BOOK IX. Lxxi. 154-LXXIV. 157 



the sea-cucumber, the sea-lung, the starfish. And to The lea-jiea. 

 such an extent is it the case that everything grows 

 in the sea, that even the creatures found in inns in 

 summer-time, — those that plague us with a quick 

 jump or those that hide chiefly in the hair, — occur 

 there, and are often drawn out of the water clustering 

 round the bait ; and their irritation is thought to 

 disturb the sleep of fish in the sea at night. Indeed 

 on some kinds of fish these vermin actually breed 

 as parasites ; the herring is beUeved to be one of 

 these. 



LXXII. Nor are there wanting dire poisons, as in PoUonou» 

 the sea-hare which in the Indian Ocean infects even ^^*"'- 

 by its touch, immediately causing vomiting and 

 laxity of the stomach, and in our own seas the 

 shapeless lump resembling a hare in colour only, 

 whereas the Indian variety is also like a hare in size 

 and in fur, only its fur is harder ; and there it is 

 never taken aUve. An equaUy pestiferous creature 

 is the weaver, which wounds ^vith the sharp point 

 of its dorsal fin. But there is nothing in the world 

 more execrable than the sting projecting above the 

 tail of the sting-ray which our people call the 

 parsnip-fish ; it is five inehes long, and kiUs trees 

 when driven into the root, and penetrates armour Uke 

 a missile, with the force of steel and with deadly 

 poison. 



LXXIII. We are not told that the various kinds of ^f'^' "f 

 fish suffer from endemic diseases, as do all other even 

 wild animals ; but that individuals among them are 

 Uable to illness is proved by the emaciated condition 

 of some fish contrasted with the extreme fatness of 

 others of the same kind when cauffht. 



LXXIV." Thecuriosityandwonderofmankinddoes sexuai 



reproduetifm. 

 269 



