458 PLINY'S TSATUBAL HISTORY. [Book IX. 



wage the warfare in safety. Consequently, every possible 

 care is taked by the divers to look out ** for the approach of 

 this enemy. 



(47.) It is the surest sign of safety to see flat-fish, which 

 never frequent the spots where these noxious monsters are 

 found : and it is for this reason that the divers 57 call them sacred. 



CHAP. 71. FISHES WHICH ABE ENCLOSED IN A STONY SHELL SEA 



ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO SENSATION OTHEE ANIMALS WHICH 



LIVE IN THE MUD. 



Those animals, however, it must be admitted, which lie en- 

 closed in a stony shell, have no sensation whatever such as 

 the oyster, 58 for instance. Many, again, have the same nature 

 as vegetables ; such as the holothuria, 59 the pulmones, 60 and 

 the sea-stars. 61 Indeed, I may say that there is no land produc- 



56 Caelius Rhodigonus, B. xxv. c. 16, states that the divers for sponges 

 were in the habit of pouring forth oil at the bottom of the sea, for the 

 purpose of increasing the light there ; and Pliny states the same in B. ii. 

 c. 106. 



57 Cuvier says, that the name of u sacred fish" has been given to several 

 fish of very different character ; such as the anthias, or aulopias of Aris- 

 totle, B. ix. c. 37, the pompilus and the dolphin (Athenseus, B. vii.), be- 

 cause it was thought that their presence was a guarantee against the 

 vicinity of dangerous fish. The authors, however, that were consulted by 

 Pliny, seem to have given this name to the flat-fish, the Pleuronectes of 

 Linnaeus ; and in fact, unprovided as they are with any means of defence, 

 their presence is not unlikely to prove, in a very great degree, the absence 

 of the voracious class of fishes. 



58 It is singular that Pliny, after his numerous stories as to the sen- 

 sitiveness of numerous bivalves, should make this statement in reference 

 to the oyster ; for, on the contrary, as Cuvier says, the oyster, in common 

 with the other bivalves, is extremely sensitive to the touch. 



69 Cuvier says, that the different zoophytes, the sea-star, at least, are 

 far from having the life of vegetables only ; for that they are real animals, 

 which have the sense of touch, a voluntary power of motion more or less 

 complete, and seize and devour their prey. It is not, however, very well 

 known, he says, what was the " holothurium" of the ancients. Aristotle, 

 Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 1, ranks it, as well as the oyster, among the animals 

 which, without being attached to any object, have not the faculty of 

 moving ; and in his work, De Part. Anim, B. iv. c. 5, he adds, that the 

 holothurium and the pulmo only differ from the sponge in being detached. 

 Cuvier is of opinion, however, that they both belong to the halcyones, the 

 round kinds of which easily detach themselves from the places upon which 

 they have grown. 



60 Pulmo, " the sea-lungs." 



61 Or, as we call it, the star- fish. 



