Part i

. B. iv. c. 3 and 4.—B.

[1792] Used as a place of banishment by the Romans. See B. iv. c. 28, and c. 82, of the present Book.

[1793] See c. 82 of the present Book, and B. x. c. 85.—B.

[1794] The “dog-milkers.” See B. vi. c. 35.

[1795] “Solipugis.” There has been much discussion as to the word here employed by Pliny, and the animal which he intends to designate. The solipugus, solpugus, solipuga, or solipunga, probably different names of the same animal, is mentioned by various writers; among others, by Lucan, Phars. B. ix. l. 837; Diodorus Siculus, B. iii.; Strabo, B. xvi.; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 40. It is again referred to in B. xxix. c. 16. The description given is, however, too indefinite to enable us to identify it with any known animal; it would almost seem to indicate something between the spider and the ant.—B. We still hear in modern times of the venomous and destructive nature of the red ants on the coast of Guinea; and it is not improbable that it is to these that Pliny alludes.

[1796] See B. v. c. 33.

[1797] This is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xv. c. 26.—B. The scolopendra is one of the multipede insects.

[1798] Aristotle, De Gener. Anim. B. iii. c. 6, and Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 32, accounts for the vulgar error, by stating that the hyæna has a peculiar structure of the parts about the anus, which might, to an unpractised eye, give the idea, that it possesses the generative organs of both sexes. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. i. c. 25, and Oppian, Cyneget. B. iii. c. 289, have adopted this erroneous opinion. What is said respecting the hyæna, in the remaining part of this Chapter, is mostly without foundation.—B.

[1799] We have had some account given of the mantichora, in c. 30. The mantichora and the corocotta are altogether imaginary.—B. Cuvier, in Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 447; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 439, thinks that the stories of the corocotta and the catoblepas, owe their origin to mutilated accounts of the hyæna, and the animal known to us as the gnu.

[1800] According to Cuvier, what Pliny here says respecting the herds of wild asses, and the power of the old males, is correct; but it is doubtful whether there is any foundation for what is said about the castration of the newly-born animals; Ajasson, _ubi supra_; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 440.—B.

[1801] “De aquaticis et iisdem terrestribus;” although these words are inserted in the title of this Chapter, the subject is not treated of in it.—B.

[1802] Pliny here adopts the vulgar opinion respecting the origin of the substance called “castor,” and in B. xxxii. c. 13, gives a more correct description, which he had derived from a physician, named Sextius. It is a fetid, oily substance, secreted by a gland situate near the prepuce. Cuvier remarks, that when the gland becomes distended with this secretion, the animal may probably get rid of it by rubbing the part against a stone or tree, and in this way, leave the castor for the hunters, thus giving rise to the vulgar error. Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 448; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 440.—B.

[1803] The beaver has the most powerful teeth of any animal of the class Rodentia, to which it belongs; it uses them for cutting down trees, with which it constructs its habitation. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B, viii. c. 5, refers to this.—B.

[1804] The tail is covered with a kind of scale, and is flattened; but, in its internal organization, is formed like those of other quadrupeds.—B.

[1805] See B. xxxii. c. 52.

[1806] Pliny, speaking of the different kinds of frogs, B. xxxii. c. 18, says, “There are some which live only in the hedges, and thence have the name of rubeta, or bramble frogs.” It seems impossible to identify this reptile with any of our known animals: and we may conclude that there is no foundation for the statement. Ælian gives an account of the venomous nature of this animal. Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c. 12.—B.

[1807] As Cuvier remarks, it is impossible that any animal can discharge by vomiting what Pliny terms the “coagulum,” which is the fourth stomach of a ruminant animal; the same substance which, under the name of rennet, is employed to coagulate milk. He conjectures, that the error may have originated in the observation, that occasionally in fish, when suddenly drawn out of the water, the air-bladder is protruded from the mouth, which may have been mistaken for the stomach. The circumstance is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 23, and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 19, as well as the vomiting of the bile; respecting this latter, we may remark, that vomiting is produced in various animals, when under the influence of extreme terror.—B.

[1808] The gecko, according to Littré.

[1809] This is incorrect; the bite of this animal, wherever found, is never fatal.—B.

[1810] This refers to what will be found stated in this Chapter, that stags conceal their horns, when they fall off, that they may not be used in medicine.—B.

[1811] This is mentioned by Aristotle, Plutarch, and Ælian, but it must be considered as very doubtful.—B.

[1812] See B. xviii. c. 74.

[1813] It seems that Pliny here attributes the blackening of the mouths of the stags to their turning up the earth with their muzzles; Aristotle, however, refers it to a constitutional cause, arising from their violent sexual excitement; Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 29.—B.

[1814] Or seseli, probably hart-wort. See B. xx. c. 87, and B. xxv. c. 52.

[1815] We learn from Hardouin, that there has been much discussion respecting the plants or other substances which the female is supposed to eat after parturition. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6, asserts that it eats the chorion, the membrane in which the fœtus has been enveloped, and afterwards the herb seselis. To make the account of Pliny agree with that of Aristotle, some of the commentators have even supposed, that _chorion_ here means the name of a plant, and they have proposed to substitute the word _chorion_ for _aros_ in the text.—B. Aros is probably the present “Arum maculatum,” or wake-robin. See p. 307, N. [1846].

[1816] Aristotle, Plutarch, and Xenophon speak of the influence of music on these animals.—B.

[1817] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, mentions this respecting their ears; the same takes place, to a certain extent, with all animals that have large external auricles.—B.

[1818] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, Ælian, _ubi supra_, and B. iii. c. 17, and Theophrastus, in a fragment on the Envious among Animals, agree in stating that one of the horns of the stag is never found, although they differ respecting the individual horn, whether the right one or the left. Aristotle says that it is the left, while Theophrastus and Ælian agree with the statement of Pliny.—B.

[1819] Cuvier says, that no antlers are added after the eighth year.—B.

[1820] This, as well as most of the statements respecting the growth of the horns, is mentioned by Aristotle, _ubi supra_, but it is quite unfounded.—B.

[1821] This story of the white hind of Sertorius, is given in detail by Aulus Gellius, B. xv. c. 22, who tells us that it was given to him by a native of Lusitania, upon which Sertorius pretended that it had been sent from Diana, who, through it, held converse with him, and instructed him how to act. Plutarch, Frontinus, and Valerius Maximus, also relate the story.

[1822] This story, which is obviously incorrect, is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 9; and is again referred to in B. xxviii. c. 42.—B.

[1823] Graguinus, Hist. Franc. B. ix. c. 3, relates a still more wonderful anecdote of a similar nature; but, as Buffon remarks, such tales are without foundation, the life of the stag not being more than thirty or forty years. Cuvier, also, says that its life does not exceed thirty-six or forty years.—B.

[1824] The real nature of the tragelaphus of Pliny, and the hippelaphus, or horse-stag of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1, which appear to be the same animal, had long remained a disputed question among naturalists, when, as Cuvier states, the point was decided by Alphonse Duvaucel, who ascertained that it was a species of stag, which inhabited the mountains of the north of Hindostan.—B.

[1825] And in Arabia as well, according to Diodorus Siculus, B. ii.

[1826] This fact is confirmed by Cuvier, who observes, that it is the more remarkable that Africa should be without stags, as it abounds in gazelles of all forms and colours. He supposes that those travellers, who affirm that they have seen stags in this country, had really met with gazelles, which they mistook for those animals; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 451; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 453.—B.

[1827] Cuvier remarks, that Pliny’s account of the chameleon appears to be taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 11, but that it is less correct. He notices Aristotle’s account of the eye, which is more accurately given than the account of Pliny; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 451, 452; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 454.—B. The chameleon receives its name from the Greek χαμαὶ λέων, “the lion on the ground.”

[1828] See B. xi. c. 55.

[1829] One of those popular errors which have descended from the ancients to our times; the chameleon feeds on insects, which it seizes by means of its long flexible tongue; the quantity of food which it requires appears, however, to be small in proportion to its bulk.—B.

[1830] “Circa caprificos.” Some commentators would understand this in reference to the wild fig-tree, and take it to mean that the animal is more furious when in its vicinity. The conjecture of Hardouin, however, seems more reasonable. He takes “caprificos” to mean the same as the “caprificialis dies,” mentioned in B. xi. c. 15, as being sacred to Vulcan, and falling towards the end of the dog-days.

[1831] This is another of the erroneous opinions respecting the chameleon, which has been very generally adopted. It forms the basis of Merrick’s popular poem of the Chameleon. The animal, indeed, assumes various shades or tints, but the changes depend upon internal or constitutional causes, not any external object. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 14, refers to the change of colour, but does not allude to its colour having any connection with that of the object with which it comes in contact.—B.

[1832] The quantity of muscular fibre and blood in the chameleon is no doubt small in proportion to the bulk of the animal, although not much less than in other animals of the same natural order; its spleen is very minute, as Cuvier says, not larger than the seed of a lentil.—B.

[1833] Cuvier remarks, that this account is from the anonymous treatise De Mirab. Auscult. p. 1152, and from Theophrastus; and that it was probably derived, in the first instance, from the imperfect account which the ancients possessed of the reindeer, the hair of which animal becomes nearly white in the winter, and in the summer of a brown or grey colour. Bekmann, however, who has written a commentary on the above-mentioned treatise, supposes that the tarandrus is the elk. Cuvier conceives, that the animal described by Cæsar, Bell. Gall. B. vi. c. 26, as inhabiting the Hercynian Forest, which he designates as “bos cervi figurâ,” is the reindeer; and suggests that “tarandrus” may have originated in the German, _das rennthier_. Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 453, 454; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 456, 457. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 16, speaks of the change of colour in the tarandrus in a way which does not correspond with any animal known to exist.—B. Pliny’s stories of the tarandrus, thos, and chameleon are ridiculed by Rabelais, B. iv. c. 3.

[1834] Cuvier supposes that the lycaon of Pliny is the Indian tiger, which has a mane; but what is said of its change of colour is incorrect.—B.

[1835] Naturalists have differed respecting the identity of the animal here described, but Cuvier conceives, that Bochart has proved it to be the canis aureus chakal (jackal) of Linnæus. The description given by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, and B. ix. c. 44, agrees with this supposition; it is also described by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. c. 615.—B.

[1836] It is possible that the quills of the porcupine may be stuck into the skin of the dog so firmly, as to be detached from their natural situation; but there is no reason to believe that they can be darted out or projected by any exertion of the animal. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. i. c. 31, and B. xii. c. 26, describes the hystrix; see also Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 30.—B.

[1837] Cuvier remarks, that this account of the bear is generally correct; he points out, however, certain errors, which will be duly noticed. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3, gives an account of the parturition of the bear.—B.

[1838] This description of their mode of coupling, though from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 30, is not correct. Buffon and other naturalists assure us that they do not differ herein from other quadrupeds.—B.

[1839] Aristotle says, that the cubs are born blind, without hair, and that their limbs are ill formed, which is correct; but the account here given is greatly exaggerated.—B.

[1840] As the birth takes place when the mother is in her winter retreat, it can have been witnessed only when in the menagerie.—B.

[1841] This is referred to in B. xxviii. c. 46; this property of the fat of the bear is also mentioned by Galen and by Dioscorides, and it still retains its place among our popular remedies; but it is difficult to conceive that it can have any virtue above other fatty substances of the same consistence.—B.

[1842] This, which appears to be a vulgar error, is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17; by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3; and by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii.—B.

[1843] We have a somewhat similar account in the treatise De Mirab. Auscult. p. 1155.—B.

[1844] Probably from Aristotle, _ubi supra_.—B.

[1845] This apparent anomaly has been attempted to be explained, by supposing that the bears lay up a plentiful store of provisions in their winter retreats, which they consume while they remain without exercise.—B.

[1846] Pliny enumerates, at considerable length, the varieties of aros, in B. xxiv. c. 92; it is also described in B. xix. c. 30; it is probably a species of arum.—B. See pp. 299, 300, N. [1815].

[1847] This is, of course, without foundation.—B.

[1848] This supposed noxious quality is entirely without foundation.—B.

[1849] This probably refers more particularly to the mode in which the bear descends from trees or poles, in the supine posture, not, as is the case in most other animals, with the head downwards.—B.

[1850] 18th September.

[1851] It appears, from the remarks of Cuvier, to be still doubtful whether the bear be really a native of Africa; see Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 457; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 466.—B.

[1852] It is supposed that the white mouse of Pontus, mentioned also by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17, is the ermine, or else the marten; but, as Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 457, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 467, the ermine does not hibernate.—B.

[1853] Cuvier, _ubi supra_, conceives that the Alpine mouse is the marmot; but he remarks, that it is inferior in size to the badger.—B.

[1854] Cuvier, _ubi supra_, conceives the Egyptian mouse to be the jerboa, the Mus jaculus of Linnæus; but it is much smaller than the marmot. Pliny, in B. x. c. 85, says, that the Egyptian mouse walks on two feet, as does the mouse of the Alps. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 37, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xv. c. 26, refer to the mouse of Egypt.—B. Probably the Mus cahirinus.

[1855] The faculty which these and other animals possess of foreseeing the weather and the future direction of the wind, is mentioned by Plutarch, and as existing especially in the hedgehog. It is also mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6; but it is not confined, as Pliny states, to its change in one direction only. It has been suggested by some commentators, that, by a slight alteration in the text, the statement may be extended to a change of the wind in either direction, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 468.—B.

[1856] The teasel, or carding thistle, is now used for this purpose; as also iron wires, crooked and sharpened at the point. Not a single quill, probably of the hedgehog, is now used in the manufacture of cloth.

[1857] Dalechamps suggests that these complaints were probably to the effect that thistles and thorns were employed instead of the quills of the hedgehog; that the skin of the hedgehog was brought to market in a bad state; and again, that the rich merchants were in the habit of buying them up, and forestalling the market. Hardouin quotes an edict of the Emperor Zeno against monopolies of hedgehogs and carding materials, if, indeed, that is the meaning of the word “pectinum.”

[1858] These statements are from the treatise De Mirab. Ausc., but, as Cuvier remarks, are fabulous, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 470; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458.—B.

[1859] Λεοντοφονὸς, the “lion-killer.”

[1860] See c. 30 of this Book.

[1861] This fable is referred to by Ovid, Metam. B. xv. l. 414, and by Theophrastus in his Treatise on Stones.

[1862] See B. xxxvii. c. 11.

[1863] It is not unusual for animals to cover their excrements with earth, probably from the fact of their being annoyed by the unpleasant odour.—B.

[1864] This statement respecting the “meles,” or badger, as well as what is said of the prescience of the squirrel, is without foundation. There has been some difference of opinion respecting the identity of the animal, which Pliny calls “meles;” by some it has been supposed to be the polecat, or else the weasel.—B.

[1865] This bears reference to what is said of bears in c. 54, and of Alpine mice and hedgehogs.

[1866] This statement is contrary to the account given by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 15; he says, that while other serpents conceal themselves in holes in the earth, vipers conceal themselves under rocks.—B.

[1867] Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 473, that nothing is more striking, either to the vulgar or to the man of science, than the long abstinence from food which serpents are capable of enduring.—B.

[1868] Cavatica.

[1869] This is the case with the Helix Pomatia, and still more so with the Helix Neritoidea, which is very common in the neighbourhood of Nice, and which, at the approach of winter, is furnished with an operculum of great thickness.—B.

[1870] See B. iii. c. 9.

[1871] See B. iv. c. 23. The Romans valued them as a delicate food.

[1872] This account appears to be principally from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 29.—B.

[1873] According to Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, and Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 475, the species of lizard named monitor, frequently exceeds this size; but he remarks, in reference to the size of the Indian lizard, that none of the saurians, except the crocodile, attains the length here mentioned.—B.

[1874] See B. vi. c. 23.

[1875] See B. v. c. 31.

[1876] See B. v. c. 22, and B. vi. c. 3.

[1877] This anecdote is referred to by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 25. He gives an account of the dog of Gelon, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 62, and Var. Hist. B. i. c. 13.—B.

[1878] Tzetzes, Chil. iii. of his History, calls her Ditizela, and thus alludes to this story: “The said Nicomedes had a dog of very large size, and of Molossian breed, which manifested great fidelity to him. One day seeing his mistress, the wife of Nicomedes, and the mother of Prusias, Zielus, and Lysandra, Ditizela, by name, and a Phrygian by birth, toying with the king, he took her for an enemy, and rushing on her, tore her right shoulder.” It is supposed that she died of the injuries thus received. Some editions call her Condingis, and others Cosingis.

[1879] A. Cascellius was an eminent Roman jurist, but nothing seems to be known of his preceptor, Volcatius, whose prænomen is thought to have been Mucius. Cascellius was noted for his great eloquence and his stern republican principles; and of Cæsar’s conduct and government he spoke with the greatest freedom. He never advanced in civic honours beyond the quæstorship, though he was offered the consulship by Augustus; which he declined. He is frequently quoted in the Digest. Horace, in his Art of Poetry, ll. 371, 372, pays a compliment to the legal reputation of Cascellius, who is also mentioned by Valerius Maximus and Macrobius.

[1880] From Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 10, it appears that his name was Cælius Calvus, but probably no further particulars are known of him.

[1881] He was a distinguished Roman eques, and a friend of Germanicus; for which reason he incurred the hatred of Sejanus. To satisfy the vengeance of Tiberius and his favourite Sejanus, one Latinus Latiaris, a supposed friend of Sabinus, induced him to speak in unguarded terms of Sejanus and Tiberius, and then betrayed his confidence. He was put to death in prison.

[1882] More commonly called the Gradus or Scalæ Gemoniæ, “the stairs of wailing;” a place down which the bodies of the criminals were thrown, when executed in prison.—B.

