Chap. 9.] PLACES WIIEUE BITTER FISH ARE FOUND. 9 



known as Suriura, appear and give oracular presages, \vhen 

 thrice summoned uy the sound of a iiute. If they seize the 

 ilesh thrown to Ihem with avidity, it is a good omen for the 

 person who consults them ; but if, on the other hand, they 

 llap at it -with their tails, it is considered an evil presage. At 

 Hierupolis* in Syria, the lish in the; Lake of Venus there obey 

 the voice of the olHeers of the temple: bedecked with orna- 

 ments of gold, they eome at their cull, fawn upon them while 

 they an; scratched, and open their mouths so wide as to admit 

 of the insertion of the hands. 



Off the Kodc of Hercules, in the territory of Stabiit 57 in 

 Campania, the melantiri 1 ^ seize with avidity bread that is thrown 

 to them in the sea, but they will never approach any bait in 

 which there is a hook concealed. 



CHAP. 9. I'LACKS WI1F.UE lUTTKK FISH AUK. FOUND, SALT, OR 



SWJvKT. 



Nor is it by any means the least surprising fact, that oif the 

 island of Pole, 49 the town of Clazomcuoe, 60 the rock 61 [of 

 Scylla] in Sicily, and in the vicinity of Leptis in Africa,* 3 

 Euhccu, and Dyrrhachium, 63 the fish are bitter. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cephallenia. Aiupcios, Paros, and the rocks of 

 Delos, the fish are so salt by nature that they might easily be 

 taken to have been pickled in brine. Jn the harbour, again, 

 of the last-mentioned island, the fish are sweet : differences, 

 all of them, resulting, no doubt, from the diversity* 4 of their 

 food. 



Apion says that the largest among the fishes is the sea- 

 pig, w known to the Lacedaemonians as the " orthugoriscos ;" 



y> The scat of the wr*hip of tho half-fish' poddess Addirgn, Atcrgati*, 

 Astarte, or bemto. .Sec H. v. c. 11). Tho original names of Hierapulu* 

 (tho Holy City) were liaiubyce and Mabog. 



w See 15. iii. c. ( J. 



6H A Grt-<k name signifying U hluck-t;iil3." See c. .53 of this I!ook. 

 Holland translates it "the black-tailed ruifc" or "sea-bream." 



See U. v. c.-.3S. co See 15. v. c. 31, and B. xxxi. c. 43. 



' See 15. iii. C. M. See U. v. cc. 3, 4. 



63 See 15. iii. cc. 16, 20. 



64 Aiasson thinks that this mny possibly be true to some small extent. 



65 Identical with the fish called *' or!nt,V already mentioned in c. 5 of 

 this Book. Ajasson remarks that though these fish have been known to 

 weigh as much as thrte hnndreJ pounds, there arc many others Vihich 

 grow to a larger size, the sturgeon, and the silurus, for instance. 



