Chap. 75.] FISHES. 465 



a year, being the only" one that does so at the setting of the 1 

 Vergilise in autumn. Most fish spawn in the three months of 

 April, May, and June. The salpa brings forth in the autumn, 

 the sargus, the torpedo, and the squalus 2 about the time of the 

 autumnal equinox. The soft fishes 3 bring forth in spring, the 

 saspia every month in the year ; its eggs adhere together with 

 a kind of black glutinous substance, in appearance like a bunch 

 of grapes, and the male is very careful to go among them and 

 breathe 4 upon them, as otherwise they would be barren. The 

 polypi couple in winter, and produce eggs in the spring twisted 

 in spiral clusters, in a similar manner to the tendrils of the 

 vine ; and so remarkably prolific are they, that when the ani- 

 mal is killed in a state of pregnancy, the cavities of the head 

 are quite unable to contain the multitude 5 of eggs enclosed 

 therein. They bring forth these eggs at the fiftieth day, but in 

 consequence of the vast number of them, great multitudes 

 perish. Cray-fish, and other sea-animals with a thinner crust, 

 lay their eggs one upon the other, and then sit upon them. 

 The female polypus sometimes sits upon its eggs, and at other 

 times closes the entrance of its retreat by spreading out its 

 feelers, interlaced like a net. The ssepia brings forth on dry 

 land, among reeds or such sea- weed as it may find growing 

 there, and hatches its eggs on the fifteenth day. The 

 loligo produces its eggs out at sea, clustered together like 

 those of the saepia. The purple, 6 the murex, and other fishes 

 of the same kind > bring forth in the spring. Sea-urchins have 

 their eggs at full moon during the winter ; sea- snails 7 also are 

 produced during the winter season. 



CHAP. 75. FISHES WHICH ARE BOTH OVIPAROUS AND VIVIPAROUS. 



The torpedo is known to have as many as eighty young 



99 " Sola autumno, occasu Vergiliarum." It seems questionable whether 

 the reading should not be " solea :" " the sole in autumn, at the setting of 

 the Vergilise." l The Pleiades. 



2 See c. 40 of the present Book. 



3 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11. 



4 " Prosequitur afflatu." Aristotle says that it pours over them its ink 

 or atramentura, Karcupvay rbv 96\ov. 



5 Philostratus, Hist. B. y. c. 17, says that so full is it of eggs, that after 

 it is dead they will more than fill a vessel far larger than the cavities of its 

 head. 



6 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v, c. 14. 7 Our periwinkles. 

 VOL. II. H H 



