, and Lago Maggiore. See B. iii. c. 23.
240 See c. 20, as to the Vergiliæ.
241 Cuvier says, that in various species of the cyprinus, and more especially the rubellio, the Cyprinus rutilus of Linnæus, the roach, the Cyprinus jeses of Linnæus, and the bream, the Cyprinus brama of Linnæus, the male has, during the spawning season, little warts adhering to the skin and scales. This appearance has been remarked in especial on a species found in the lakes of Lombardy, known there as the "pigo," and similar to the roach of other countries. It is most probable that it is to this appearance that Pliny alludes. Rondelet, in his book on Fishes, gives a representation of it, and calls it "pigus," or "cyprinus clavatus;" but he wrongly, like Pliny, takes it to be a peculiar genus of fish.
242 Clavorum caligarium"—"nails for the caliga." This was a strong, heavy sandal, worn by the Roman soldiers. It was worn by the centurions, but not by the superior officers; and from the use of it, the common soldiers, including the centurions, were distinguished by the name of "caligati." The Emperor Caligula received that cognomen when a boy, in consequence of wearing the "caliga," and being inured to the life of a common soldier. The hob-nails with which the "caliga" was studded are men- tioned again in B. xxii. c. 46, and B. xxxiv. c. 41. Josephus tells us of the death of a Roman centurion, which was occasioned by these nails. As lie was running over the marble pavement of the temple of Jerusalem, his foot slipped, and he was unable to rise, upon which he was overpowered by the Jews, and slain. After the decline of the Roman empire, the caliga was no longer worn by the soldiers, but was assumed by the monks and recluses.
243 Dalechamps says, that in a similar manner, in the lake known by the name of Paladru, fish of most delicate flavour, called "umblæ," were to be taken in the month of December, and at no other part of the year; so, too, the alausæ, which are found in the Rhine, near Strasburg, in the month of May only, and at no other time.
244 ᾿απὸ το̂ν ἔξω κοιτᾶν, "from its sleeping out of the water." This fish is also mentioned by Theophrastus, in his Fragment on the "Fish that live on dry land;" by Clearchus the Peripatetic, as quoted by Athenæus, B. viii.; Oppian, in his Halieutics, B. i. 1. 158; and. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 36. The fish, however, mentioned by all these authorities, is a sea- fish, while that of Pliny, being found in Arcadia, must, of necessity, be a river fish. The proper name of the fish here mentioned by him was ποικιλίας, Hardouin says, so called from the variety of its colours. Cuvier says, that the fish here mentioned is not the Exocœtus of Linnæus, which is one of the flying fish, but is clearly of opinion that it is one of the genus Blennius, or Gobio, that is alluded to; for these small fish are often to be found left on the shore when the waters retire, and have the property of being able to remain alive for a considerable time without water.
245 In the river Aroanius, which falls into the Clitorius. Pausanias mentions this story, but adds, that he never could hear the fish, although he often went there to listen, Mnaseas of Patræ, an author quoted by Athenæus, B. viii., also mentions these vocal fishes.
246 Cuvier understands this to mean only, that the openings of the gills are remarkably small: for, as he says, there is no fish whatever without gills. It is very possible, however, that Pliny may have mistranslated a passage found in Athenæus, and quoted from Clearchus the Peripatetic, in which he says that some fish have a voice, and yet have no throat, βρόγχον; which may have, possibly, been mistaken by our author for βράγχια, "gills."
247 "Marini mures." Cuvier says, that according to Oppian, Halieut. B. v. c. 174, et seq., the sea-mice, small as they are, attack other fish, and offer resistance even to man himself. Their skin, he says, is very solid, and their teeth very strong. Theophrastus names them along with seals and birds, as feeding both on land and at sea. Cuvier is somewhat at a loss whether to pronounce them, with Dalechamps, to be a kind of turtle. If so, he considers that this would be the little turtle, Testudo coriacea of Linnæus, which is by no means uncommon in the Mediterranean. He suggests, however, that there are equal grounds for taking it to be the Flasco psaro, or Tetrodon lineatus of Linnæus.
248 The Sepia octopodia of Linnæus.
249 The Muræna helena of Linnæus. This animal, Cuvier says, like the eel, is able to live out of water, in consequence of the minute size of the branchial orifices, as Theophrastus very accurately explains. It is a common opinion that they come out of the water in search of others of their kind; but Spallanzani was informed by the fishermen of Comacchio, that this hardly ever is the case, and that they will only leave the water when compelled. The polypus also crawls very briskly on the shore when it has been thrown up by the tide, and moves with considerable swiftness.
250 This is also stated by the author of the treatise, De Mirab. Auscult. c. 72; and Theophrastus, in his work on the "Fishes that can live on land," says, that these Indian fishes resemble the mullet. Cuvier says, that these fish are those known as the various species of the genus Ophicephalus of Bloch, which bear a strong resemblance to the mullet in the head and body. Mr. Hamilton Buchanan, in his "History of the Fishes of Bengal," says, that these fish crawl on the grass to so great a distance from their rivers, that the people absolutely believe that they must have fallen from heaven.
251 Or the "Fishes." As if, indeed, Hardouin says, the resemblance of name given to the constellation could have any effect upon the fish!
252 The turbot, Pleuronectes maximus of Linnæus.
253 Pleuronectes solea of Linnæus.
254 "Passer." Probably our "plaice"—the Pleuronectes platessa of Linnæus.
255 The pleuronectes in general, Cuvier says, have the two eyes situate on the same side of the body. The turbot has them on the left side, and lies on the sand on the right side, while the plaice or the flounder has the eyes on the right, and lies on the left side-the reverse of what Pliny says.
256 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 6.
257 By this Pliny means, Cuvier says, only the symmetrical fins, or pairs of fins, the pectoral namely, which are in place of arms, and the ventral, which are instead of feet; of which, in fact, no fish has more than two pairs. Pliny does not include in this statement the dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins.
258 Eels and congers, for instance, which have but one pair.
259 Mursenæ and lampreys.
260 See B. iii. c. 17.
261 Cuvier thinks that there can be no question that he is speaking here of some mollusc or crustaceous animal.
262 Mureenæ, like eels, have gills, but the orifice, Cuvier says, is much smaller than in the eel, and the opercula, under the skin, are so small as to be hardly perceptible; indeed, so much so, that modern naturalists, Lacepède, for instance, have denied the fact of their existence.
263 Aristotle, De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13, and Hist. Anim. B. i. c, 6.
264 Or sting-ray. On the contrary, Cuvier says, the pastinaca, more than any other ray, has large pectoral fins, horizontally placed; but they adhere so closely to the body that they do not appear to be fins, unless closely examined.
265 By this name, Cuvier says, he calls the tentacles or feelers, which adhere to the head of the polypus, and which it uses equally for the purpose of swimming or crawling.
266 Spallanzani, in his "Nat. Hist. of the Eel in the Lagunes of Comacchio," says, that immediately after their birth they retreat to the Lagunes, and at the end of five years re-enter the river Po.
267 Eighty or a hundred hours at most, Spallanzani says.
268 Cold, or a foul state of the water, Cuvier says, is very destructive to the eel.
269 Or Pleiades. See c. 20.
270 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 75, says the same, and likewise that they feed mostly at night. The reason for their not floating when dead, he says, is their peculiar conformation; the belly being so remarkably small that the water cannot find an entrance; added to which they have no fat upon them.
271 See B. iii. c. 23.
272 See B. iii. c. 20.
273 The setting of the Pleiades or the rising of Arcturus. See B. ii. c. 47.
274 Spallanzani informs us that the fishermen of the Lagunes of Comacchio form with reeds small chambers, by means of which they take the eels when endeavouring to re-enter the river Po; in these such vast multitudes are collected, that they are absolutely to be seen above the surface of the water.
275 Excipalis.
276 Hardouin says, that though this assertion is repeated by Pliny in c. 74 of the present Book, it is a mistake; we learn, however, from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11, and Athenæus, B. vii., that the young of the muræna are remarkable for the quickness of their growth.
277 This vulgar belief is, however, followed by Oppian, Halieut. B. i. c. 555; Athenæus, B. vii.; Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 50, and B. ix. c. 66; and Nicander, Theriac., who, however, adds, "if indeed it is the truth." It is also alluded to by Basil, in Hexaem. Homil. vii., and Ambrose, Homil. v. c. 7.
278 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. V. C 11, only quotes this story as he had heard it, and does not vouch for its truth. Doro, as quoted by Athenæus, B. vii., makes the zmyrus and the muræna to be of totally different genera. The zmyrus, he says, is without bone, the whole of it is eatable, and it is remarkable for the tenderness of the flesh. There are two kinds, of which the best, he says, are those which are black.
279 The common muræna, Cuvier says, is spotted with brown and yellow, but there is a larger kind, with stronger teeth and brown all over, the Muræna Christini, of Risso. This, he has no doubt, is the zmyrus of the ancients. Modern naturalists, he says, have incorrectly called Muræna zmyrus, a small kind of conger, which has yellow spots upon the neck.
280 Cuvier has already made some remarks on this passage in one of his Notes to c. 24 of the present Book. See p. 395.
281 The Seven Terriones, or plough oxen. The constellation of Ursa Major was thus called by the Romans.
282 This wretched man was originally a freedman, and though he was on one occasion punished by Augustus for his cruelty, he left him a great part of his property. He died B. C. 15. He is supposed to be the same person as the one against whom Augustus wrote some Fescennine verses, mentioned by Macrobius, Sat. B. ii. c. 4.
283 Until the Roman youth assumed the toga virilis, they wore the toga prætexta, or senatorial gown. The toga virilis was assumed at the Liberalia, in the month of March; and though no age appears to have been positively fixed for the ceremony, it probably took place, as a general rule, on the feast which next followed the completion of the fourteenth year; though it is not certain that the completion of the fourteenth year was not always the time observed. So long as a male wore the prætexta, he was considered "impubes," and when he had assumed the toga virilis, he was "pubes." Hence the word "investis," or "prætextatus," (here employed), was the same as impubes.
284 Thus the "impubes" paid, as Hardouin says, "not in money, but in skin." Isidorus, in his Glossary, says, "'Anguilla' is the name given to the ordinary 'scutica,' or whip with which boys are chastised at school." The witty Rabelais says, B. ii. c. 30, "Whereupon his master gave him such a sound lashing with an eel-skin, that his own would have been worth nothing to make bag-pipe bags of."
285 The ray.
286 The sting-ray; the Raia pastinaca of Linnæus.
287 The angel-fish; the Squalus squatina of Linnæus.
288 The Raia torpedo of Linnæus.
289 Galen, in his explanation of words used by Hippocrates, speaks of the, βοῦς θαλάσσιος, which is also described by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 141, et seq. He speaks of it as growing to the length of eleven or twelve cubits, and having small, weak teeth, which are not easily seen, and compares it in appearance to the roof of a house. Cuvier thinks, that although its horns are not mentioned, a species of large horned ray is alluded to, which is known by the modern naturalists by the name of Cephalopterus, and he thinks it very likely these horns may have given it its Greek appellation. Indeed Pliny himself, in another place, B. xxxii. c. 53, speaks of it under the name of "cornuta," the "horned-fish."