[1883] “Lorum,” the leather thong by which the dogs were held until the proper moment, when they were “let slip” upon their prey.

[1884] This is mentioned by Gratian, Cyneget. l. 237.—B.

[1885] This practice is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 33, and Diodorus Siculus, B. xvii. But Cuvier informs us, that neither the tiger nor the panther are capable of generating with the dog; he supposes that the account was invented to enhance the value of the spotted or striped dogs, which were brought from India.—B.

[1886] The dog is capable of generating with the wolf; and as what is termed the shepherd’s dog much resembles the wolf, Cuvier conceives it not impossible, that it may have originated from this mixture; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 459; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 481.—B.

[1887] This is mentioned by Ælian, in his Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 53, and his Var. Hist. B. i. c. 4. It likewise forms the subject of one of Phædrus’s Fables.

[1888] These statements are probably, for the most part, from Aristotle, Hist. Anim, B. v. c. 14, and B. vi. c. 20.—B.

[1889] “Faunos cerni.” Hardouin remarks on these words; “Flitting before the sight, and rushing upon each other, like the Ephialtes,” and refers, for a farther explanation, to his commentary on the passage in B. xxv. c. 10, where the subject is treated more at large. The Ephialtes is generally supposed to have been what we term incubus or nightmare.—B.

[1890] All these remedies are perfectly useless.—B.

[1891] Pliny details the noxious effects, conceived to be produced by the influence of Sirius, in B. ii. c. 40, and, among others, its tendency to produce canine madness. In B. xxix. c. 32, he enumerates the various remedies proposed for the disease; these, however, are equally inefficacious with those mentioned here.—B.

[1892] We have an account of this disease in Celsus, B. v. c. 27, and especially of the peculiar symptom from which it derives its classical denomination. It is remarkable that Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 22, speaking of canine madness, says, that it is communicated by the dog to all animals, _except man_.—B. See B. vii. c. 13.

[1893] It appears that there was a difference of opinion as to the number of days during which the Dog-star continued to exercise its influence.—B.

[1894] The history of this supposed discovery is related more at large, B. xxv. c. 2 and 6. The popular name of the plant is still the “dog-rose.”—B.

[1895] Columella says, that the operation prevents the tail from acquiring “fœdum incrementum,” “a foul increase;” and, as many shepherds say, secures the animal from the disease.—B.

[1896] This is one of the marvellous tales related by Julius Obsequens, c. 103.—B.

[1897] Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander, gives some account of this celebrated horse, and Aulus Gellius, B. v. c. 2, devotes a chapter to it.—B.

[1898] Ajasson estimates the price to have been 70,200 francs, £2925 sterling.—B.

[1899] Situate on the river Hydaspes; Q. Curtius calls it Bucephalus.—B. See B. vi. c. 23, where it is called Bucephala.

[1900] This account is given by Suetonius, Life of Julius Cæsar, c. 61. Cuvier suggests that the hoofs may have been notched, and that the sculptor probably exaggerated the peculiarity, so as to produce the resemblance to a human foot.—B.

[1901] The nephew of Tiberius and the father of the Emperor Caligula.—B.

[1902] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 40, states that three mares of Miltiades and Evagoras, which had been victorious in the Olympic games, were buried with sepulchral honours in the Ceramicus.—B.

[1903] Ajasson suggests, with much plausibility, that when connections of this description are mentioned, the report originated from persons who had significant names, as Lebœuf and Poulain; analogous to our names of Lamb, Bull, Hog, &c.—B.

[1904] See B. iii. c. 17.

[1905] We here find Pliny tripping, for he has previously said, in B. vii. c. 1, that man is the only animated being that sheds tears. See also c. 19 of the present Book, where he represents the lion as shedding tears.

[1906] Ælian calls him Centoarates. Antiochus I., or Soter, is here alluded to. He was killed in battle with the Galli or Galatians, B.C. 261.

[1907] Mentioned by Cicero, De Divin. B. i. c. 33.—B.

[1908] Hardouin refers to the works of Busbequius, in which we meet with nearly the same account of the sagacity of the horse, as in Pliny; Lemaire, iii. 489.

[1909] As already mentioned in the Note to c. 54 of the last Book, there were four parties or factions of the charioteers who were named from the colour of their dress.

[1910] The games of the Circus were divided into the Patrician and the Plebeian; the first being conducted by generals, consuls, and the curule ædiles, the latter by the ædiles of the people.—B.

[1911] Related somewhat more at large by Plutarch, in his Life of Publicola.—B.

[1912] Many of these particulars are from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 22.—B.

[1913] Georgics, B. iii. l. 72, et seq.—B.

[1914] See Introduction to vol. i. p. vii.

[1915] Varro, de Re Rust. B. ii. c. 7; and Columella, B. vi. c. 29, have treated on this subject at considerable length.—B.

[1916] The materials of this chapter appear to have been principally taken from Aristotle, Varro, and Columella.—B.

[1917] See B. iv. c. 12.

[1918] Varro, _ubi supra_, gives considerably different directions on this point; he says, “Intercourse is to be allowed, at the proper season of the year, twice a day, morning and evening.”

[1919] This sentence in Columella, _ubi supra_, seems to illustrate the meaning, which is somewhat obscure. “Veruntamen nec minus quam quindecim, nec plures quam viginti, unus debet implere”—“One male ought to be coupled with not more than twenty females, nor less than fifteen.”

[1920] Cuvier states, that the hippomanes is a concretion occasionally found in the liquor amnii of the mare, and which it devours, from the same kind of instinctive feeling which causes quadrupeds generally to devour the afterbirth. He remarks, however, that this can have no connection with the attachment which the mother bears to her offspring; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 459; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 495. The hippomanes is said to have been employed by the sorceresses of antiquity, as an ingredient in their amatory potions. See Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 24, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xiv. c. 18.—B. See also B. xxviii. c. 11.

[1921] Now Lisbon. See B. iv. c. 35.

[1922] The accounts given, by Phœnician navigators, of the fertility of Lusitania, and the frequency of the mild western breezes, gave rise to the fable here mentioned, which has been generally received by the ancients; and that not merely by the poets, as Virgil, Geor. B. iii. l. 274, 275, but by practical writers, as Varro, B. ii. c. 1, and Columella, B. vi. c. 27. Justin, however, B. xliv. c. 3, attributes the opinion to the great size of the horses, and their remarkable fleetness, from which they were said to be the sons of the wind.—B.

[1923] The origin and meaning of this name is not known.—B.

[1924] Martial describes the peculiar short, quick step of the “asturco,” in one of his Epigrams, B. xiv. Ep. 199.—B.

[1925] “Alterno crurum explicatu glomeratio;” it would not be possible to give a literal translation, but we may judge of the meaning by the context.—B. He clearly alludes to a movement like our canter.

[1926] “Tolutim carpere incursus;” Hardouin explains this by a reference to Plautus, Asinaria, A. iii. sc. 3, l. 116. “Tolutim ni badizas”—“If you do not amble, lifting up your feet.”

[1927] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 24, gives an account of the diseases of horses.—B.

[1928] “Genere veterino;” so called, according to Hardouin, from “vectura,” “carriage,” as applicable to horses, asses, and mules; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 497.—B.

[1929] There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the exact amount of sums of money mentioned by the ancients. “We read in Varro, B. ii. c. 1, and B. ii. c. 8, of enormous prices said to have been given for asses, and the particular case of Axius is mentioned, B. iii. c. 2; according to the usual estimate, the sum here mentioned amounts to upwards of £3200 sterling.—B.

[1930] See B. xvii. c. 5.

[1931] Varro, B. i. c. 20, and B. iii. c. 16, and Columella, B. vii. c. 1, enlarge upon the valuable qualities of the ass for agricultural purposes; Columella, B. vi. c. 37, treats at length upon the production of mules.—B.

[1932] See a passage in Plautus, in which the superior excellence of the asses of Arcadia is referred to; Asinaria, A. ii. sc. 2, l. 67.—B.

[1933] See B. iii. c. 17.

[1934] This property is mentioned by Herodotus, B. iv. c. 28, and by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 27, also De Gener. Anim. B. ii. c. 8, and by Strabo, B. vii. The ass is a native of Arabia, and degenerates when brought into a cold climate.—B.

[1935] These circumstances appear to have been taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, and B. vi. c. 23.—B.

[1936] “Per raritatem eorum translucentibus fluviis.”—B.

[1937] Upwards of £3200 sterling.—B.

[1938] An epigram of Martial, B. xiii. Ep. 97, appears to refer to the employment of the young ass as an article of food.—B. The famous sausages of Bologna are made, it is said, of asses’ flesh.

[1939] The onager, according to Cuvier, is the same with the ass, in the wild state; it still exists in large herds in various parts of Southern Asia, and is called by the Tartars, Kulan.—B.

[1940] Most of the circumstances here mentioned appear to have been taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24 and 36; Varro, B. ii. c. 8; and Columella, B. vi. c. 37.—B.

[1941] It is expressly stated by Columella, _ubi supra_, that the mules “produced from a horse and a female ass, are in all respects most like the mother.”

[1942] This is explained by Columella, _ubi supra_, who remarks, that when a stallion is admitted to a female in the full heat of its passion, it often causes mischief; which is not the case when its ardour has been a little subdued by having been worked for some time.—B.

[1943] Varro, _ubi supra_, says: “The produce of a mare and a male ass is a mule, of a horse and a female ass a _hinnus_.”

[1944] Varro, B. ii. c. 1, alludes to this occurrence; Livy mentions two instances, B. xxvi. c. 23, and B. xxxvii. c. 3; these prodigies were said both to have occurred at Reate.—B.

[1945] Herodotus relates two cases, which were regarded as presaging some extraordinary event, B. iii. c. 153, and B. vii. c. 57. Juvenal, Sat. xiii. l. 66, and Suetonius, Life of Galba, c. 4, speak of a pregnant mule as a most extraordinary circumstance; it seems to have given rise to a proverbial expression among the Romans.—B.

[1946] Cuvier remarks, that there is, in the deserts of Asia, a peculiar animal, with undivided hoofs, the Equus hemionus of naturalists, and the Dgiggetai of the Tartars, which bears a resemblance to our mules, but is not the produce of the horse and the ass; he refers us to Professor Pallas’s account of it in Acad. Petrop. Nov. Com. vol. xix. p. 394; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 505.—B.

[1947] Pliny repeats this advice in B. xxx. c. 53; it is, of course, entirely without foundation.—B.

[1948] The epigram of Martial previously referred to bears this title.—B. See N. [1938], p. 324.

[1949] This temple was the Parthenon. This anecdote is mentioned by Arist. Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24; Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 49.—B.

[1950] In which they probably exposed their samples for sale, as our farmers do in small bags. The phrase is ἀπὸ τῶν τηλιῶν, in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24, from whom Pliny takes the story.

[1951] This alleged superiority is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iii. c. 91, by Varro, B. ii. c. 5, and by Columella, B. vi. c. 1; but it is remarked by Dalechamps and Hardouin, that the appellation of Pyrrhic given to these oxen, was more probably derived from their red colour, πυῤῥὸς, than from the name of the king. The materials of this chapter are principally from the above writers, especially Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 21, and B. viii. c. 7.—B.

[1952] This singular notion is mentioned by Varro and Columella, _ubi supra_; Cuvier says, that it is the origin of the pretended secret of producing the sexes at pleasure, which was published by Millot; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461.—B.

[1953] 4th January. See B. xviii. c. 64.

[1954] This is mentioned by Herodotus, B. iv. c. 183; this peculiarity in their mode of taking their food is ascribed to the extraordinary length of the horns; it is also mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xvi. c. 33.—B.

[1955] “Fœdi visu.” This is very similar to the expression used by Virgil, Georg. B. iii., when describing the points of an ox, l. 52,—“oui turpi caput”—“the head of which is unsightly”— probably in allusion to its large size.

[1956] According to Cuvier, there is an ox, in warm climates, which has a mass of fat on the shoulders, and whose horns are only attached to the skin; Buffon has described it under the name of Zebu; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 512.—B.

[1957] “Ad laborer damnantur;” with respect to the colour, Varro, B. ii. c. 5, has the following remarks: “The best colours are black, red, pale red, and white. The latter ones are the most delicate, the first the most hardy. Of the two middle ones, the first is the best, and both are more valuable than the first and last.”

[1958] We have an account of this process in Columella, B. ii. c. 6.—B.

[1959] This anecdote is related by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 1. Virgil, Georg. B. ii. l. 537, speaks of the use of oxen in food, as a proof of the degeneracy of later times, and as not existing during the Golden Age; “Ante Impia quad cœsis gens est epulata juvencis.” This feeling is alluded to by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xii. c. 34, and by Suetonius, Life of Domitian, c. ix.—B.

[1960] It is doubtful whether this is the meaning of “alternos replicans orbes,” or what indeed is the meaning. Most editions omit “orbes,” thus making the matter still worse.

[1961] Hardouin supposes that this alludes to the exhibition of oxen hunted at the exhibition of shows and in the Circus, for the gratification of the Roman people.—B.

[1962] Referred to by Virgil, Georg. B. ii. ll. 145, 146, “et maxima taurus Victima,” “and the bull the largest victim of all.”—B.

[1963] In reference to this remark, we may mention the passage in Virgil, Æn. B. iii. c. 119, “Taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher Apollo.” “A bull to thee, Neptune, a bull to thee, beauteous Apollo.”

[1964] Instances are mentioned by Livy, B. xxxv. c. 21, and by Val. Maximus, B. i. c. 65.—B.

[1965] We have an account of Apis in Herodotus, B. iii. c. 28; also in Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 9; and in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xi. c. 10.—B.

[1966] “Quem cantharum appellant.” According to Dalechamps, “So called from the blackness of the colour, and its resemblance to a beetle.” Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 516. He refers the reader to a further account in B. xxx. c. 30.—B.

[1967] From the Greek θάλαμοι, “bed-chambers.”

[1968] Tacitus, Ann. B. ii. c. 69, gives an account of the sickness of Germanicus after his return from Egypt, but does not refer to the circumstance here mentioned.—B.

[1969] The “goblet.” See B. v. c. 10.

[1970] Seneca, Quæst. Nat. B. iv. c. 2, gives an account of this ceremony, but does not refer to the birth of Apis.—B.

[1971] The contents of this Chapter appear to be principally from Varro, B. ii. cc. 1, 2, and Columella, B. vii. cc. 2, 3, 4.—B.

[1972] This account is probably from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14; B. vi. c. 19; and B. ix. c. 3, where we have various particulars respecting the production and mode of life of the sheep.—B.

[1973] 13th May.

[1974] 23rd July.

[1975] Varro, _ubi supra_, gives a somewhat different account: “Those lambs are called ‘cordi,’ which are born after their time, and have remained in the womb, called χορίον, from which they take that name.”—B.

[1976] The expression “senecta melior,” here employed, is limited by Columella, _ubi supra_, to the third year.—B.

[1977] Columella, B. vii. c. 8, remarks, “When deprived of his horns he knows himself to be disarmed, as it were, and is not so ready to quarrel and is less vehement in his passion.”

[1978] Columella, B. vii. c. 23, refers to this practice; he informs us, B. vi, c. 28, that it is practised with respect to the horse. It is also referred to by Aristotle, De Gen. Anim. B. iv. c. 1.—B.

[1979] For this we have the authority of Aristotle, _ubi supra_, and of Columella, _ubi supra_, who quotes from Virgil in support of it, Geor. B. iii. l. 387, _et seq._—B. “Although the ram be white himself, if there is a black tongue beneath the palate, reject him, that he may not tinge the fleece of the young with black spots.”

[1980] Varro, B. ii. c. 2, remarks, “While the coupling is taking place, you must use the same water; for if it is changed, it will render the wool spotted, and injure the womb.”

[1981] “Tectæ.” The context shows that this means covered with skins or a woollen girth, probably on account of their delicate nature, while the common sheep of husbandry, or the “colonic” sheep, were able to endure the rigour of the weather without any such protection.

[1982] The words are _tectum_ and _colonicum_; Columella, B. vii. c. 4, uses the terms _molle_ and _hirsutum_, and Varro, B. ii. c. 2, _pellitum_ and _hirtum_. The first obtained its name from its being covered with skins, to protect its delicate fleece. The colonic is so called, from “colonus,” a “husbandman,” this kind being so common as to be found in any village; whereas the tectæ were rare.

[1983] We have some account of the Arabian sheep in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. x. c. 4.—B. Columella says, that the wool which was brought over to make these coverings, was only to be obtained at a very great price.

[1984] The greatest part of this Chapter appears to be taken, with little variation, from Columella, B. vii. c. 2-4.—B.

[1985] Here Pliny differs from Columella, who remarks, B. vii. c. 2, “Our people considered the Milesian, Calabrian, and Apulian wool as of excellent quality, and the Tarentine the best of all.”

[1986] “Pænula” was a check cloak, used chiefly by the Romans when travelling, instead of the toga, as a protection against the cold and rain. It was used by women as well as men. It was long, and without sleeves, and with only an opening for the head. Women were forbidden by Alexander Severus to wear it in the city. It was made particularly of the woolly substance known as gausapa.

[1987] The wool of Laodicea is celebrated by Strabo, B. xii.—B.

[1988] Columella, B. vii. c. 2, particularly notices the excellence of the wool of Altinum, situate near the mouth of the Padus or Po. The following epigram of Martial, B. xiv. c. 155, may be presumed to convey the opinion of the respective merits of the different kinds of wool; it is entitled “Lanæ albæ:” “Velleribus primis Apulia; Parma secundis Nobilis; Altinum tertia laudat ovis.” “Apulia is famed for its fleeces of the first quality, Parma for the second, while Altinum is praised for those of the third.”—B.

