1892.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 255 



I glean the following points concerning the tunnies from Aris- 

 totle : The Oirr^in are migratory and run in schools, are smooth, 

 purely carnivorous, and have the net thrown around them some- 

 times while asleep ; the female has a fin called dipo.jitu'i under the 

 belly, but the male does not have it ; they are at times burst by 

 their fat. They live tw^o years. The fishermen think this is proved 

 by the fact that when the 0wA8e<i failed one year the Onwot also 

 failed the next year. They seem to be a year older than the -r,Xa- 

 [j.bdei. The Of'r/'MH and (t/mij/iixh copulate about the first of April 

 and spawn about the last of June or first of July. They lay their 

 eggs in a sort of sack. The growth of the Ow'Ade'i is rapid, 

 AVhen they spawn in the Pontus (Black Sea) there come from the 

 eggs what some call (y/.n (>(>'') An.'., but the Byzantiaus u.n'^ioz:'? (growers), 

 because they grow (jj-b'^dyo)) in a few days. They go forth (out of 

 the Pontus) in autumn with the Ow^-^ide^, but return in the spring, 

 being already -rj/.a/j.ud£<;. 



An old OuwM)f has been caught whose weight was fifteen talents 

 (1350 lbs.), and whose length was five cubits and a span (about 8 

 ft.). The old ones are not good even for salt fish. The (h'j>-^(i[ lie 

 torpid in the depths of the sea in winter, and are plumpest after 

 this hibernation. They begin to be caught about the beginning of 

 summer (the rising of the Pleiades), and are caught last at the set- 

 ting of Arcturus (winter solstice? ). The Ouwoi, most of all fishes, 

 take pleasure in warmth and come to the sand near the land for the 

 sake of the warmth, because they warm themselves and swim on 

 the surface. They spawn in the Pontus (Black Sea) and nowhere 

 else, and but once a year. The Ouwo^ is good to eat again after 

 Arcturus (probably the rising of Arct., about Sept. 15), for during 

 this season it ceases to be afflicted with the olfrroo^^^ because of which 

 pest it is inferior during the summer. The Ob'^'^m and cc<ftm are 

 infested by the <n(7Tpu^ about the dog-days. At that time they both 

 have by their fins a sort of little worm called olfrz/io'^, like a scor- 

 pion and as large as a spider («,"«/'-"/ v"). These cause them such 

 pain that the ?:v^c«? leaps out of the water at times no less than the 

 dolphin. The Oowids'i and -rjla/jMs'? enter the Pontus in spring and 

 pass the summer there both for food and spawning. They come out 

 straightway after the Pleiad (probably the setting of the Pleiades, 

 about Nov. 10). If the wind is a southern one they swim out more 

 slowly, but if northern more quickly, because the wind is then 

 for wafting them on. They swim into the Pontus, keeping close to 