290 A species of ray, most probably.
291 Cuvier suggests that this was the mylobates, the Raia aquila of Lin- næus, which probably obtained this name on account of the width of the pectoral fins, and its peculiar shape.
292 βάτραχος ἁλιεὺς, the sea-frog, the Lophius piscatorius of Linnæus, and the baudroie of the French. Cuvier remarks, that though there is little solidity or firmness in the bones of this animal, it is not properly a cartilaginous fish.
293 This is borrowed from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v., who, however, says, καὶ πάντα τὰ γαλεώδη; from which Massarius, Turnebus, and Hippolytus Salvianus are inclined to read "galei," instead of "squali." Both terms, however, Hardouin says, are used to denote the genus which the French call "chiens de mer," "dog-fish."
294 It is curious that Aristotle, though he was the inventor of this name, has nowhere stated in what it originated. Galen, De Alim. Fac. B. iii. c. 36, says that it is ἀπο τοῦ σέλας ἔχειον, from the fact of their shining at night.
295 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5, and De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13.
296 In c. 7 of the present Book.
297 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 8.
298 Cuvier says that it is true that the sea-frog is oviparous; but it is far from being the case that all the cartilaginous fishes but it are viviparous. The rays, for instance, produce large eggs of a square shape, and enveloped with a very hard horny shell. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5, and B. ii. c. 16, makes the same exception as to the sea-frog or frog-fish.
299 This is also from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. 1. ii. c. 17. Oppian also mentions it, Halieut. B. i. 1. 223, et seq., but he gives it all the character- istics of the modern lamprey.
300 This is the Echeueis remora of Linnæus, Cuvier says. It has upon the head an organ, by means of which it can attach itself to any body. It is thus enabled to fasten to ships and larger fishes; but as for staving a ship, it has not, as Cuvier remarks, the slightest power over the very smallest boat. All the eloquence, therefore, which Pliny expends upon it, in B. xxxii. c. 1, is entirely thrown away.
301 ᾿απὸ τοῦ ἒχειν νῆας. "From holding back ships."
302 Used for the purpose of bringing back lost love, or preventing incon- stancy.
303 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B, ii. c. 17.
304 Hardouin says that it is very possible that Aristotle may have written to this effect in some one of the fifty books of his that have perished, but that such is not the case in his account given of this fish in his Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, for there he expressly says, "There are some people that say this fish has feet, whereas it has none at all; but they are deceived by the fins, which bear a resemblance to feet." Cuvier says he cannot see in what way the fins of the remora, or sucking-fish, resemble feet, any more than those belonging to any other fish.
305 Cuvier says, that the shell-fish to which Pliny here ascribes a power similar to that of the remora, is, if we may judge from his description of it, of the genus called Cypræa, and has very little doubt that its peculiar form caused its consecration to Venus, fully as much as its supposed miraculous powers. He also remarks that Hardouin, in his Note upon this passage, supposes an impossibility, in suggesting that the lips of this shellfish can bite the sides of a ship; these lips or edges being hard and immoveable. For some curious particulars as to the peculiar form of some kinds of Cypræa, or cowry, and why they more especially attracted attention, and were held sacred to Venus, see the discussion on them, in the Defence made by Apuleius against the charge of sorcery, which was brought against him.
306 Rondelet, B. xiii. c. 12, says that this kind of shell was formerly used for the purpose of smoothing paper.
307 Herodotus tells us, B. iii. c. 48, that these were 300 boys of noble families of the Corcyræans, and that they were being sent from Periander of Corinth, to Alyattes, king of Sardes.
308 Venus was fabled to have emerged from the sea in a shell.
309 Rabelais refers to these wonderful stories about the echeneis or remora, B. iv. c. 62: "And indeed, why should he have thought this difficult, seeing that——an echeneis or remora, a silly, weakly fish, in spite of all the winds that blow from the thirty-two points of the compass, will in the midst of a hurricane make you, the biggest first-rate, remain stock still, as if she were becalmed, or the blustering tribe had blown their last; nay, and with the flesh of that fish, preserved with salt, you may fish gold out of the deepest well that ever was sounded with a plummet; for it will certainly draw up the precious metal."
310 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 34; Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 48. Rondelet is of opinion that this mæna was the fish still called menola by the people of Liguria and Rome. It was a fish little valued, and we find it called by Martial, "inutilis mæna," B. xii. Epigr. 30. Cuvier says, that if it does not change from white to black, as Pliny states, its colours are much more lively in the spring. It also has an offensive smell at certain times, as is noticed by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 30, and to which Martial alludes in the above epigram. Ovid also mentions it as a fish of no value; held, in all probability, in the same degree of estimation as a sprat with us. It is, no doubt, the Sparus mæna of Linnæus.
311 We learn from Aristotle, B. viii. c. 30, that the phycis was a whitish fish, which in the spring assumed a variegated colour. In an Epigram of Apollonides it is called "red;" and Speusippus, as quoted in Athenæus, B. v., says that it is similar to the perch and the channe. Ovid speaks of it as frequenting the shore, and Oppian represents it as dwelling among the sea-weed on the rocks. It also lived on shrimps, and its flesh was light and wholesome; while its most singular property was that of making its nest among the fucus or sea-weed, whence its name. All these characteristics, Cuvier says, are to be found, from what Olivi states, in the "go" of the Venetians, found in the Adriatic, the Gobius of Linnæus; the male of which in the spring makes a nest of the roots of the zostera in the mud, in which the female lays her eggs, which are fecundated by itself, and then protected by it against the attacks of enemies. This is probably the fish that is alluded to by Ovid, Halieut. 1. 121, "The fish that imitates, beneath the waves, the pretty nests of the birds."
312 This name, Cuvier observes, is still common on the coasts of the Mediterranean, to two kinds of flying fish, the Dactylopterus, or Trigla volitans of Linnæus, and the Exocœtus volitans of Linnæus. It is to the first, he thinks, that the ancients more especially gave the name of swallow, although Salvianus and Belon are of the contrary opinion. Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 11. 457–461, ranks the sea-swallow with the scorpion, the dragon, and other fish the spines of which produce mortal wounds, and Ælian, B. ii. c. 5, states to the same effect. But the exocœtus has no spines, while the dactylopterus has terrible ones on its præopercules. Speusippus also, as quoted in Athenæus, B. vii., gives no less decisive testimony, in saying that the sea-cuckoo, the trigla, and the sea-swallow, have a strong resemblance to each other; the fact being that the dactylopterus is of the same genus as the sea-cuckoo, the Trigla cuculus of Linnæus.
313 Ovid, Halieut. 1. 96, speaks of this fish as having a black back. Cuvier therefore suggests that it may possibly be the perlon, the Trigla hirundo of Linnæns, the back of which is of a dark brown, and the great size of the pectoral fins of which may have given rise to the notion of its being able to fly. It is also very possible, he says, that it may have been the exocœtus, the back of which is of a blue colour.
314 Lucerna. Probably, as Cuvier says, one of those numerous molluscs, or zoophytes, which give out a brilliant light, and perhaps the Pyrosoma of Péron. No period being found in the MSS. after the word "milvus" —"kite," it was long thought that this passage applied to the sea-kite; and it is owing to this circumstance that we find the ichthyologists enumerating a Trigla lucerna. The correction, however, is approved of by Cuvier, who says that he has found none of the genus triglæ to give forth a light; except, indeed, when, like other fish, it begins to be putrid.
315 Probably the "cornuta," mentioned in the Note on the sea-ox in c. 40; see p. 411. Cuvier says that it was long supposed that the fish here alluded to might be the Malarmat of the Mediterranean, the Trigla cataphracta of Linnæus, the muzzle of which is divided into two horns; but then they are only half an inch long, instead of a foot and a half. He is of opinion, therefore, that it is the great horned ray, now known as the cephalopterus, which, being often fifteen feet and more in diameter, answers much better to the description of its size implied by Pliny from the length of its horns. It is also mentioned under the name of cornuta in B. xxxii. c. 53, in company with the saw-fish, the sword-fish, the dog-fish, and other large fishes.
316 Cuvier is of opinion, that Rondelet is correct in his suggestion that this is the sea-spider, called the "vive" in France, the viver or weever with us, and the Trachinus draco of Linnæus, which fish is still called δράκαινα by the modern Greeks. Pliny, in c. 48 of the present Book, charges the sea-spider with doing much mischief, by means of the spines or stickles on its back. Now Ælian, B. ii. c. 50, and Oppian, Halieut. 1. 458, say the same of the sea-dragon; and this is a well-known property of the modern vive, the Trachinus draco of Linnæus. Pliny speaks more especially, in B. xxxii. c. 53, of the wounds which it makes with the spines or stickles of its opercules, which the vive is also able to inflict; and in addition to this, it has the power of burrowing into the sand in a most incredibly short space of time.
317 Cuvier remarks, that this division of the bloodless fish by Aristotle into the mollusca, testacea, and crustacea, has been followed by naturalists almost down to the present day.
318 The Sæpia loligo of Linneus; the calmar of the French, or ink-fish.
319 The Sæpia officinalis of Linnæus; the seche of the French; our cuttlefish.
320 The Sepia octopodia of Linnæus, or eight-footed cuttle-fish.
321 Cuvier remarks, that this account of the arms or feelers of the sæpia and loligo is very exact.
322 "Quibus venantur." Hardouin suggests that the proper reading would be "quibus natant"—"by means of which they swim;" for Aristotle says, in the corresponding passage, "with the fins that surround the body they swim."
323 Plautus has a line in his Rudens, which shows that when the sæpia was cooked for table, it was customary to take the eyes out. "Bid them knock out his eyes, just as the cooks do with the sæpia."
324 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 2, states to a similar effect, as also Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 34; Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. 1. 156.
325 This so-called ink, Cuvier says, is neither their blood nor their bile, but a liquid that is secreted in a bag peculiar to the animal. It is said, that it is from the juices of certain polypi of the Eastern seas, that the genuine Indian or Chinese ink is made; but M. Abel Remusat assures us that he has found nothing in the Chinese writers to confirm this conjecture.
326 This, as Hardouin says, is the polypus which is found on the seashore, and which more frequently comes on dry land than the other kinds.
327 The arms of the polypus have numerous names with the Latin authors. Ovid calls them "flagella,"—"whips;" others again, "cirri"—"curls;" "pedes"—"feet" "crura"—"legs;" and "crines"—"hair."
328 This, Cuvier says, is quite unintelligible; for all the polypi have an oval body, of the shape of a bag, and there is nothing in them that bears any resemblance to a tail, forked or otherwise.
329 This channel, Cuvier says, is in form of a funnel reversed, by means of which the animal draws in and ejects the water that is requisite for its respiration, and discharges the ink and other excretions. It is in the forepart of the body, and at the orifice of the bag, and not on the back, as Pliny says; but, as Cuvier remarks, it was very easy for a person to be deceived in this matter, as the head, being in form of a cylinder, and fringed with the so-called feet, cannot be said to be distinguished into an upper and lower side.
330 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 2, says that the animal is obliged to do so, on account of the situation of the eyes.
331 But Aristotle says, καθάπερ ἐμπεφυσημένην, "as though it were puffed out with air."
332 "Acetabulis." The acetabulum was properly a vinegar cruet, in shape resembling an inverted cone; from a supposed similarity in the appearance. it is here applied to the suckers of the polypus. The Greek name is κοτυληδὼν.
