HALIEUTICA, III. 126-143 



A like device is practised by the Monnyrus " : 

 when it perceives that it has fallen into the net, it 

 hides in the sands. 



The Basse,'' when smitten by the point of the bent 

 hook, leaps on high and incessantly presses its head 

 violently on the line itself, till the wound becomes 

 wider and it escapes destruction. 



The mighty Orcynus " employ a similar device. 

 For when they have seized the jaw of the guileful 

 hook, swiftly they strain and rush to the nether 

 depths, putting pressure on the hand of the fisher ; 

 and if they reach the bottom, straightway they beat 

 their head against the ground and tear open the 

 wound and spit out the barb.** 



But when giant fishes swallow the leaded hooks — 

 such as the tribes of the Ox-ray * and the Sea-sheep f 

 and the Skate ^ or the sluggish race of the Hake ^ — 

 they will not yield to it but throwing their flat bodies 

 in the sands they put all their weight upon the Une 

 and cause trouble to the fishermen, and often they 

 get free from the hook and escape. 



6 'E^(rtoy <fi{)vvov> rbv 6pKvv6v tprjffi Xeyeiy tovs 'Attikovs. 

 ^JxTTparoi 5' iv devripcfi irepi ^(fiwv tt)v irrfKafivSa OvvvlSa 

 KaXelaOai \eyei, fiei^c^ Se ywofievTqv dvvvov, Irt 5e /ueij'oi'a opKvvov, 

 UTep/SaXXoiTws 5e av^OLVo^ivov yiveadai KTJroi. Cf. Hesych. s. 

 dvvvov and s. opKvvoi ; A. 543 b 4 ot 5' 6pKvve^ (riKTOvcnv) ev ry 

 Te\dyfi. For the form 6pKvvei cf. Anaxandr. ap. Athen. 

 131 e; Plin. xxxii. 149 orcjTius — hie est pelamydum generis 

 maximus neque ipse redit in Maeotim, similis tritomi, 

 vetustate melior. Cf. P. Rhode, Thynnorum Captura, 

 p. 10. 



** Ael. i. 40 orav yovv irepiirap^ rcjj dyKiiXTpif, Karadvei avrbv 

 CIS ^vdbv Kai ihBel Kai irpoaapaTTei rt^ daireSij} Kai Kpovei to crrofia, 

 ^K^aXeiv TO dyKiffTpov (d4\uv ei 5i dovvaTOv toOto eVq, evpvvei to 

 rpav/xa Kai eKirTvcTai t6 Xvttovv avTov koI f^dWerai. 



' H. ii. 141 n. / H. i. 146 n. 



» H. i. 103 n. * II. i. 151 n. 



.S57 



