BOOK IX. XX. 52-xxn. 55 : 



Black Sea; the same is the case with the sole, 

 though the turbot does enter it. Nor does the sepia 

 occur there, though the cuttle-fish is found. Of rock- 

 fish the sea-bream and whiting are lacking, as are some 

 shell-fish, though oysters are plentiful ; but they all 

 winter in the Aegean. Of those entering the Black 

 Sea the only kind that never returns is the Irichia or 

 sardine — it will be convenient to use the Gi'eek names 

 in most cases, as different districts have called the 

 same species by a great variety of names — , but these 

 alone enter the Danube and float down from it by its 

 underground channels into the Adriatic, and con- 

 sequently there also they are regularly seen going 

 down stream and never coming up from the sea. 

 The season for catching tunny is from the rise" 

 of the Pleiads to the setting'' of Arcturus ; during 

 the rest of the winter time they lurk at the 

 bottom of the water unless tempted out by a mild 

 spell or at fuU moon. They get fat even to the 

 point of bursting. The tunny's longest Hfe is two 

 years. 



XXI. There is a small animal "^ shaped Hke aparaiUeo/ 

 scorpion, of the size of a spider. This attaches itself ""* '""""• 

 with a spike under the fin of both the tunny and the 



fish called sword-fish, which often exceeds the size of 

 a dolphin, and torments them so painfully that they 

 frequently jump out of the water into ships. This 

 is also done on other occasions from fear of the 

 violence of other fish, especially by mullet, which 

 are so exceptionally swift that they sometimes leap 

 right over ships that lie across their path. 



XXII. In this department of nature also there are Portenu 

 cases of augury ; even fish have fore-knowledge of ^""*"*^'^*' 

 events. During the Sicilian War'^ when Augustus 



199 



