186 PEOSB HALIEUTICS. 



the conduct of the poor thunny under the scourge of 

 the sea cestrum ;* the latter, by a process of etymologi- 

 cal conjuring not easily followed, have sought to presto 

 thunnus out of -'tannim/ a word which we translate 

 ' whales/ but which imports, Hke its Latin equivalent 

 cete, large fish generally. Thynnis, the female form 

 of 6viwo<;, was the name of the thunny's thais, or wife, 

 who, according to ancient tradition, as the time of her 

 accouchement approached, used to leave the Mare Mag- 

 num, or Mediterranean winter-quarters, for a punctual 

 periodic spring confinement in the waters of the Black 

 Sea. It appears, however, from more careful subsequent 

 investigation, either that these lady thunnies deceived 

 Aristotle by a false report, or that their granddaugh- 

 ter-descendants have so far "departed from the old an- 

 cestral arrangement, that many do not at present take 

 this voyage from sea to sea, but drop their unhatched 

 posterity about, wherever they may happen to reside. t 

 This deposition of roe occurs generally pretty early in 

 June ; the young fish, when first evolved from the egg, 

 and for some time afterwards, are called, says Aristotle, 

 ' cordylas' in Italy, and ' auxidas' by the Byzantines : 

 cordyla was a word by which the Cyprians designated a 

 particular covering or wrap for the head ; it then came 

 by metonymy to be applied to this fish, which in its 

 first infancy was often sold in a paper wrapper or toga. 

 Martial alludes to this custom, and expresses a hope 

 that his epigrams may escape being put to so vile a 



* Tiff &v TTor ae6^ £)S* enwwfxov 



rovfibv a~uifOi(reiv ovofia toIs €fiOLs Kanots ; 

 viiv yap Trapecrri KoX 8ls Bvvvd^eiv ifiot. — Soph. 

 t Great steals of thunny, kowever, still repair to the Euxiae, 

 where they always find abundance of aUment, in consequence of 

 the number of rivers which run into it. 



