CURIOUS CREATURES. 253 



negligent and sleepy Watchman shall be thrown headlong 

 from the high walls, and die by Martial Law. Also this 

 water is never free from Ghosts and Visions that appear 

 at all times ; and a man may hear Pipes sound, and 

 Cymbals tinkle, to the shore." 



Aristotle mentions a fish called the Meryx that chewed 

 the cud, and Pliny speaks of the Scarus, which, he says, 

 "at the present day is the only fish that is said to 

 ruminate, and feed on grass, and not on other fish." 

 But he seems to have forgotten that in a previous place 

 in the same book, he speaks of a large peninsula in the 

 Red Sea, on the southern coast of Arabia, called Cadara, 

 where "the sea monsters, just like so many cattle, 

 were in the habit of coming on shore, and after feeding 

 on the roots of shrubs, they would return ; some of them, 

 which had the heads of horses, asses, and bulls, found a 

 pasture in the crops of grain." 



THE REMORA. 



Of this fish Pliny writes : " There is a very small 

 fish that is in the habit of living among the rocks, and 

 is known as the Echeneis, MTTO TOV e%eiv vrja^. (From 

 holding back ships.) It is believed that when this has 

 attached itself to the keel of a ship, its progress is im- 

 peded, and that it is from this circumstance that it takes 

 its name. For this reason, also, it has a disgraceful 

 repute, as being employed in love philtres, and for the 

 purpose of retarding judgments and legal proceedings. 

 ... It is never used, however, for food. . . . Mucianus 

 speaks of a Murex of larger size than the purple, with a 

 head that is neither rough nor round ; and the shell of 

 which is single, and falls in folds on either side. He 



