Df. A. Giintlier on the History of Eclieheis. 387 



had the power of arresting vessels in their course existed at 

 the time of Aristotle, and that he merely omitted the mention 

 of it as very improbable, or whether it was developed at a 

 later period. It was, at all events, a general belief in the first 

 century p. c. AVe find the first mention of it in Ovid, Halieut. 

 V. 99 : 



Parva Echeneis adest, mirum, mora puppibus ingens. 



Pliny devotes to it that well-known passage, lib. xxxii. cap. 1, 

 which I need not repeat here, as it is quoted in full by Lacepede 

 and Shaw ; he brings forward two historical proofs for the fact, 

 which consequently none of his successors dared to deny. He 

 himself had never seen the fish; and the indistinctness of his 

 description* wherein he compares it (from the account of the 

 party in Caligula's vessel) with the slimy body of a Limax, and 

 its mysterious powers with those of the Concha venerea, has led 

 several later writers into an odd confusion of it with some 

 Mollusk. 



Oppianf and his copyist ^Elian| are the only writers of the 



* Hist. Anim. ix. c. 25 (coi^ied from Aristotle, xxxii. c. 1). 



t Halieut. i. p. 9. Oppian describes no less beautifully than Plinv this 

 mystery of ancient zoology; and not finding the j)assn;rc ciuotcd l;v other 

 writers, 1 may be allowed to give it here : — 



Koi fiev 8f] ire\dyea(jiv o/xcoj e;^ev7^ts erulpr]' 

 T] 6 TjToi TavuT] fj.eu Idelv, )xt]kos S' laoir-qy^vi, 

 Xpon) S' aWaXofaaa, (pv?) de ol eyxeXieaaiv 

 el'Serai, o^v 8e ol KecPaXrjs arofia vepSe pevfVKe 

 KanTTvXov, dyKifTTpov Trepirjyeos etKfXov alxfifj. 

 6avp.a S' oKurdTjprjs exevrjtdos e({)pdaaavTO 

 vavTiKoL, ov p^kv dr] tis eVi cf)p(ai TriaTaxravro 

 elcralmv, aul pkv aTVfipijTcov voos dvdpwv 

 ^vcrpaxos, oi8e deXovai koi (WpfKeecrcn TTiOeadai. 

 pr^a riTaivopeirqv dyepov (axprjeos oppfj, 

 \ai(pfai TTfTrrapfvoKTiv dXos 8ia perpa Qiovcrav, 

 Ixdvs dp<pixoP<i}v okiyov aropa vepdev, epvKei 

 TTCicrav VTTOTpoTTios (ieliirjpevos, ovS' en repLvei 

 Kvpa Kal lepfvrj, Kara fi epnedov ean'jpiKTaL, 

 TjiiT iv dKkv(TTOiaiv iepyopevrj Xipepfcrcrc. 

 Kal rrjs pev Xiva rrdpra irfpl TrpoTovoLai pepvKe 

 poxGiixTiv 8i (caXcoey, enrjpvei de Kepairj. 

 piTTji (TTeiyopePT], irpvpinj 6' eVt iravra ;^aXtj'a 

 lOvvTTjp dviTjCTLv fntaTTepxoii' 68op a.XpTjs. 

 r] 8 ovT oiTjKcop epnd^fTai, ovt avepoLcn 

 TTtldfrai, ov poO'ioKTLP eXavperai, uXXd Trayelaa 

 pipvei T ovK ideXovaa, /cat eaavpivT] Tmribr^Tai, 

 iX^voi oiiTiSapolo Kara crropa pi^oidficra. 

 vavTai 8e Tpoptovaiv, dilhiXa Becrpd daXdcrat]: 

 depKopepoi, Kal ddpjios 'iaov Xfvcra-oPTfs upeipu), 



Oppian, Haheut. p. 9. v. 212-236. 



X De Animal. Natura, i. c. 36 j ii, c. 17. 



26* 



