BOOK IX.] History of Nature. 125 



fat by its Sluggishness, as sometimes to reach the weight of 

 a thousand Pounds ; and being taken with a Hook fastened 

 to a Chain, cannot be drawn out of the River but with Yokes 

 of Oxen. And yet there is a very little Fish called Clupea, 1 

 that killeth him ; for through a great Desire after a certain 

 Vein within his Throat, he biteth it, and so despatched! him. 



The Silurus is a great Robber, and devoureth every 

 Animal ; often dragging under the Water the Horses as they 

 swim; especially in the Mrenus, 2 a River of Germany, near 

 Lisbous. 



Also, in the Danube is taken the Mario, 3 a Fish much 

 like the Sea-Pig (Porpoise) ; and in the Borysthenes, men- 

 tion is made of a Fish of large size, with no Bones or Spines 

 interspersed, and the Flesh very sweet. 



In the Ganges of India there are Fishes with a Snout 

 and Tail like a Dolphin, fifteen Cubits long, and which they 

 call Platanistae. And Statins Sebosus reporteth as strange a 

 Thing besides : that in the same River there are Worms or 

 Serpents with double Gills, 4 sixty Cubits long, of Colour blue, 

 and from that Colour they take their Name (Cyonoeides). 

 He saith, moreover, that they are so strong, as when the 

 Elephants come to drink, to catch hold with their Teeth by 

 their Trunks, and drag them under Water. 



The male Tunnies have no Fins under the Belly. In the 



1 Ray supposes this to be the Shad, Clupea alosa, LINN. ; but it is not 

 capable of the action here ascribed to it. Wern. Club. 



2 A river of Germany. Daleschampius notes on this passage, that in 

 Pliny's time no river in Germany was called Moenus : it is a modern 

 appellation, though now generally acknowledged. An alteration must, 

 therefore, have been made in the text, and Rondeletius proposes to read, 

 " in Rheno :" in the Rhine. Wern. Club. 



3 No fish has been found of this name ; and it has been supposed that 

 the word ought to be read " major : " that is, a greater fish than the 

 last-named, and much like the Porcus marinus, a kind of Shark. Wern. 

 Club. 



4 Daleschampius observes that Solinus quotes Sebosus in a different 

 manner from Pliny : " that their colour is blue, from whence they take 

 their name : their length six cubits, and they have two arms so strong 

 that when elephants come to drink they seize them with their bite, and 

 with their hand draff them under water." Wern. Club. 



