THE MURiENA* ^t 



mediately from the net into the boat, where they laid 

 hold of the head with a forceps, rubbed its fnout againfl: 

 feme hard fubftance to deftroy its teeth, and beat it on 

 the tail, where the life was fuppofed to lie *. That the 

 principle of life, among eels in general, is placed ia 

 the tail, is Hill a prevalent opinion ; and when taken, it 

 is not by beating the head^ but the tail, that the fillaer 

 endeavours to deprive them of animation. 



Poifonous as the bite of thefe animals may be, and hi- 

 deous in their external figure as they certainly are, yet 

 thefe circumftances did not prevent the luxurious citi- 

 zens of ancient Rome from adding them to the endlefs 

 lift of delicacies with which they pampered their appe- 

 tites f . This fpecies, the bafle (^Lupus), and a kind of 

 mullet (^Myxo)^ formed that pride of Roman banquets, 

 the tripatimam ; fo called, according to Arhuthnoty from 

 their being ferved in a machine of three bottoms J. 



The fleOi of this animal muft be various, according to 

 the manner in which it is fed ; it is faid, however, to 

 be in general white, tender, and of an agreeable flavour§. 

 It was reared with much care in the fiih ponds of Italy^ 

 iand fold at a high price ; of its eftimation among the an- 

 cients, we have full evidence in all the claffics, that have ei- 

 ther praifed good eating, or ridiculed gluttony. A fenator 

 of Rome, whofe name will be tranfmitted with infamy to 

 pofterity, was highly complimented for the delicacy of his 

 mursenae. ligellinus, Manucius, and all the celebrated epi- 

 M 2 cures 



• Pllnii Hlft. Nat. lib. 31. cap. %: 



\ Pliny, Ovid, Juvenal aad others. 



\ Atque ut luxu quoque aliqua contingat audlorltas figlinis Trlpatlnam^ 

 Inquit Faeneftellaapcllabatur, fumma cxnaruni lautitia : Una erat Mura.- 

 ucrum, altera Luporum, tertia Myxonis pifcis. Piinii Hift. Nat. lib. 35. 

 cap. li. 



§ Willough. lib. 3. p. 104. 



