HALIEUTICA, I. 74-97 



in the tract of the sea, wide-ruling son of Cronu-, 

 Girdler of the earth, and be gracious thyself, O Sea, 

 and ve ffods who in the soundinor sea have vour abode ; 

 and grant me to tell of your herds and sea-bred 

 tribes ; and do thou, O lady Goddess, direct all and 

 make these gifts of thy song well pleasing to our 

 sovereign lord and to his son. 



Infinite and beyond ken are the tribes that move 

 and swim in the depths of the sea, and none could 

 name them certainly ; for no man hath reached the 

 limit of the sea, but unto three hundred fathoms " less 

 or more men know and have explored the deep. But, 

 since the sea is infinite and of unmeasured depth, 

 many things are hidden, and of these dark things 

 none that is mortal can tell ; for small are the under- 

 standing and the strength of men. The briny sea 

 feeds not, I ween, fewer herds nor lesser tribes than 

 earth, mother of many. But whether the tale of 

 offspring be debatable between them both, or whether 

 one excels the other, the gods know certainly ; but 

 we must make our reckoning by our human wits. 



Now fishes differ in breed and habit and in their 

 path in the sea, and not all fishes have hke range. 

 For some keep by the low shores, feeding on sand 

 and whatever things grow in the sand ; to Ant, 

 the Sea-horse, ** the swift Cuckoo-fish," the yellow 



its resemblance to the Red Mullet. Marc. S. 21 o^vko/moi 

 KOKKx-yes in allusion to the dorsal spines which they erect on 

 being touched (Day i. p. 55); A. 598 a 15 exa/z^oreptfoio-iv, 

 i.e. found both in deep and shallow water ; 535 b -20 " utters 

 a sound like the cuckoo, whence its name." C/. .\el. x. 11. 

 The noise made by Gurnards when taken from the water is 

 due to escape of gas from the air-bladder. Apost. p. 11 

 (where he identifies Aristotle's kokkv^ with the allied Darti/lo- 

 pterus rolitans Mor.) enumerates eight species of Trigla 

 found in Greek waters. 



207 



