Dr. A. Giinther on the History o/Echeneis. 387 



had the power of arresting vessels in their course existed at 

 the time of Aristotle, and that he merely omitted the mention 

 of it as very improbable, or whether it was developed at a 

 later period. It was, at all events, a general belief in the first 

 century p. c. We find the first mention of it in Ovid, Halieut. 

 v.99: 



Parva Echeneis adest, mirum, mora puppibus ingens. 



Pliny devotes to it that well-known passage, lib. xxxii. cap. 1, 

 which I need not repeat here, as it is quoted in full by Lacepede 

 and Shaw; he brings forward two historical proofs for the fact, 

 which consequently none of his successors dared to deny. He 

 himself had never seen the fish ; and the indistinctness of his 

 description* wherein he compares it (from the account of the 

 party in Caligula's vessel) with the slimy body of a Limax, and 

 its mysterious powers with those of the Concha venerea, has led 

 several later writers into an odd confusion of it with some 

 Mollusk. 



Oppian f and his copyist .ZElianJ are the only writers of the 



* Hist. Anim. ix. c. 25 (copied from Aristotle, xxxii. c. 1). 



t Halieut. i. p. 9. Oppian describes no less beautifully than Pliny this 

 mystery of ancient zoology ; and not finding the passage quoted by other 

 writers, I may be allowed to give it here : 



/cat p.tv 8f) TreXtryecro-ii/ 6/ieoy e^fvrjls eraiprj' 

 fj 8' JJTOI rai/aj) (JLCV ISelv, prJKos 8' Ic 

 XP ol *l & aWaXoecro'a, (pvf) 8e 01 f 

 eiSerai, 6i> 8e ol K(pa\fjs oro/ua vepfle 

 KafiTrvXov, dyKi(TTpov Trepirjyeos eiKeXov 

 6avp.a 8' 6\icr0rjprjs f^evrjtdos e<p 

 z/eum'Xoi, ov \iev 8rj ns eVi (ppecrl 

 titrafaVf aifl pev dnciprjTwv voos dvdpuv 

 dixrpaxos, ovde 6e\ov(ri KOI drpeiceco-o-i i 

 vrja TiTaivopevrjv dvep-ov faxprjeos opp.fi, 

 \ai(pf(Ti 7re7rra/iei/oio-ii> aXbs 8ta /zerpa 6iov<rav, 

 ix^vs dfji^>ix av ^ v o\iyov (rrop,a vepfav, fpvx.fi 

 Trdaav VTTOTpomos ^f^irjp.fvos, ov8' ert re/ivft 

 Kvp.a Kal ifp.evT], Kara 8' ep-TreSov f(TTT]piKTcft f 

 qvT ev dK\v(TTOi<rtv efpyopevr) XtpieWa-crt. 

 Kal rrjs p.ev \lva Trdvra Trepl npoTovoio-i (jLfpvKf 

 pox@fvo'iv 8e KaXwey, fTrrj^vei 8e Kfpairj. 

 pnrfj cTTiyop.ei>r), 7rpvp,vr) 8' eVi iravra ^aXiva 

 Wvvrrjp dvirjviv eVta-Trep^coi/ 6S6i/ a\p.rjs. 

 f) 8* ot'r' olr)K<t)v e/XTra^erai, oi>V dvep,otcrt 



i, ov podioiaiv eXavverai, dXXa 

 OVK e6e\ovaa, KCU e<T(rvp,evr] TreT 



ovTiSavoio Kara crrojua pia>6el(ra. 



8e Tpop,eovo~iv, dei'SeXa 



i, Kal 6dp,j3os 'itrov Xcva'O'ovTfs oveipui. 



Oppian, Halieut. p. 9. V. 212-236. 



De Animal. Natura, i. c. 36; ii. c. 17. 



26* 