333 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 59.
334 Cuvier says, that the changes of colour of the skin of the polypus are continual, and succeed each other with an extreme rapidity; but that it has not been observed, any more than the chameleon, to take the colour of objects in its vicinity.
335 This notion is mentioned by Athenæus, Pherecrates, Alcæus, Hesiod, Oppian, and Ælian.
336 Cuvier says, that Pliny states, in B. xxix. c. 28, that the colotis, or colotes of the Greeks, is the same as their ascalabotes, the "stellio" of the Latins. This stellio is the same as the "gecko" of the moderns, and the species known in Italy and Greece is the same as the "wall gecko" of the French, or the tarente of the Provencals. From what Pliny says here about its tail, it would appear to have been a lizard; but its identity with the stellio, Cuvier says, is very doubtful. It will be mentioned more at length in B. xi. c. 31.
337 It is very true, Cuvier says, that the tail of the gecko and lizard will grow again after it has been cut off, but without vertebra. As to the arms of the polypus, he says, it is very possible, seeing that the horns of the snail, which belongs to the same family, will grow again.
338 This account of the nautilus, Cuvier says, the Argonauta argo of Linnæus, wonderful as it may appear, has been often confirmed by modern observation.
339 This, Cuvier says, is not a membrane between the two feet or tentacles, but a distinct membranous delatation of the extremity of each of those two organs.
340 These vessels have been already remarked upon in Note 33 to c. 5 of the present Book.
341 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 61.
342 From ὄζω, "to emit an odour." This was a small kind of polypus.
343 Cuvier remarks that, in this Chapter, there are many details relative to the polypus, that have not been observed by modern naturalists; but they may have been observed by the Greeks, upon whose shores and islands the animal was much more frequently to be found than in the west of Europe.
344 Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 260, describes the battles of these animals with the polypus. He also says, B. iii. c. 198, that they are attracted by the smell of the flesh of the polypus, and so are easily taken.
345 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 59.
346 Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 1. 551, says, that they hardly live a year; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 28, states to a similar effect.
347 Basil attributes a similar craftiness to the crab; Hexaem. Homil. vii.
348 The fishermen at the present day, upon the coast of Normandy, say that the polypus, which they call the chatrou, is a most formidable enemy to swimmers and divers; for when it has embraced any of the limbs with—its tentacles, it adheres with such tenacity, that it is quite impossible for a person to disengage himself, or to move any of his limbs.
349 In Spain; see B. iii. c. 3. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 13, tells a similar story about a polypus at Puteoli.
350 "Lacus ;" large tubs used in the process of pickling. This story, Cuvier observes, is only surpassed by those told by the Norwegians relative to the "kraken" of their seas, which, according to some versions of the fable, is a polypus of such vast size, that sailors have sometimes mistaken it for an island.
351 "Nassis." The "nassa" was a contrivance for catching fish by the junction of osier or willow rods. It was probably made in the shape of a large bottle with a narrow mouth, and placed with the mouth facing the current. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, states, that the fishermen, when they were desirous of bringing the fish out of their holes, were in the habit of rubbing the mouth of the holes with salted flesh.
352 Oppian, Halieut. B. i. c. 310, tells a story of a polypus, of the ozæna species, that was in the habit of climbing trees, and plundering the fruit.
353 "Afflatu terribili." This, as Hardouin says, may either mean its had smell, or stinking water, ejected from its canal.
354 Its arms or feelers. The amphora, as a measure of capacity, held about nine English gallons.
355 "Caliculis;" literally, "little glasses." Its "acetabula," or suckers, are so called from their peculiar shape.
356 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 2, says the same; but, as Hardouin observes, he must mean the Ionian sea.
357 Cuvier says, that this is only a reproduction, under another name, and with other details, of the story of the nautilus or argonauta; but under the impression that the polyp is not the animal which owns the shell, but is only its associate. It has also been asserted in modern times, he says, that the polyp has seized this shell by force from some other animal, in order to convert it into its boat; but the opinion has not been adopted, as the shell of the nautilus has been never found in the possession of any other animal.
358 Probably borrowed from the Greeks, who called it ἄκατος. It is supposed to have been a small boat, similar to the Roman "scapha;" like our "skiff" probably.
359 The "rostrum" of the ancient ships of war.
360 "Palmulis." This word also means the blade or broad part of an oar; in which sense it may, perhaps, be here taken.
361 "Locusta;" literally, the "locust" of the sea. By this name is meant, Cuvier says, the "langouste" of the French (our cray-fish), which has no large forcipes, and has a thorax covered with spines; the Palinurus quadricornis of the naturalists. This is clearly the κάραβος of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 23; for we generally find it thus translated by Pliny, when he borrows anything from that philosopher. We know that the body of this animal was spiny, from the fact that Tiberius, as we learn from Suetonius, cruelly caused the face of a fisherman who had offended him, to be rubbed with a locusta.
362 Aristotle, and Theophrastus, in his "Treatise on Animals which conceal themselves," state to a similar effect.
363 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 4, states to a similar effect.
364 Aristotle, loc. cit., and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 25, state to the same effect.
365 Hardouin says, that this must be only understood of the kind of crab known as the "astacus;" that being the one mentioned by Aristotle, in the passage from which Pliny has borrowed.
366 He mentions, in B. ii. c. 41, the effect which the rays of the moon have upon the growth of shell-fish.
367 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 2, has a somewhat similar passage. "The kinds of crabs are numerous, and not easily to be enumerated. First, there are those known as maim, then the paguri, which are also called 'heracleotici;' and, after them, the river crabs. There are others, again, of a smaller size, and which, for the most part, are known by no name in particular."
368 This is, no doubt, the cray-fish, the same animal that has been called the "locusta" in the preceding Chapter. Aristotle states, B. iv. c. 8, that the carabus has the thorax rough and spiny. It is most probable, that it is from this name that our word "crab" is derived.
369 Cuvier says, that the astacus, which is very accurately described by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, is indisputably the homard of the French (the common lobster of the English); the Cancer gammarius of Linnæus. Pliny, in another place, B. xxx. c. ii., describes it himself under the name of elephantus.
370 Cuvier remarks, that according to Aristotle, B. iv. c. 2, the maiæ are in the number of the καρκίνοι, or crabs that have a short tail concealed beneath the body, being those of the largest kind. The same philosopher, De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, adds, that these have also short feet and a hard shell. Cuvier says, that many writers have applied this name to the crabs at the present day belonging to the genus inachus, and more especially the Cancer maia of Linnæus. He is more inclined, however, to think that the maia was the common French crab, known as poupart or tourtue, the Cancer pagurus of Linnæus.
371 Hardouin says, that these are the same that the Venetians were in the habit of calling "cancro poro," the last word being a corruption, as he thinks, of pagurus. Aristotle says, loc. cit., that they were crabs of middling size.
372 Or Heracleotic crabs. Aristotle says, De Partib. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, that these crabs had shorter feet and thinner than those of the maiæ. Cuvier suggests, that these may be the commonest kind of crab, the Cancer Mænas of Linnæus, or a species very similar.
373 "Leones." This name is not found in Aristotle's account, but it is found in Athenæus, B. iii. c. 106; and in Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xiv. c. 9. According to Diphilus, as quoted by Atheneus, it was of larger size than the astacus. Ælian describes it as more slender in shape than the crayfish, and partly of a bluish colour, and with very large forcipes, in which it resembles, Cuvier says, the homard of the French. It is possible, however, he adds, that it may have been only a second name given to the astacus already mentioned; as both Pliny and Ælian, who were not critical observers, are very liable to make errors in names.
374 Aristotle, Cuvier observes, states the carcini, or crabs, have no tail, the fact being that the tail is extremely small, and is concealed, as it were, in a furrow in the under part of the body. The cray-fish, on the other hand, has a large and broad tail.
375 ῾ιπποὶ. The more common reading is ἱππε̂ις, "horsemen." Cuvier thinks, that in all probability, these are a kind of crab with very long legs, vulgarly known as the sea-spider; the Macropodia and the Leptopodia of Linnæus.
376 Hardouin remarks, that Aristotle says this only of the carabi, or cray-fish, and not of the crabs in general; and that, on the contrary, in B. v. c. 7, he says, that in the crab the male does not differ in conformation from the female, except in the opercule. There seems, in reality, to be no foundation for the statement here made by Pliny.
377 Both in the crab and the cray-fish, Aristotle says.
378 Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 24, calls this kind of crab δρομίας, the "runner," from the great distance it is known to travel. He says, that they meet together, coming in one by one, at a certain bay in the Thracian Bosporus, where those who have arrived wait for the others; and that on finding that the waves of the Euxine are sufficiently violent to sweep them away, they unite in a dense body, and then waiting till the waters have retired, make a passage across the straits.
379 Cuvier remarks, that Hardouin is correct in considering this the same as the crab known in France as Bernard the Hermit (our hermit-crab), tile Cancer Bernardus of Linnæus, a species of the genus now known as the Pagur. This animal hides its tail and lower extremities in the empty shells of whelks, or other univalves. Cuvier suggests that our author committed a slip of the pen, in using the word oyster here for shell-fish. This is the καρκίνιον, probably, of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 16, and De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 8; and it is most probable that, as Cuvier states, the real πιννοτήρης of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 4, and B. v. c. 14, was another of the crustacea, of which Pliny speaks under the same name in c. 66. This last is a small crab, that lives in the shells of bivalves, such as mussels, &, but not when empty. See the Notes to c. 66.
380 This circumstance is more fully treated of in B. xxxii. c. 19,
381 Our author speaks rather more guardedly here than usual; and Har- douin seems almost inclined to believe the story. Ovid also alludes to this story in the Met. B. xv. 1. 370, et seq. "If you take off the bending claws from the crab of the sea-shore, and bury the rest in the earth, a scorpion will come forth from the part so buried, and will threaten with its crooked tail."
382 Of animals covered with a thin crust.
383 The sea-urchin, the herisson de mer of the French, and the Echinus of Linnæus.
384 Cuvier remarks, that it does not use the spines or prickles for this purpose, but that it moves by means of tentacules, which it projects from between its prickles.
385 The Echinus cidaris of Linnæus; with a small body, and very long spines. The name, according to Hardouin, is from the Greek, meaning the "mother of the echini."
386 See B. iv. c. 17.
387 The same, Cuvier says, with the Echinus spatagus of Linnæus.
388 Not "ova," Cuvier says, but "ovaria" rather. Each urchin has five "ovaria," arranged in the form of stars. They are supposed to be hermaphroditical, but there is considerable doubt on the subject.
389 The mouth of the sea-urchin, armed with five teeth, is generally turned to the ground, Cuvier says.
390 Plutarch, in his Book "on the Instincts of Animals." Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 225, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 44, all mention this.
391 This idea probably arose from the fact of their being sometimes found with stones sticking between their spines or prickles.
392 The thin-crusted animals.
393 Known to us as periwinkles.
394 It is now known, thanks to the research of Swammerdam, that the black points at the extremity of the great horns of the land snail, or Helix terrestris, and at the base of them in the water snail, are eyes.
395 "Pectines in mari;" literally, "sea-combs." The French still call them by a similar name, "peignes." They are known also in France as "coquilles de St. Jaques," or St. James's shells; probably, because worn by pilgrims who had visited the shrine of St. Jago, at Compostella. In- deed, the scallop shell was a favourite emblem with the palmers and pilgrims of the middle ages, who were in the habit of wearing it on their return in the hat.
