5056 THE ZooLoGiIst—SEPTEMBER, 1876. 
for in an unpropitious moment he let fall and broke a wine decanter 
(fregit crystallinum)! This poor wretch, knowing what was in 
store for him, and thinking there was a slight chance in appealing 
for mercy to the powerful Augustus, summoned courage to throw 
himself at the feet of the Emperor and ask intercession with his 
master, or at least to beg for some less terrible death than the 
nibbling process so delightful to Vedius Pollio. To the great 
eredit.of Augustus, it is related how he not only instantly pardoned 
this poor wretch, but applying the rule so golden in ethics, removed 
the cause of this cruelty by ordering the immediate smashing of all 
Vedius Pollio’s glass and china and the filling up of the fish-ponds. 
So is written and handed down a pretty—as we in modern times 
would say, a slightly sensational—legend. Whatever may have 
been the foundation for this story, I strongly suspect it never 
happened. Although I have often heard of the ferocious and 
cruel habits of Murena, this, too, is in my opinion quite as untrne ; 
for during the considerable time 1 have had opportunities of closely 
observing this creature I have uniformly found it just the reverse. 
It has certainly an unpleasant appearance when lying with its head 
and shoulders only visible from some hole in a rock, and with its 
mouth, so liberally furnished with teeth, wide and threateningly open. 
It is a common habit of this animal to rest for short periods in this 
way, with its mouth wide open, just as is represented in Fig. 1. 
Another character given to this much ill-used fish is that of taking— 
or, more correctly, maiming—its food by “reiterated snaps” of its 
jaws. This, again, is an error, for one of the most remarkable and 
first-noticed features in this animal is its very gentle and peculiar 
mode of feeding. This is done by a curiously quiet movement of 
the head, so as to bring the check down upon the object about to 
be eaten, seizing it with the side of his mouth, and never by the 
front. 
The specimens to which I have referred are usually fed with 
mussel-flesh or live shrimps. At first it was thought that, from their 
slow and deliberate habits, the shrimps would get away, and so the 
Murena starve; but no, the Murena quietly sits in his hole, as 
shown in fig. 1, not showing the least movement until it marks 
down a shrimp ; then, in its graceful manner, it glides up to it, gently 
lays one cheek upon it, and so holds it until it has secured the 
shrimp with the side of his mouth, when with one quick bolt it 
swallows its food. 
