CHAP. I. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 29 



These seem to be wonders; but have had so many 

 confirmations from men of learning and credit, that you 

 need not doubt them. Nor are the number, nor the 

 various shapes, of fishes more strange, or more fit for con- 

 templation, than their different natures, inclinations, and 

 actions; concerning which, I shall beg your patient ear 

 a little longer. 



The Cuttle-fish will cast a long gut out of her throat, 

 which, like as an Angler doth his line, she sendeth forth, 

 and pulleth in again at her pleasure, according as she 

 sees some little fish come near to her; and 



the Cuttle-fish,* being then hid in the gra- * Mont - 



and others af- 



vel, lets the smaller fish nibble and bite firm tins. 



the end of it; at which time she by little 



and little, draws the smaller fish so near to her that she 



may leap upon her, and then catches and devours her: 



and for this reason some have called this fish the Sea- 



angler. 



And there is a fish called a Hermit, that at a cer- 

 tain age gets into a dead fish's shell, and, like a hermit, 

 dwells there alone, studying the wind and weather ; and 

 so turns her shell, that she makes it defend her from the 

 injuries that they would bring upon her. 



There is also a fish called by yElian, 1 in his 9th book 

 Of Living Creatures, ch. 16. the Adonis, or Darling of 

 the Sea; so called, because it is a loving and innocent 

 fish, a fish that hurts nothing that hath life, and is at 

 peace with all the numerous inhabitants of that vast 

 watery element; and truly, I think most Anglers are so 

 disposed to most of mankind. 



And there are, also, lustful and chaste fishes; of which 

 I shall give you examples. 



And first, what Du Bartas says of a fish called the 



(1) CUiudiut JEliunus was burn at Praeue(e iu Italy, in the reign of the Em- 

 peror Adrian. He wrote De Animalium KaturA, and On Martial Diteiplinc. 