396 He Latinizes the Greek name, calling it "unguis"—"a nail;" and, according to Varro, they were so called from their resemblance to the human nail. Pliny mentions them again in c. 87 of this Book, and in B. xxxii. c. 53, where he states that they are also called "dactyli," or "fingers." Cuvier says, that under this name are meant the pholades, a bivalve shell-fish, which give forth a very brilliant light.
397 Univalves, with a thick spinous shell.
398 The flat shell-fish, for instance, according to Cuvier, of the genus patella, or lepas.
399 Other fish of the genus patella, only more concave; the haliotes, for instance.
400 Forming a prolonged cone, Cuvier says, like the cerites.
401 The mouth of which is shaped like a crescent; such as the helices, Cuvier says.
402 The nerites, Cuvier says, which are cut into two hemispheres.
403 Such as many of the whelks, Cuvier says.
404 The whelks that have the edge turned inwards, so that one lip appears to fold under the other.
405 As no two naturalists might probably agree as to the exact meaning of the terms here employed, it has been thought advisable to give the passage as it appears in the original: "Jam distinctione virgulata, crinita, crispa, cuniculatim, pectinatim divisa, imbricatim undata, cancellatim reticulata, in obliquum, in rectum expansa, densata, porrecta, sinuata, brevi nodo legatis, toto latere connexis, ad plausum apertis, ad buccinum recurvis."
406 In allusion, probably, to the streaks or lines drawn upon the exterior of the shell.
407 With the mouth wide open, like that of a person in the act of applauding.
408 By "ad buccinum recurvis," he probably alludes to a whelk, or fish with a turbinated shell, resembling the larger conch or trumpet shell, which Triton is sometimes described as blowing.
409 Probably some of the Cypræa; which have been already alluded to in Note 6 to c. 41 of the present Book. Cuvier remarks, that there are many of the univalve shell-fish that float on the surface of the water, but none, with the exception of the argonauta or nautilus, are known to employ a membranous sail.
410 Cuvier says, that he has been informed that the scallop, by suddenly bringing together the valves of its shell, is able to make a bound, and leap above the surface of the water.
411 Ajasson says, that the words "purpuras, conchylia," here signify not the fish themselves, but the various tints produced by them; the purpura and the conchylium being, in fact, exactly the same fish, though, as will be explained in c. 60 of the present Book, by various modes of treatment, various colours were extracted from them. See also B. xxi. c. 22.
412 Dalechamps notices here an ancient proverb, which says, "Qui nare vult, se exuit." "He who wishes to swim, takes off his clothes."
413 In c. 2 of the present Book.
414 In B. vi. cc. 24 and 28.
415 See B. vi. c. 23. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, says to the same effect, but calls it "Perimuda, a city of India."
416 Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. x. c. 13. It has been already remarked, in the sixth Book, that the ancients looked upon the Persian Gulf as forming part of the Erythræan or Red Sea.
417 The pearl itself, Cuvier says, is nothing else but an extravasation, so to say, of the juices, whose duty it is to line the interior of the shell, to thicken and so amplify it; and consequently, it is produced by a malady. It is possible, he says, for them to be found in all shell-fish; but they have no beauty in them, unless the interior of the shell, the nacre, or, as we call it, the mother of pearl, is lustrous and beautiful itself. Hence it is, that the finest of them come from the east, and are furnished by the kind of bivalve, called by Linnæus, "Mytilus margaritiferus," which has the most beautiful mother of pearl in the interior that is known. The parts of the Indian sea which are mentioned by Pliny, are those in which the pearl oyster is still found in the greatest abundance.
418 All this theory, as Cuvier says, is totally imaginary.
419 Isidorus of Charax, in his description of Parthia, commended by Athenæus, B. iii., says, on the other hand, that the fish are aided in bringing forth, by rain and thunder.
420 From the Greek φυσήμα, "air—Bubble."
421 It sometimes happens, Cuvier says, that the secretion which forms the mother-of-pearl makes tubercles in the interior of the shell, which are the pearls adhering to the shell here spoken of.
422 Persius alludes to this in Sat. ii. 1. 66. "Hæc baccam conchæ rasisse;" "to file the pearl away from its shell."
423 From this passage we learn that the "tympana," or hand-drums of the ancients, were often of a semiglobular shape, like the kettle-drums of the present day.
424 Cuvier remarks that this is not the fact: the concretions are perfectly hard before the animal leaves the water.
425 Isidorus of Charax, as quoted by Athenæus, B. iii.; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. x. c. 20, make similar statements. Rondelet, in his treatise on Testaceous Fishes, B. i., complains of Pliny using the word "videt," "sees," in the present passage; but, as Hardouin says, he only uses it in a free sense, meaning, "is aware of the approach of," or "has a perception of."
426 Isidorus of Charax, in Athenæus, B. iii., tells a similar story; but modifies it by saying that the fish sometimes cuts off the fingers of the divers, and not the hands.
427 "Canes marini." He calls by this name the same animal that a little further on he describes by the name of "canicula," "dog-fish;" alluding, probably, under that name to various species of the shark. Procopius, in his book, De Bell. Pers. B. i. c. 4, has a wonderful story in relation to this subject. He says, that the sea-dogs are wonderful admirers of the pearl-fish, and follow them out to sea; that when the sea-dogs are pressed by hunger, they go in quest of prey, and then return to the shell-fish and gaze upon it. A certain fisherman, having watched for the moment when the shell-fish was deprived of the protection of its attendant sea-dog, which was seeking its prey, seized the shell-fish, and made for the shore. The sea-dog, however, was soon aware of the theft, and making straight for the fisherman, seized him. Finding himself thus caught, he made a last effort, and threw the pearl-fish on shore, immediately on which he was torn to pieces by its protector.
428 Such, for instance, as Megasthenes, quoted by Arrian in his Indica, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8.
429 Hardouin suggests that a preferable reading to "vetuslate," would be "venustate," by its beauty; and indeed, Ælian, in the corresponding passage, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, says, that the chief is remarkable "for its size, and the extreme beauty of its colours."
430 "Nucleos." The Greek authors occasionally call them "stones" and "bones." Tertullian calls them "maladies of shell-fish and warts"— "concharum vitia et verrucas."
431 Cuvier says, that the most efficient mode of extracting all the concretions that may happen to be concealed in the body of the animal, is to leave the flesh to dissolve in water, upon which the concretions naturally fall to the bottom.
432 Isidorus and Solinus, however, say that the pearl is so called, because two are never found together. The derivation given by Pliny is, however, the more probable one. From the Latin "unio," comes our word "onion;" which, like the pearl, consists of numerous coats, one laid upon the other.
433 Hence we must conclude that the word "margarita" is not of Greek, but Eastern origin.
434 Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, says, that the Indian pearls, and those which come from the Red Sea, are the best.
435 The laminæ of the lapis specularis, described by Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 45.
436 "Exaluminatos." It is clear from this passage that Pliny was acquainted with our alum, as he here clearly implies that the alum known to him was of a white colour. Beckmann, however, in his History of Inventions, asserts that our alum was certainly not known to the Greeks and Romans, and that their "alumen" was nothing else but vitriol, the green sulphate of iron, and that not in its pure state, but such as forms in mines. Pereira, however, in his Materia Medica, says, that there can be little doubt that Pliny was acquainted with our alum, but did not distinguish it from sulphate of iron, as he informs us that one kind of alum was white, and was used for dyeing wool of various colours. It is mentioned more fully in B. xxxv. c. 52, where he speaks of its use in dyeing.
437 These alabaster boxes for unguents are mentioned by Pliny in B. xxxvi. c. 12. They were usually pear-shaped; and as they were held with difficulty in the hand, on account of their extreme smoothness, they were called ἀλάβαστρα, from ὰ, "not," and λαβέσθαι, "to be held." The reader will recollect the offer made to our Saviour, of the "alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious." Matt. xxvi. 7. Mark xiv. 3.
438 Seneca, Benef. B. vii. c. 9, speaks of them as hanging in tiers from the ears of the Roman matrons, two and two; and he says that they are not satisfied unless they have two or three patrimonies suspended from each ear.
439 From their resemblance to "crotala," used by dancers, and similar to our castanets.
440 That the pearls as fully bespeak the importance of the wearer, as the lictor does of the magistrate whom he is preceding. The honour of being escorted by one or two lictors, was usually granted to the wives and other members of the imperial family.
441 Even on the "socculus," or "soccus," a shoe or slipper which did not require any "obstragulum," or tie. We find from Seneca, De Ben. B. ii. c. 12, and Pliny, B. xxxvii. c. 6, that Caligula wore gold and pearls upon his socculi.
442 Æian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, states to this effect from Juba.
443 They are found also, Ajasson says, at the present day, in some of the coldest rivers and torrents of Auvergne.
444 Or "pinna," the Greek name of this kind of pearl oyster.
445 Cuvier remarks, that he is here probably speaking of some spiny bivalve, perhaps the Spondylus of Linnæus.
446 "Grandini." But Hardouin thinks, and probably correctly, that the meaning here of the word is the "measles of swine;" for Androsthenes, in Athenæus, B. iii., has a similar passage, in which he says: "The stone (i. e. pearl) grows in the flesh of the shell-fish, just as the measles grow in the flesh of swine."
447 He is also mentioned in B. xxxvi. c. 12, and B. xxxvii. cc. 9, 11, 23, 35, and 50, as a writer on gems; but nothing else seems to be known of him.
448 Cuvier observes, that most of the rivers and lakes of the north of Europe possess the mya margarifera: the pearls of which, though much inferior to those of the East, are sufficiently esteemed to be made an article of commerce. Pad pearls, of a dead marble colour, are also very frequently found in the mussels taken off our coasts. Pearls have in modern times declined very considerably in value; those of about the size of a large pea can be purchased, of very fine quality, for about a guinea each, while those of the size of a pepper-corn sell at about eighteen-pence. Seed pearls, of the size of small shot, are of very little value. Tavernier speaks of a remarkable pearl, that was found at Catifia, in Arabia, the fishery probably alluded to by Pliny, in C. 54, and which he bought for the sum of £110,000, some accounts say £10,000, of our money. It is pear-shaped, the elenchus of the ancients, regular, and without blemish. The diameter is .63 of an inch, at the largest part, and the length from two to three inches. It is said to be in the possession of the Shah of Persia.
449 Tacitus, in his Agricola, says that pearls of a tawny and livid colour are thrown up on the shores of Britain, and there collected. Suetonius absolutely says, c. 4, that Julius Cæsar invaded Britain in the hope of obtaining pearls, in the weight and size of which he took considerable interest.
450 By the inscription placed beneath the thorax, or breast-plate.
451 The grand-daughter of M. Lollius, and heiress to his immense wealth. She was first married to C. Memmius Regulus; but was divorced from him, and married to the Emperor Caligula, who, however, soon divorced her. At the instigation of Agrippina, Claudius first banished her, and then caused her to be murdered. A sepulcher to her honour was erected in the reign of the Emperor Nero.
452 Caligula.
453 Or rather "betrothal entertainment," "sponsalium cena." The "sponsalia" were not an unusual preliminary of marriage, but were not absolutely necessary.
