MODERN APPRAISAL OF THE NINE 269 



other less esteemed fish the books extant and known to have 

 been lost are almost as countless as the smile of Ocean, how 

 many volumes would an Englishman or an American — given 

 the same fish-mania and the same literary faciUty as the 

 Greeks — require to do justice to his wealth of first-class edible 

 fish ? Verily the Library of Alexandria, with its room for 

 400,000 volumes, would scarce suffice. 



