232 ARISTOTLE'S ENAIMA, 



account of Narke is given, however, in Athenseus, because 

 it shovi^s that the fish had been subjected to experimental 

 tests. Athenaeus says that, according to Diphilus of 

 Laodicea, the shock was not produced by all parts of the 

 fish's body, but by certain parts only, and that Diphilus 

 proved this by a long series of experiments.* 



The torpedo was one of the food fishes of the Ancients, 

 and is represented, with bass and red mullet, on several of the 

 Campanian-warefish plates to be seen at the British Museum. 



The Bhine, according to Aristotle, produces seven or 

 eight young at a time,t its skin is rough,! and tail large, § 

 it catches fish by lying in wait in the sand and attracting 

 them by means of lures on its mouth, || and it can change its 

 colour to match that of the place where it lives. ^ 



Except that it usually brings forth many more than 

 seven or eight young ones at a time, the angel fish {Rliina 

 squatina), which is still called Bhina in some parts of 

 Greece, seems to be Aristotle's Bhine. 



This name, which means a rasp or file, applies well to 

 the angel fish, which has a skin quite rough from the 

 presence of a vast number of tubercles. Its tail is com- 

 paratively large, it lies in wait for its prey in the manner 

 stated by Aristotle, and it has processes or lures on or near 

 the upper edge of its mouth. Again, according to Yarrell, 

 it seems to show variations of colour corresponding with the 

 nature of the ground w^here it is found.** 



The most important statements made by Aristotle about 

 the Trijgoii are that it is a flat fish and that its tail is long 

 and spiny. ft These and the few other statements made by 

 him are not sufficiently precise for the purpose of identifi- 

 cation, but it is almost certain that his Trygon is the sting- 

 ray {Trygon pastmaca) . Other ancient writers, especially 

 iElian, Oppian of Cilicia, and Pliny, describe one of the 

 most remarkable features of the Trygon, its caudal spine, 

 by means of which it lacerates the flesh of its victim. 

 Pliny- says that nothing is so execrable as the radius, 

 five inches long, projecting from the tail of the Trygon 

 or Pastinaca.X I 



It is said that the sting-ray is still called Trygon at 



* Deipn. vii. 95. f H. A. v. c. 9, s. S. 



X p. A. iv. c. 13, 697a. § H. A. v. c. 4, s. 1. 



II Ibid. ix. c. 25, s. 3. 1! Ihid. ix. c. 25, s. 10. 



"-:=* British Fishes, 1859, vol. ii. p. 538. 

 tf P. A. iv. c. 18, 6956. H Nat. Hist. ix. 72. 



