BOOK IX. XXXI. 67-xxxv. 71 



one that is most skilful in making his master bank- 

 rupt. Licinius Mucianus has recorded the capture 

 in the Red Sea of a mullet weighing 80 Ibs. ; what 

 price would our epicures have paid for it if it had 

 been found on the coasts near the city ? 



XXXII. It is also a fact of nature that difFerent ^"'<'\. , , 



idrieties oj 



fishes hold the first rank in different places — the taste. 

 blackfish in Egypt, the John Dory (also called the 

 carpenter-fish) at Cadiz, the stockfish in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Iviza, though elsewhei*e it is a disgusting 

 fish, and everywhere it is unable to be cooked 

 thoroughly unless it has been beaten with a rod ; in 

 Aquitaine the river sahnon is preferred to all sea-fish. 



XXXIII. Some fish have numerous gills, others varietieso/ 

 single ones, others double. With the gills they f^^J^"^ 

 discharge the water taken in by the mouth. 

 Hardening of the scales, which are not ahke in all 



fishes, is a sign of age. There are two lakes in 

 Italy at the foot of the Alps, named Como and 

 Maggiore, in which every year at the rising of the 

 Pleiads " fish are found that are remarkable for 

 close-set and very sharp scales, shaped hke shoe- 

 nails, but they are not commonly seen for a longer 

 period than about a month from then. 



XXXIV. Arcadia also has a marvel in its cHmbing 

 perch,* so called because it climbs out on to the 

 land to sleep. In the district of the river Clitorius 

 this fish is said to have a voice and no gills ; the 

 same variety is by some people called the Adonis fish. 



XXXV. The fish called the sea-mouse also comes out Fish ihat 

 on to the land, as do the polypus and the lamprey ; '^'^ '" '"'"'• 

 so also does a certain kind of fish in the rivers of 



India, and then jumps back again — for in most 

 cases there is an obvious pm-pose in getting across into 



209 