[1989] About twelve shillings sterling.—B.

[1990] Varro remarks, B. ii. c. 2, that the term “vellus,” obviously from “vello,” “to pluck,” proves that the wool was anciently plucked from the sheep, before shearing had been invented.—B.

[1991] “Quas nativas appellant.” The term “nativa,” as applied to the wool, has been supposed to refer to those fleeces that possess a natural colour, and do not require to be dyed.—B.

[1992] Martial, B. xiv. Ep. 157, calls the fleeces of Pollentia “lugentes,” “mournful,” from their black colour; they are also mentioned by Columella, _ubi supra_, and by Silius Italicus, B. viii. l. 599.—B.

[1993] Martial, B. v. c. 37, describing the charms of a lady, says, “surpassing with her locks the fleece of the Bætic sheep,” no doubt referring to the colour. In another Epigram, B. xii. E. 200, he speaks of the “aurea vellera,” the “golden fleece” of Bætis.—B.

[1994] Martial has two Epigrams on the wool of Canusium, B. xiv. E. 127, and E. 129. In the former it is designated as “fusca,” tawny; in the latter, “rufa,” red.—B.

[1995] “Suæ pulliginis.”—B.

[1996] The term here used, “succidus,” is explained by Varro, B. ii. c. 11: “While the newly-clipped wool has the sweat in it, it is called ‘succida.’” See B. xxix. c. 9.

[1997] “Pexis vestibus.” According to Hardouin, the “pexa vestis,” was worn by the rich, and had a long and prominent nap, in contradistinction to the smooth or worn cloths. He refers to a passage in Horace, B. i. Ep. i. l. 95, and to one in Martial, B. ii. E. 58, which appear to sanction this explanation. See Lem. vol. iii. p. 524.—B.

[1998] See B. iv. c. 35.

[1999] See B. iii. c. 5. Now Pezenas.

[2000]

Καὶ ῥήγεα καλὰ Πορφύρ’ ἐμβαλέειν, στορέσαι δ’ ἐφύπερθε τάπητας.

Od. B. iv. l. 427. “And to throw on fair coverlets of purple, and to lay carpets upon them.”

[2001] These were probably much like what we call “Turkey” carpets.

[2002] The name given to this article, “lana coacta,” “compressed wool,” correctly designates its texture. The manufacturers of it were called “lanarii coactores,” and “lanarii coactiliarii.”

[2003] “I have macerated unbleached flax in vinegar saturated with salt, and after compression have obtained a felt, with a power of resistance quite comparable with that of the famous armour of Conrad of Montferrat; seeing that neither the point of a sword, nor even balls discharged from fire-arms, were able to penetrate it.” _Memoir on the substance called Pilina, by Papadopoulo-Vretos, on the Mem. presented to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres_, 1845, as quoted by Littré.

[2004] Pliny probably conceived that by the removal of all the grease from the wool, or the “purgamentum,” it became less combustible.—B.

[2005] “Tomentum;” an Epigram of Martial, B. xiv. E. 160, explains the meaning of this word.—B.

[2006] See B. xix. c. 2.

[2007] Probably in the form of what we call “palliasses.”

[2008] The “gausapa,” or “gausapum,” was a kind of thick cloth, very woolly on one side, and used especially for covering tables, beds, and making cloaks to keep out the wet and cold. The wealthier Romans had it made of the finest wool, and mostly of a purple colour. It seems also to have been sometimes made of linen, but still with a rough surface.

[2009] From ἀμφίμαλλα, “napped on both sides.” They probably resembled our baizes or druggets, or perhaps the modern blanket.

[2010] Pliny again makes mention of the “ventrale,” or apron, in B. xxvii. c. 28.

[2011] He seems to allude here to the _substance_ of which the laticlave tunic was made, and not any alteration in its cut or shape. Some further information on the laticlave or broad-striped tunic will be found in B. x. c. 63.

[2012] About the time of Augustus, the Romans began to exchange the “toga,” which had previously been their ordinary garment, for the more convenient “lacerna” and “pænula,” which were less encumbered with folds, and better adapted for the usual occupations of life.—B.

[2013] See B. ix. c. 62.

[2014] See B. xxi. c. 12.

[2015] This deity was also called Sangus, or Semo Sancus; and Ovid, Fasti, B. vi. c. 216, _et seq._, gives us much information concerning him. He was of Sabine origin, and identical with Hercules and Dius Fidius. If we may judge from the derivation of the name, it is not improbable that he presided over the sanctity of oaths. His temple at Rome was on the Quirinal, opposite to that of Quirinus, and near the gate which from him derived the name of “Sanqualis porta.” He was said to have been the father of the Sabine hero Sabus.

[2016] According to the commonly received account, Tanaquil was the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, and a native of Etruria; when she removed to Rome, and her husband became king, her name was changed to Caia Cæcilia.—B.

[2017] “Undulata;” it has been suggested that this means the same as our stuffs which we term “watered.”—B.

[2018] “Tunica recta;” according to Festus, it was “so called from being woven perpendicularly by people standing.”—B. It probably means woven from top to bottom and cross-wise in straight lines.

[2019] “Toga pura;” so called from being white, without a mixture of any other colour.

[2020] “Sororiculata;” there is much uncertainty respecting the derivation of this word and its meaning, but it is generally supposed to signify some kind of stuff, composed of a mixture of different ingredients or of different colours.—B. “Orbiculata,” “with round spots,” is one reading, and probably the correct one.

[2021] According to Hardouin, these were cloths which imitated the crisp and prominent hair of the Phryxian fleece, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 529. Some editions read “Phrygianas.”

[2022] “Papaverata;” there is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the meaning of this word, as applied to garments. Pliny, in two other passages, speaks of a certain species of poppy—“from this, linens receive a peculiar whiteness,” B. xix. “From this, linens receive a brilliant whiteness in time,” B. xx. c. 78. It would appear, in these cases, that the fibres of the stem of the poppy were mixed with the flax; though, perhaps, this would be scarcely practicable with wool.—B.

[2023] The prætexta is described by Varro as a white toga, with a purple band; it was worn by males, until their seventeenth year, and by young women until their marriage.—B.

[2024] The trabea differed from the prætexta, in being ornamented with stripes (trabes) of purple, whence its name.—B.

[2025] Helen is introduced, Il. B. iii. l. 125, weaving an embroidered garment, in which were figured the battles of the Greeks and Trojans. It was probably somewhat of the nature of modern tapestry.—B.

[2026] See B. ix. c. 60.

[2027] This passage, in which the needle is said to have been used, proves that when the word “pictæ” is applied to garments, it is equivalent to our term “embroidered.”—B.

[2028] Pliny refers to the “Attalica tunica,” B. xxxiii. c. 29, and to the “Attalica vestis,” B. xxxvi. c. 20, and B. xxxvii. c. 6; Propertius speaks of “Attalica aulæa,” B. ii. c. 32, l. 12, “Attalicas torus,” B. ii. c. 13, l. 22, and B. iv. c. 5, l. 24, and “Attalicæ vestes,” B. iii. c. 18, l. 19.—B.

[2029] Plautus, Stich. A. ii. s. 2, l. 54, speaks of “Babylonica peristromata, consuta tapetia,” “Babylonian hangings, and embroidered tapestry;” and Martial, B. viii. Ep. 28, l. 17, 18, of “Babylonica texta,” “Babylonian textures.”—B.

[2030] From Martial’s epigram, entitled “Cubicularia polymita,” B. xiv. Ep. 150, we may conclude that the Egyptian polymita were formed in a loom, and of the nature of tapestry, while the Babylonian were embroidered with the needle. Plautus probably refers to the Egyptian tapestry, in the Pseud. A. i. s. 2, l. 14, “Neque Alexandrina belluata conchyliata tapetia”—“Nor yet the Alexandrine tapestries, figured over with beasts and shells.”

[2031] “Scutulis divider.” This term may mean “squares,” “diamonds,” or “lozenges,” something like the segments into which a spider’s web is divided. It is not improbable that he alludes here to the plaids of the Gallic nations.

[2032] We have an account of this contention in Plutarch, and we may presume that this accusation was produced at that time.—B.

[2033] The first sum amounts to about £4,600 sterling, the latter to £23,000.—B.

[2034] The following lines in Ovid, Fasti, B. vi. l. 569, _et seq._, have been supposed to refer to this temple, and prove that the account of it is correct.

“Lux eadem, Fortuna, tuaque est, auctorque, locusque. “Sed superinjectis quis latet æde togis? “Servius est....”

“The same day is thine, O Fortune; the same the builder, the same the site. But who is this that lies hid beneath the garments covering him? It is Servius.”

[2035] Perhaps “changed their colour” may be a better translation of “defluxisse.”

[2036] “Sesquipedalibus libris.” It seems impossible to translate this literally. Hardouin explains it by supposing that the fleeces were dyed in strips of three colours, each strip being half a foot in breadth, and that three of these required a pound of the dyeing materials.—B.

[2037] Pliny probably took this from Varro, B. ii. c. 2. This term is derived from πείκω, “to shear,” with the negative prefix.—B.

[2038] The word “cubitales” alone is used, which might be supposed to refer only to the length of the tail; but Hardouin conceives that it must also apply to the breadth, and refers to Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 28, and others, in proof of the great size which the tails of the Syrian sheep attain, and which would not be indicated by merely saying that they are a cubit long; this being little more than the ordinary length in other countries.—B.

[2039] According to Hardouin, this term, or some word nearly resembling it, was applied to mules or mongrels, as well as to individual animals of diminutive size or less perfect form.—B. Called “moufflon” by the French.

[2040] The term “umbri” appears to have been applied to a mongrel or less perfect animal; like “musmon,” it is of uncertain derivation.—B.

[2041] So also Varro, _ubi supra_, and Columella, B. vii. c. 3.—B. See also B. xviii. c. 76.

[2042] This remark, and the others in the remainder of this Chapter, appear to be taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3.—B.

[2043] We have an account of the generation of the goat in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 19. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 38, says that the goats of Egypt sometimes produce five young ones at a birth.—B.

[2044] Columella, B. vii. c. 6, gives a somewhat different account; he says, “Before its sixth year it is old—so that when five years old, it is not suitable for coupling.”—B.

[2045] According to Columella, _ubi supra_, “Because those with horns are usually troublesome, from their uncertainty of temper.”—B.

[2046] There has been considerable difference of opinion respecting the reading of the original, whether the word “utiles,” or “inutiles,” was the one here employed. Hardouin conceives it was the latter, and endeavours to reconcile the sense with this reading; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 538, 539. But, notwithstanding his high authority, there is still great doubt on the matter.—B.

[2047] “Infractis,” probably in contradistinction to erect ears. Columella, _ubi supra_, terms them, “flaccidis et prægrandibus auribus”—“flaccid ears, and very large.”—B.

[2048] “Laciniæ;” Varro, B. ii. c. 3, describes them as “mammulas pensiles;” Columella, _ubi supra_, calls them “verruculas;” he, however, assigns this appendage to the male goat.—B.

[2049] The word “mutilus” is employed, which Hardouin interprets, “having had the horns removed.” But the same word is applied by Columella, B. vii. c. 6, to an animal naturally without horns.—B.

[2050] On this reference to Archelaus, Dalechamps remarks that he is incorrect; but refers to Varro, _ubi supra_, who ascribes this opinion to Archelaus; Lemaire. vol. iii. p. 540.—B.

[2051] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 9, refers to this opinion, as being erroneous; Ælian. Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 53, supposes that they breathe both through the nose and the ears.—B.

[2052] Varro, _ubi supra_, remarks, “that no one in his senses speaks of a goat in health; for they are never without fever.”

[2053] Meaning those who cannot see at night, who have a weak sight, and therefore require a strong light to distinguish objects. See also, as to the Nyctalopes, B. xxviii. c. 47. The same remedy, the liver of the goat, is recommended for its cure.—B. See also B. xxviii. c. 11.

[2054] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 28, says that the inhabitants of Cilicia shear the goats in the same manner as the sheep.—B.

[2055] This is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3.—B.

[2056] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3, refers to the beard of the goat, under the name of ἤρυγγον.

[2057] According to Hardouin, the herb referred to is the “eryngium;” probably the “eringo:” he cites various authorities in support of his opinion.—B.

[2058] This is repeated in B. xvii. c. 24.—B.

[2059] Varro, B. i. c. 2, says: “Hence it is that they sacrificed no goats to Minerva, on account of the olive;” he then explains why the circumstance of the goat injuring the olive-tree was a reason for not offering it in sacrifice to Minerva, the patroness of this tree. Ovid, on the other hand, in the Fasti, B. i. l. 360, says that the goat was sacrificed to Bacchus, _because_ it gnawed the vine.

[2060] We have an account of the hog in Varro, B. ii. c. 4, from whom most of Pliny’s remarks are probably derived.—B.

[2061] Varro, B. ii. c. 4, and Columella, B. vii. c. 9. fix upon the seventh year.—B.

[2062] Varro, and Columella, _ubi supra_, recommend that the sow should not be allowed to rear more than eight young ones at each birth.—B.

[2063] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 13.—B.

[2064] Varro, _ubi supra_, says on the tenth day; Hardouin endeavours to prove that the number in Varro was originally five.—B.

[2065] The term “bidens,” employed by Pliny, although it literally means “having two teeth,” has been referred to the age of the animal, as indicated rather by the respective size of the teeth than by their number. It has been supposed to designate an animal of two years old, when the canine teeth of the lower jaw had become prominent.—B.

[2066] This is also referred to by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 18, but is without foundation.—B.

[2067] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, B. viii. c. 26. It is mentioned as a frequent occurrence by Plautus, Trinum. A. ii. s. 4, l. 139.—B.

[2068] Columella, B. vii. c. 10, gives directions for the treatment of hogs affected with scrofula. The name of the disease has been supposed to be derived from the frequency of its occurrence in this animal, anciently called “scrofa.”

[2069] It may appear unnecessary to refer to authorities on this subject, which is a matter of daily observation; it has, however, been stated by some naturalists, that the hog, in its wild state, does not exhibit any of the filthy propensities so generally observed in it when domesticated.—B.

[2070] This saying is found in Varro, B. ii. c. 4; it is referred to by Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. ii. c. 64, and ascribed to Chrysippus; “ne putisceret, animam ipsam pro sale datam.”—B. “That they are only of use for their flesh, which is kept from putridity by their life, which acts as salt.”

[2071] Pliny speaks of this more at large in B. xxviii. c. 60.—B.

[2072] This operation, and the effect of it, are mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 79, and by Columella, B. vii. c. 9.—B.

[2073] There were three Romans of this name, celebrated for their skill in gastronomy; of these the most illustrious lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. A treatise (probably spurious) is extant, to which his name is attached, entitled “De Arte Culinariâ”—“On the Art of Cookery.” Pliny refers to him again, B. xix. c. 41, and he is mentioned by many others of the classical writers.—B.

[2074] See B. x. c. 1. A much more cruel mode of increasing the liver of this animal, by confining it in hot ovens, is practised at the present day, to satisfy the palate of the admirers of the Strasburg _patés de foies gras_.

[2075] Pliny, in B. ix. c. 66, employs the expression “tonsillæ in homine, in sue glandulæ,” as if he considered them analogous parts.—B. See Plautus _passim_.

[2076] Publius Syrus was a comic performer and a writer, who acquired considerable celebrity; he lived during the reign of Augustus.—B.

[2077] “Aprugnum callum;” Plautus, in detailing the preparations for a feast, enumerates the following articles, “pernam, callum, glandium, sumen;” Pseudolus, A. i. s. 2, l. 32; all of which are parts of the hog.

[2078] “Ponebatur.” Littré and Ajasson render this, “placed at table.” It would appear, however, that the meaning is that this part was put by for salting, and the other parts were served at table while fresh.

[2079] “Vivaria;” Varro, B. iii. c. 12, and Aulus Gellius, B. ii. c. 20, give an account of the different places which were employed by the Romans for preserving animals of various descriptions, with their appropriate designations. Varro names the inventor Fulvius Lippinus.—B.

[2080] Varro, B. iii. c. 13, gives an animated description of a visit to what he calls the leporarium of Hortensius, where, besides hares, as the name implies, there was a multitude of stags, boars, and other four-footed animals.

[2081] Ælian, De Anim. Nat. B. xvi. c. 37, says, that no boar, either wild or tame, is produced in India, and that the Indians never use the flesh of this animal, as they would regard the use of it with as much horror as of human flesh.—B. The “Sus babiroussa” is probably meant by Pliny.

[2082] There has been some difference of opinion respecting the derivation of this word, but it is generally used to express a “mongrel,” _i. e._ an animal whose parents are of different natures, or, when applied to the human species, of different countries.—B.

[2083] See B. vii. c. 2.

[2084] It is not easy to determine what animals Pliny intended to designate. Cuvier employs the terms “chevreuils, chamois, and bouquetins,” as the corresponding words in the French. In English we have no names to express these varieties; we may, however, regard them generally, as different species of wild goats. Cuvier conceives that the Linnæan names of the animals mentioned were, probably, Cervus capreolus, Antelope rupicapra, and Capra ibex.—B.

[2085] The resemblance may be supposed to consist in the horns being hollow, and tapering to a point.—B.

[2086] There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the correct reading, or the exact meaning which the writer intended to convey by the words employed.—B.

[2087] There is some difficulty in determining the nature of the variety which Pliny terms “oryges;” Hardouin has collected the opinions of naturalists, and we have some remarks by Cuvier; he refers to Buffon’s account of the Antelope oryx, as agreeing, in the essential points, with the description given by Pliny; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 554. See B. xi. c. 106.

