38 THRASHER. 



ever, reporting the common opinion of his day, supposes that 

 this portion of its safety is to be ascribed to superior cunning. 

 According to him it is so cautious of a hook, as scarcely to be 

 enticed to come near it; or if appetite at any time should 

 overcome caution, it would mount upward to slacken the line, 

 and then cut away the hook before the fisherman was aware 

 of its presence. Or if unfortunately the hook had found its 

 way into the stomach, it would turn this organ, with its en- 

 trails also, inside out, and so get rid of it and the danger 

 together. (Var. Hist., B. 1, C. 5, and Hist, of Animals.) Oppian 

 also speaks of the same proceeding as an instance of superior 

 intelligence, (B. 3,) and from him we learn that in fishing for 

 it, at least the lower portion of the line was formed of hair. 

 To guard the hook from being cut away, the line for some 

 distance above it was armed, or as a fisherman who now uses 

 the same precaution, would say, was ganged, with flexible brass 

 wire twisted regularly and firmly round it. But strange as they 

 may appear, these efforts to escape are not to be altogether 

 regarded as imaginary on the part of the writers. We cannot 

 indeed affirm it of this species in particular, but the greater part 

 of the Sharks will deal with the fisherman's hooks in the manner 

 described; and there arc fishes, although perhaps not Sharks, 

 which are known, probably through fear, to evert the stomach, 

 when drawn up with the line. The explanation of the ancients 

 is, in numerous instances, more of a mistake than the narration 

 of the fact itself. 



The angry disposition which this fish is believed to manifest 

 to all the animals of the Whale tribe, has been often remarked 

 by sailors; and the manner in which it is shewn has obtained 

 for it the name of Thrasher. The lashing of the sea by its 

 tail has been known to put to hasty fiight a herd of sportive 

 Dolphins; and instances are reported where a Sword-fish on 

 the one hand, and a Thrasher on the other, have persecuted 

 a large Whale in the severest manner, perhaps even to death; 

 and yet it is not easy to imagine why such terror should be 

 felt at the presence of such an enemy; for its teeth could not 

 do injury, and it does not possess any other weapon of offence. 

 The motive of the persecution also on the one side is as un- 

 intelligible as fear of the Thrasher is on the other. 



The Thrasher is not uncommon on the western and southern 



