SPITZBERGKN AM) G IIKEN LAN11. 135 



and arc called sea-qualms by the seamen, as if they were a 

 thick scum of the sea coagulated together. They are also 

 called after the Latin name sea nettles, because they cause 

 a burning pain like unto nettles. I have formerly had some 

 thoughts that the rotz or slime-fishes might be a seed flung 

 out and so putrefied, and that they did cause this burning 

 pain by reason of their putrefaction ; and so I did think 

 they received their shape or form according to the several 

 kind of fishes from whence they came, and that some did 

 take after thornhacks, others after whales, and the like ; but 

 this doth not seem to be agreeable to reason, for I have 

 considered it better since, and find life to be a far more 

 noble thing than that it should ^^I'oceed from putrefied seed 

 cast away. 



They cleanse the sea mightily, for all the filth and un- 

 cleanness sticks to them just as a burr doth unto cloth. 



1. Of the Sea May-flye.^ 



These small fish are very like unto the sea-nettles, because 

 of their transparent body, and they also dissolve like the 

 same, if you hold them in your hand. They have two finns 

 underneath about the neck, which are likest unto those 

 of the ichale. They are in their shape like unto our white 

 rowls, broad and thick in the middle, and thin and pointed 

 at each end. As for the rest of the body, it is very like 

 unto our May-fiye, save only that the tail or body is all 

 along thicker, and only begins to be pointed towards the 

 end. The head is broad and round, split in the middle ; 

 it hath small horns about the breadth of a straw ; on his 

 head before it hath two rows of six little red knobs, three of 

 them in each row ; whether they be eyes or no I cannot 

 exactly tell. Its mouth is divided or split. From his mouth 

 down into his belly are its guts, which one may easily see 



^ Clio lorealis; the Clio limacina of Phipps. Voyage, App., p. 95. 