[2088] Cuvier remarks, that there is some doubt respecting the dama of Pliny; he is, however, disposed to regard it as a species of antelope. Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 464, 465; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 554.—B.

[2089] The term pygargus is derived from the words πυγὴ ἀργὸς, denoting “white buttocks.” Probably a kind of gazelle.

[2090] “With twisted horns.” It is probable that Pliny intended to designate a species of antelope.—B. See B. xi. c. 45.

[2091] In this division Pliny, probably, included what he has termed the “capræa,” the rupicapra, and the ibex.—B.

[2092] Some of these animals are entirely without a tail, and this circumstance has been employed to form the primary division of the simiæ into the two species, those with and those without tails. We have an epigram of Martial, in which this is referred to. “Si mihi cauda foret, cercopithecus eram”—“If I had but a tail, I should be a monkey.” B. iv. Ep. 102.—B. See B. xi. c. 100.

[2093] We learn from Strabo, Ind. Hist. B. xv., that, in catching the monkey, the hunters took advantage of the propensity of these animals to imitate any action they see performed. “Two modes,” he says, “are employed in taking this animal, as by nature it is taught to imitate every action, and to take to flight by climbing up trees. The hunters, when they see an ape sitting on a tree, place within sight of it a dish full of water, with which they rub their eyes; and then, slyly substituting another in its place, full of bird-lime, retire and keep upon the watch. The animal comes down from the tree, and rubs its eyes with the bird-lime, in consequence of which the eyelids stick together, and it is unable to escape.” Ælian also says, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 25, that the hunters pretend to put on their shoes, and then substitute, in their place, shoes of lead; the animal attempts to imitate them, and, the shoes being so contrived, when it has once got them on, it finds itself unable to take them off, or to move, and is consequently taken.

[2094] There has been some difficulty in ascertaining the exact reading here; but the meaning seems to be, that the pieces were made of wax, and that the animals had learned to distinguish them from each other, and move them in the appropriate manner; how far this is to be credited, it is not easy to decide, but it would certainly require very strong and direct evidence. We are told that the Emperor Charles V. had a monkey that played at chess with him.—B.

[2095] In the original, termed “cynocephali,” “dog’s-headed;” an appellation given to them, according to Cuvier, from their muzzle projecting like that of a dog; we have an account of this species in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 13.—B. Probably the baboon. See B. vi. c. 35, and B. vii. c. 2. The satyr is, perhaps, the uran-utang. See B. v. c. 8, and B. vii. c. 2.

[2096] Or “fine-haired monkey;” supposed to be the Silenus of Linnæus; it is described by Buffon, under the name of Callitrix.—B. It seems to be also called the “Simia hamadryas.”

[2097] Hardouin gives references to the authors who have observed this change in the colour of the hare, apparently depending upon the peculiar locality, and its consequent exposure to a low temperature. Cuvier considers it as characteristic of a peculiar species, the Lepus variabilis, “which being peculiar to the highest mountains, and the regions of the north, is white in winter.”—B.

[2098] Or coney, “cuniculus.” Hardouin makes some observations upon the derivation of this term, to show that Pliny was mistaken in supposing it to be of Spanish origin; we have also an observation of Cuvier’s to the same effect.—B.

[2099] “Laurices;” we have no explanation of this word in any of the editions of Pliny. Its origin appears to be quite unknown.

[2100] According to Cuvier, the Mustela furo of Linnæus. Ajasson, _ubi supra_.—B.

[2101] Because, as Varro says, De Re Rus. B. iii. c. 12, they are in the habit of making burrows—cuniculos—in the earth.

[2102] This reference to the opinion of Archelaus appears to be from Varro, _ubi supra_; the same reference is made by Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 2.—B.

[2103] Respecting the dasypus of Pliny, it has been doubted whether it be a distinct species, a variety of the hare, or merely a synonyme.—B.

[2104] It is by some contended, that the human female, and perhaps some other animals, have occasionally been the subjects of what is termed superfœtation; whereas, according to Pliny, in the hare and the dasypus it takes place frequently, but in no other animals.—B. On this subject, see B. vii. c. 9.

[2105] This is referred to by Cicero, in his treatise, De Divinatione, B. i. c. 44, and B. ii. c. 27; in the latter he treats it as an idle tale.—B.

[2106] See B. iii. c. 8.

[2107] C. Papirius Carbo, a contemporary and friend of the Gracchi. In B.C. 119, the orator, Licinius Crassus, brought a charge against him, the nature of which is not known; but Carbo put an end to his life, by taking cantharides.

[2108] These different species are thus characterized by Cuvier: “Les premiers sont les souris et les rats, de formes ordinaires; les seconds, les grandes musaraignes [shrew-mice] de la taille du rat, telles que l’on en trouve en Egypte; les troisiemes, une espece de souris particuliere à l’Egypte, et peut-être à la Barbarie, armée d’epines parmi ses poils dont Aristote avait deja parlé (B. vi. l. 37, _cap. ult._) et que M. Geoffroy a retrouvée et nommée mus cahirinus.” Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 467, and Lemaire, _ubi supra_.—B. See B. viii. c. 55, and B. x. c. 85.

[2109] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11, mentions this circumstance, but says that it occurred in the island of Paros. For Gyara, see B. iv. c. 23.

[2110] We have two passages in Livy, B. xxvii. and B. xxx., where gold is said to have been gnawed by mice.—B.

[2111] See B. iii. c. 9. In B.C. 217, this place was occupied by Fabius with a strong garrison, to prevent Hannibal from passing the Vulturnus; and the following year, after the battle of Cannæ, was occupied by a small body of Roman troops, who, though little more than 1000 in number, withstood the assaults of Hannibal during a protracted siege, until compelled by famine to surrender.

[2112] This sum would be about £7.—B.

[2113] It is by no means improbable that “occentus” here means “singing,” and not merely “squeaking;” as the singing of a mouse would no doubt be deemed particularly ill-boding in those times. At the present day, a mouse has been heard to emit a noise which more nearly resembled singing than squeaking; and a “singing mouse” has been the subject of an exhibition more than once.

[2114] We have frequent allusions to this occurrence in the writings of the Romans, some of which are referred to by Dalechamps; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 563.—B.

[2115] A.U.C. 639; it does not appear what was the cause of this prohibition.—B.

[2116] See B. xxxvi. c. 2.

[2117] Fulvius Lupinus, as already stated in c. 78.—B.

[2118] “Nitelis.” See B. xvi. c. 69. Probably the animal now known as the Myoxus nitela of Linnæus.

[2119] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 33.—B.

[2120] According to Hardouin, this forest is termed, in modern times, Bosco di Baccano; it is nine miles S.W. of Rome.

[2121] Cuvier informs us, that “Le dorcas des Grecs n’est le daim, comme le dit Hardouin, mais le chevreuil; car Aristote (De Partib. Anim. l. iii. c. 2) dit que c’est le plus petit des animaux à cornes que nous connaissions (sans doute en Grèce); et le dorcas Libyca, très-bien decrit par Ælien (l. xiv. c. 4), est certainement la gazelle commune, ‘antelope dorcas,’” Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 467, 468; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 565. Respecting the localities here mentioned, it has been proposed to substitute Cilicia for Syria, Syria and Lycia being at a considerable distance from each other.—B.

[2122] See B. v. c. 39.

[2123] See B. v. c. 38.

[2124] See B. iii. c. 11, and the Note to the passage. See also c. 81 of this Book.

[2125] Ælian, B. ii. c. 37, gives the same account of the frogs of Seriphos and the lake of Thessaly, but gives the name of Pierus to the lake.—B.

[2126] “Mus araneüs; the ‘shrew-mouse,’” according to Cuvier, “La musaraigne n’est pas venimeuse. Il s’en faut beaucoup qu’elle n’existe pas au nord des Apennins; et elle ne périt point passe qu’elle a traversé une ornière, quoique souvent elle puisse y être écrasée. C’est un des quadrupèdes que l’on tue le plus aisément par un coup léger.” Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 468.—B.

[2127] Ælian, B. iii. c. 32, gives the same account, which he professes to have taken from Theophrastus.—B.

[2128] This is also stated by Ælian.

[2129] B. xi. c. 23, and B. xxix. c. 27.—B.

[2130] See B. iv. c. 20.

[2131] “Attagenæ;” the commentators have suspected some inaccuracy with respect to this word, as we have no other remarks on birds in this part of Pliny’s work; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 567, 568.—B.

[2132] See B. iv. c. 9.

[2133] See B. v. c. 31.

[2134] More especially of trees, plants, flowers, medicinal substances, metals, and gems, which form the most prominent subjects of the remaining Books after the eleventh, which concludes the account of the animals.—B.

[2135] See end of B. ii.

[2136] A Roman historian, and a contemporary of Cicero. He is thought to have written on early Roman history, as Varro quotes his account of the Curtian Lake, and on the later history of Rome, as we have seen Pliny referring to him in c. 2, respecting Pompey’s triumph on his return from Africa. He was held in high estimation by Pomponius Atticus, but seems not to have been so highly esteemed as a writer by Cicero.

[2137] See end of B. iii.

[2138] See end of B. ii.

[2139] Of this writer nothing seems to be known. He probably flourished in the reign of Tiberius or Caligula.

[2140] See end of B. iii.

[2141] A Roman historian, who flourished in the reign of Augustus, and died A.D. 21, in the seventieth year of his age. His great work was called “Annales,” and extended to at least twenty-two books, and seems to have contained much minute, though not always accurate, information with regard to the internal affairs of the city; only a few fragments remain, which bear reference to events subsequent to the Carthaginian wars. He is also thought to have written a work called “Epitomæ.” A treatise was published at Vienna, in 1510, in two Books, “On the Priesthood and Magistracy of Rome,” under the name of Fenestella; but it is in reality the composition of Andrea Domenico Fiocchi, a Florentine jurist of the fourteenth century.

[2142] See end of B. vii.

[2143] See end of B. v.

[2144] L. Junius Moderatus Columella. He was a native of Gades, or Cadiz, and was a contemporary of Celsus and Seneca. He is supposed to have resided at Rome, and from his works it appears that he visited Syria and Cilicia. It has been conjectured that he died at Tarentum. His great work is a systematic treatise upon Agriculture, divided into Twelve Books.

[2145] See end of B. vii.

[2146] See end of B. ii.

[2147] C. Lucilius, the first Roman satirical poet of any importance, was born B.C. 148, and died B.C. 103. From Juvenal we learn that he was born at Suessa of the Aurunci, and from Velleius Paterculus and Horace other particulars respecting him. He is supposed to have been either the maternal grand-uncle or maternal grandfather of Pompeius Magnus. If not absolutely the inventor of Roman satire, he was the first to mould it into that form which was afterwards fully developed by Horace, Juvenal, and Perseus. He is spoken of in high terms as a writer by Cicero, Horace, and Quintilian.

[2148] The father of Cornelia, the wife of Pompeius Magnus. After his defeat by Cæsar at the battle of Thapsus, he stabbed himself, and leaped into the sea. In what way he distinguished himself as an author, does not appear.

[2149] See end of B. vii.

[2150] See end of B. vi.

[2151] He was one of the companions of L. Lucullus, proconsul in Bætica, the province of Spain, B.C. 150. His work on Natural History is several times referred to by Pliny.

[2152] See end of B. iii.

[2153] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned by Varro and Columella. Nothing more seems to be known of him.

[2154] See end of B. v.

[2155] See end of B. iv.

[2156] See end of B. ii.

[2157] Of Tarsus, a Stoic philosopher, the disciple and successor of Diogenes, and the teacher of Panætius, about B.C. 144. Of his personal history but little is known. Mention is made of his History of Animals by the Scholiast upon Apollonius Rhodius.

[2158] See end of B. ii.

[2159] There were several physicians of this name; one was a native of Apamea in Bithynia, a follower of Herophilus, who flourished in the third or second century B.C.; another lived about the same period, and is by some supposed to have been the same as the last. No particulars seem to be known of the individual here mentioned.

[2160] See end of B. ii.

[2161] See end of B. iii.

[2162] Of Miletus. He wrote on mythical subjects, and is mentioned as an author by Diogenes Laertius; but nothing further seems to have been known respecting him.

[2163] Some of the MSS. call him Acopas, or Copas. He was the author of an account of the victors at the Olympic games, the work here referred to by Pliny.

[2164] Hiero II., the king of Syracuse, and steady friend and ally of the Romans. He died probably a little before the year B.C. 216, having attained the age of ninety-two. Varro and Columella speak of a Treatise on Agriculture written by him.

[2165] Attalus III., king of Pergamus, son of Eumenes II. and Stratonice, daughter of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia. In his will he made the Roman people his heirs. Being struck with remorse for the murders and other crimes of which he had previously been guilty, he abandoned all public business, and devoted himself to the study of physic, sculpture, and gardening, on which he wrote a work. He died B.C. 133, of a fever, with which he was seized through exposing himself to the sun’s rays, while engaged in erecting a monument to his mother.

[2166] See end of B. ii.

[2167] See end of B. vii.

[2168] An historian of Syracuse, one of the most celebrated of antiquity, though, unfortunately, none of his works have come down to us. He was born about B.C. 435, and died B.C. 356. He wrote histories of Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Phœnicia.

[2169] A Greek of Tarentum, famous as a philosopher, mathematician, statesman, and general. The lives of him by Aristoxenus and Aristotle are unfortunately lost. He lived probably about B.C. 400, and he is said to have saved the life of Plato by his influence with the tyrant Dionysius. He was finally drowned in the Adriatic. He attained great skill as a practical mechanician; and his flying dove of wood was one of the wonders of antiquity. The fragments and titles of works ascribed to him are very numerous, but the genuineness of some is doubted.

[2170] See end of B. vii.

[2171] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella. In B. xviii. c. 43, Pliny speaks of a work of his on lucerne clover and cytisus.

[2172] Or Anaxipolis. He was a writer on Agricultural subjects, and is mentioned by Varro and Columella; but nothing further is known respecting him.

[2173] A writer on Agriculture. He is supposed to have lived before the time of Aristotle, and is also mentioned by Varro. No further

## particulars are known respecting him.

[2174] A writer on Agriculture; Varro calls him a native of Mallus, in Cilicia.

[2175] A native of Cumæ or Cymæ, in Asia Minor, a Greek writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.

[2176] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.

[2177] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro, Columella, Galen, and the Scholiast on Nicander.

[2178] The most famous among the soothsayers of Alexander the Great. He probably wrote the work on Prodigies, which is referred to by Pliny in B. xvii. c. 38, and elsewhere, as also by Lucian the satirist.

[2179] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.

[2180] See end of B. vi.

[2181] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.

[2182] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.

[2183] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.

[2184] See end of B. ii.

[2185] A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.

[2186] Or Euphonius, a writer on Agriculture, also mentioned by Varro and Columella. Nothing further is known relative to him.

[2187] See end of B. vii.

[2188] Menander of Priene was a writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella. Menander of Heraclea was a writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro.

[2189] A poet who wrote on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro. It is not improbable that he is the same person with the Menecrates of Smyrna, the author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology.

[2190] A Greek writer on Agriculture, who wrote before the time of Theophrastus, by whom he is mentioned, as also by Athenæus and Varro.

[2191] He is mentioned also by Varro, but nothing is known of him.

[2192] He is often referred to by Varro and Columella. He is also supposed to have been the writer of a History of Thebes, mentioned by the Scholiast and Apollonius Rhodius, B. iii.

[2193] Cassius Dionysius of Utica. He translated into Greek the twenty-eight Books on Husbandry written by Mago the Carthaginian, in the Punic language. Of Mago nothing further is known.

[2194] Diophanes of Bithynia made an epitome of the same work in Greek, and dedicated it to King Deiotarus. Columella styles Mago the Father of Agriculture.

[2195] Made king of Cappadocia by Antony, B.C. 34. He died at Rome, at an advanced age, A.D. 17. Plutarch attributes to King Archelaus—if, indeed, this was the same—a treatise on Minerals.

[2196] A native of Claros, near Colophon, in Ionia. It is not a matter of certainty, but it is most probable, that he lived in the reign of Ptolemy V., who died B.C. 181. He was a poet, grammarian, and physician. His “Theriaca,” a poem on the wounds inflicted by venomous animals, still exists, as also another called “Alexipharmia.”

[2197] 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 frequently produced.”

[2198] 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.

[2199] He alludes, most probably, to what we call the “sword-fish,” the “Xiphias gladius” of Linnæus.

[2200] Probably, in allusion to the “Squalus pristis” of Linnæus.

[2201] 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.

[2202] Cuvier says, that he most probably alludes to the “Syngnathus hippocampus” of Linnæus. This little fish, he says, is also called the sea-horse, 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.

[2203] 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.”

[2204] 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.

[2205] 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 saw-fish. 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.

[2206] 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.

[2207] 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.

[2208] On the southern coast of Arabia.

[2209] Ptolemy Philadelphus.

[2210] 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.

[2211] 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.”

[2212] 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.

[2213] 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 the “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.

[2214] 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.

[2215] 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.

[2216] 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 “sea-serpent,” than to anything of the polypus or sepia genus.

[2217] “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.

[2218] Lisbon. See B. iv. c. 35.

[2219] 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 “gilt-head],” 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.”

[2220] 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 “mer-man,” and the nereid is our “mermaid.”

[2221] Of Gallia Lugdunensis, namely. The legatus was also called “rector,” and “proprætor.”

[2222] 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.”

[2223] See B. iv. c. 31, 32.

[2224] See B. iv. c. 33.

[2225] 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.

[2226] 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 alluded to.

[2227] 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.

[2228] 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.

[2229] 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. [2225].) 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.

[2230] 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 surf? 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.

