Chap. 5.] THE INSTINCTS OF FISHES. 7 



shows less foresight and address, but repentance at its impru- 

 dence arms it with mighty strength ; for, when caught by the 

 hook, it flounders from side to side, and so widens the wound, 

 till at last the insidious hook falls from its mouth. The mu- 

 raena^^ not only swallows the hook, but catches at the line 

 with its teeth, and so gnaws it asunder. The anthias,'*" Ovid 

 says, the moment it finds itself caught by the hook, turns its 

 body with its back downwards, upon which there is a sharp 

 knife-like fin, and so cuts the line asunder. 



According to Licinius Macer, the mursena is of the female 

 sex only, and is impregnated by serpents, as already^- men- 

 tioned ; and hence it is that the fishermen, to entice it from its 

 retreat, and catch it, make a hissing noise in imitation of the 

 hissing of a serpent. He states, also, that by frequently beat- 

 ing the water it is made to grow fat, that a blow with a stout 

 stick will not kill it, but that a touch with a stalk of fennel- 

 giant^^ is instantly fatal. That in the case of this animal, the 

 life is centred in the tail, there can be no doubt, as also that 

 it dies immediately on that part of the body being struck ; 

 while, on the other hand, there is considerable difficulty in 

 killing it with a blow upon the head. Persons who have 

 come in contact with the razor-fish** smell of iron,**^ The 

 hardest of all fishes, beyond a doubt, is that known as the 

 " orbis i'"^ it is spherical, destitute*^* of scales, and all head.*'' 



39 From the Halieuticon. *o See B. ix. c, 85. 



*2 In B. ix. c. 39. Aristotle, however, as there stated, was not of the 

 same opinion. 



« See B. XX. c. 98. 



44 "Novacula piscis." Pliny is the only ancient author that mentions 

 this fish. There are numerous varieties of it, among which the best known 

 are the Coryphaena novacula of Linnaeus, the Eason of the Mediterranean, 

 highly esteemed as an article of food, and the Coryphaena pentedactyle of 

 Bloch, identical with the Semipteronote a cinq taches, of Lacepede. 



^5 An absurdity, owing, no doubt, to its name. 



46 Or '* globe-fish." The Mola, orbis marinus, or sun-fish of modern 

 Natural History, the Lune de mer, ox poisson-Iune of the French. Though 

 the skin is harsh and tough, there is no firmness in its flesh, which is of a 

 gluey consistency. 



*6* In reality it has scales, but they are almost imperceptible, from 

 their minuteness. 



*' Or rather, as Dalechamps observes, *' all belly." 



