Chap. 40.] riSHES. 411- 



animals would not have fully sufficed for this purpose, but 

 because he could not see a man so aptly torn to pieces all at 

 Dnce by any other kind of animal. It is said that these fish 

 ire driven to madness by the taste of vinegar. Their skin is 

 exceedingly thin ; while that of the eel, on the other hand, is 

 nuch thicker. Yerrius informs us that formerly the children 

 )f the Roman citizens, while wearing the praetexta,^^ were 

 logged with eel-skins, and that, for this reason, no pecuniary 

 penalty^ could by law be inflicted upon them. 



CHAP. 40. (24.) VAEIOUS KINDS OF FLAT FISH. 



There is another kind of flat fish, which, instead of bones, has 

 jartilage, such, for instance, as the raia,^^ the pastinaca,^^ the 

 iquatina,®' the torpedo,^* and those which, under their respective 

 jreek names, are known as the ox,^^ the lamia, ^'^ the eagle,^^ and 



^ Fntil the Roman youth assumed the toga yirilis, they wore the tog-a 

 )r8etexta, or senatorial gown. The toga virilis was assumed at the Liber- 

 ilia, in the month of March ; and though no age appears to have been 

 lositively fixed for the ceremony, it probably took place, as a general rvile, 

 )n the feast which next followed the completion of the fourteenth year ; 

 hough it is not certain that the completion of the fourteenth year was not 

 ilways the time observed. So long as a male wore the praetexta, he was 

 lonsidered " impubes," and when he had assumed the toga virilis, he was 

 'pubes." Hence the word " investis," or " praetextatus," (here employed), 

 vas the same as impubes. 



^1 Thus the " impubes " paid, as Hardouin says, " not in money, but in 

 ikin." Isidorus, in his Glossary, says, " ' Anguilla ' is the name given to 

 :he ordinary 'scutica,' or whip with which boys are chastised at school." 

 The witty Eabelais says, B. ii. c. 30, "Whereupon his master gave him 

 mch a sound lashing with an eel-skin, that his own would have been worth 

 lothing to make bag-pipe bags of." ^= The ray. 



^ The sting-ray ; the Eaia pastinaca of Linnaeus. 



^■^ The angel-fish ; the Squalus squatina of Linnaeus. 



8^ The Raia torpedo of Linnaeus. 



89 Galen, in his explanation of words used by Hippocrates, speaks of the 

 3ovQ QaXdaaiog, which is also described by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 141, 

 eq. He speaks of it as growing to the lengtli of eleven or twelve cubits, 

 md having small, weak teeth, which are not easily seen, and compares it 

 in appearance to the roof of a house. Cuvier thinks, that although its 

 aorns are not mentioned, a species of large horned ray is alluded to, which 

 •is known by the modern naturalists by the name of Cephalopterus, and he 

 thinks it very likely these horns may have given it its Greek appellation. 

 Indeed Pliny himself, in another place, B. xxxii. c. 53, speaks of it under 

 the name of " cornuta," the " horned-fish." 



^ A species of ray, most probably. 



3^ Cuvier suggests that this was the mylobates, the Raia aquila of Lin- 



