BOOK IX. XXXV. 71-XXXVI11. 74 



marshes and lakes so as to produce their ofFspring 

 safe, as in those waters there are no creatures to 

 devour their young and the waves are less fierce. 

 Their understanding these reasons and their observ- 

 ing the changes of the seasons would seem more 

 surprising to anybody who considers what fraction 

 of mankind is aware that the biggest catch is made 

 when the sun is passing through the sign of the 

 Fishes. 



XXXVI. Some sea-fish are flat, for instance the Fiaiflsh. 

 turbot, the sole and the flounder," which diifers from 

 the turbot only in the posture of its body— the turbot 

 Kes with the right side uppermost and the flounder 

 >vith the left ; while other sea-fish are long, as the 

 lamprey and the conger. XXXVII. Consequently varietusoj 

 differences also occur in the fins, which are bestowed ■^''*" 

 on fish instead of feet ; none have more than four, 

 some have three, some two, certain kinds none. In 

 the Lago di Celano, but nowhere else, there is a fish 

 that has eight fins to swim with. Long shppery fish 

 hke eels and congers generally have two fins, others 

 have none, for instance, the lamprey which also has 

 no gills. AU this class use the sea as snakes do the 

 land, propelUng themselves by twisting their bodies, 

 and they also crawl on dry land ; consequently this 

 class are also longer-Uved. Some of the flat-fish too 

 have not got fins, for example, the sting-ray — for 

 these swim merely by means of their breadth — and 

 the kinds caUed soft fish, such as polyps, since their 

 feet serve them instead of fins. 



XXXVIII. Eels Uve eight years. They can even HabUt oj 

 last five or six days at a time out of water if a north 

 wind is blowing, but not so long with a south wind, 

 But the same fish cannot endure winter in shallow 



211 



