BOOK IX. Lxxxii. I73-LXXXIII. 177 



LXXXII. Ponds for keeping snails were first made Snaii- 

 by Fulvius Lippinus in the Trachina district a httle "" ^^' 

 before the civil war " fought with Pompey the Great ; 

 indeed he kept the different kinds of snails separate, 

 with different compartments for the white snails 

 that grow in the Rieti territory and for the Illyrian 

 variety distinguished for size, tlie African for 

 fecundity and the SoHtane for breed. Moreover he 

 devised a method of fattening them with new wine 

 boiled down and spelt and other kinds of fodder, 

 so that gastronomy was enriched even by fattened 

 oysters ; and according to Marcus Varro this osten- 

 tatious science was carried to such lengths that 

 a single snail-shell was large enough to hold 80 

 quarts. 



LXXXIII. Moreover some wonderful kinds of fish Remarkabie 

 are reported by Theophrastus. He says that (1) '^^^'■^^fl^ • 

 where the rivers debouch around the water-meadows 

 of Babylon a certain fish'' stays in caverns that contain 

 springs and goes out from them to feed, walking with 

 its fins by means of a repeated movement of the tail, 

 and guards against being caught by taking refuge in 

 its caves and remaining in them facing towards the 

 opening, and that these fishes' heads resemble a sea- 

 frog's and the rest of its parts a goby's, though the 

 gills are the same as in other fish. (2) In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Heraclea and Cromna and in many 

 parts of the Black Sea there is one kind that fre- 

 quents the water at the edge of rivers and makes 

 itself caverns in the ground and lives in these, and 

 also in the shore of tidal rivers when left dry by the 

 tide ; and consequently they are only dug up when 

 the movement of their bodies shows that they are 

 alive. (3) In the same neighbourhood of Heraclea 



281 