[2231] 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 “Portus Augusti;” and around it there sprang up a town known as “Portus,” the inhabitants of which were called “Portuenses.”

[2232] “Naufragiis tergorum.” This may probably mean a shipwreck, in which some hides had fallen into the sea.

[2233] 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 engaged in the attack.

[2234] “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.

[2235] 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.

[2236] Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 2.

[2237] “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.

[2238] Dalechamps states that Cælius Rhodiginus, B. iv. c. 15, has entered very fully into this subject.

[2239] 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.

[2240] 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.”

[2241] But, as Hardouin remarks, this act on the part of the fish is caused as much by the water as the air.

[2242] As Hardouin remarks, this is a somewhat singular notion that sleep is produced by the action of the lungs.

[2243] 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 respiration 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.

[2244] See B. x. c. 89, where this subject is further discussed.

[2245] “Infectum aera.”

[2246] See Aristotle, De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13, and Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 2.

[2247] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 5.

[2248] 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.

[2249] Or “seals.” They will be further mentioned in c. 15 of the present Book.

[2250] Or “turtles,” which are more fully described in c. 21 of this Book.

[2251] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 74.

[2252] 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 Baiæ, 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.”

[2253] 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.

[2254] Copied literally from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5, and De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13.

[2255] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 74.

[2256] 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.

[2257] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 9. Oppian, Halieut. B. i. l. 660.

[2258] Fishermen having notched the tail of the animal when young, and recognized it by these marks thirty years afterwards.

[2259] “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.

[2260] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 49, says that the dolphin makes this noise when it comes to the air.

[2261] 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.

[2262] “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.

[2263] 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 Athenæus, 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.

[2264] 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.

[2265] 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.

[2266] See B. iii. c. 9.

[2267] “Pinnarum aculeas.” See the remarks of Cuvier on this passage, and his conclusion as to the fish meant, in his Note in p. 369.

[2268] Oppian, in his Halieutica, B. v. l. 453, mentions this story also, and of course Solinus does.

[2269] See B. v. c. 3.

[2270] The island and city of Caria. See B. v. c. 29.

[2271] Being alarmed by the pursuit of the fish while he was swimming.

[2272] 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 Athenæus.

[2273] This story is also told by Plutarch, in his work on the Instincts of Animals.

[2274] Aulus Gellius, B. vii. c. 8, mentions this story, borrowing it probably from Theophrastus.

[2275] The people of the territory in which Amphilochian Argos was situate, and lying to the south of Ambracia. See B. iv. c. 2.

[2276] The people of Tarentum. See B. iii. c. 16.

[2277] Ovid tells the story of Arion more fully, and in beautiful language, in the Fasti, B. ii. l. 92, _et seq._

[2278] 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.

[2279] Now Nismes. See B. iii. c. 5.

[2280] 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.

[2281] Dalechamps tells us that the people of Montpellier call this outlet “La Crau,” and that it is in the vicinity of Mangueil.

[2282] 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. If the latter is the meaning, Pliny probably intends to speak only of what some of them are able to do: otherwise it is hard to see of what utility the nets were in the operation.

[2283] “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.

[2284] Ælian also mentions this, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 8.

[2285] The same is stated in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 74, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 6.

[2286] This is also mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 74.

[2287] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 6.

[2288] 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.

[2289] 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.”

[2290] 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.”

[2291] This passage, down to the words “to the fishermen,” is found in Agatharchides, as quoted by Photius.

[2292] See B. xxxii. c. 4.

[2293] 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.

[2294] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 3, has a similar passage.

[2295] See B. v. c. 17.

[2296] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 3, states to a similar effect.

[2297] Oppian, Halieut. B. i. l. 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.”

[2298] Cuvier remarks, that it is evident that the fore-feet were here taken for horns, they being in the turtle long, narrow, and pointed.

[2299] From the Greek χέλυον, “tortoise-shell.” See B. vi. c. 34.

[2300] Or “turtle eaters.” See B. vi. c. 28.

[2301] From χερσιναὶ, “land turtles,” or “tortoises.”

[2302] “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.

[2303] 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.

[2304] 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 ῥίνη the “file.” See B. xxxii. c. 53.

[2305] Probably the Muræna helena of Linnæus. See more on it in c. 23 of the present Book.

[2306] Spoken of more fully in c. 23 of this Book.

[2307] 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.

[2308] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 11, states to the like effect.

[2309] “Fremitu.” From their lowing noise, the French have also called these animals “veaux de mer,” and we call them “sea-calves.” 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.

[2310] Oppian, Halieut. B. i. l. 408, mentions this fact, and Juvenal, Sat. iii. l. 238, alludes to it: “Would break the slumbers of Drusus and of sea-calves.”

[2311] 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.

[2312] 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.

[2313] 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 Lacèpede 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.

[2314] B. xxx. c. 53.

[2315] 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.

[2316] 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 Lacèpede, 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 says _five_.

[2317] 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 synonymous 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 dog-fish 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.”

[2318] 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.

[2319] 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_.

[2320] 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.

[2321] Cuvier says, that this was probably the Petromyzon branchialis of Linnæus, 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.

[2322] 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.

[2323] According to Albertus Magnus, this fish, which so strongly resembled the sea-pig, or porpoise, was the huso, a kind of sturgeon.

[2324] 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.

[2325] 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.

[2326] Solinus gives an account of these worms of the Ganges, also from 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.

[2327] 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.

[2328] 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.

[2329] “Magno mari;” meaning, no doubt, the Mediterranean.

[2330] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 17.

[2331] Or “mud-fish,” either from being born in mud, as Festus says, or from their concealing themselves in it.

[2332] “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.

[2333] The Greeks called the inner part, or black-coloured heart of the oak, μέλαν δρυὸς, whence the present name. Athenæus, B. vi. speaks of the choice parts cut from the orcyni, large tunnies, which were taken in the straits of Gades.

[2334] “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.

[2335] “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.

[2336] From the Greek ἀπόλεκτοι, “choice bits,” or, as we should say, “tit-bits.”

[2337] From the Greek κύβια.

[2338] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 16.

[2339] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 25.

[2340] 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 is rather 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.”

[2341] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 16.

[2342] 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. l. 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 Constantinople, scombri at Venice, and scurmu, scrumiu, and scumbirro in Sicily.

[2343] 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.”

[2344] As in the Euxine. Tunnies were caught on the Spanish coasts, as we learn from Athenæus, who, as quoted above, mentions the fisheries off Gades, for the orcynus, or large tunny. See N. [2333], p. 385.

[2345] 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.

[2346] Aristotle, B. viii. c. 6. Plutarch on the Instinct of Animals, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 42, say the same.

[2347] 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.

[2348] 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.

[2349] 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.

[2350] 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.

[2351] Pleuronectes solea of Linnæus.

[2352] Pleuronectes maximus of Linnæus.

[2353] The cuttle-fish. The Sepia officinalis of Linnæus.

[2354] The ink-fish. The Sepia loligo of Linnæus.

[2355] 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.”

[2356] 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.

[2357] 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, l. 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 Lacèpede, which is called the “sardine” in some places, and at Lake Garda, in Lombardy, more especially.

[2358] 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.

[2359] 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.

[2360] 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.

[2361] The evening setting, namely. This took place on the fourth day before the nones of November. See B. xviii. c. 74.

[2362] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 16.

[2363] 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.

[2364] This is, as Cuvier has remarked, a crustaceous insect of the parasitical class Lernæa, which are monoculous [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 appearance 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.

[2365] 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.

[2366] Or the emperor fish, Cuvier says, the Xiphias gladius of Linnæus.

[2367] 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.”

[2368] 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.”

[2369] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 5. Cuvier remarks, that this is true, and more especially during the spawning season.

[2370] Aristotle says the same, but with the expression of some doubt as to the truth of the assertion. B. vi. c. 13.

[2371] 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, l. 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.

[2372] 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.

[2373] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 75.

[2374] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 7.

[2375] Aristotle makes the same remark, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 25.

[2376] 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.

[2377] The Perca labrax of Linnæus. Called “loup,” or “wolf,” on the Mediterranean coasts of France, and “bar” on the shores of the ocean.

[2378] 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.

[2379] From σκιὰ, 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.

[2380] 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 Mediterranean 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. l. 108,) speaking of the “rutilus pagur,” and it was, according to Aristotle, B. 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. l. 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. Hicesius 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. Archestratus looks upon its head as a delicacy, but thinks so little of the other parts, that they are not, in his opinion, worth carrying away. He was, however, well known to be much too refined in his notions of epicurism.

[2381] 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.

[2382] In B. viii. c. 54 and 55, where he is speaking of bears and other animals.

[2383] Cuvier states that Pliny takes this name from Aristotle, and that Athenæus, B. vii., says that it is synonymous with the Greek name, κορύφαινη. 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.”

[2384] 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. l. 133; but there were white ones as well, which Athenæus, B. 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.

[2385] 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. ll. 114, 115, “the muræna burning with its spots of gold”—but the lamprey has no yellow spots whatever: and in l. 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.

[2386] 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.”

[2387] The Muræna conger of Linnæus.

[2388] “Percæ.” Cuvier says that it is most probable that he is here speaking of the fish generally known by the ancients as the sea-perch; and that there is reason for thinking that it was similar to the Perca scriba of Linnæus, having black lines running across the body. Most naturalists are 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.”

[2389] The Raia torpedo of Linnæus.

[2390] 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.

[2391] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 20. As Hardouin remarks, Aristotle appears to assign the sixty days to the glaucus only.

[2392] 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. l. 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.

[2393] 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.”

[2394] 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 Ἰώνισκος, 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.

[2395] 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.

[2396] 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 Dalechamps seems inclined to censure our author for this addition; but we find Oppian, Halieut. B. i. ll. 101 and 592, speaking of the sea cyprinus; and Athenæus speaks of the cyprinus of Aristotle as being a sea-fish.

[2397] 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.

[2398] Cuvier remarks, that it does not appear that the characteristics of the mullet, here mentioned by Pliny, have been observed in modern times.

[2399] The same story is told of the ostrich.

[2400] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 4, states to a similar effect.

[2401] 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. l. 96, “and the precious elops, unknown in our waters,” though he also says of the “acipenser,” in l. 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.

[2402] The wolf-fish. Generally supposed to be the basse, or lubin of the French, much esteemed for their delicacy.

[2403] See N. [1966] above.

[2404] 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.

[2405] 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. l. 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. l. 134, and Suidas. Fourthly, for its salacious propensities, numbers being taken by means of a female attached to a string. Oppian, Halieut. B. iv. l. 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. l. 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. l. 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 “parrot-fish;” while by some it has been thought to have resembled our char.

[2406] See B. v. cc. 32, 41.

[2407] 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.

[2408] The present Boden See, or Lake of Constance.

[2409] Instead of “marinis,” Sillig adopts the reading “murænis,” making them to rival the muræna even. The other, however, seems to be the preferable reading.

[2410] Cuvier says that this is the τρίγλα of the Greeks, the triglia of modern Italy, the rouget of Provence, and the Mullus barbatus of Linnæus.

[2411] 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.

[2412] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5; Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 41; and Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. l. 435.

[2413] 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.

[2414] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5.

[2415] 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.

[2416] 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 shell-fish. But query as to this explanation.

[2417] 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.

[2418] Hence their Greek name, τρίγλα, according to Oppian, Halieut. B. i. l. 590.

[2419] 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 mullet 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.”

[2420] This anchovy, pickle, or fish-sauce, will be found more fully spoken of in B. xxxi. c. 44.

[2421] 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?”

[2422] 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.

[2423] The reign of the Emperor Caligula.

[2424] Juvenal, Sat. iv. l. 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.

[2425] 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.

[2426] The bolty of the modern Egyptians, as previously mentioned.

[2427] 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. l. 112, is far from applicable to the dory, which is common enough in the Mediterranean. If, indeed, the χαλκεὺς 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 χαλκεὺς is of a round shape: but then, on the other hand, Oppian, Halieut. B. v. l. 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.

[2428] Or “blacksmith.”

[2429] 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. l. 122, speaks of it as “deservedly held in little esteem.”

[2430] See B. iii. c. 11.

[2431] Neither at Ebusus nor anywhere else.

[2432] 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.

[2433] 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.

[2434] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iii. c. 10.

[2435] The modern Lago di Como, and Lago Maggiore. See B. iii. c. 23.

[2436] See c. 20, as to the Vergiliæ.

[2437] 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.

[2438] “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 mentioned 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 he 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.

[2439] 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.

[2440] Ἀπὸ τοῦ 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. l. 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.

[2441] 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.

[2442] 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.”

[2443] “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.

[2444] The Sepia octopodia of Linnæus.

[2445] 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.

[2446] 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.

[2447] Or the “Fishes.” As if, indeed, Hardouin says, the resemblance of name given to the constellation could have any effect upon the fish!

[2448] The turbot, Pleuronectes maximus of Linnæus.

[2449] Pleuronectes solea of Linnæus.

[2450] “Passer.” Probably our “plaice”—the Pleuronectes platessa of Linnæus.

[2451] 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.

[2452] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 6.

[2453] 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.

[2454] Eels and congers, for instance, which have but one pair.

[2455] Murænæ and lampreys.

[2456] See B. iii. c. 17.

[2457] Cuvier thinks that there can be no question that he is speaking here of some mollusc or crustaceous animal.

[2458] Murænæ, 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.

[2459] Aristotle, De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13, and Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 6.

[2460] 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.

[2461] 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.

[2462] 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.

[2463] Eighty or a hundred hours at most, Spallanzani says.

[2464] Cold, or a foul state of the water, Cuvier says, is very destructive to the eel.

[2465] Or Pleiades. See c. 20.

[2466] 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.

[2467] See B. iii. c. 23.

[2468] See B. iii. c. 20.

[2469] The setting of the Pleiades or the rising of Arcturus. See B. ii. c. 47.

[2470] 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.

[2471] Excipulis.

[2472] 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.

[2473] 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.

[2474] 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.

[2475] 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.

[2476] Cuvier has already made some remarks on this passage in one of his Notes to c. 24 of the present Book. See p. 395.

[2477] The Seven Terriones, or plough oxen. The constellation of Ursa Major was thus called by the Romans.

[2478] 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.

[2479] 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.

[2480] 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.”

[2481] The ray.

[2482] The sting-ray; the Raia pastinaca of Linnæus.

[2483] The angel-fish; the Squalus squatina of Linnæus.

[2484] The Raia torpedo of Linnæus.

[2485] Galen, in his explanation of words used by Hippocrates, speaks of the βοῦς θαλάσσιος, which is also described by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. l. 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.”

[2486] A species of ray, most probably.

[2487] Cuvier suggests that this was the mylobates, the Raia aquila of Linnæus, which probably obtained this name on account of the width of the pectoral fins, and its peculiar shape.

[2488] 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.

[2489] 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.”

[2490] 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 ἀπὸ τοῦ σέλας ἔχειν, from the fact of their shining at night.

[2491] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 5, and De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 13.

[2492] In c. 7 of the present Book.

[2493] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 8.

[2494] 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.

[2495] This is also from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17. Oppian also mentions it, Halieut. B. i. l. 223, _et seq._, but he gives it all the characteristics of the modern lamprey.

[2496] This is the Echeneis 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 staying 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.

[2497] Ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔχειν νῆας. “From holding back ships.”

[2498] Used for the purpose of bringing back lost love, or preventing inconstancy.

[2499] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17.

[2500] 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.

[2501] 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 shell-fish 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.

[2502] Rondelet, B. xiii. c. 12, says that this kind of shell was formerly used for the purpose of smoothing paper.

[2503] 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.

[2504] Venus was fabled to have emerged from the sea in a shell.

[2505] 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.”

[2506] 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.

[2507] 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. l. 121, “The fish that imitates, beneath the waves, the pretty nests of the birds.”

[2508] 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. ll. 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.

[2509] Ovid, Halieut. l. 96, speaks of this fish as having a black back. Cuvier therefore suggests that it may possibly be the perlon, the Trigla hirundo of Linuæus, 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.

[2510] 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.

[2511] 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.

[2512] 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. l. 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.

[2513] 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.

[2514] The Sæpia loligo of Linnæus; the calmar of the French, or ink-fish.

[2515] The Sæpia officinalis of Linnæus; the seche of the French; our cuttle-fish.

[2516] The Sæpia octopodia of Linnæus, or eight-footed cuttle-fish.

[2517] Cuvier remarks, that this account of the arms or feelers of the sæpia and loligo is very exact.

[2518] “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.”

[2519] 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.”

[2520] 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. l. 156.

[2521] 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.

[2522] This, as Hardouin says, is the polypus which is found on the sea-shore, and which more frequently comes on dry land than the other kinds.

[2523] 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.”

[2524] 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.

[2525] 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 fore-part 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.

[2526] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 2, says that the animal is obliged to do so, on account of the situation of the eyes.

[2527] But Aristotle says, καθάπερ ἐμπεφυσημένην, “_as though_ it were puffed out with air.”

[2528] “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.

[2529] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 59.

[2530] 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.

[2531] This notion is mentioned by Athenæus, Pherecrates, Alcæus, Hesiod, Oppian, and Ælian.

[2532] 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.

[2533] 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 vertebræ. 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.

[2534] This account of the nautilus, Cuvier says, the Argonauta argo of Linnæus, wonderful as it may appear, has been often confirmed by modern observation.

[2535] 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.

[2536] These vessels have been already remarked upon in Note 33 to c. 5 of the present Book.

[2537] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 61.

[2538] From ὄζω, “to emit an odour.” This was a small kind of polypus.

[2539] 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.

[2540] Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. l. 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.

[2541] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 59.

[2542] Oppian, Halieut. B. i. l. 551, says, that they hardly live a year; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 28, states to a similar effect.

