76 -EX VI RIB US VIVIMUS. 



they are the less observed ; many of them breathe 

 not, by which means their vital spirit is more closed 

 in ; and, therefore, though they receive some refri- 

 geration by their gills, yet that refrigeration is not so 

 continual as when it is by breathing. 



40. They are free from the desiccation and depre- 

 dation of the air ambient, because they live in the 

 water, yet there is no doubt but the water, ambient, 

 and piercing, and received into the pores of the body, 

 doth more hurt to long life than the air doth. 



41. It is affirmed, too, that their blood is not warm. 

 Some of them are great devourers, even of their own 

 kind. Their flesh is softer and more tender than 

 that of terrestrial creatures ; they grow exceedingly 

 fat, insomuch that an incredible quantity of oil will 

 be extracted out of one whale. 



42. Dolphins are reported to live about thirty 

 years ; of which thing a trial was taken in some of 

 them by putting off their tails, they grow until ten 

 years of age. 



43. That which they report of some fishes is 

 strange, that after a certain age their bodies will 

 waste and grow very slender, only their head and 

 tail retaining their former greatness. 



44. There were found in Caesar's fishponds lam- 

 preys to have lived threescore years ; they were 

 grown so familiar with long use, that Crassus, the 

 orator, solemnly lamented one of them. 



45. The pike, amongst fishes, living in fresh water 



