CURIOUS CREATURES. 267 



CRAYFISH AND CRABS. 



Pliny tells us that in the Indian Ocean are Crayfish 

 four cubits in length (six feet), and he claims for crabs 

 a sovereign specific against bites of scorpions and snakes : 

 " River-Crabs taken fresh and beaten up and drunk in 

 water, or the ashes of them, kept for the purpose, are 

 useful in all cases of poisoning, as a counter poison ; 

 taken with asses' milk they are particularly serviceable 

 as a neutralizer of the venom of the scorpion ; goat's 

 milk or any other kind of milk being substituted, where 

 asses' milk cannot be procured. Wine, too, should also 

 be used in all such cases. River-Crabs beaten up with 

 Ocimum, and applied to Scorpions, are fatal to them. 

 They are possessed of similar virtues, also, for the bites 

 of all other kinds of venomous animals, the Scytale in 

 particular, adders, the sea hare, and the bramble frog. 

 The ashes of them, preserved, are good for persons who 

 give symptoms of hydrophobia after being bitten by a 

 mad dog, some adding gentian as well, and administering 

 the mixture in wine. In cases, too, where hydrophobia 

 has already appeared, it is recommended, that these 

 ashes should be kneaded up into boluses with wine and 

 swallowed. If ten of these crabs be tied together with 

 a handful of Ocimum, all the scorpions in the neighbour- 

 hood, the magicians say, will be attracted to the spot. 

 They recommend, also, that to wounds inflicted by the 

 scorpion, these crabs, or the ashes of them, should be 

 applied with Ocimum. For all these purposes, however, 

 sea crabs, it should be remembered, are not so useful. 

 Thrasyllus informs us that there is nothing so antago- 

 nistic to serpents as crabs : that swine, when stung by 

 a serpent, cure themselves by eating them ; and that, 