[2543] Basil attributes a similar craftiness to the crab; Hexaem. Homil. vii.

[2544] 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.

[2545] In Spain; see B. iii. c. 3. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 13, tells a similar story about a polypus at Puteoli.

[2546] “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.

[2547] “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.

[2548] 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.

[2549] “Afflatu terribili.” This, as Hardouin says, may either mean its bad smell, or stinking water, ejected from its canal.

[2550] Its arms or feelers. The amphora, as a measure of capacity, held about nine English gallons.

[2551] “Caliculis;” literally, “little glasses.” Its “acetabula,” or suckers, are so called from their peculiar shape.

[2552] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 2, says the same; but, as Hardouin observes, he must mean the Ionian sea.

[2553] 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.

[2554] 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.

[2555] The “rostrum” of the ancient ships of war.

[2556] “Palmulis.” This word also means the blade or broad part of an oar; in which sense it may, perhaps, be here taken.

[2557] “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.

[2558] Aristotle, and Theophrastus, in his “Treatise on Animals which conceal themselves,” state to a similar effect.

[2559] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 4, states to a similar effect.

[2560] Aristotle, _loc. cit._, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 25, state to the same effect.

[2561] 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.

[2562] He mentions, in B. ii. c. 41, the effect which the rays of the moon have upon the growth of shell-fish.

[2563] 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 maiæ, 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.”

[2564] 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.

[2565] 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.

[2566] 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.

[2567] 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.

[2568] 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.

[2569] “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 Athenæus, it was of larger size than the astacus. Ælian describes it as more slender in shape than the cray-fish, 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.

[2570] 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.

[2571] Ἱπποὶ. The more common reading is ἱππεῖς, “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.

[2572] 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.

[2573] Both in the crab and the cray-fish, Aristotle says.

[2574] 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.

[2575] Cuvier remarks, that Hardouin is correct in considering this the same as the crab known in France as Bernard the Hermit (our hermit-crab), the 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. 15, 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, &c., but not when empty. See the Notes to c. 66.

[2576] This circumstance is more fully treated of in B. xxxii. c. 19.

[2577] Our author speaks rather more guardedly here than usual; and Hardouin seems almost inclined to believe the story. Ovid also alludes to this story in the Met. B. xv. l. 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.”

[2578] Of animals covered with a thin crust.

[2579] The sea-urchin, the herisson de mer of the French, and the Echinus of Linnæus.

[2580] 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.

[2581] 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.”

[2582] See B. iv. c. 17.

[2583] The same, Cuvier says, with the Echinus spatagus of Linnæus.

[2584] 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.

[2585] The mouth of the sea-urchin, armed with five teeth, is generally turned to the ground, Cuvier says.

[2586] Plutarch, in his Book “on the Instincts of Animals,” Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. l. 225, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 44, all mention this.

[2587] This idea probably arose from the fact of their being sometimes found with stones sticking between their spines or prickles.

[2588] The thin-crusted animals.

[2589] Known to us as periwinkles.

[2590] 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.

[2591] “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. Indeed, 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.

[2592] 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.

[2593] Univalves, with a thick spinous shell.

[2594] The flat shell-fish, for instance, according to Cuvier, of the genus patella, or lepas.

[2595] Other fish of the genus patella, only more concave; the haliotes, for instance.

[2596] Forming a prolonged cone, Cuvier says, like the cerites.

[2597] The mouth of which is shaped like a crescent; such as the helices, Cuvier says.

[2598] The nerites, Cuvier says, which are cut into two hemispheres.

[2599] Such as many of the whelks, Cuvier says.

[2600] The whelks that have the edge turned inwards, so that one lip appears to fold under the other.

[2601] 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.”

[2602] In allusion, probably, to the streaks or lines drawn upon the exterior of the shell.

[2603] With the mouth wide open, like that of a person in the act of applauding.

[2604] 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.

[2605] 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.

[2606] 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.

[2607] 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.

[2608] Dalechamps notices here an ancient proverb, which says, “Qui nare vult, se exuit.” “He who wishes to swim, takes off his clothes.”

[2609] In c. 2 of the present Book.

[2610] In B. vi. cc. 24 and 28.

[2611] 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.”

[2612] 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.

[2613] 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.

[2614] All this theory, as Cuvier says, is totally imaginary.

[2615] 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.

[2616] From the Greek φυσήμα, “air-bubble.”

[2617] 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.

[2618] Persius alludes to this in Sat. ii. l. 66. “Hæc baccam conchæ rasisse;” “to file the pearl away from its shell.”

[2619] 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.

[2620] Cuvier remarks that this is not the fact: the concretions are perfectly hard before the animal leaves the water.

[2621] 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.”

[2622] 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.

[2623] “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.

[2624] Such, for instance, as Megasthenes, quoted by Arrian in his Indica, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8.

[2625] 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.”

[2626] “Nucleos.” The Greek authors occasionally call them “stones” and “bones.” Tertullian calls them “maladies of shell-fish and warts”—“concharum vitia et verrucas.”

[2627] 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.

[2628] 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.

[2629] Hence we must conclude that the word “margarita” is not of Greek, but Eastern origin.

[2630] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, says, that the Indian pearls, and those which come from the Red Sea, are the best.

[2631] The laminæ of the lapis specularis, described by Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 45.

[2632] “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.

[2633] 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 ἀ, “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.

[2634] 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.

[2635] From their resemblance to “crotala,” used by dancers, and similar to our castanets.

[2636] 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.

[2637] 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.

[2638] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, states to this effect from Juba.

[2639] They are found also, Ajasson says, at the present day, in some of the coldest rivers and torrents of Auvergne.

[2640] Or “pinna,” the Greek name of this kind of pearl oyster.

[2641] Cuvier remarks, that he is here probably speaking of some spiny bivalve, perhaps the Spondylus of Linnæus.

[2642] “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.”

[2643] 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.

[2644] 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. Bad 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 Catifa, 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.

[2645] 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.

[2646] By the inscription placed beneath the thorax, or breast-plate.

[2647] 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 sepulchre to her honour was erected in the reign of the Emperor Nero.

[2648] Caligula.

[2649] Or rather “betrothal entertainment,” “sponsalium cœna.” The “sponsalia” were not an unusual preliminary of marriage, but were not absolutely necessary.

[2650] 7,600,000 francs, Hardouin says; which would make £304,000 of our money.

[2651] “Ipsa confestim parata mancupationem tabulis probare.”

[2652] 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 bad 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.

[2653] 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.

[2654] “Fercula.” See vol. i. p. 400, Note 3447.

[2655] “Unam imperii mulierculam accubantem.”

[2656] A fourth of the sum mentioned in Note 2650.

[2657] “Corollarium.”

[2658] “Et consumpturam eam cœnam taxationem confirmans.”

[2659] “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 imperceptible to the tongue. That pearls are not peculiar to one kind of shell-fish, as many believe, was known to Pliny.” _Beckmann’s History of Inventions_, 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.

[2660] 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.

[2661] “Omine rato.” He means, that in the result, it was only too true that Antony was “victus,” conquered, and that by his enemy Octavianus.

[2662] 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. l. 239.

[2663] 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.

[2664] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, says, “about six.” The murex of Pliny is the κήρυξ of Aristotle.

[2665] Aristotle says, that the purple consists of three parts, the upper being the τράχηλος, or neck; the middle the μήκων, 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.

[2666] See B. v. c. 7. See also B. vi. c. 36.

[2667] Which preceded the Roman consuls, who were clothed with the toga prætexta, the colour of which was Syrian purple.

[2668] Hardouin seems to think that “majestate pueritiæ” 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.

[2669] 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.

[2670] 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.

[2671] The prætexta, for instance, the laticlave, the chlamys, the paludamentum, and the trabea.

[2672] 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.

[2673] 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.

[2674] “Conchylia;” other fish of the same kind apparently; as Pliny uses the word “conchylium” synonymously with “murex.”

[2675] “Præmia vitæ suæ.”

[2676] 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 conch-shell, (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.

[2677] 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.

[2678] 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.

[2679] 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.

[2680] “Lutensis.”

[2681] “Algensis.”

[2682] “Tæniensis.”

[2683] “Calculensis.”

[2684] From the Greek διαλυτὸς, “free,” or “roving;” in consequence of its peculiar mode of life.

[2685] Nassis. See Note [2547] in p. 421.

[2686] “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.”

[2687] 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.

[2688] About twenty ounces.

[2689] 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.”

[2690] 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 æquari,” may be rendered, “It is then set to boil in vessels of tin, and every hundred amphoræ of water ought to be 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.

[2691] “Alligatur:” which word may also mean, that mixed with the buccinum, it will hold fast, and not speedily fade or wash out.

[2692] So called from the gem of that name; see B. xxxvii. c. 40.

[2693] Aἵματι πορφυρέῳ. Il. Ρ. l. 360, for instance.

[2694] 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.

[2695] The latus clavus, or laticlave, 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.

[2696] 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.

[2697] Cloths doubly dyed, or twice dipped: from the Greek δὶς, twice, and βάπτω, to dip.

[2698] “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.

[2699] “Pro indiviso.”

[2700] “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.

[2701] “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.

[2702] 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.

[2703] 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.

[2704] This is mentioned more fully in B. xvi. c. 84.

[2705] 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.

[2706] See B. xxxiv. c. 3. It was a mixture of gold, silver, and copper.

[2707] Described at the end of c. 62.

[2708] “Nomen improbum.”

[2709] 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.

[2710] See B. xvi. c. 8, and B. xxiv. c. 4.

[2711] See B. iv. c. 35.

[2712] 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.

[2713] 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.

[2714] The poet Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. l. 186, relates the same story about the pinna and its protector; which is also mentioned by Cicero, Plutarch, and Aristotle.

[2715] 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.

[2716] 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.

[2717] The whole, nearly, of this Chapter is taken from Aristotle, B. v. c. 16.

[2718] Plutarch speaks of this fish, in his “Treatise on the Instincts of Animals;” also Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. l. 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.

[2719] 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.

[2720] Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. l. 86; Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 24; and Cicero, De Nat. Deor. make mention of this.

[2721] 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.

[2722] 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.

[2723] 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.”

[2724] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, and B. ix. c. 51; Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. l. 424; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 35, make a similar statement as to the scolopendra.

[2725] 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.

[2726] 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. l. 144.

[2727] The fish that has been previously mentioned in c. 17 of this Book, under the name of silurus.

[2728] “Aries.” The Delphinus orca of Linnæus. See c. 4 of the present Book.

[2729] The zoöphytes, or the zoödendra.

[2730] The wandering urticæ, or sea-nettles, are the Medusæ of Linnæus, the stationary nettle is the Actinia of the same naturalist.

[2731] “Carnosæ frondis his natura.”

[2732] 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.

[2733] 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.

[2734] Cuvier says, that this is the case more especially with the medusæ and the physali.

[2735] “Ora ei in radice.” Aristotle, however, says, Hist. 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.”

[2736] 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.

[2737] 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.

[2738] 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.

[2739] Probably from the Greek μάνος, “rare,” “in small quantities;” in allusion to the comparative rarity of this kind of sponge.

[2740] A term merely used, as Cælius Rhodiginus says, to denote the strength of its texture.

[2741] 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.

[2742] “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._

[2743] See B. iv. c. 17.

[2744] This, to the end of the Chapter, is almost verbatim from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 17.

[2745] See B. iv. cc. 8, 10.

[2746] Ἀπλυσίαι, from ἀ, “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 molluscæ, which is, in reality, the sea-hare of the ancients.

[2747] It is pretty clear that under the name of “canicula,” “dog-fish,” or “canis marinus,” “sea-dog,” Pliny includes the whole genus of sharks.

[2748] 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.

[2749] 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.

[2750] “Stilos.”

[2751] 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.

[2752] 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 (Athenæus, 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.

[2753] 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.

[2754] 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.

[2755] Pulmo, “the sea-lungs.”

[2756] Or, as we call it, the star-fish.

[2757] “Adeoque nihil non gignitur in mari.”

[2758] “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.

[2759] He alludes to various kinds of sea-animals, called sea-lice and sea-fleas. 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.

[2760] 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.

[2761] 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.

[2762] 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. [2746], 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.

[2763] 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.

[2764] 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.

[2765] Νοσήματα λοιμώδη, as Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 25, calls them.

[2766] 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.

[2767] 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.

[2768] 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.

[2769] As Aristotle says, “from those that are left the fishes are produced.”

[2770] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 12.

[2771] It has been calculated, Cuvier says, that a female cod, or sturgeon, produces in a year more than one hundred thousand eggs.

[2772] Cuvier says, that the eggs of the common fishes, of toads, frogs, &c., 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.

[2773] 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.

[2774] More properly, the physeter, passage, or orifice.

[2775] 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.

[2776] 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.

[2777] “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.

[2778] Frogs, Cuvier says, conceal themselves in mud and slime during the winter, but, of course, are not changed into it.

[2779] “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.

[2780] 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.

[2781] “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.

[2782] The apuæ, or aphyæ, Cuvier says, are nothing else but the fry of fish of a large kind.

[2783] 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.

[2784] “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.

[2785] 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.

[2786] 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.

[2787] 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.

[2788] Ῥινόβατος, “the squatinoraia.”

[2789] “Lupus.” The Perca labrax of Linnæus; see c. 28 of the present Book.

[2790] The sardine. See c. 20 of the present Book.

[2791] See c. 71 of the present Book.

[2792] 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.

[2793] The fish called the sea-scorpion. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11.

[2794] “Sola autumno, occasu Vergiliarum.” It seems questionable whether the reading should not be “solea:” “the sole in autumn, at the setting of the Vergiliæ.”

[2795] The Pleiades.

[2796] See c. 40 of the present Book.

[2797] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11.

[2798] “Prosequitur afflatu.” Aristotle says that it pours over them its ink or atramentum, καταφυσᾷ τὸν θόλον.

[2799] 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.

[2800] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14.

[2801] Our periwinkles.

[2802] 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.

[2803] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 13, says the same of the glanis, or silurus.

[2804] 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.

[2805] 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.

[2806] Both these fishes have been mentioned in c. 23 of the present Book.

[2807] 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.

[2808] 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 uni-valves, 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.

[2809] 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.

[2810] From the Greek παυσίλυπον, “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.

[2811] “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.

[2812] 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.

[2813] “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.”

[2814] “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.

[2815] 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.

[2816] 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.

[2817] For some further account of the British oyster, see B. xxxii. c. 21.

[2818] See B. xxxii. c. 21.

[2819] 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.

[2820] “Euripum.”

[2821] “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.

[2822] 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.

[2823] This is, probably, the meaning of “quadragies” here, though it has been translated 400,000.

[2824] See B. iii. c. 9.

[2825] Porphyry, Tzetzes, and Macrobius relate the same story.

[2826] See B. vii. c. 18, and B. xxxv. c. 36. Her grandson, Caligula, is supposed to have hastened her death.

[2827] 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.

[2828] Our periwinkles.

[2829] See B. iii. c. 17.

[2830] Off the coast of Africa, see B. v. c. 1. These periwinkles, or sea-snails, are again mentioned in B. xxx. c. 15.

[2831] “Sapa.” Must, or new wine, boiled down to one half, according to Pliny; and one third, according to Varro.

[2832] 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.

[2833] 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 he 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.

[2834] 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.

[2835] What Heraclea, if that is the correct reading, is meant here, it is impossible to say. Cromna is mentioned in B. vi. c. 2.

[2836] 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.

[2837] 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.

[2838] Or turtle. See c. 12 of the present Book.

[2839] 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.

[2840] 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.”

[2841] Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 9., and Ovid, Met. B. i. l. 422, _et seq._, tell the same story, which, however, has no truth in it whatever.

[2842] B. v. c. 35.

[2843] 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.

[2844] “Damni formulam editam.”

[2845] 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.

[2846] 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.

[2847] “Or finger.” The same fish that have been mentioned as “ungues,” or “onyches,” in c. 51 of the present Book. They are a multivalve shell-fish, 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.

[2848] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3. Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 48.

[2849] 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.

[2850] 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.

[2851] 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.

[2852] See end of B. iii.

[2853] See end of B. vii.

[2854] 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.

[2855] 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.

[2856] See end of B. ii.

[2857] 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.

[2858] Fabianus Papirius. See end of B. ii.

[2859] See end of B. viii.

[2860] See end of B. ii.

[2861] 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 Præconinus, 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.

[2862] See end of B. ii.

[2863] See end of B. vii.

[2864] L. Annæus Seneca. See end of B. vi.

[2865] See end of B. vii.

[2866] 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.

[2867] 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.

[2868] See end of B. viii.

[2869] See end of B. vi.

[2870] See end of B. ii.

[2871] See end of B. viii.

[2872] See end of B. iv.

[2873] See end of B. ii.

[2874] See end of B. iii.

[2875] See end of B. ii.

[2876] Nothing whatever is known of him.

[2877] See end of B. iii.

[2878] Cuvier remarks, that the accounts given by the ancients of birds, are enveloped in greater obscurity than their information on quadrupeds, or fishes. The quadrupeds, he says, are not so numerous, and are known from their characteristics. The fishes also, which the ancients so highly esteemed as an article of food, were well known to them in general, and they have repeated occasions to speak of them: but as to the birds, the augurs were their principal informants. Pliny, in fact, often quotes their testimony; and we find, from what he says, that these men had not come to any agreement among themselves as to what were the names of divers species of birds, the movements of which announced, according to them, the success or misfortune of states equally with individuals. This portion, in fact, of the works of Pliny, Cuvier remarks, is an excellent commentary on the remark of Cicero, who, an augur himself, asked the question, how two augurs could look each other in the face without laughing. There are also several passages from Aristotle, who has, however, given but very little attention to the exterior characteristics of birds: it is only from the similarity of their habits and present names that we are able, in many cases, to guess what bird it is that is meant.

