276 NATURAL HISTORY. 



ON THE 



VARIOUS MODES OF FISHING PRACTISED BY THE MODERN GREEKS. 



[liY THE EDITOR.] " ' ' . 



The modern Greeks retain with little variation some of the modes 

 adopted by the ancient inhabitants of their country in catching- 

 different kinds of fish. The Scarus* we are told, was taken by the 

 Linozostis, and Dr. Sibthorp informs us that Mercurialis annua is 

 now used by the fishermen off the coast of Cyprus for the purpose 

 of catching the Labrus Scarus. The plant is called c-y.a^ox^i'jo and 

 c-y.ot^o'Ka.xo'.vcv, and thrown in quantity among the rocks. 



The Kuluriotes, Albanian inhabitants of Salamis, Mr. Hawkins 

 observes, are much employed in the summer months with the fishing 

 of Octopodia, which they take with spears affixed to poles 36 feet in 

 length, the surface of the water being previously smoothed with -j-oil. 

 They also practise a singular method of catching the rock fisli by 

 poisoning or intoxicating them. For this purpose they make use of 

 (pAojtto or Tree Euphorbia chopped and macerated, and then pushed 

 under the large stones or holes and caverns where these fishes lie. 

 After a ^ew minutes they rise to the surface of the water, and are 

 either enclosed in small nets or are even taken by the hand. Mr. H. 

 also points out a passage in Aristotle's H. An. 1. viii. 20., where mention 

 is made of the use of (pXo[^o? or TrXiy.og in catching fish. Schneider in 

 his commentary refers to iElian, who speaks of the leaves and seeds 



* See Belon, lib. i. c. 8. on the mode of catching the Scarus off the coast of Crete. 



f The sponge gatherers also were observed by Dr. Sibthorp to throw oil upon the sea; 

 he saw them in their boats off the Thracian Chersonesus. Mare commotum, si asperga- 

 tur oleo, quiescit, ut docemur ab Aristotele et Plutarcho. Casaub. in Athen. p. 348. ; add 

 also Pliny, Mare omne oleo tranquillatur. Allatius mentions a dissertation of M. Psellus, 

 entitled, Siari t^c 6aKci<r<ryii fXcilca xaTapictniojjisvris yivsTai xaraipaveia xa'i yaA>jv»!. 



