MEMOIR OF PLINY. \ Vj 57 



that dogges fall not mad, it is good, for thirtie or for- 

 tie daies space, to mingle hens or pullins dung espe- 

 cially with their meate ; againe, if they be growing 

 into that rage, or tainted already, to give them el- 

 lebor with their meat. Columella writeth, that when 

 a whelpe is just fortie daies old, if his taile be bitten 

 off at the nethermost joint, and the sinew or string 

 that remaineth after be likewise taken away, neither 

 the taile will grow any more, nor the dogge fall euer 

 to be mad." 



The ninth book treats of fishes and water animals ; 

 containing " stories, notable things, and obseruatlons, 

 to the number of 650, collected." Whales, dolphins, 

 tortoises, seals, mullets, salmon, lampreys, eels, crabs, 

 wilks, cockles, the murex, and other shell-fish, are 

 jumbled together in the same class with tritons, mer- 

 maids, nereides, and other fabulous creatures. The 

 only attempt at definite order is founded on the co- 

 vering or skin ; some, as seals and hippopotami, 

 having hide and hair ; others skin only, as the dot- 

 phins ; tortoises are covered with a substance resem- 

 bling bark ; oysters and other shell- fish with a sub- 

 stance as hard as flint ; echini with crusts and 

 prickles ; fishes with scales ; sharks with a rough 

 skin fit for polishing wood ; lampreys with a soft 

 skin ; and polypi with none at all. The most inte- 

 resting portion of this book is that which treats of 

 the pearl oyster, the murex, buccinum, &c., which 

 supplied the Romans with their celebrated purple 

 dye. " That beautifull colour, so much in request 