[2879] “Struthiocamelus;” from the Greek, signifying a “little sparrow,” and a “camel.” Cuvier remarks, that Pliny’s description is correct, and that he is only mistaken in a few slight particulars.

[2880] Pliny perhaps here uses the conjunction “vel” in the explanatory sense of “otherwise;” intending to distinguish Æthiopian Africa from the Roman province of that name.

[2881] Cuvier remarks, that there is some truth in this, so far as that the ostrich has only two toes, like the stag and other ruminating animals; but then they are unequal in size, and not covered with hoofs.

[2882] Father Lobo, in his account of Abyssinia, says that when the ostrich is running at great speed, it throws the stones behind with such violence, that they would almost seem to be thrown at those in pursuit.

[2883] An ostrich, Cuvier says, will swallow anything, but it is by no means able to digest everything. He says, that he has seen ostriches with the stomach ruptured by nails which they have swallowed, or dreadfully torn by pieces of glass.

[2884] It has been remarked by Diodorus Siculus, B. ii., that so far from displaying stupidity in acting thus, it adopts a wise precaution, its head being its most weak and defenceless part.

[2885] Cuvier states that its egg is equal to twenty-four to twenty-eight fowls’ eggs, and that he had frequently eaten of them, and found them very delicate.

[2886] “Ferunt.” With regard to this verb, Cuvier remarks, that it is equivocal; and that it is very possible that the writer intends to say, not that India and Æthiopia _produce_ these marvellous birds, but that the people of those countries _report_ or _relate_ marvellous stories touching those birds. It is clear that he does not believe in the existence of the phœnix.

[2887] Cuvier remarks, that all these relations are neither more nor less than so many absurd fables or pure allegories, but that the description given is exactly that of a bird which does exist, the golden pheasant, namely. The description given is probably taken from the pretended phœnix that Pliny mentions as having been brought to Rome in the reign of Claudius. It is not improbable, he thinks, that this may have been a golden pheasant, brought from the interior of Asia, when the pursuits of commerce had as yet hardly extended so far, and to which those who showed it gave, most probably, the name of the phœnix. Ajasson is of opinion, that under the story of the phœnix an allegory was concealed, and thinks it may not improbably have been employed to pourtray the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Bailly, _Hist. de l’Astronomie_, thinks that it bore reference to the great canicular year of the Egyptians.

[2888] Borrowed from Herodotus, B. ii. c. 73.

[2889] The MSS. vary considerably as to the number. Some make it 540 years, others 511, others 40, and others 560.

[2890] Mentioned also, B. vii. c. 57.

[2891] 532 years, according to Hardouin. Bailly says: “The first men who studied the heavens remarked that the revolution of the sun brought back the seasons in the same order. They thought that they observed that certain variations of the temperature depended upon the aspect of the moon, and attached different prognostics to the rising and setting of the stars, persuading themselves that the vicissitudes of things here below had regulated periods, like the movements of the heavenly bodies. From this arose the impression, that the same aspect, the same arrangement of all the stars, that had prevailed at the commencement of the world, would also attend its destruction; and that the period of this long revolution was the predestined duration of the life of nature. Another impression was the idea that the world would only perish at this epoch to be born again, and for the same order of things to recommence with the same series of celestial phenomena. Some fixed this universal renovation at the conjunction of all the planets, others at the return of the stars to the same point of the ecliptic; others, uniting these two kinds of revolutions, marked the term of the duration of all things at the moment at which the planets and the stars would return to the same primitive situation with regard to the ecliptic, or in other words, they conceived an immense period, which would include one or more complete revolutions of each of the planets. All these periods were called the ‘great year,’ or the ‘great revolution.’” _Histoire de l’Astronomie Ancienne._

[2892] A.U.C. 657.

[2893] A.U.C. 789.

[2894] A public place in the Forum, where the comitia curiata were held, and certain offences tried and punished.

[2895] Cuvier remarks, that this passage is borrowed, with some changes, from Aristotle’s “History of Animals,” B. ix. c. 32, but that the account given by Pliny is not very easily explained, from the fact that the word _eagle_ is not used by him in a rigorous acceptation of the word. Indeed it is only at the present day that any accurate knowledge has been obtained as to the different species of eagles, and the changes of colour to which they are subject with the advance of age; circumstances which have caused the species of them to be multiplied by naturalists. It is very doubtful, he says, whether Aristotle has distinguished the various kinds any better than Pliny; although Buffon, who himself was not very successful in distinguishing them, says that Aristotle understood more on the subject than the moderns.

[2896] Μελανάετος, or the “black eagle.” Cuvier says, that this description is copied exactly from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 32. This eagle, he says, cannot be, as is commonly supposed, the “common eagle.” It can only be, he thinks, the “small” eagle, the female of which, according to Nauman and Savigny, when it is old is almost all black, and without spots; only the young being spotted.

[2897] From the Greek πυγὴ ἀργὴ, “white tail.” Cuvier remarks, that this is copied exactly from Aristotle, except that he says nothing about the whiteness of the tail, which is an interpolation. The feathers as described agree with those of the common eagle, the Falco fulvus, which is strong enough to seize a fawn. As regards its habit, he says, of dwelling on plains, that would agree better with the Jean le blanc of the French, the Falco Gallicus; while the name of pygargus is commonly applied, at the present day, to the great sea-eagle, the Falco albicilla; which frequents lakes and the sea-shore, and therefore corresponds more nearly with the haliætus of Pliny.

[2898] Cuvier says, that he is almost tempted to believe that it is the balbusard, the Falco haliætus, that is here meant, as it has a black back, and lives in the vicinity of lakes. But then, he remarks, it lives on fish and not aquatic birds; while, on the other hand, the little eagle of Buffon, the Falco nævio, often seizes ducks and other aquatic animals. He is inclined then, notwithstanding the apparent confusion, to take this morphnos for the modern small eagle. The words μορφνὸς and περκνὸς signify “black.”

[2899] From the Greek, meaning “black wing.”

[2900] “Mountain stork.” Buffon thinks that this is the great brown vulture; Cuvier, the great white-headed eagle.

[2901] Γνήσιος. “True-born,” “genuine.” Cuvier thinks that this may be the royal or imperial eagle, Falco imperialis.

[2902] The great sea-eagle, according to Cuvier, the varieties of which (in age) are called by Linnæus “Falco albicaudus,” and “Falco ossifraga.”

[2903] See Lucan, B. ix. l. 902.

[2904] He contradicts himself, for he has already stated that it is the sixth species.

[2905] “Barbata.” Cuvier takes it to be the læmmer-geyer, or Gypaëtus, the only bird of prey that has a beard.

[2906] Or eagle-stone. See B. xxxvi. c. 39. He does not there mention that it is combustible. It is not impossible that pieces of aëtites, or ferruginous geodes, may have been found in an eagle’s nest.

[2907] Fora.

[2908] Albertus Magnus says that he knows this by actual experience: “credat Judæus.”

[2909] Ordinem.

[2910] See Virgil, Æn. B. xi. l. 755, _et seq._ By the “dragon,” he means some large serpent.

[2911] “Heroum.”

[2912] The great European vulture.

[2913] Their nests are seldom seen, in consequence of being concealed in the crags of the highest mountains, the Pyrenees, for instance.

[2914] “Three” seems a better reading. Aristotle says “two.”

[2915] Ovid, in his “Art of Love,” speaks of the use of eggs in purifications made by lovesick damsels. See B. ii. l. 330.

[2916] This story arises from the extreme acuteness of their power of smelling a dead body. The Egyptians said that the vulture foreknows the field of battle seven days.

[2917] Festus says, also, that it is the ossifrage, and was so called from the god Sancus.

[2918] Aristotle says ten.

[2919] A mere fable. Cuvier says that the ægithus of Aristotle was probably a kind of sparrow.

[2920] Said to be three in number; a mere fable. The buzzard probably is meant.

[2921] The family of the Buteones belonged to the gens Fabia.

[2922] Cuvier thinks that he means to identify this kind with the triorchis, of which Aristotle says that it is to be seen at all seasons.

[2923] See B. vi. c. 36.

[2924] Cuvier remarks, that we here find the art of falconry in its rough state. It was restored to Europe, no doubt, by the Crusaders. See Beckmann’s Hist. Inventions, vol. i. p. 201. _Bohn’s Edition._

[2925] “Missas in sublime sibi excipere eos.” The meaning is very doubtful.

[2926] The whole of this passage is, most probably, a gloss or interpolation.

[2927] This is denied by Albertus Magnus.

[2928] Cuvier remarks, that Pliny has erroneously joined the account given by Aristotle of the cybindis, to that of the hybris, or ptynx. He takes the cybindis to be the “Strix Uralensis” of Pallas.

[2929] Cuvier says, that this notion is still entertained by the French peasantry.

[2930] This is not the case. It only lays in the nests of insectivorous birds.

[2931] Cuvier remarks, that this is not a very good reason; but we have not yet been able to find a better.

[2932] Cuvier denies this story, but says, that when the foster-mother is a very small bird, the young cuckoo will take the whole of her head in his beak when receiving food.

[2933] “Curse on your ill-betiding croak.” See “The Farmer’s Wife and the Raven,” in Gay’s Fables.

[2934] Aristotle says, that it was never to be seen in the Acropolis or Citadel of Athens.

[2935] Only the case with the large raven, or Corvus corax of Linnæus, the others living in flocks.

[2936] Doé says, that this is incorrect; the beak of the raven not being of a similar form to that of the pigeon.

[2937] Or else, “The Median guests.” It is not known to what he alludes. Alexander ab Alexandro says, that both Alexander the Great and Cicero were warned of their deaths by the raven.

[2938] “Noctua, bubo, ulula.” It is very doubtful what birds are meant by these names. Cuvier has been at some pains to identify them, and concludes that the noctua, or glaux of Aristotle, is the Strix brachyotas of Linnæus, the “short-eared screech-owl;” the bubo, the Strix bubo of Linnæus, and the ulula, the Strix aluco of Linnæus; our madgehowlet, grey or brown owl.

[2939] Seventh of March. The year of their consulship is not known.

[2940] Cuvier suggests, that it may be the coracias of Aristotle, our jackdaw probably, the Corvus graculus of Linnæus. It has been said, that in its admiration of shining objects, it will take up a burning coal; a trick which has before now caused conflagrations. Servius speaks of it as frequenting funeral piles.

[2941] A.U.C. 647.

[2942] “Spinturnix” and “clivia” were names given by the augurs probably to some kinds of birds.

[2943] Cuvier ridicules the excessive ignorance of the augurs. It is with the beak that the young bird breaks the shell.

[2944] See B. xxv. c. 5.

[2945] Picus, the son of Saturn, king of Latium. He was skilled in augury, and was said to have been changed into a woodpecker. See Ovid, Met. B. xiv. l. 314.; Virgil, Æn. B. vii. c. 187. See also Ovid, Fasti, B. iii. l. 37.

[2946] Valerius Maximus, B. v. c. 6, says, that seventeen members of this family fell at the battle of Cannæ.

[2947] “Oscines” and “alites.” This was a distinction made by the augurs, but otherwise of little utility, as all the birds with a note fly as well.

[2948] See the story of the eyes of Argus transferred to the peacock’s tail. Ovid, Met. B. i. l. 616.

[2949] It would be curious to know how the goose manifests its modesty, or “verecundia.” We are equally at a loss with Pliny to discover it.

[2950] Tribune of the people, B.C. 61. He was maternal grandfather of the Empress Livia. “Lurco” means a “glutton.”

[2951] About 12,270 francs, Ajasson says.

[2952] See B. viii. c. 19.

[2953] Possibly Media; Varro says, “Medicos.”

[2954] “Tripudia solistima.” An omen derived from the feeding of the fowls, when they devoured their food with such avidity, that it fell from their mouths and rebounded from the ground.

[2955] By the auspices which they afforded.

[2956] Mentioned by Cicero, De Divin. B. i.

[2957] The same too at Athens, in one of the theatres, in remembrance, Ælian says, of the victory gained by Themistocles over the Persians.

[2958] A.U.C. 676.

[2959] When the Capitol was besieged by the Gauls.

[2960] Near Patræ, in Achaia. Ælian gives his name as Amphilochus.

[2961] A singular quality in a goose. Ælian says, that Lacydes was a peripatetic philosopher, and that he honoured the goose with splendid obsequies, when it died.

[2962] See B. viii. c. 77. Horace also mentions that they were fattened with figs.

[2963] “Lacte mulso.” Perhaps honey, wine, and milk.

[2964] In Gaul. See B. iv. c. 31.

[2965] “Gans” is still the German name. Hence our word “gander.”

[2966] This medicament is further treated of in B. xxix. c. 13.

[2967] “The Commagenian mixture.” For Commagene, see B. v. cc. 13 and 20.

[2968] The “goose-fox,” so called, according to Ælian, for its cunning and mischievous qualities; and worshipped by the Egyptians for its affection for its young. It is supposed by Cuvier to be the Anas Ægyptiaca of Buffon.

[2969] The Anas clypeata of Buffon, according to Cuvier.

[2970] The Tetrao tetrix of Linnæus, or heathcock.

[2971] The Tetrao urogallus of Linnæus, according to Cuvier.

[2972] The Otis tarda of Linnæus. Cuvier says, that it is not the case that they are bad eating, and remarks that birds have _no_ marrow in the larger bones.

[2973] Doé thinks that the spinal marrow is meant.

[2974] B. iv. c. 18, and B. vii. c. 2.

[2975] In B. vii. c. 2, Pliny speaks of the Pygmies as living to the far East of India.

[2976] See B. iv. cc. 20 and 26; and B. vi. c. 2.

[2977] The “village of the Python,” or “serpent.” Gueroult suggests that this may he Serponouwtzi, beyond the river Oby, in Siberia.

[2978] Thirteenth of August.

[2979] M. Mauduit has a learned discussion in Panckouke’s Translation, vol. viii., many pages in length; in which he satisfactorily shows that this is not entirely fabulous, but that the wild swan of the northern climates really is possessed of a tuneful note or cadence. Of course, the statement that it only sings just before its death, must be rejected as fabulous.

[2980] The “mother of the quails.” Frederic II., in his work, De Arte Venandi, calls the “rallus,” or “rail,” the “leader of the quails.”

[2981] From γλωττὰ, “a tongue.” It is not known what bird is alluded to.

[2982] Bellon thinks that this is the _proyer_, or _prayer_, of the French; Aldrovandus considers it to be the ortolan.

[2983] Gesner suggests from “asinus,” an “ass;” its feathers sticking up like the ears of that animal. Dalechamps thinks it is because its voice resembles the braying of an ass; the name “otus” is from the Greek for “ear.”

[2984] Either hemlock or hellebore.

[2985] “Despui suetum.” See B. xxviii. c. 7. As Hardouin says, in modern times they are considered delicate eating; but Schenkius, Obsers. Med. B. i., states, that if the bird has eaten hellebore, epilepsy is the consequence to the person who partakes of its flesh.

[2986] See B. iv. c. 18.

[2987] A friend of Augustus, sent by him with proposals to Antony, B.C. 41.

[2988] The colour of the “factio,” or “party” of charioteers. See p. 217.

[2989] Galgulus.

[2990] Cuvier suggests, that these birds may have been the Tringa pugnax of Linnæus and Buffon, the males of which engage in most bloody combats with each other on the banks of rivers, in spring.

[2991] No doubt, as Cuvier says, this was the Numida meleagris of Linnæus, Guinea hen, or pintada. Cuvier remarks that they are very pugnacious birds.

[2992] See B. v. c. 22.

[2993] Cuvier suggests, that these birds may have been of the starling genus, perhaps the Tardus roseus of Linnæus.

[2994] The “hunter of flies.”

[2995] Suetonius says, that when Tiberius was staying at Rhodes, an eagle perched on the roof of his house; such a bird having never been seen before on the island.

[2996] See B. iii. c. 21.

[2997] It is still noted for its thieving propensities; witness the English story of the Maid and the Magpie, and the Italian opera of “La Gazza Ladra.” Cicero says, “They would no more trust gold with you, than with a jackdaw.” See also Ovid’s Met. B. vii. It is the Corvus pica of Linnæus.

[2998] “Mottled pies.”

[2999] See B. iv. c. 12.

[3000] Asia Minor, most probably. The assertion, though supported by Theophrastus, is open to doubt.

[3001] See B. viii. c. 83.

[3002] It was the nightingale that was said to be “Vox et præterea nihil;” “A voice, and nothing else.”

[3003] As there may be different opinions on the meaning of the various parts of this passage, it is as well to transcribe it for the benefit of the reader, the more especially as, contrary to his usual practice, Pliny is here in a particularly discursive mood. “Nunc continuo spiritu trahitur in longum, nunc variatur inflexo, nunc distinguitur conciso, copulatur intorto, promittitur revocato, infuscatur ex inopinato, interdum et secum ipse murmurat, plenus, gravis, acutus, creber, extentus; ubi visum est, vibrans, summus, medius, imus.”

[3004] 1227 francs, Ajasson says.

[3005] Something very similar to this, we often see practised by the water-warblers in our streets.

[3006] Cuvier supposes that this is one of the fly-catchers; the “Muscicapa atricapilla” of Linnæus, which changes in appearance entirely after the breeding season.

[3007] The “black-head.”

[3008] Cuvier thinks that this is the wall nightingale, the Motacilla phœnicurus of Linnæus, which is not seen in winter. On the other hand, the Motacilla rubecula of Linnæus, or red-throat, is only seen during the winter, and being like the other bird, may have been taken for it, and named “phœnicurus.”

