The ninth Booke of 



kafts doe haunt .•\^hkh is the cauf^ that thefe dyvers which ducke andplunge for fponees, G 

 call thofefifhcs Sacred. .ir;:- . ..rr!" ' 

 We rauft needs confcfTejdiaj^es widiinftoneOiells^havcrmall or nofenfcj asnamely oy- 

 fters. Many arc of the nature of very Plants, to wit, thofe that they call Holothuria : alfo Pulmo- 

 nes, rcfembling the lungs of a beaft : and S tar-fiflies^made in forme of ftarres(ruch ftars I mean 

 as it pleafeth thepainter to draw,) In fumiije, what is there not bred within the Tea ? Even the ve- 

 ric fleas that skip fo merrily in fummer time within victualling houfes and Innes^and bite fo 

 (hrowdly : as alfo lice that love beft to lie clofe under th^e haire of our heads,aie there engendred 

 and to be found : for many a time the fillicrs twitch up their hookes, and fee a number of thefe 

 skippers and creepers fettled thicke about their baits which they laid for fifhes. And this vermin 

 is though t to trouble the poore fifhes in their fleep by night within the fea^as well as us on land. H 

 Lattot all, lomcfilhes there be, which of themfelves are given to breed fleas andHce^aniong 

 tshich the Chalcis^a kind of Turbotjis one. 



Chap, XLViii, 



^-^pf vemmou-s Sea-ffleSi 



Moreover, the fea is not without her deadly poifons : for the Sea hare, which keepcth in the 

 Indifhfeaj isfo venimous,that the very touching of him ispeftiferous^andprefendy 

 caulethvomitingandovcr-turningof theflomackcjnoc without great daunger. They 

 which be found in our fea^ feeme to be a peece or lUmpe of flcfh Without all forme and fafhion^ I 

 in colour onely rcfembling the land Hare. But with the Indians they be full as big, and refemble 

 their Hare, onely it is more ftiffe and harda And verily they cannot poiTibly be taken there alive. 

 The dragon orfpiderofthefea^ is as daungerous and mifchievous acreatureas the other: and 

 with the pricks that flicke forth of his chine and back- bone, he doth much hurt. But in no place 

 is there any more deteftable and pernicious, than is the pike.that ftandeth out upon the taile of 

 Trigonius, which we in L^ine call Pasimaca^ i, the Puffin or Forkfjfh of the fea ; the which pike 

 is five inches long. So vei^mous it isjthat if it be flrucken into the root of a treejit killedi it : it is 

 able to pierce a good cuirace or jacke of buffe, or fuch likc^ as if it were an arrow fhot or a dart 

 launc^d ; but befides the force and power that it hath that way anfwcrable toyron and f^ede_, the 

 wound that it makethjis therewith poifoned. ' ^ 



Chap, xlix, 

 ^0ff]hesdifi4fes. 



WEcdocnot here or read, that all forts of fifliesingencrallbefubje^J: to maladies and 

 difeafesjas other beafts, and even ihofe that are wild and favage. B ut that this or that 

 fifh in every kind may be ficke,it appeareth evidently, that fome of them miflike and 

 come to be cariion leane 5 whereas others of the lame fort^bc taken^not only in good plight bue 

 Exceeding fat* 



Ch AP. 1. r ^ 



^ The mnderfull manner of their generdtiofti 



1M what fort fifhes doe engender, if I fhould not in this place fliew^but put it off furtheryl 

 fhoiild doc great wrong to mankind, who defirc to know it, as much as they wonder how it 

 fhould be . In one word, fifhes engender by the fridion and rubbing of their bellies one 3* 

 gainfl another : which they performe with fuch celeritie, that no eye is fo quicke as to note and 

 obfcrve it. Dolphins,and other great Whales,have no other way but that,mary they are longer 

 fomewhat about their bufineffe. Thcfpawnery when the time ferveth for generation, followeth 

 af^r the male, and never lirin^th pecking and jobbing at his bellie with her m lizzie. Semblably M 

 a Ktde before fpawning time,the milters follow after the female,only for that they would eat their 

 fpawne when they have caftit.Butthisistobenotedraoreovcrj that the forelaid mixtureand 

 cngendring of theirs is not fufficicntfor to accOmplifh generanoH^ UnlefTe when their egges be 

 laid or fpawne caff^both male and female take it between jhem and kcepe a turning of it, th^eby 



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