HOUGHTON ON ARISTOTLE's HISTOKT OP ANIMALS. 147 



amongst swimming animals many kinds of fish, as those which they 

 call runners,* such as tunnies, paJamydes, and amice ;t man is both 

 gregarious and solitary. Political animals are those amongst whom 

 the work of all is some one common thing, which is not the case 

 with all the gregarious animals ; such is man, the bee, the wasp, the 

 ant, the crane ; and of these some are under rulers others are with- 

 out any ruler ; the crane and the whole family of bees are under a 

 ruler, but ants and an immense number of other animals are with- 

 out a ruler. Some, both of the gregarious and solitary ammals^t''vi'e 

 resident in one spot, others are migratory ; again some are carnivo- 

 rous, others frugivorous, others omnivorous, others feed on particular 

 things, as the family of bees and of spiders, for the former feed on 

 honey and a few other things of a sweet nature, but spiders by 

 chasing flies ; and other animals feed on fish ; some animals hunt ; 

 some are accustomed to lay up their food in store, others do not 

 so ; some ha^'e dwellings, others have none ; of those which have 

 dwellings, the mole, the mouse, the ant, and the bee are examj)les ; 

 of those which have none are many kinds of insects and quadrupeds. 

 Again, with respect to their localities, some animals live in holes, as 

 the lizard and the snake ; others above ground, as the horse and the 

 dog ; some burrow holes, others do not ; some are nocturnal, as the 

 owl and the bat, and others are diurnal in their habits. Again, with 

 respect to tame and wild animals, some are always tame, as man and 

 the mule, others are wild as the leopard and the wolf, while others can 



* dpofiddfc, a term of very questionable import, which is appHcd in a general 

 sense to different fish ; another division is characterised by an equally unintelligible 

 name, pvdhg (see iv. 8, § 13 ; v. 9, § 6 ; vi. 16. § 2; viii. 15, § 2, .5, 6), 

 Aristotle gives us no clue whereby we may be able to comprehend the meaning of 

 these terms. Whether ^pofiaStg may denote the swiftness at which some fish 

 swim, or whether it has reference to their migratory habits it is dilficult to say ; 

 and again, whether pvuStQ, is meant to express fish that go with the current, 

 or what else, we cannot determine. M. Camus (ii. 667) says, " Cette expression 

 (pvdSii;) vient d'un A^erbe grec, qui signifie fluere, couler ; or que peut-on 

 entendre par des Poissons qui coulent, sinon des poissons qiii forment win bande 

 qui passe prompfcment ? " Both the SpofiaSeg and the pvdStQ are gregarious 

 and this is all that is positively known. Neither Gesner's explanation nor that of 

 M. Camus is at all satisfactory that pvcidiQ denotes " fish that remain in great 

 numbers in one place." — (See M. Camus' note, lower down). 



t There seems no reason to doubt that the Qvwoq of Aristotle is identical with 

 the Tlujnnus vulgaris, Cuv. et Valenc The turmy fishery of the Mediterranean 

 is of great antiquity. The 7r»jXo/xwe which (vi. 16, § 4,) is said to be in appear- 

 ance a year younger than the Qvvvoq may perhaps denote the Bonito, {Thyn- 

 ■iius pelawys) for which fish this term has been employed as the specific name by 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes. As to the ajuia, it may be represented by the 

 Pelamys sn-da, Cuv. et Valenc. Rondelet {L'Histoire des Poiss. p. 193) has 

 figured this fish, and with much reason has identified it with the amia ; the P. 

 sarda having long and strong teeth, by which character it is distinguished fi-om its 

 immediate congeners, will suit Aristotle's description of the amia, winch he mentions 

 as attacking large fish. The same author, says Cuvier, had observed the length 

 of the gall bladder which is greater than in most other fishes. It must, however, 

 be confessed that there is some uncertainty respecting the precise identification of 

 the two latter Greek terms. 



