248 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1892. 



G. Ip-ip'Mx, the usual M. G. form and the only one which I heard, 

 is plainly a corruption of the same word. 



According to Aristotle the p.u(iav>a is a long fish, does not have a 

 crumbling egg-mass, has no scales, eats flesh only, is alternately 

 pelagic and littoral, lies torpid for a season, is stronger than the 

 yoyYpoq and eats off the tail of the Y''>y'C [>'>■?-, has no fins, and uses the 

 sea as serpents do the land ; {%. e. moves through the sea iu the same 

 way as serpents move over the ground); its gills are not articulated 

 like those of other fish; it has four single gills on each side, has the gall 

 bladder on the entrails and is long like a snake ; they copulate by twin- 

 ing around one another and bringing belly to belly like snakes, spawn 

 at any and every season, lay many eggs, and the young grow rap- 

 idly. "The (T;j.op(i>^ and the (Tij.nf>a'./a diflfer, for the (r/wpar^a is varie- 

 gated and weaker, but the (riwpo'i is of uniform color and strong, 

 and it is colored like the pine tree and has teeth both within and 

 without. People say, just as they say other things, that the one is 

 male the other female. These come out on the dry land and are 

 caught there frequently. 



According to Athenaeus, Theophrastus says the iy/jAU'^ and 

 p.bpavja can live a long time out of water, because they have small 

 gills. Dorio says the river phpatva has, like the 6'A<t/.u<;, only one 

 spine. Some people claimed that the p.npaiva came out on land and 

 held intercourse Avith snakes, from which Avere engendered ven- 

 omous popatvat. 



Atheu. vii, 91, p.opo'?. There are two kinds, one black and the 

 other reddish, but the black ones are best. Lat. Mancna. 



In ancient writings the p.hpuMa^ yoyxpoii and iyyiXwi are regularly 

 mentioned together showing that there was some considerable 

 resemblance to one another, and that they were regarded as all 

 belonging to the same general class. In connection with the cur- 

 rent report noted by Aristotle to the effect that of pope <} and pupatva 

 one was male the other female, it is interesting to note that the same 

 belief is current among the fishermen of Greece of the present day. 

 I was told in the market at Athens that Muroena Helena was the 

 female and Gymnothorax unicolor was the male of the same species, 

 both called frpipva. 



58. Gymnothorax unicolor (De La Roche). H. IpJpva (^). 



Not noticed by Apostolides. Said by the Greek fishermen to 

 be the male, while Murcena Helena is considered the female (rpifiva. 

 For ancient references to the ap.op<wm or pupaiva see Murcuna 

 Helena. 



