BOOK IX. XXIV. 57-xxviii. 6i 



the sole hide through the wintei*s in the ground, that 

 is, in a hole scraped out at the bottom of the sea. 



XXV. Some fish again being unable to endure heat Speeies 

 hide for 8 or 9 weeks during the heats of midsummer, ^^^0«^'* *" 

 for instance the grayUng, the haddock and the gilt- Uabu lo 

 bream. Of river fish the catfish has a stroke at * ™ *' 

 the rise of the dogstar, and at other times is always 



made drowsy by lightning. This is thought to 

 happen to the carp even in the sea. And beside 

 this the whole sea is conscious of the rise of that 

 star, as is most clearly seen in the Dardanelles, 

 for sea-weed and fishes float on the surface, and 

 everything is turned up from the bottom. 



XXVI. It is an amusing trait in the mullet that caicMng 

 when frightened it hides its head and thinks it is "*""*'• 

 entirely concealed. The same fish is so incautious 



in its wantonness that in Phoenicia and in the 

 Province of Narbonne at the breeding season a male 

 mullet from the fish-ponds is sent out into the sea 

 with a long hne tied to its gills through its mouth 

 and when it is drawn back by the same line the females 

 follow it to the shore, and again the m.ales foUow a 

 female at the laying season. 



XXVII. In old days the sturireon was held to be Gradesof 

 the noblest of the fishes, being tfie only one with its fabuTt^ 

 scales turned towards the mouth, in the opposite sturgeoru 

 direction to the one in which it swims ; but now it 



is held in no esteem, which for my part I think 

 surprising, as it is a fish seklom to be found. One 

 name for it is the elops. 



XXVIII. CorneHus Nepos and the mime-writer changesof 

 Laberius have recorded that at a later period the ^bassandthe 

 chief rank belonged to the bass and the haddock. haddock. 

 The kind of bass most praised is the one called the 



203 