454 7,600,000 francs, Hardouin says; which would make £304,000 of our money.
455 "Ipsa confestim parata mancupationem tabulis probare."
456 He was proprætor of the province of Galatia, Consul B. C. 21, and B. C. 16 legatus in Gaul; where he suffered a defeat from certain of the German tribes. He was afterwards appointed by Augustus tutor to his grandson, C. Cæsar, whom he accompanied to the East in B. C. 2. He was a personal enemy of Tiberius, which may in some measure account for the had character given him by Velleius Paterculus, who describes him as more eager to make money than to act honourably, and as guilty of every kind of vice. Horace, on the other hand, in the ode addressed to him, Carm. iv. 9, expressly praises him for his freedom from all avarice. His son, M. Lollius, was the father of Lollia Paulina.
457 This does not appear to be asserted by any other author; but Velleius Paterculus almost suggests as much, B. ii., "Cujus mors intra paucos dies fortuita an voluntaria fuerit ignoro." It was said that he was in the habit of selling the good graces of Caius Cæsar to the Eastern sovereigns for sums of money.
458 "Fercula." See vol. i. p. 400, Note 1.
459 "Unam imperii mulierculam accubantem."
460 A fourth of the sum mentioned in Note 55.
461 "Corollarium."
462 "Et consumpturam eam cœnam taxationem confirmans."
463 "It was because pearls are calcareous, that Cleopatra was able to dissolve hers in vinegar, and by these means to gain a bet from her lover, as we are told by Pliny, B. ix. c. 58, and Macrobius, Sat. B. ii. c. 13. She must, however, have employed stronger vinegar than that which we use for our tables; as pearls, on account of their hardness and their natural enamel, cannot be easily dissolved by a weak acid. Nature has secured the teeth of animals against the effect of acids, by an enamel covering, which answers the same purpose; but if this enamel happens to be injured only in one small place, the teeth soon spoil and rot. Cleopatra, perhaps, broke and pounded the pearls [pearl]; and it is probable that she afterwards diluted the vinegar with water, that she might be able to drink it; though dissolved calcareous matter neutralizes acids, and renders them imper- ceptible to the tongue. That pearls are not peculiar to one kind of shellfish, as many believe, was known to Pliny." Beckmann's History of In- ventions, vol. i. p. 258, note 1, Bohn's Ed. We may remark, however that as the story is told by Pliny, there is no appearance that Cleopatra pounded the pearl. It is more likely that she threw it into the vinegar, and immediately swallowed it, taking it for granted that it had melted.
464 Macrobius, Saturn. B. iii. says, "Monatius" Plancus. His name was in reality Lucius Munatius Plancus. He afterwards deserted Antony, and took the side of Octavianus; and it was on his proposal that Octavianus received the title of Augustus in B. C. 27. He built the temple of Saturn, in order to secure the emperor's favour. It is not known in what year he died.
465 "Omine rato." He means, that in the result, it was only too true that Antony was "victus," conquered, and that by his enemy Octavianus.
466 Claudius, or Clodius Æsopus, was the most celebrated tragic actor at Rome in the time of Cicero, and was probably a freedman of the Clodian family. Horace and other authors put him on a level with Roscius. From Cicero we learn that his acting was characterized chiefly by strong emphasis and vehemence. Cicero characterizes him as a "summus artifex," a "consummate artist." He was a firm friend of Cicero, whose cause he advocated indirectly more than once during his banishment from Rome. It appears from Pliny, B. x. c. 72, that he was far from frugal, though he left a large fortune to his spendthrift son, Clodius Æsopus. This man, among his other feats, dissolved in vinegar (or at least attempted to do so), a pearl worth about £8000, which he took from the ear-ring of Cæcilia Metella. It is alluded to by Horace, B. ii. Sat. iii. 1. 239.
467 Or "conchylium." We find that Pliny generally makes a difference between the colours of the "murex," or "conchylium," and those of the "purpura," or "purple." Cuvier says, that they were the names of different shell-fish which the ancients employed for dyeing in purple of various shades. It is not known exactly, at the present day, what species they employed; but it is a fact well ascertained, that the greater part of the univalve shell-fish, more especially the Buccini and Murices of Linnæus, distil a kind of red liquid. The dearness of it arose, Cuvier thinks, from the remarkably small quantity that each animal afforded. Since the coccus, or kermes, he says, came to be well known, and more especially since the New World has supplied us with cochineal, we are no longer necessitated to have recourse to the juices of the murex.
468 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, says, "about six." The murex of Pliny is the κήρυξ of Aristotle.
469 Aristotle says, that the purple consists of three parts, the upper being the τράχηλος, or neck; the middle the μήχων,, or poppy; and the lower the πυθμήν, or trunk; and that the juice lies between the first and second of these parts, or the throat. This juice, which Pliny calls "flos," "flower," "ros," "dew," and "succus," "juice," is distilled, Cuvier says, not from the fauces of the animal, but from the mantle or membranous tissue which lines the shell.
470 See B. v. c. 7. See also B. vi. c. 36.
471 Which preceded the Roman consuls, who were clothed with the toga prætexta, the colour of which was Syrian purple.
472 Hardouin seems to think that "majestate pueritia" means "children of high birth;" but it was the fact that all children of free birth wore the prætexta, edged with purple, till they attained puberty. It is much more probable that by these words Pliny means the "majesty of youth," in its simplicity and guileless nature, that commands our veneration and respect.
473 He means that the purple laticlave or broad hem of the senator's toga distinguished him from the eques, who wore a toga with an angusticlave, or narrow hem.
474 From Cicero, Epist. Ad. Attic. B. ii. Ep. 9, we learn that purple was worn by the priests when performing sacrifice. Ajasson, however, agrees with Dalechamps in thinking that this passage bears reference to the consuls, who wore purple when sacrificing to the gods.
475 The prætexta, for instance, the laticlave, the chlamys, the paludamentum, and the trabea.
476 On the occasion of a triumph, the victor was arrayed in a "toga picta," an embroidered garment, which, from the present passage, would appear to have been of purple and gold. Pliny tells us, B. xxxiii. c. 19, that Tarquinius, on his triumph over the Sabines, wore a robe of cloth of gold.
477 Aristotle says the same, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, and De Partib. Anim. B. ii. c. 17. Cuvier says, that the buccinus and murex have a long neck, in which there is a tongue armed with little teeth, but very sharp, by means of which the animal is enabled to pierce other shell-fish.
478 "Conchylia;" other fish of the same kind apparently; as Pliny uses the word "conchylium" synonymously with "murex."
479 "Præmia vitæ suæs."
480 Cuvier says that the buccini, properly so called, have at the bottom of the orifice of the shell an incision, which is the characteristic of the genus. Our whelks are the best known specimen of the buccinum that we have. They received their name, he says, from the buccinum, or buccina, the conchshell. (with which Triton is commonly painted), and that in its turn was so called from its resemblance to a buccina, trumpet or herdsman's horn.
481 It is not the tongue, Cuvier says, that occupies this passage, but a prolongation of the skin or coat that envelopes the animal, and its office is to conduct to the branchiæ the water necessary for the purposes of respiration.
482 This description, Cuvier says, is applicable to the Murex brandaris, the Murex tribulus of Linnæus, and other species that denote their growth by the increase of the spirals furnished with spines.
483 Or "deep sea" purples. Dalechamps remarks, that Pliny here unwittingly gives to the purples in general, a name which only belonged to one species; there being some that only frequent the shore, and are not found out at sea.
484 "Lutnensis."
485 "Algensis."
486 "Tæniensis."
487 "Calculensis."
488 From the Greek διαλυτὸς, "free," or "roving;" in consequence of its peculiar mode of life.
489 Nassis. See Note 51 in p. 421.
490 "Quum cerificavere." Cuvier remarks that Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, says, that these shell-fish make "waxen combs," meaning thereby collections of cells, similar to those formed by the bee; and it is to this notion that Pliny refers in the use of the word "cerificavere." It is the fact, Cuvier says, that the univalve sea shell-fish, and more particularly the buccini and the murices, envelope their eggs with glutinous vesicles of varied forms, according to the respective species; which, when massed together, may be not inappropriately termed "combs."
491 In c. 60. As Cuvier remarks, with considerable justice, this description by Pliny of the process of dyeing in purple, is very difficult to explain, seeing that the art is now entirely lost. Reaumur, he says, made some attempts at dyeing with a small buccinum found off the French coasts, the Buccinum lapillus of Linnæus; but without any result.
492 About twenty ounces.
493 Because iron or brazen vessels might impart a tinge to the colour. The same would probably be the case if the word "plumbo "were to be considered as signifying "lead." As, however, Pliny uses this word in the signification of "tin," it is most probable that that is his meaning. Littré, however, translates the word "plombe," "lead."
494 Hardouin says, that the weight of the contents of the amphora would be about eighty pounds: it would therefore take eight thousand pounds of material, to make five hundred pounds of dye. The passage, however, which runs as follows, "Fervere in plumbo, singulasque amphoras centenas ad quingentenas medicaminis libras aequari," may be rendered, "It is then set to boil in vessels of tin, and every hundred amphoræ of water ought to he proportioned to five hundred pounds of the material;" indeed, this is probably the correct translation, though Littré, who is generally very exact, adopts that given in the text.
495 "Alligatur:" which word may also mean, that mixed with the buccinum, it will hold fast, and not speedily fade or wash out.
496 So called from the gem of that name; see B. xxxvii. c. 40.
497 αἵματι πορφυρέῳ. II. P. 1. 360, for instance.
498 The "trabea" was similar in cut to the toga, but was ornamented with purple horizontal stripes. Servius mentions three kinds of trabea; one wholly of purple, which was sacred to the gods, another of purple and white, and another of purple and saffron, which belonged to the augurs. The purple and white trabea was the royal robe, worn by the early kings, and the introduction of which was assigned to Romulus. The trabea was worn by the consuls in public solemnities, such as opening the temple of Janus. The equites also wore it on particular occasions; and it is sometimes spoken of as the badge of the equestrian order.
499 The latus clavus, or latielave, was originally worn on the tunic, and was a distinctive badge of the senatorian order. It consisted of a single broad band of purple colour, extending perpendicularly from the neck down the centre of the tunic. The right of wearing the laticlave was given to children of the equestrian order, at least, as we learn from Ovid, in the reign of Augustus.
500 Hardouin says, that in his time there were still to be seen the remains of the ancient dyeing houses at Tarentum, the modern Otranto, and that vast heaps of the shells of the murex had been discovered there.
501 Cloths doubly dyed, or twice dipped: from the Greek δὶς, twice, and βάπτω, to dip.
502 "Triclinaria." This word probably signified not only the hangings of the table couches, but the coverings, and the coverlets which were spread over the guests while at the meal.
503 "Pro indiviso."
504 "Dimidia et medicamina adduntur." This, no doubt, is the sense of the passage, as it is evident that only a thinner dye was required for tint, though at first sight it would appear as though one-half more were required for the same quantity of wool. The quantity therefore would be 155 1/2 pounds of dye to fifty pounds of wool.
505 Tantoque dilutior, quanto magis vellera esuriunt." This seems to be the meaning of the passage: some commentators would read "dilucidior" for "dilutior," and it would appear to be preferable.