[3009] This is not the case. Aristotle only says that it builds its nest of human ordure; a story probably without any foundation, but still prevalent among the French peasantry.

[3010] It has not been identified with precision. Pliny, B. xviii. c. 69 calls it a small bird. Some make it the popinjay; others, with more probability, the lapwing. Horace, B. iii. Ode 27, mentions it as the parra, a bird of ill omen.

[3011] The Oriolus luteus, or witwall, according to Linnæus.

[3012] White blackbirds (if we may employ the paradox) are a distinct variety, according to Cuvier, to be found in various countries, though but rarely.

[3013] This is from Herodotus, but it is incorrect. The black, or rather green ibis, Cuvier says, the Scolopax falcinellus of Linnæus, is found not only near Pelusium, but all over the south of Europe.

[3014] He alludes to the nightingale, mentioned in c. 43.

[3015] The king-fisher, or Alcedo ispida of Linnæus. There is no truth whatever in this favourite story of the ancients.

[3016] In copying from Aristotle, he has put “collum,” by mistake, for “rostrum,” the “beak.”

[3017] This bird in reality builds no nest, but lays its eggs in holes on the water side. The objects taken for its nest are a zoophyte called _halcyonium_ by Linnæus, as Cuvier informs us, and similar in shape to a nest.

[3018] Or didapper.

[3019] The first is the common chimney swallow. This latter one, Cuvier says, is either the window swallow, the Hirundo urbica of Linnæus, or else the martinet, the Hirundo apus of Linnæus.

[3020] The bank swallow, or Hirundo riparia of Linnæus.

[3021] Cuvier thinks that this is either the _remiz_, the Parus pendulinus of Linnæus, or else the moustache, the Parus biarmicus of Linnæus.

[3022] Not moss, Cuvier says, but blades of grass, and the silken fibres of the poplar and other aquatic trees.

[3023] Cuvier thinks that it is the same bird as the vitiparra of Pliny.

[3024] Galgulus.

[3025] This story, in all its extravagance, is related first by Herodotus, and then by Aristotle, who has reduced it to its present dimensions, as given by Pliny.

[3026] Cuvier suggests that, if at all based upon truth, this may have been the case in one instance, and then ascribed to the whole species.

[3027] The Merops apiaster of Linnæus, or bee-eater.

[3028] Cuvier says that the red partridge, the Tetrao rufus of Linnæus, is meant.

[3029] The same wonderful story is told by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 5, and by Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 15.

[3030] “Metu.” Aristotle says, by sexual passion. The reading is probably corrupt here.

[3031] See B. xviii. c. 68; where he says that the summer solstice is past at the time of the incubation.

[3032] Cuvier takes this to be the kestril, or Falco tinnunculus of Linnæus, and considers it to be synonymous with the cenchris, mentioned in c. 73, and in B. xxix. c. 6, though Pliny does not seem to be aware of the identity.

[3033] Hirtius and Pansa. Frontinus, B. iii. c. 13. says that pigeons were sent by Hirtius to Brutus. At the present day, letters are sent fastened under their wings.

[3034] B. iii. c. 7.

[3035] “Without feet.” This was supposed to be the case with the martinet, the Hirundo apus of Linnæus.

[3036] Or “goat-sucker.” The Caprimulgus Europæus of Linnæus.

[3037] Cuvier says that this is the spoon-bill, the Platalea leucorodea of Linnæus. Some suppose it to be the bittern.

[3038] By nestling in the dust. Throwing dust over the body was one of the ancient modes of purification.

[3039] “Lustrant,” “perform a lustration.” This was done by the Romans with a branch of laurel or olive, and sometimes bean-stalks were used.

[3040] The linnet, probably.

[3041] The “bull.” This cannot possibly be the bittern, as some have suggested, for that is a large bird.

[3042] Supposed to be the Motacilla flava of Linnæus, the spring wagtail.

[3043] Hence the Latin name “psittacus.” From this, Cuvier thinks that the first known among these birds to the Greeks and Romans, was the green perroquet with a ringed neck, the Psittacus Alexandri of Linnæus.

[3044] Cuvier says that this is the jay, the Corvus glandarius of Linnæus; but that they are not more apt at speaking than the other kinds.

[3045] Cuvier remarks, that these can only be monstrosities.

[3046] Britannicus, the son of Claudius, and Nero, his stepson.

[3047] In the eighth region of the city.

[3048] The nephew and son of Tiberius.

[3049] Festus says that the “fane of Rediculus was without the Porta Capena; it was so called because Hannibal, when on the march from Capua, turned back (redierit) at that spot, being alarmed at certain portentous visions.”

[3050] P. Cornelius Scipio Æmilianus Africanus Minor, the younger son of L. Æmilius Paulus, the conqueror of Macedonia. It is doubtful whether he died a natural death, or was privately assassinated by the partisans of the Gracchi. His wife, Cornelia, and his mother, Sempronia, were suspected by some persons.

[3051] 28th March.

[3052] One would hardly think that there was anything wonderful in a crow being _very_ black.

[3053] The “one-horned.”

[3054] Most probably in Asia Minor, and not Eriza in India.

[3055] Cuvier is inclined to think that the Anas tadorna approaches most nearly the description given here. From Ovid’s description of their hard and pointed bills and claws, it would appear that a petrel (Procellaria), or else a white heron (Ardea garzetta), is intended; but these birds, he remarks, do not make holes in the earth. Linnæus has given the name of Diomedea exulans to the albatross, a bird of the Antarctic seas, which cannot have been known to the ancients.

[3056] B. iii. c. 29.

[3057] See Ovid’s Met. B. xiii.

[3058] Albertus Magnus says that swallows _can_ be tamed.

[3059] The Fulica porphyrio of Linnæus, the Poule sultane of Buffon.

[3060] Literally, “the blood-red foot.” Cuvier says that this description may apply to the sea-pie or oyster-eater, the Hæmatopus ostralegus of Linnæus, or else the long-legged plover, the Charadrius himantopus of Linnæus, but most probably the latter, more especially if the reading here is “himantopus,” as some editions have it.

[3061] “Muscæ,” “flies,” is a mistake of the copyists, Cuvier thinks, for “musculi,” “mussels.”

[3062] More especially the Larus parasiticus, Cuvier says.

[3063] Dalechamps thinks that this story bears reference to the chatterer (the Ampelis garrulus of Linnæus), the ends of certain feathers of the wings being extended, and of a vermilion colour: but Cuvier looks upon Pliny’s account as almost nothing more than a poetical exaggeration.

[3064] A species of duck, Cuvier thinks. from Aristophanes we learn that they were common in the markets of Athens. Cuvier suggests that it may, have been the Anas galericulata of Linnæus, the Chinese teal, which the Parthians may have received from the countries lying to the east of them.

[3065] “Phasiana,” so called from the river Phasis.

[3066] A variety of the guinea fowl; probably the Numida Meleagris of Linnæus.

[3067] Literally, the “red-wing.” The modern flamingo.

[3068] Buffon thinks that this is the grouse of the English, the Tetrao Scoticus of the naturalists; but Cuvier is of opinion that it is either the common wood-cock, the Tetrao bonasia of Linnæus, or else the wood-cock with pointed tail, of the south of Europe, the Tetrao alchata of Linnæus, most probably the latter, as the male has black and blue spots on the back; a fact which may explain the joke in the “Birds” of Aristophanes, where a run-away slave who has been marked with stripes, is called an attagen. By some it is called the “red-headed hazel-hen.”

[3069] In allusion, perhaps, to the words of Horace, Epod. ii. 54.

Non attagen Ionicus Jucundior, quam lecta de pinguissimis Oliva ramis arborum.

[3070] Literally, the “bald crow.” Pliny, B. xi. c. 47, says that it is an aquatic bird: and naturalists generally identify it with the cormorant, the Pelecanus carbo of Linnæus.

[3071] Literally, the red crow, the chocard of the Alps, the Corvus pyrrhocorax of Linnæus.

[3072] The “hare’s foot.” Identical with the snow partridge, the Tetrao lagopus of Linnæus; it is white in winter.

[3073] The same bird, Cuvier says, as seen in summer, being then of a saffron colour, with blackish spots.

[3074] Cuvier remarks, that the green courlis, the Scolopax falcinellus of Linnæus, which is not improbably the real ibis of the ancients, is by no means uncommon in Italy.

[3075] “Novæ aves.” The grey partridge, Hardouin thinks.

[3076] Flamingo.

[3077] See B. xi. c. 44.

[3078] Scythia and Æthiopia ought to be transposed here, as the griffons were said to be monsters that guarded the gold in the mountains of Scythia, the Uralian chain, probably.

[3079] Literally, the “goat Pan.” Cuvier thinks that the bird here alluded to actually existed, and identifies it with the napaul, or horned pheasant of Buffon, the penelope satyra of Gmell, a bird of the north of India, and which answers the description here given by Pliny.

[3080] See Ovid, Met. B. v. l. 553.

[3081] A kind of crested lark.

[3082] The Strix scops, probably, of Linn. See the Odyssey, B. v. l. 66.

[3083] Those called Orchia, Didia, Oppia, Cornelia, Antia, and Julia namely.

[3084] Repositoria. See B. xxxiii. c. 49. See also B. ix. c. 13.

[3085] Valerius Maximus, B. ix. c. 1, tells this story of the profligate son of Æsopus.

[3086] B. ix. c. 59.

[3087] “Hominum linguas,” Pliny says; a singularly inappropriate expression, it would appear.

[3088] See B. viii. c. 37.

[3089] The tinnunculus, probably, of c. 52.

[3090] B. ii. Sat. 4, l. 12. “Longa quibus facies ovis erit, ille memento. Ut succi melioris, et ut magis alba rotundis.”

[3091] Aristotle says just the reverse: but Hardouin thinks that the passage in Aristotle has been corrupted.

[3092] This, Cuvier says, in reality is not the umbilical cord, but the _chalasis_, a little transparent and gelatinous ligament, by which the yolk is suspended like a globe. The true umbilical cord of the bird only makes its appearance after an incubation of some days.

[3093] Produced in the territory of Adria. See B. iii. c. 18.

[3094] Cuvier says, that after an egg has been set upon for some days, the heart of the chicken may be seen like a small red speck, that palpitates; but that no such thing is to be seen before incubation.

[3095] Cuvier remarks, that the chicken is not formed exclusively from the white, and that the yellow is gradually displaced by it, as the chicken increases in size.

[3096] Cuvier tells us, that in the Memoirs of the Academy of St. Petersburgh, there is a memoir by Wolf, entitled _Ovum simplex gemelliferum_, in which these twin chickens are described with great exactness.

[3097] More generally eleven or thirteen in this country.

[3098] To secure their being more equably covered.

[3099] Or rather, will produce chickens hideously deformed. This trick is sometimes practised among the country people against those to whom they owe a grudge.

[3100] Aristotle says with a straw mat.

[3101] Similar, probably, to our bantam.

[3102] In consequence, probably, of their smallness, and want of sufficient warmth.

[3103] The pip.

[3104] Meaning the “urine-egg.”

[3105] Or “wind” eggs. See cc. 75 and 80.

[3106] The white heron.

[3107] So called from its soaring towards the stars.

[3108] The tawny or black heron.

[3109] Possibly the night-hawk. Sillig says, that in the corresponding passage of Aristotle it is αἰτώλιος.

[3110] “Dog’s-urine.” See the last Chapter.

[3111] Hardouin asserts that this is the fact.

[3112] This is probably fabulous.

[3113] B. vii. c. 4.

[3114] Justly called by Juvenal, “meretricem Augustam,” Sat. vi. l. 118.

[3115] B. viii. c. 54.

[3116] Probably the goldfinch.

[3117] A kind of large hound.

[3118] The number that they bear.

[3119] See B. viii. c. 81.

[3120] B. viii. c. 10, and in the present Chapter.

[3121] B. vii. c. 13.

[3122] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 37, does not quite say this. He says that the young ones looked “as if” they were pregnant, οἷον κύοντα.

[3123] Ovid, Met. B. xv. l. 389, makes mention of this belief.

[3124] See the following Book.

[3125] Known by us as the razor-sheath.

[3126] Martial alludes to these fish-preserves, and the fish coming upon hearing their name, B. iv. Ep. 30, and B. x. Ep. 30.

[3127] A species of origanum.

[3128] As in the case of the galgulus, mentioned in c. 50.

[3129] See c. 33 of the present Book, as to quails.

[3130] As to these monkies, see B. xviii. c. 30, and c. 80.

[3131] _I. e._ lay by a store.

[3132] B. viii. c. 34.

[3133] Probably the ermine. See B. viii. c. 55.

[3134] Pliny alludes to dogs, cats, and similar mammifera, as having _serrated_ teeth; the term, however, is quite inappropriate.

[3135] See B. viii. c. 79.

[3136] Probably the chlorion of c. 45.

[3137] Supposed to be the golden-crested wren.

[3138] An insect. See B. xi. c. 42, if, indeed, this is the same that is there mentioned, which is somewhat doubtful.

[3139] It is not known what bird is meant: perhaps the titmouse.

[3140] A kind of hawk or falcon.

[3141] Species unknown.

[3142] Probably the spring wag-tail.

[3143] In B. viii. c. 22.

[3144] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 10, maintains the contrary. But in B. vii. he asserts that infants do dream.

[3145] See Lucretius, B. iv. l. 914, _et seq._

[3146] M. Manilius, mentioned in c. 2. Nothing certain is known of him, but by some he is supposed to have been the senator and jurisconsult of that name, contemporary with the younger Scipio. The astronomical poem which goes under his name was probably written at a much later period.

[3147] See end of B. iii.

[3148] See end of B. v.

[3149] A famous soothsayer, who predicted to Galba, as we learn from Tacitus, the dangers to which he was about to be exposed. He wrote on the science of Divination, as practised by the Etruscans.

[3150] See end of B. vii.

[3151] A Roman legislator, proconsul of Gallia Narbonensis, and long a favourite of Augustus. According to Aulus Gellius, his works were very numerous. He also wrote a treatise on the Etruscan divination.

[3152] Trogus Pompeius. See end of B. vii.

[3153] See end of B. vii.

[3154] See end of B. ii.

[3155] See end of B. ix.

[3156] See end of B. vii.

[3157] See end of B. ii.

[3158] See end of B. ii.

[3159] He was the most ancient writer of Roman history in prose. His history, which was written in Greek, is supposed to have commenced with the arrival of Æneas in Italy, and to have come down to his own time. He was sent by the Romans to consult the oracle at Delphi, after the battle of Cannæ.

[3160] The famous poet and writer on the Epicurean philosophy. He was born B.C. 98, and slew himself B.C. 54.

[3161] See end of B. vii.

[3162] Q. Horatius Flaccus, one of the greatest Roman poets.

[3163] Nothing is known of this writer; indeed, the correct reading is a matter of doubt.

[3164] See end of B. iii.

[3165] Father and son, who wrote treatises on agriculture, as we learn from Columella.

[3166] See end of B. vi.

[3167] A writer on agriculture, mentioned by Columella.

[3168] A priestess of Delphi, said to have been the inventor of hexameter verse. Servius identifies her with the Cumæan Sibyl. Pliny quotes from her in c. 8, probably from some work on augury attributed to her. A work in MS. entitled “Orneosophium,” or “Wisdom of Birds,” is attributed to Phemonoë. She is said to have been the first to pronounce the celebrated Γνῶθι σεαυτὸν, commonly attributed to Thales.

[3169] An Athenian comic poet of the New Comedy, born either at Soli in Cilicia, or at Syracuse. Plautus has imitated several of his plays.

[3170] Nothing is known of this writer, who wrote a poem on ornithology, as here stated. Athenæus is doubtful whether the writer was a poet, Bœus, or a poetess, Bœo.

[3171] Nothing is known of this writer.

[3172] See end of B. ii.

[3173] See end of B. iii.

[3174] See end of B. iv.

[3175] The Greek tragic poet of Athens, several of whose plays still exist.

[3176] See end of B. viii.

[3177] King Attalus III. See end of B. viii.

[3178] See end of B. viii.

[3179] See end of B. viii.

[3180] See end of B. viii.

[3181] See end of B. viii.

[3182] See end of B. viii.

[3183] See end of B. viii.

[3184] See end of B. viii.

[3185] See end of B. viii.

[3186] See end of B. viii.

[3187] See end of B. viii.

[3188] See end of B. vi.

[3189] See end of B. viii.

[3190] See end of B. viii.

[3191] See end of B. viii.

[3192] See end of B. ii.

[3193] See end of B. viii.

[3194] See end of B. ii.

[3195] Of this writer nothing whatever seems to be known.

[3196] See end of B. viii.

[3197] See end of B. v.

[3198] See end of B. viii.

[3199] See end of B. viii.

[3200] See end of B. viii.

[3201] Cassius Dionysius of Utica, flourished B.C. 40. He condensed the twenty-eight books of Mago into twenty, and dedicated them to the Roman prætor Sextilius.

[3202] See end of B. viii.

[3203] See end of B. viii.

[3204] See end of B. ii.

[3205] See end of B. vii.

[3206] See end of B. vii.

END OF VOL. II.

ERRATA IN VOL. I.

Page vii. line 31, _for_ Coisicius, _read_ Cossicius. „ xvii. „ 15, _for_ pepole, _read_ people. „ xviii. „ 30, _for_ Fabulosetas, _read_ Fabulositas. „ 378, „ 20, _for_ Goat-Pens, _read_ Goat-Pans.

Transcriber’s Notes:—

The footnotes for each of the six volumes have been renumbered, the references to notes in other volumes have been changed accordingly.