HALIEUTICA, II. 182-195 



fishes " of the sea ; for these too have a device against 

 Oysters. Howbeit they bring no stone as comrade 

 nor ally, but insert in the middle of the open Oyster 

 a rough limb. Thus the Oysters are overcome, while 

 the Starfish feed. 



A shell again keeps the plains of the deep, wherein 

 dwells a fish called Pinna. ^ The Pinna herself is 

 weak and can of herself devise nothing nor do aught, 

 but in one house and one shelter with her dwells a 

 Crab which feeds and guards her ; wherefore it is 

 called the Pinna-guard; Now when a fish comes 

 within the shell, the Crab seizes the unheeding Pinna 

 and wounds her ^vith crafty bite. Then in her pain 

 she claps her shells together and so contrives to catch 

 within a prey for herself and her companion, and 



of the flat valve until he can introduce an arm. 3. The 

 Star-fish suffocates the Oyster by applying two of its 

 fingers so closely to the edge of the valves that the Oj'ster 

 is unable to open them ; after a while the vital powers 

 relax and the shell gapes. +. The Star-fish pours a 

 secretion from its mouth, which paralyses the hinge-muscle 

 and causes the shell to open. Cf. Plin. ix. 183 ; Plut. Mor. 

 978 B. 



' A genus of bivalve Molluscs. A. 54-7 bio at 5e -n-ivvai 

 opOal (pi'OVTai €K Tov ^vffffou iv to?? dfifjubdeai kclI ^op^opw5f(Tiv. 

 fxovo'i- 5' iv avrais irtvvo>pv\aKa, al fikv KapiSiov [prob. Pontonia 

 Tyrrhena Latr.], at 5e KapKiviov [Pinnotheres vetenim Bosc] 

 ov (TTepiffKdfjifvai diacpdeipofTai Odrrov ; ihid. b 28 if rats irivvais 

 oi Ka\oi'fj.evoL iriyvoTfjpai. Cf. Athen. 83 d-e ; Ael. iii. 29 ; 

 Phil. 110; Plut. :Mor. 980 b; PUn. ix. 115. xxxii, 1.50; Cic. 

 xV.D. ii. 48.1-23; Be fin. iii. 19. 63; Soph. /r. 116; Aristoph. 

 Venp. 1.510 (of Xenocles, son of Carcinus) 6 vivvoTTjpris o5t6s 

 i(TTi TOV yivovs; Camb. N H. iii. p. 6-2 "Several of the 

 Crustacea live associated with certain molluscs. Pinnoteres 

 lives within the shell of Pinna, Oslrea, Astarte, Petnnculus, 

 and others. Apparently the females alone reside within 

 the shell of their host, while the males seize favourable 

 opportunities to visit them there." 



299 



