UL4 THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. ^B. fill, 



ivrtain seasons, which never vary. Almost all the rest are 

 taken at all seasons. The lamprey, orphus, and conger con 

 ceal themselves. The rock fish conceal themselves in pairs, 

 as the cichla, cottyphus, and perca, the male with the female, 

 :n which way also they prepare for their young. 



2. The tunny conceals itself during winter in deep 

 places, and they become fattest at this season. The season 

 of capturing them commences with the rising of Pleiades, 

 and continues to the end of the setting of Arcturus. All 

 the rest of their time they remain quiet in concealment. A 

 few of these are taken during the period of their concealment, 

 and so are some other hybernating creatures, if they are 

 disturbed by the warmth of their abode or the unusual 

 mildness of the season. For they come out a little from 

 their holes to feed, and also when the moon is full. Most 

 Hsh are better tasted during the period of concealment. The 

 primades bury themselves in the mud. This is shown by 

 their not being taken, or their seeming to have a great deal 

 of mud on their backs and their fins pressed down. 



3. In spring, however, they begin to move and come to 

 the shore to copulate and deposit their ova. At this season 

 they are captured full of ova, and then also they appear to 

 be in season, but are not so good in autumn and winter. 

 At the same season also the males appear to be full of 

 melt. When their ova are small they are taken with diffi 

 culty ; but as they grow larger many are taken when they 

 are infested by the oestrus. Some fish bury themselves in 

 sand, others in mud, with only their mouths above the surface. 

 Fishes usually conceal themselves only in the winter. The 

 malacostraca, the rock fishes, the batus, and selache only in 

 the most severe weather. This is shown by the difficulty of 

 capturing them in cold weather. 



4. Some fish, as the glaucus, conceal themselves in sum 

 mer time ; for this fish hides itself for sixty days in the 

 summer time. The onus and the chrysophrys hide them 

 selves. The reason for supposing that the onus hides itself 

 for a long while appears to be that it is captured at long 

 intervals ; and the influence of the stars upon them ; and 

 especially of the dog-star, appears to be the cause of their 

 hiding themselves in summer time, for the sea is then dis 

 turbed. This is most conspicuous in the Bosphorus ; for 



