BOOK IX. xLix. 94-L. 96 



XLIX. Mucianus has stated that he has also seen Th« 

 in the Dardanelles another creature resembling a "^^^^^^'^ 

 ship under sail : it is a shell with a keel Hke a boat, 

 and a curved stern and beaked bow. In this (he 

 says) the nauphus, a creature like the cuttle-fish, 

 secretes itself, merely by way of sharing the game." 

 The manner in which this takes place is two-fold : 

 in calm weather the carrier shell strikes the water 

 by dipping its flappers like oars, but if the breezes 

 invite, the same flappers are stretched out to serve 

 as a rudder and the curves of the shells are spread to 

 the breeze. The former creature delights (he con- 

 tinues) to carry and the latter to steer, and this 

 pleasure penetrates two senseless things at once — 

 unless perhaps human calamity forms part of the 

 motive, for it is an established fact that this is a 

 disastrous omen for mariners. 



L. In the bloodless class, the langouste is protected The 

 by a fragile rind. Langoustes stay in retirement for """""^ '• 

 five months in each year ; and likewise crabs, which 

 go into hiding at the same season ; and both species 

 discard their old age at the beginning of spring in 

 the same way as snakes do, by renewing their skins. 

 All other aquatic species swim, but langoustes float 

 about in the manner of reptiles ; if no danger 

 threatens they go forward in a straight course with 

 their horns, which are buttoned by their own 

 rounded ends, stretched out at their sides, but at a 

 moment of alarm they advance slanting sideways 

 with their horns held erect. They use their horns 

 in fighting one another. The langouste is the only 

 animal whose flesh is of a yielding texture with no 

 hardness, unless it is boiled alive in hot water. 

 Langoustes live in rocky places, whereas crabs live on 



227 