506 There can be little doubt that Salmasius is right in his conjecture that the reading here should be "quingentos," "five hundred," instead of "quinquagenos," "fifty:" as it is evident from what Pliny has said in previous Chapters, that the juices of the pelagia were considerably more valuable than those of the buccinum.
507 He states this by way of warning to those who are in the habit of paying enormous prices for dyes, such as one hundred denarii for a pound, as mentioned in the last Chapter.
508 This is mentioned more fully in B. xvi. c. 84.
509 See B. xxxiii. c. 23. Electrum was an artificial metal, resembling amber in colour, and consisting of gold alloyed with one-fifth part of silver.
510 See B. xxxiv. c. 3. It was a mixture of gold, silver, and copper.
511 Described at the end of c. 62.
512 "Nomen imprubum."
513 From the Greek ὕσγινος, after the herb hysge, which was used in dyeing. Judging from the present passage, it would almost appear to have been the colour now known as puce. See B. xxi. c. 36 and c. 97; and B. xxxv. c. 26.
514 See B. xvi. c. 8, and B. xxiv. c. 4.
515 See B. iv. c. 35.
516 This is in reality the Coccus ilicis of Linnæus, a small insect of the genus Coccus, the female of which, when impregnated, fastens itself to a tree from which they derive nourishment, and assumes the appearance of a small grain: on which account they were long taken for the seeds of the tree, and were hence called grains of kermes. They are used as a red and scarlet dye, but are very inferior to cochineal, which has almost entirely superseded the use of the kermes. The colour is of a deep red, and will stand better than that of cochineal, and is less liable to stain.
517 Or pina. The Pinna marina, Cuvier says, is a large bivalve shell-fish, which is remarkable for its fine silky hair, by means of which it fastens itself to the bottom of the sea.
518 The poet Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 186, relates the same story about the pinna and its protector; which is also mentioned by Cicero, Plutarch, and Aristotle.
519 We have already had an account of one pinnotheres, in c. 51. Some of the editions, however, make a difference in the spelling of the name, and call the animal mentioned in the 51st Chapter, "pinnotheres," and the one here spoken of, the "pinnoteres," the "guardian of the pinna;" from the Greek verb τηρέω, "to keep," or "guard." "Pinnophylax" has the same meaning.
520 Cuvier says, that in the shell of the pinna, as, in fact, of all the bivalves, there are often found little crabs, which are, as it were, imprisoned there; and that it is this fact that has given rise to the story of the treaty of amity between these two animals, which appears in various authors, and is related in various forms, which only agree in being devoid of truth. Cuvier says that a careful distinction must be made between the pinnotheres of this Chapter, the one of which Aristotle makes mention, and that which is mentioned by Pliny in c. 51, the hermit-crab of the moderns. There can, however, be but little doubt that they are different accounts of the same animal.
521 The whole, nearly, of this Chapter is taken from Aristotle, B. v. c. 16.
522 Plutarch speaks of this fish, in his "Treatise on the Instincts of Animals;" also Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 62. The Raia torpedo of Linnæus, Cuvier says, has on each side of the body a galvanic organ, which produces an electric shock, similar to that communicated by the use of the Leyden vial. By this means it baffles its enemies, and drives them away; or else, having stupefied them, devours them at its leisure.
523 Cuvier confirms this statement. The liver of the torpedo, he says, is very delicate eating, as, indeed, is that part in most of the ray genus.
524 Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 86; Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 24; and Cicero, De Nat. Deor. make mention of this.
525 The Lophius piscatorius of Linnæus, the baudroie of the French. This is a fish, Cuvier says, with a large wide mouth, and having upon the top of the head moveable filaments, surmounted by a sort of membranous lashes. It seems that it is the fact that it buries itself in the sand, and then employs the artifice here mentioned by Pliny, for the purpose of attracting the fish that serve as its food.
526 Or turbot. This fish, the Pleuronectes maximus of Linnæus, and the Squalus squatina of Linnæus, presents no sufficiently distinct filaments at the extremity of the fins to justify what Pliny says. But the word "rhombus," Cuvier says, which ordinarily means the common turbot, here means the psetta of the Greeks, the Pleuronectes rhombus of Linnæus, which has the anterior radii of the dorsal fin separated, and forming small filaments. For an account of the psetta, see c. 24, p. 396.
527 The sting-ray, the Raia pastinaca of Linnæus. This fish, Cuvier says, has upon the tail a pointed spine, compressed and notched like a saw, which forms a most dangerous weapon. It is again mentioned in c, 72 of the present Book, under its Greek name of "trigon."
528 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, and B. ix. c. 51; Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 424; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 35, make a similar statement as to the scolopendra.
529 The animal, Cuvier says, which is here mentioned as the scolopendra, is in reality of the class of worms that have red blood, or annelides, such, for instance, as the Nereides of larger size. These having on the sides tentacles, which bear a strong resemblance to feet, and sharp jaws, might, he says, be very easily taken for scolopendræ. They have also a fleshy trunk, often very voluminous, and so flexible that it can be extended or withdrawn, according to the necessities of the animal. It is this trunk, Cuvier thinks, that gave occasion to the story that it could disgorge its entrails, and then swallow them again.
530 This fish, Cuvier says, was doubtless a species of squalus; which have the power, in consequence of the sharpness of their saw-like teeth, of cutting a line with the greatest ease. It is mentioned by Aristotle, B. ix. c. 52; Ælian, Var. Hist. B. i. c. 43; and Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. 1. 144.
531 The fish that has been previously mentioned in c. 17 of this Book, under the name of silurus.
532 "Aries." The Delphinus orca of Linnæus. See c. 4 of the present Book.
533 The zoöphytes, or the zoödendra.
534 The wandering urticæ, or sea-nettles, are the Medusæ of Linnæus; the stationary nettle is the Actinia of the same naturalist.
535 "Camosæ frondis his natura."
536 Many species of the medusæ, Cuvier says, and other animals of the same class, the physalus more especially, cause an itching sensation in the skin when they are touched. This is noticed also by Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 35; and by Diphilus of Siphnos, in Athenæus, B. iii.
537 This is true, Cuvier says, and more especially with reference to the actiniæ. They have the mouth provided with numerous fleshy tentacles, by means of which they can seize very small animals which come within their reach, which they instantly swallow.
538 Cuvier says, that this is the case more especially with the medusæ and the physali.
539 "Ora ei in radice." Aristotle, however, says, fist. Anim. B. iv. c. 5, and B. viii. c. 3, that the sea-nettle has the mouth situate ἐν μέσῳ, "in the middle of the body." Hardouin attempts to explain the passage on the ground that Pliny has made a mistake, in an endeavour to suit his similitude of a tree to the language of Aristotle. Cuvier says, that there exists one genus or species of the medusæ, which appears to feed itself by the aid of an apparatus of branches, and is divided into such a multitude of filaments, almost innumerable, that it bears a strong resemblance to the roots of a tree or vegetable. It is this kind, he says, that he has called by the name of "Rhizostomos."
540 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 3, says the same; though, on the other hand, in the Fourth Book, he says that the animal has no excrements, although it has a mouth, and feeds.
541 Cuvier remarks, that there are a great many more than three kinds of sponges, but that Pliny here is only enumerating those which were employed for domestic use.
542 In the singular, "tragus," from the Greek τραγὸς, a goat, on account of their strong smell, which they contract from the mud and slime in which they are found.
543 Probably from the Greek μάνος, "rare," "in small quantities;" in allusion to the comparative rarity of this kind of sponge.
544 A term merely used, as Cælius Rhodiginus says, to denote the strength of its texture.
545 Cuvier says, that though sometimes shells and small animals are found lodged in the sponge, they do not afford it any nourishment. Having no mouth, it can only live and increase by the inhalation of substances dissolved in the water of the sea.
546 "Sensere." Cuvier says, that many observers have stated that this is the only sign of animal life that the sponge affords; but that Grant assures us that it does not even afford that. The fact is, however, that "the sponge itself is a cellular, fibrous tissue, produced by small animals, almost imperceptible, called polypi, and living in the sea. This tissue is said to be covered in its native state with a sort of semifluid thin coat of animal jelly, susceptible of a slight contraction or trembling on being touched; which, in fact, is the only symptom of vitality displayed by the sponge. After death, this gelatinous substance disappears, and leaves only the skeleton or sponge, formed by the combination of a multitude of small capillary tubes, capable of receiving water in the interior, and of becoming thereby distended. Though different in their nature, sponges are analogous in their formation to coral. On being examined with a power of about 500 linear, the fleshy matter of the living sponge is to be distinctly observed, having in its interior gemmæ, which are considered to be the young. These are occasionally given off from the mass of living matter. The greater portion of the mass of sponge consists of small cylindrical threads or fibres, varying in size. The spiculæ are not found within these, but in the large and flattened fibres, and varying in number from one to three or more, imbedded in their substance." From Brande's Dictionary.
547 See B. iv. c. 17.
548 This, to the end of the Chapter, is almost verbatim from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 17.
549 See B. iv. cc. 8, 10.
550 ᾿απλυσίαι, from ά, "not," and πλύνω, "to wash." These aplysiæ or halcyones, Cuvier says, are a kind of sponge, of too thick and compact a nature to admit of their being washed. It is arbitrarily, he says, that Linnæus has applied this name to a species of the molluskæ, which is, in reality, the sea-hare of the ancients.
551 It is pretty clear that under the name of "canicula," "dog-fish," or "canis marinus," "sea-dog," Pliny includes the whole genus of sharks.
552 Rondelet and Dalechamps absolutely interpret this passage as though it were the dog-fish and flat-fish over whose eyes this cloud comes, and the latter proceeds to describe it as a malady which hinders the fish from taking its own part in the combat. Hardouin, however, detects this absurdity, and justly reprehends it; though it must be confessed that there is some obscurity in the passage, arising from the way in which it is worded.
553 Cuvier thinks it not improbable that it may have been some of the large rays that were seen by the divers, and more especially, the largest of them all, the Cephalopterus.
554 "Stilos."
555 Cælius Rhodigonus, B. xxv. c. 16, states that the divers for sponges were in the habit of pouring forth oil at the bottom of the sea, for the purpose of increasing the light there; and Pliny states the same in B. ii. c. 106.
556 Cuvier says, that the name of "sacred fish" has been given to several fish of very different character; such as the anthias or aulopias of Aristotle, B. ix. c. 37, the pompilus and the dolphin (Atheneus, B. vii.), because it was thought that their presence was a guarantee against the vicinity of dangerous fish. The authors, however, that were consulted by Pliny, seem to have given this name to the flat-fish, the Pleuronectes of Linnæus; and in fact, unprovided as they are with any means of defence, their presence is not unlikely to prove, in a very great degree, the absence of the voracious class of fishes.
557 It is singular that Pliny, after his numerous stories as to the sensitiveness of numerous bivalves, should make this statement in reference to the oyster; for, on the contrary, as Cuvier says, the oyster, in common with the other bivalves, is extremely sensitive to the touch.
558 Cuvier says, that the different zoöphytes, the sea-star, at least, are far from having the life of vegetables only; for that they are real animals, which have the sense of touch, a voluntary power of motion more or less complete, and seize and devour their prey. It is not, however, very well known, he says, what was the "holothurium" of the ancients. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 1, ranks it, as well as the oyster, among the animals which, without being attached to any object, have not the faculty of moving; and in his work, De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 5, he adds, that the holothurium and the pulmo only differ from the sponge in being detached. Cuvier is of opinion, however, that they both belong to the halcyones, the round kinds of which easily detach themselves from the places upon which they have grown.
