32 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i. 



These seem to be wonders, but have had so many 

 confirmations from men of learning and credit, that 

 you need not doubt them : nor are the number, nor 

 the various shapes of fishes, more strange or more 

 fit for contemplation, than their different natures, 

 inclinations and actions ; concerning which I shall 

 beg your patient ear a little longer. 



The Cuttle-fish will cast a long gut out of her 

 throat, which, like as an Angler doth his line, she 

 sendeth forth and pulleth in again at her pleasure, 

 according as she sees some little fish 

 Montaigne come near to h and the Cuttle- 



Essays, and 

 other affirm fish, being then hid in the gravel, 



lets the smaller fish nibble and bite 

 the end of it, at which time, she by little and little 

 draws the smaller fish so near to her, that she may 

 leap upon her, and then catches and devours her : 

 and for this reason some have called this fish the 

 Sea-Angler. 



And there is a fish call a Hermit, that at a cer- 

 tain age gets into a dead fish's shell, and like a 

 hermit dwells there alone, studying the wind and 

 weather, and so turns her shell, that she makes it 

 defend her from the injuries that they would bring 

 upon her. 



There is also a fish called, by JEllan, in his ninth 

 Book of Living creatures, Ch. 16, the Adonis or Dar- 

 ling of the Sea ; so called, because it is a loving and 

 innocent fish, a fish that hurts nothing that hath 

 life, and is at peace with all the numerous inhabi- 



