THE LERNEAN HYDRA. 55 



expected places. Accordingly, we find Oppian, more than 

 five centuries later, disseminating the same old notion, and 

 comparing this habit of the animal with that of the bear 

 obtaining nutriment from his paws by sucking them during 

 his hybernation. 



" When wintry skies o'er the black ocean frown, 

 And clouds hang low with ripen'd storms o'ergrown, 

 Close in the shelter of some vaulted cave 

 The soft-skinn'd prekes * their porous bodies save. 

 But forc'd by want, while rougher seas they dread, 

 On their own feet, necessitous, are fed. 

 But when returning spring serenes the skies, 

 Nature the growing parts anew supplies. 

 Again on breezy sands the roamers creep, 

 Twine to the rocks, or paddle in the deep. 

 Doubtless the God whose will commands the seas, 

 Whom liquid worlds and wat'ry natives please, 

 Has taught the fish by tedious wants opprest 

 Life to preserve and be himself the feast. 



The fact is, that the larger predatory fishes regard an 

 octopus as very acceptable food, and there is no better 

 bait for many of them than a portion of one of its arms. 

 Some of the cetacea also are very fond of them, and 

 whalers have often reported that when a " fish " (as they 

 call it) is struck it disgorges the contents of its stomach, 

 amongst which they have noticed parts of the arms of 

 cuttles which, judging from the size of their limbs, must 

 have been very large specimens. The food of the sperm 

 whale consists largely of the gregarious squids, and 

 the presence in spermaceti of their undigested beaks is 

 accepted as a test of its being genuine. That old fish- 



* The octopus is still called the " preke " in some parts of England, 

 notably in Sussex. The translation of Oppian's ' Halicutics,' from 

 which this passage and others are quoted is that by Messrs. Jones and 

 Diaper, of Baliol College, Oxford, and was published in 1722. 



