Chap. 53.] NAMES OF ALL ANIMALS THAT EXIST IN THE SEA. .59 



on fire ; so much so, indeed, that a walking-stick, thus treated, 

 "sWli light the way like a torch."^ . 



CHAP, 53. (11.) THE NAMES OF ALL THE ANIMALS THAT EXIST 



IN THE SEA, ONE HUNDKED AND SEVENTY-SIX IN NUMBER. 



Having now completed our exposition of the properties which 

 belong to the aquatic productions, it would appear by no means 

 foreign to my purpose to give a list of the various animated 

 beings which inhabit the seas ; so many as these are in num- 

 ber, of such vast extent, and not only making their way into 

 the interior of the land to a distance of so many miles, but also 

 surrounding the exterior of it to an extent almost equal to that 

 of the world itself. These animals, it is generally considered, 

 embrace one hundred and seventy-six difFerent^^ species, and it 

 will be my object to set them forth, each by its distinct name, 

 a thing that cannot possibly be done in reference to the terres- 

 trial animals and the birds. 



For, in fact, we are by no means acquainted with all the 

 wild beasts or all the birds that are to be found in India, -^^Ethi- 

 opia, Scythia, or the desert regions of the earth ; and even of 

 man himself there are numerous varieties, which as yet we 

 have been unable^^ to m.ake ourselves acquainted with. In ad- 

 dition, too, to the various countries above mentioned, we have 

 Taprobane^" and other isles of the Ocean, about which so many 

 fabulous stories are related. Surely then, every one must allow 

 that it is quite impossible to comprise every species of animal in 

 one general view for the information of mankind. And yet, by 

 Hercules ! in the sea and in the Ocean, vast as it is, there exists 

 nothing that is unknown to us,^^ and, a truly marvellous fact, 

 it is with those things which Nature has concealed in the deep 

 that we are the best acquainted ! 



To begin then with the monsters^^ that are found inthisele- 



2^ This seems to be the meaning of " adeo ut baculum ita prseluceat." 

 ^^ Some MSS. have here " 164," the Bamberg MS. and others " 144." 



Owing to the corrupt state of the text in many parts of this Chapter, it is 



impossible to say which reading is correct. 



29 u invenire non potuimus " seems a preferable reading to " invenire 

 potuimus." 



30 Modern Ceylon. See B. vi. cc. 23, 24, B. vii. c. 2, and B. ix. c. 54. 

 ^^ " Quae nascuntur certa sunt." A iDold assertion. The various fislies 



now known amount to many thousands ; and there are still vast numbers, 

 no doubt, with which science has not hitherto become acquainted. 

 ^ "BeUuffi." 



