74 Baron Cuvier's Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 



such as those sudden appearances of an immense quantitj' of 

 small fishes, which the Greeks, on account of their supposed 

 origin, named aphia, and to which, in the south of France, a 

 name is still given which originates from the same idea, they 

 being there called nonnats, that is non nati. AVhat he says of 

 eels is certainly incorrect ; but we ourselves, in respect to the 

 reproduction of that animal, have still much to learn, notwith- 

 standing the labours of Spallanzani. 



Aristotle examines the changes produced by age in animals 

 and in man, and on this occasion gives excellent advice to 

 mothers. He then passes to the actions of animals, and endea- 

 vours to explain the influence of their kind of life, that of the 

 external circumstances, climate and seasons, in the midst of 

 which the different species live. He also points out the food 

 that agrees with each. What he says of fishes is particularly 

 interesting, and might be very useful to us, were it not that in 

 consulting it we are frequently put to a stop, his nomenclature 

 being diflferent from ours. He treats of the influence of tem- 

 perature on the migrations of birds, speaks of those which travel, 

 the time at which they set out, and the order which they follow 

 in their flight. He also speaks of the migrations of fishes, of 

 that of the tunny, the mackerel and sardine, and says, that 

 shoals of fishes come from the Black Sea and enter the Bosphorus. 

 He follows them in their route through the Propontis and into 

 the Archipelago. It appears that he had observed them on the 

 coasts of Thrace, and especially at Byzantium. He says that 

 the same fish receives different names at different periods ; for 

 example that the fish which is known in the Euxine Sea by the 

 name of cordylus takes in spring the name of pelamis, and last- 

 ly that of thon when it has arrived in the Archipelago. He 

 treats of the fishes which in winter do not shew themselves, and 

 of other animals which appear at certain seasons of the year, as 

 the bohack or Pontus rat. He speaks of the diseases of fishes, 

 and on this subject he appears to be better informed than we 

 are at the present day. In describing the different acts of ani- 

 mals, he makes known the means by which the frog-fish attracts 

 small fishes in order to devour them, and speaks of the com- 

 motions which the torpedo causes when one lays hold of it, and 

 of the manner in which the cuttlefish escapes the pursuit of its 



