BOOK IX. xLvin. 92-93 



getting into their uncovered tanks from the open sea 



and there foraging for salted fish — even the smell of 



which attracts all sea creatures in a surprising way, 



owing to which even fish-traps are smeared with 



them — and so it brought on itself the wrath of the 



keepers, which owing to the persistence of the theft 



was beyond all bounds Fences were erected in its 



way, but it used to scale these by making use of a 



tree, and it was only possible to catch it by means 



of the keen scent of hounds. These surrounded it 



when it was going back at night, and aroused the 



guards, who were astounded by its strangeness : 



in the first place its size was unheard of and so was 



its colour as well, and it was smeared with brine and 



had a terrible smell ; who would have expected to 



find a polyp there, or who would recognize it in such 



circumstances ? They felt they were pitted against 



something uncanny, for by its awful breath it also 



tormented the dogs, which it now scourged with the 



ends of its tentacles and now struck with its longer 



arms, which it used as chibs ; and with difficulty they 



succeeded in despatching it with a number of three- 



pronged harpoons. They showed its head to 



Lucullus — it was as big as a cask and held 90 gallons, 



— and (to use the words of Trebius liimself) ' its 



beai-ds which one could hardly clasp round with both 



one's arms, knotted Hke clubs, 30 ft. long, with 



suckers or cups like basins holding three gallons, and 



teeth corresponding to its size.' Its remains, kept 



as a curiosity, were found to weigh 700 Ibs. Trebius Lajveaiuu- 



also states that cuttle-fish of both species of the 



same size have been driven ashore on that coast. 



In our own seas one kind is taken that measures 



7^ ft. in length and the other kind 3 ft. These fish 



also do not Hve more than two years. 



225 



