BOOK IX.] History of Nature. 1 73 



Months, April, May, and June : Salpae in Autumn : the 

 Sargi, Torpedo, and Squali, about the Equinox : soft Fishes 

 in the Spring : and the Sepia in every Month. The Spawn 

 of this Fish, which hangeth together like a Cluster of 

 Grapes, by Means of the Glue of the Ink, the Male follows 

 with its Breath, for otherwise it is barren. The Polypi 

 couple in Winter, and produce the Eggs in Spring ; being 

 curled like the Tendrils of a Vine ; and that in such Plenty, 

 that when they are killed they are not able to receive the 

 Multitude of Eggs in the Concavities of their Head which 

 they bare when they 'were pregnant. They hatch them in 

 fifty Days, but many of them perish from their great Num- 

 ber. The Locustae and the rest with thinner Shells, lay Egg 

 over Egg, and so brood upon them. The female Polypus 

 one while sitteth on her Eggs, at other Times shuts up the 

 Cavity (where she hath laid them), with her Arms enfolded 

 across, one over another. The Sepia layeth also on the 

 Land among the Reeds, or else where she can find Seaweeds 

 growing, and by the fifteenth Day it is hatched. The Loligo 

 layeth Eggs in the deep Water, which hang close together 

 as those of the Sepiae. The Purpurse, the Murex, and such 

 like, lay in the Spring. The Echini are with Egg at the Full- 

 Moons in the Winter : and the Cochleae are bred in the 

 Winter also. The Torpedo is found to have fourscore Young 

 at once, and she hatcheth her soft Eggs within her Body, 

 shifting them from one Place of the Womb to another, and 

 then excludes them. In a similar Manner do all they which 

 are called Cartilaginous. By which it cometh to pass, that 

 Fish alone both conceive Eggs, and bring forth a living- 

 Creature. The Male Silurus, of all others, keepeth the Eggs 

 after they are deposited, many Times for fifty Days, that 

 they may not be devoured by others. Other Females hatch 

 in three Days, if the Male touch them. The Acus or Be- 

 lone 1 is the only Fish which has such an Abundance of 

 Eggs that their Womb gapeth when they lay them : but 



1 Syngnathus acus, LINN. For the marsupial habits of this fish, see 

 Yarrell's " British Fishes." Pliny could not have imagined that it is the 

 male which hatches the eggs in his caudal pouches. Wern. Club. 



