NATURAL HISTORY. 



277 



of the plant as being used for the same purpose, jca'pua tyxopov; where 

 the word xugvu, Mr. H. observes, applies very well to the seeds of 

 the tree Euphorbia. 



Dioscorides* lib. iv. c. 166. mentions seven different species of 

 Tithymalus used to destroy fish, and at the present day the fishermen 

 on the coast of Elis throw into the water the root of Tithymal which 

 intoxicates the fish ; taken in this manner, they become putrid, 

 although salt is applied to them. (Pouqueville.) This plant is 

 probably the Euphorbia Characias-f, which according to Dr. Sibthorp 

 is employed for the same purpose, and is now called rMfiosXo, as well 

 as (pXopoc. The latter name is also given to Verbascum sinuatum, 

 which is used at Constantinople and Zante to catch different kinds 

 of fish. The adjective fiXopopsvo is found in a Romaic poem quoted 



by Du Cange£, KivyrfAiv nq to TteXayoq crav (pXopopevo ij^p" " and 



he came up on the sea like an intoxicated fish." Conium maculatum 

 is also used by the fishermen in some parts of Greece, (Sibthorp,) 

 and the Octopodia are driven from their holes by the pounded root 

 of y.vzXocf/JSa, Cyclamen persicum. (id.) Oppian in his AX. iv. 659., 

 mentions the use of x.vxXa.y.ivov. § The trout in one of the streams of 

 Laconia are caught, Dr. Sibthorp says, with Cocculus Indicus ; which 

 is called tyu^ofioTctvi and is sold in the bazar of Tripolizza. He has 

 also observed that the fish caught in these various manners soon 



o 



become putrid. H £ix ruv (poigfAUKcov Qypx to&%v f/Av ol,(,ei not,] XafA.l3u.vei 

 Qccoitog rov ix@vv, xftguTov <5e rrotei xoti (pavXov. || Plutarch, Conjug. Praec. 



* See his remark 7isp\ HXu.-vuq>ukkov. 



f Euphorbia Characias, is ^upaxla.; of Diosc. ; and Tiflu'jU,«Aoj of Hippoc. Verbascum 

 sinuatum is pAo^oj apprjv of Diosc. — Sprengel. 

 % See Du Cange in v. 'Evyciiveiv. 



§ Pliny speaks of a species of Cyclamen employed to kill fish (the plant was called 

 J^fibofljjpof,), lib. xxv. c. 9. and of a species of aristolochia, used by the fishermen of Cam- 

 pania for the same purpose. Lib. xxv. c. 8. 



|| In the Red Sea the Symm El horat, venerium piscium, placed by Forskal among the 

 Plantae indeterminatse, is used ; the fishes stupefied by it, rise up, and float upon the 

 water. 



