LOACH.] NATURAL HISTORY. 189 



perfectly as ever he did before the eyes were put out. 

 The old one devoureth the young ones as soon as they be 

 hatched, except one which she suffereth to live, and this 

 one is the basest and most dullard ; yet notwithstanding, 

 afterwards it devoureth both his parents. Twice a year they 

 change their skin. They live by couples together, and 

 when one of them is taken, the other waxeth mad, and 

 rageth upon him that took it. They are enemies to bees. 

 They fight with all kind of serpents. The eggs of 

 Lizards do kill speedily, except there come a remedy 

 from falcon's dung and pure wine. Mingled with oil it 

 causeth hair to grow again upon the head of a man. If 

 green Lizards see a man, they instantly gather about him, 

 and laying their heads at the one side with great admira- 

 tion behold his face. The use of these green Lizards is 

 by their skin and gall to keep apples from rotting, and 

 also to drive away caterpillars, by hanging up the skin on 

 the tops of trees, and by touching the apples with the said 

 gall. The ashes of a green Lizard do reduce scars in the 

 body to their own colour. 



Topsell, "History of Serpents," pp. 739-4.2. 



TAKE a Lizard and cut off its tail, and take what comes 

 out, because it is like quicksilver. Then take a taper, and 

 moisten it with oil, and put it in a new lamp, and light it, 

 that man's house will appear splendid and white or silvered. 

 Albertus Magnus, " Of the Wonders of the World." 



[!N the deserts of Lybia is] a kind of great Lizard 

 which never drinketh, and, if water be put in his mouth, 

 he presently dieth. Purchat "Pilgrims," p. 559 (ed. 1616). 



Loach. 



i. KING HENRY IV., ii. I, 23. 



THE Loach is a little river-fish, white with black spots. 

 Some say that it feeds on dead bodies, but this is held by 

 fishermen to be fabulous. They are considered poor and 

 contemptible eating. Hortus Sanitatis,-bk. iv. 41. 



[The commentators are puzzled by this passage in " i. King 

 Henry IV." It is quite probable that " like a Loach " has 

 no more accurate meaning than " like a house afire," or " like 



