Chap. 1.] THE ECHENE'iS. 3 



long remain a mystery, the cause being perceived upon finding 

 that, out of the whole fleet, the emperor's five-banked galley 

 was the only one that was making no way. The moment this 

 was discovered, some of the sailors plunged into the sea, and, 

 on making search about the ship's sides, they found an 

 echene'is adhering to the rudder. Upon its being shown to 

 the emperor, he strongly expressed his indignation that such 

 an obstacle as this should have impeded his progress, and have 

 rendered powerless the hearty endeavours of some four hun- 

 dred men. One thing, too, it is well known, more particularly 

 surprised^ him, how it was possible that the fish, while ad- 

 hering to the ship, should arrest its progress, and yet should 

 have no such power when brought on board. 



According to the persons who examined it on that occasion, 

 and who have seen it since, the echeneis bears a strong resem- 

 blance to a large slug.^ The various opinions entertained 

 respecting it we have already^*^ noticed, when speaking of it 

 in the Natural History of Fishes. There is no doubt, too, that 

 all fish, of this kind are possessed of a similar power ; witness, 

 for example, the well-known instance of the shells^^ which 

 are still preserved and consecrated in the Temple of Yenus at 

 Cnidos, and which, we are bound to believe, once gave such 

 striking evidence of the possession of similar properties. 

 Some of our own authors have given this fish the Latin name 

 of ''mora."^^ It is a singular thing, but among the Greeks 

 we find writers who state that, worn as an amulet, the eche- 

 neis has the property,'^ as already mentioned, of preventing mis- 

 carriage, and of reducing procidence of the uterus, and so per- 

 mitting the foetus to reach maturity: while others, again, 

 assert that, if it is preserved in salt and worn as an amulet, it 

 will facilitate parturition ; a fact to which it is indebted for 



8 And well it might surprise him. If there was any foundation at all 

 for the story, there can be little doubt that a trick was played for the pur- 

 pose of imposing upon Caligula's superstitious credulity, and that the 

 rowers as well as the diving sailors were privy to it. 



^ " Limax." A singular comparison, apparently. 



10 In B. ix. c. 41. 



11 See B. ix. c. 41, where he is speaking of a raurex, a fish which bears 

 no such affinity to the remora as to warrant our author's expression, 

 " Idem valere omnia ea genera." 



12 Properly meaning "delay." "Remora" is another reading, and 

 perhaps a better one, as the word is found in Plautus. 



1^ In B. ix. c. 41. 



B 2 



