452 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book IX. 



the mud, it awaits the approach, of the fish, and, at the moment 

 that they are swimming above in supposed security, commu- 

 nicates the shock, and instantly darts upon them : there is no 

 delicate 24 morsel in existence that is preferred to the liver 

 of this fish. And no less wonderful, too, is the shrewdness 25 

 manifested by the sea-frog, 26 which is known by us as the 

 " fisher." Stirring up the mud, it protrudes from the surface 

 two little horns, which project from beneath the eyes, and so 

 attracts the small fish which are sporting around it, until at 

 last they approach so close that it is able to seize them. In a 

 similar manner, too, the squatina and the rhombus 27 conceal 

 themselves, but extend their fins, which, as they move to and 

 fro, resemble little worms ; the ray also does the same. The 

 pastinaca, 28 too, lies lurking in ambush, and pierces the fish 

 as they pass with the sting with which it is armed. An- 

 other proof of instinctive shrewdness is the fact, that although 

 the ray is the very slowest of all the fish in its movements, it 

 is found with the mullet in its belly, which is the swiftest of 

 them all. 



(43.) The scolopendra, 29 which bears a strong resemblance 30 



24 Cuvier confirms this statement. The liver of the torpedo, he says, is 

 very delicate eating, as, indeed, is that part in most of the ray genus. 



25 Oppian, Halieiit. B. ii. 1. 86 ; jElian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 24 ; and 

 Cicero, De Nat. Deor. make mention of this. 



26 The Lophius piscatorius of Linnaeus, the baudroie of the French. 

 This is a fish, Cuvier says, with a large wide mouth, and having upon the 

 top of the head moveable filaments, surmounted by a sort of membranous 

 lashes. It seems that it is the fact that it buries itself in the sand, and 

 then employs the artifice here mentioned by Pliny, for the purpose of at- 

 tracting the fish that serve as its food. 



27 Or turbot. This fish, the Pleuronectes maximus of Linnaeus, and the 

 Squalus squatina of Linnaeus, presents no sufficiently distinct filaments at the 

 extremity of the fins to justify what Pliny says. But the word " rhombus," 

 Cuvier says, which ordinarily means the common turbot, here means the 

 psetta of the Greeks, the Pleuronectes rhombus of Linnaeus, which has the 

 anterior radii of the dorsal fin separated, and forming small filaments. For 

 an account of the psetta, see c. 24, p. 396. 



28 The sting-ray, the Eaia pastinaca of Linnseus. This fish, Cuvier 

 says, has upon the tail a pointed spine, compressed and notched like a saw, 

 which forms a most dangerous weapon. It is again mentioned in c, 72 of 

 the present Book, under its Greek name of " trigon." 



29 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, and B. ix. c. 51 ; Oppian, Halieiit. 

 B. ii. 1. 424 ; and JElian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 35, make a similar state- 

 ment as to the scolopendra. 



30 The animal, Cuvier says, which is here mentioned as the scolopendra, 