559 Pulmo, "the sea-lungs."
560 Or, as we call it, the star-fish.
561 "Adeoque nihil non gignitur in mari."
562 "Cauponarum." "Caupona" had two significations; that of an inn where travellers obtained food and lodging, and that of a shop where wine and ready-dressed meat were sold. A lower kind of inn was the popina, which was principally frequented by the slaves and lower classes, and was mostly used as a brothel as well.
563 He alludes to various kinds of sea-animals, called sea-lice and seafleas. Cuvier says, that there are some crustacea which have been called sea-fleas and sea-lice, some of which kinds are parasites, and are attached to various fishes and cetacea. Thus, he says, a pycnogonum is commonly named "pediculus balænæ," or the "whale-louse;" one of the calygæ is called the "fish-flea," another the "mackerel-flea." The name of sea-flea, he observes, has been given more especially to a very diminutive kind of shrimp, in consequence of its power of leaping from place to place.
564 Aristotle says, that the chalcis is greatly tormented by sea-fleas, which attach themselves to its gills. Cuvier remarks, that a great number of fish are subject to have the gills attacked by parasitical animals of the genus Lernæa or that of the monoculi of Linnæus, which have been divided into many classes since. They have nothing in common, he says, with the land-flea, except the name and the property of living at the expense of other animals.
565 The ancients, Cuvier says, speak of their chalcis as being of a similar nature to the thryssa and the sardine (Athenæus, B. vii.), gregarious fishes, which live both in the sea and in fresh water, and the flesh of which was salted. Hence he concludes that it was the same as the Clupea ficta of Lacepède, the "finte" of the French, and the agone of Lombardy, which unites all these characteristics, and is sometimes called the "sardine" of the Lago di Garda.
566 It is mentioned again in B. xxiii. c. 3. Cuvier says, that the sea-hare of the ancients is the mollusc to which Linnæus has 'injudiciously given the name of aplysia, which Pliny gives to certain of the sponge genus, and to which nomenclature of Linnæus the modern naturalists have assented. (See N. 51, p. 456.) Its tentacles and its muzzle, he says, resemble the muzzle and ears of the hare, closely enough to have caused this appellation. As its smell is disagreeable, and its figure repulsive, a multitude of marvellous, and indeed fatal qualities, he says, have been ascribed to this animal, which fishermen still speak of, but which, nevertheless, are not confirmed by actual experience. The only true fact that can be alleged against it is, that it secretes from an organ, situate in its body, a kind of acrid liquid. As to the Indian sea-hare, the body of which was covered with hair, Cuvier professes himself quite at a loss to know what it might be; but he thinks that this name must have been given to some tetrodon, which may have received the name from the cleft in the jaw and the skin, bristling with fine and minute spines. The sailors, he says, attribute to the tetrodon certain venomous properties.
567 Cuvier says, that there is reason to believe that this is the same as the vive of the French (probably our weever), the Trachinus draco of Linnæus. This creature, with the spiny projections of its first dorsal fin, is able to inflict wounds that are extremely difficult to cure; not because they are venomous in any degree, but because the extremities being very minute, sharp, and pointed, penetrate deep into the flesh. See c. 43 of this Book.
568 Or sting-ray, mentioned in c 40 and c. 67 of this Book; so called from the Greek τρυγὼν. Cuvier says, that this sting, or spine, is sharp, like a saw; and that when it has penetrated the flesh, it cannot be got out without enlarging the wound. This it is, and not its fancied poisonous qualities, that renders its wound so dangerous; and as for its action upon trees and iron, they are entirely fabulous.
569 νοσήματα λοιμώδη, as Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 25, calls them.
570 Cuvier says, that there are some maladies by which individuals are attacked; but that it is not uncommonly the case that certain species are attacked universally, as it were, by a sort of epidemic. There was an instance of this, he says, in the lake of the valley of Montmorency, where numbers of the fish were suddenly to be seen floating dead on the surface, the skin of which was covered with red spots, while at the same time their flesh had become disagreeable to the taste, and unwholesome.
571 Cuvier says, that this is not the case in general; but that some, more especially those which are viviparous, actually do couple; while, on the other hand, in most, the male does nothing else but besprinkle with the milt the eggs which the female has deposited, as is stated by Pliny a little further on.
572 These belong to the cetacea; which, as Cuvier says, are now universally placed among the mammifera, and not among the fishes. They couple, he says, in the same manner as quadrupeds do in general.
573 As Aristotle says, "from those that are left the fishes are produced."
574 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 12.
575 It has been calculated, Cuvier says, that a female cod, or sturgeon, produces in a year more than one hundred thousand eggs.
576 Cuvier says, that the eggs of the common fishes, of toads, frogs, &, have no shells, but only a membranous tunic; and when they have been once fecundated, they imbibe the surrounding moisture, and increase till they produce the animal.
577 It is probable, Cuvier thinks, that this passage relates more especially to the ray genus, but that there is no very positive knowledge as to the mode in which they do couple. It is probable, he suggests, that they may do it in the manner above mentioned, by the attrition of the belly. As to the turtle genus, he says, it is certain that the male mounts the back of the female; and in some species the sternum of the male is concave, the better to adapt itself to the convex callipash of the female.
578 More properly, the physeter, passage, or orifice.
579 Cuvier remarks, that this account of the coupling of the cephalopodes is taken from Aristotle. He says, that he is not aware whether modern observation has confirmed these statements, and almost doubts whether, considering the organization of these animals, it is not almost more probable that they do not couple at all, and that the male, as in the case of most other fishes, only fecundates the eggs after they have been deposited by the female.
580 Cuvier says, that whatever may be the sense in which the word "mollia" is here taken, the assertion is not correct. The gasteropod molluscs, he says, whether hermaphroditical, or whether of separate sexes, couple side to side. The acephalous molluscs do not couple at all, and each individual fecundates its own eggs. The crustacea couple by attrition of the belly.
581 "Tadpoles." There is both truth and falsehood, Cuvier says, in the statements here made relative to the tadpole. Frogs, he says, produce eggs, from which the tadpole developes itself, with a tail like that of a fish. The feet, however, are not produced by any bifurcation of the tail, but shoot out at the base of the tail, and in the same proportion that they grow, the tail decreases, till at last it entirely disappears.
582 Frogs, Cuvier says, conceal themselves in mud and slime during the winter, but, of course, are not changed into it.
583 "Quæ fuere." Just in the same state, he probably means to say, in which they were when they were melted into slime, and not as they were when in the tadpole state.
584 All that is asserted here, Cuvier says, about the spontaneous operations of nature is totally false. Everything connected with the eggs and the generation of the mussel, the murex, and the scallop is now clearly ascertained.
585 "Acescente humore." Hardouin has suggested that the proper reading may be "arescente humore"—" from moisture dried up;" for, he remarks, Aristotle, in his Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 18, states, that the "empides," gnats formed from the ascarides in the slime of wells, are more frequently produced in the autumn season.
586 The apuæ, or aphyæ, Cuvier says, are nothing else but the fry of fish of a large kind.
587 Cuvier says, that some of the shell-fish deposit their eggs upon stakes and piles, which are driven down into the water among sea-weed, and the bottoms of old ships: but that many of them perish from the solutions formed by those bodies in a state of rottenness, or, at all events, are not produced from their decomposition.
588 "Ostreariis." This was unknown to Aristotle, who, in his work De Gener. Anim. B. iii. c. 11, expressly denies that the oyster secretes any generative or fecundating liquid.
589 Cuvier says, that at the time of the oyster spawning, its body appears swollen in some parts with a milky fluid, which is not improbably the fecundating fluid. During this season the oyster is generally looked upon as unfit for food; among us, from the beginning of May to the end of July.
590 This, Cuvier remarks, is a mere vague hypothesis, as to the reproduction of the eel, without the slightest foundation. Pliny borrows it from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 9.
591 The squatina and the ray do not interbreed, Cuvier observes, any more than other fish; and the Squatina raia, or rhinobatis, (which was said to be their joint production), is a particular species, more flat in form than the squalus, and longer than the ray.
592 ρινόβατος, the squatinoraia."
593 "Lupus." The Perca labrax of Linnæus; see c. 28 of the present Book.
594 The sardine. See c. 20 of the present Book.
595 Sec c. 71 of the present Book.
596 This name, Cuvier says, appears so rarely in the ancient writers, that it is difficult to ascertain its exact signification. The moderns, he says, have pretty generally agreed to give it to the carp, but without any good and sufficient foundation. It was a lake or river fish, which, as Aristotle says, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 14, deposited its eggs five or six times in the year, and which had a palate so fleshy, that it might almost be mistaken for a tongue, B. iv. c. 8, characteristics that appear well suited to the carp. But then, on the other hand, Oppian mentions it, Halieut. B. i., as a shore fish, implying apparently that it belonged to the sea; and Pliny himself, in c. 25 of the present Book, does the same, by his words, "hoc et in mari accidere cyprino." The words "in mari," however, he has added, of his own accord, to the account which he has derived from Aristotle.
597 The fish called the sea-scorpion. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11.
598 "Sola autumno, occasu Vergiliarum." It seems questionable whether the reading should not be "solea:" "the sole in autumn, at the setting of the Vergiliæ."
599 The Pleiades.
600 See c. 40 of the present Book.
601 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11.
602 "Prosequitur afflatu." Aristotle says that it pours over them its ink or atramentum, καταφυσᾷ τὸν θόλον.
603 Philostratus, Hist. B. v. c. 17, says that so full is it of eggs, that after it is dead they will more than fill a vessel far larger than the cavities of its head.
604 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v, c. 14.
605 Our periwinkles.
606 All the chondropterygian fishes, Cuvier says, have, in addition to their ovaries, real oviducts, which the ordinary fishes have not; the lower part of which, being detached, acts as the uterus, into which the eggs descend when they have gained their proper size: and it is here that the young ones burst forth from the egg, when the parent animal is viviparous.
607 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 13, says the same of the glanis, or silurus.
608 The Syngnathus acus of Linnæus. This fish, Cuvier says, and in general all of the same genus, has a channel situate under the tail, which is opened by two moveable valves. In this they deposit their eggs at the moment of excluding them. After this, the valves open, to give a passage to the eggs, or the young enclosed in them. This circumstance, he says, gave rise to the notion mentioned in the text.
609 Mentioned in c. 35 of the present Book. Cuvier says that the sea tortoises, or turtles, to which no doubt this animal belonged, do deposit their eggs much in the way here mentioned.
610 Both these fishes have been mentioned in c. 23 of the present Book.
611 Pliny means to say, Cuvier says, that all these fish are to be looked upon as females: and, in fact, he says, Cavolini discovered eggs and a milt in every one that he examined; so that they appear to have all the appliances of self-fecundation.
612 Or wheel-fish: from the Greek τροχὸς, "a wheel." It is not clearly known what animal he alludes to under this name. Snails, Cuvier says, are hermaphrodites, and so is the helix, but still they require sexual connection for the purposes of reproduction. The greater part of the marine univalves, on the other hand, are of separate sexes; but the organ of the male being proportionally of great length, and coiled in part beneath its mantle, this fact may very possibly have given rise to the notion here mentioned by our author, that the animal impregnates itself.
