"THE PLATTER-UCKER"— /1 5ELL[/S;— COD 261 



6. The Asellus has been identified as the Gadus ?nerlangi(s, 

 the "Cod;" and as the Merlucciiis vulgaris, the "Hake," 

 by Scaliger and Rondolet, and by Hardouin with some 

 doubt. 



It cannot be the Cod (although Dorion speaks 1 of " the 

 ovoQ which some call the ^ahoq "), because hardly any of the 

 GadidcB, except the Hake, frequent the Mediterranean on 

 account of the temperature of the water. Nor can the Asellus 

 be the Hake, because, while the latter is taken all the year round, 

 Pliny 2 and ^lian 2 distinctly state that the Asellus hides in 

 the heat of summer. 



This assertion, if the nvog be the same as the Asellus, 

 tallies with, probably indeed derives from, Aristotle's remark 

 that it is the only fish that hides itself in a hole in the ground 

 in the hot weather, when the Dogstar rages. 3 The fish, Varro 

 informs us, is called Asellus from the ashen colour of its scales, 

 resembling that of the coat of an ass.* 



If there be doubt as to its classification scientifically, 

 there is none gastronomically. Laberius and Cornehus Nepos 

 ranked it only second to the Acipenser. Ovid [Hal. 131) 

 enters a demurrer against the name given in : 



" Et tarn deformi non dignus nomine asellus." 



Galen warmly commends the fish for its quality of flesh, 

 and great nutritive power ; in these respects, indeed, he places 

 the Mullet, the Lupus, and Sole far below. Xenocrates, whose 

 dictum usually differs from his successor, depreciates it, as 

 does " nobiUs ille helluo " Archestratus, whose palate pro- 

 nounced the flesh " spongy." 



A sovereign remedy for fever and ague are " the small stones 

 found in the head of the Asellus, when the moon is full, and 

 attached in linen to the patient's body ! " ^ 



7. The Murcena — M. serpens or helena — (frequently but 

 quite erroneously called the " Lamprey "), with whose taming, 



1 Dorion, ap. Athen., VII. 99. Dorion was the author of a treatise much 

 used by Athenseus. 



2 IX. 25; N.H., IX. 36. 



3 Athen., VII. 99. Cf. Oppian, I. 151 

 * De Ling. Lat., 5. 



^ Pliny, XXXII. 38. 



