406 PEOSE HALIEUTICS. 



than instantly withdrawing his head^ he rolls into a spi- 

 nous ballj and waits to be attacked ; the serpent, darting 

 ■ instantly upon the globular mass, essays all round to find 

 some vulnerable part exposed to her deadly fangs, but in 

 vain ! no teeth can penetrate, or even reach a body under 

 cover of such long quills ; the porcupine now becomes 

 the assailant ; rolling round and round upon himself, he 

 wounds the unprotected skin of the snake, and causes a 

 bloody sanies to issue from divers points ; the trailing 

 reptile, stung to the qiiick, and exasperated with pain, 

 wraps her body round the prickly globe, and completely 

 covers it in coils ; more deeply wounded by this action, 

 fury and despair make the last efforts of the coluber 

 terrible to witness, while, firm and immobile under the 

 sure protection of his sharp-pointed mail, the porcupine 

 maintains his globose shape, and patiently waits under 

 arms either till the serpent dies transfixed, or, should 

 his strength hold out, till both expire together. 



The astuteness of the mursena in escaping danger is, 

 if we may believe ancient authors, very remarkable ; for, 

 instead of swallowing the angler's hook like other fish, 

 she bites it off above the bait, and then descends leisurely 

 to examine and detach it : when surprised, too, — no, she 

 is never surprised — when enclosed unexpectedly in a net, 

 with the utmost presence of mind this Ulysses of fish 

 swims deliberately round, fixes on the largest and laxest 

 mesh, and having tampered with and cut it across, finally 

 wriggles her body through, and thus opens a passage 

 which all the remaining mureense are careful to follow. 



The mursena most in repute came from Sicily ; the Tar- 

 tesian, from Tartessus, in Spain, were also highly thought 

 of, and this accordingly became one of its epithets. 



This fish was the delight of the ancient Romans, not 

 only to eat (as Horace recommends, in roe, as the first 

 dehcacy at a tripatina entertainment, dressed according 

 to one of Apicius' recipes, and served on a chrysendeton. 