613 This can only be understood, Cuvier says, as applying to those animals the young of which are still enveloped in the membranes of the egg: for in general, the young of fish, from the moment of their birth, have eyes of great beauty, and are remarkable for the quickness of their sight.
614 From the Greek ταυσἰλυπον, "grief-assuaging." This was the name of a splendid villa belonging to Vedius Pollio, and which he bequeathed to Augustus. It was famous for its fish preserves; and it was here probably that Pollio kept his murenæ, previously mentioned by Pliny as being fed on human flesh. The vicinity is still called Monte Posilipo.
615 "Cæsaris piscinis. "This may either mean, preserves which had their name from Cæsar, or preserves which afterwards belonged to Cæsar. The work of Seneca, in which this circumstance was mentioned, is no longer in existence.
616 He was a contemporary of L. Crassus, and was distinguished for his great wealth, and his love of luxury and refinement, but possessed an unblemished character. His surname, Orata or Aurata, was given to him, it is said, because he was remarkably fond of gold-fish—auratæ pisces—though, according to other authorities, it was because he was in the habit of wearing two very large gold rings.
617 "Pensiles balineas." This expression has been differently rendered by various commentators, but it is now generally supposed to refer to the manner in which the flooring of the bathing rooms was suspended over the hollow cells of the hypocaust or heating furnace. This is called by Vitruvius, "Suspensura caldariorum."
618 "Ita mangonicatas villas subinde vendendo."—By the use of the word "ita," Pliny may possibly mean that he was in the habit of filling up the villas with the "balineæ pensiles," which he had invented. "Mangonizo" was to set off or trim up a thing, that it might sell again all the better.
619 Varro speaks of those of Tarentum, as being the best. The Greeks preferred the oysters of Abydos; the Romans, under the empire, those of Britain.
620 It does not appear to be known what two bridges are here alluded to; the Sublician, or wooden bridge, was probably one of them, and, perhaps, the Palatine bridge was the other. The former was built by Ancus Martius.
621 For some further account of the British oyster, see B. xxxii. c. 21.
622 See B. xxxii c. 21.
623 He was the first of this family, a branch of the Licinian gens, who bore the surname of Murena, from his love for that fish, it was said. He, like his father P. Licinius, attained the rank of prætor, and was a contemporary of the orator, L. Crassus.
624 "Euripum."
625 "Xerxen togatum," or "the Roman Xerxes," in allusion to Xerxes cutting a canal through the Isthmus, which connected the Peninsula of Mount Athos with Chalcidice. See B. iv. c. 17, and the Note, vol. i. p. 300.
626 Probably the same person as the C. Hirrius Posthumius, who is mentioned as a voluptuary by Cicero, De Fin. B. ii. c. 22, § 70. Varro speaks of him, as expending the rent of his houses, amounting to twelve millions of sesterces, in bait for his murenæ.
627 This is, probably, the meaning of "quadragies "here, though it has been translated 400,000.
628 See B. iii. c. 9.
629 Porphyry, Tzetzes, and Macrobius relate the same story.
630 See B. vii. c. 18, and B. xxxv. c. 36. Her grandson, Caligula, is supposed to have hastened her death.
631 Hirpinius is the more common reading. He is mentioned in B. viii. c. 78. If the reading "Lupinus" is adopted, nothing seems to be known of this epicurean trifler.
632 Our periwinkles.
633 See B. iii. c. 17.
634 Off the coast of Africa, see B. v. c. 1. These periwinkles, or sea-snails, are again mentioned in B. xxx. c. 15.
635 "Sapa." Must, or new wine, boiled down to one half, according to Pliny; and one third, according to Varro.
636 The "quadrans" contained three cyathi, and was the fourth part of a sextarius, which consisted of about a pint and a-half; in which case the contents of one of their shells would be no less than fifteen quarts!! A statement to which no credit can be attached, unless, indeed, the sea-snail was something quite different to our periwinkle.
637 Cuvier remarks, that nothing is known of the fish of the Euphrates here mentioned by Pliny from Theophrastus; as, indeed, all particulars relative to the fresh-water fish of foreign countries are the portion of Ichthyology with which we are the least acquainted. Judging, however, from what is stated as to their habits and appearance, they may be various species of the genus Gobius of Linnæus, and more especially the one called periophthalmus by Bloch. These species are in the habit of crawling along the grass on the banks of rivers.
638 Generally considered the same as our gudgeon. It is called "cobio" (from the Greek κωβιὸς), by Pliny, in B. xxxii. c. 53. It was a worthless fish, "Vilis piscis," as Juvenal says.
639 What Heraclea, if that is the correct reading, is meant here, it is impossible to say. Cromna is mentioned in B. vi. c. 2.
640 Cuvier thinks, that Pliny here alludes to a species of loche, the Cobitis fossilis of Linnæus, which keeps itself concealed in the mud, and can survive a long time in it, after the water above it is absorbed. Hence it is often found alive in the mud of drained marshes, or in the dried-up beds of rivers.
641 Cuvier remarks, that many fish, the orifice of the gills of which, like those of the eel, is small, or which have in the interior of those parts organs proper for the preservation there of water, are able, like the eel, to live for some time on dry land; such, for instance, as the periophthalmi previously mentioned, the chironectes, the ophicephali, the anabas, and others; but it is difficult to say, he observes, of what species were those of the Lycus, which are here mentioned.
642 Or turtle. See c. 12 of the present Book.
643 It is most probable that Sillig is right in his supposition, that "quam" should be read "æquam;" otherwise it does not appear that any sense can be made of the passage. Schneider, in his commentaries upon Theophrastus, Sillig says, quite despaired of either amending or explaining this passage; which, however, with Sillig's emendation is very easily to be understood.
644 In accordance with the opinion of Vossius and Sillig, we read here "in illis," instead of the common, and most probably incorrect, reading, in nullis."
645 Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 9., and Ovid, Met. B. i. 1. 422, et seq., tell the same story, which, however, has no truth in it whatever.
646 B. v. c, 35.
647 Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. c. 305, et seq., tells a similar story as to the mode of taking the anthias, with some slight variation, however.
648 "Damni formulam editam."
649 Cuvier says, that the star-fish, the Asterias of Linnæus, is covered with a callous shell without, and has within only the viscera and the ovaria, apparently without any muscles. Aristotle reckons it among the fishes which he calls ὀστρακοδέρματα, or hard-shelled fish; while, on the other hand, Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xi. c. 22, reckons it among the μαλακόστρακα, or soft-shelled fish.
650 Cuvier says, that Pliny has good reason to say that he does not know upon what authority this power has been attributed to the star-fish; as it is altogether fabulous.
651 "Or finger." The same fish that have been mentioned as "ungues," or "onyches," in c. 51 of the present Book. They are a multivalve shellfish, Cuvier says, which live in hardened mud or the interior of rocks, into which they burrow cavities, from which they cannot retreat; and they can only be taken by breaking the stone. They have a flavour like pepper, and give out a phosphorescent light. See the end of c. 51.
652 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 48.
653 Aristotle says, that the tail of the conger is bitten by the murena, but not that of the murena by the conger. Hardouin suggests that Pliny may have learned this fact from the works of Nigidius Figulus.
654 Cuvier remarks, that in another passage, B. xi. c. 62, Pliny states that the "musculus qui balænam antecedit" has no teeth, but only bristles in its mouth. Now, in B. xxxii. c. 53, he speaks of the musculus as among the largest of animals; from which Cuvier concludes it to have been a species of whale, probably the "rorqual" of the Mediterranean. In confirmation of this, he thinks that the word "antecedit," in B. xi. c. 62, has not the meaning of "goes before," but "exceeds in size;" though here it is spoken of as leading the whale; and Oppian, Ælian, Plutarch, Claudian, speak of the conductor of the whale as a little fish. He is of opinion, in fine, that either Pliny or some of the authors from which he has borrowed, have made a mistake in the name, and probably given that of "musculus," which was really a large fish, to a small one, which was commonly supposed to attend on the movements of the whale.
655 It is evident from this passage, that Pliny is speaking of a little fish here, and not one to which he would assign such bulk as is ascribed to the musculus in B. xxxii. c. 53.
656 See end of B. iii.
657 See end of B. vii.
658 Caius Cilnius Mecænas, or rather Mæcenas, a descendant of the kings of Etruria, and of equestrian rank. He was the favourite minister of Augustus, and the friend and patron of Horace, Virgil, and most of the more deserving among the learned of his day. He is supposed to have written two tragedies, the Prometheus and Octavia; an epic poem, and a work on Natural History, to which Pliny frequently alludes, and which seems to have related, principally, to fishes and gems. He is also thought to have written some memoirs of the life of Augustus.
659 A rhetorician, who flourished in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. His school was attended by the elder Seneca, who had then recently removed to Rome from Corduba. He was regarded at Rome as a prodigy of learning, and gave lectures before he had assumed the toga virilis. He is supposed to have written poetry, and a history of the Carthaginian wars.
660 See end of B. ii.
661 Or " writer of Mimes." Laberius Decimus was of equestrian rank, born about B. C. 107, and died B. C. 43. Half compelled, and half induced by the offer of a reward by Cæsar, he appeared on the stage, in his old age, as an actor of mimes. A few verses, and a prologue still in existence, are attributed to him.
662 Fabianus Papirius. See end of B. ii.
663 See end of B. viii.
664 See end of B. ii.
665 L. Ælius Præconinus Stilo, a Roman of equestrian rank, one of the earliest grammarians, and also one of the most celebrated. He instructed Varro, and was one of Cæsar's instructors in rhetoric. He received the name of Preconinus, from the circumstance of his father having been a "præco," and that of Stilo, on account of his writings. He wrote commentaries on the songs of the Salii, and on the Twelve Tables, a work De Proloquiis, &c.
666 See end of B. ii.
667 See end of B. vii.
668 L. Annæus Seneca. See end of B. vi.
669 See end of B. vii.
670 A poet of Verona, who died B. C. 16. He wrote a poem upon birds, snakes, and medicinal plants, in imitation, probably, of the Theriaca of Nicander. There is a work, still extant, under his name, "On the Virtues of Herbs;" which, no doubt, belongs to the middle ages. He also wrote sixteen or more Books of Annals.
671 M. Valerius Messala Corvinus. He was born at Rome, B.C. 59. He joined the party of Cassius against Antony and Augustus, which last he defeated at the battle of Philippi. He afterwards served under Antony, and then Augustus; the centre of whose fleet he commanded at Actium. About two years before his death, which happened in the middle of the reign of Augustus, his memory failed him, and he was often unable to recollect his own name. He wrote a history, or rather, commentaries on the Civil wars after the death of Cæsar, and towards the close of his life composed a genealogical work "On the Families of Rome." He also wrote poems of a satirical, and sometimes licentious character; and works on grammar, the titles of only two of which have come down to us. He was especially famous for his eloquence.
672 See end of B. viii.
673 See end of B. vi.
674 See end of B. ii.
675 See end of B. viii.
676 See end of B. iv.
677 See end of B. ii.
678 See end of B. iii.
679 See end of B. iii.
680 See end of B. ii.
681 Nothing whatever is known of him.
682 See end of B. iii.
The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.
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