BOOK IX. Lxxxv. 182-LXXXV111. 185 



a verdict given for the prosecution vvith damages as 

 assessed. Moreover it is said that when these fishes 

 see one of their number hooked they cut the hne 

 with the saw-hke prickles that tliey have on their 

 back, while the one held by the hne draws it taut so 

 as to enable it to be severed. With the sargus kind 

 however the captive itself rubs the hne against the 

 rocks. 



LXXXVI. Besides these cases I observe that Themrjuh. 

 authors renowned for their wisdom express surprise 

 at there being a star in the sea : that is the shape 

 of the fish,o which has rather httle flesh inside it but 

 a rather hard rind outside. They say that this fish 

 contains such fiery heat that it scorches all the things 

 it touches in the sea, and digests all food immedi- 

 ately. I cannot readily say by what experimeuts 

 this has been ascertained, and I should consider a 

 fact that there is daily opportunity of experiencing 

 to be much more worth recording. 



LXXXVII. The class shellfish includes the piddock, Thepiddock. 

 named finger-mussel from its resemblance to a 

 human finger-nail. It is the nature of these fish to 

 shine in darkness with a briglit hght when other 

 light is removed, and in proportion to their amount 

 of moisture to ghtter both in the mouth of persons 

 masticating them and in their hands, and even on the 

 floor and on their clothes when drops fall from them, 

 making it clear beyond all doubt that their juice 

 possesses a property that we should marvel at even in 

 a soHd object. 



LXXXVIII. There are also remarkable facts as to Hosiuityanu 

 their quarrels and their friendship. Violent ani- bciwemi^^ 

 mositv rag-es between the muUet and the wolf-fish, d^ff^^^ 



J ^ 1.1 species oj 



and between the conger and the lamprey, wiiicli fish. 



287 



