86 DIVINATION BY FISH. 



iElian to inhabit the Gulph of Myra, where 

 the priests of that place were accustomed to feed it 

 with the flesh of sacrificed animals, and to draw 

 omens of good or bad import, according as it 

 snatched at or rejected the proffered food. Ste- 

 phanus Byzantinus, and other old geographers, 

 mention a place called Sura, between Myra and 

 Phellus, where divination by fish was practised. 

 In the narrative of our journey we have de- 

 scribed the ruins at Sura, which ancient site 

 we found not far from Myra. This, no doubt, 

 was the locality to w T hich iElian alluded when 

 mentioning the Orphus. It is possible, however, 

 that the Orphus instead of being one of the 

 Sparoidal fishes, was the Scorpcena porcus, an 

 ugly, but brightly-coloured, large-headed, spiny 

 fish, common near the shores everywhere in the 

 JEgean ; since, in a verse cited by Athengeus, it 

 is spoken of as being prickly on all sides. 



Another fish frequently mentioned by ancient 

 writers is the Scarus. It was supposed to rumi- 

 nate its food, — a fancy to which the peculiar 

 aspect of its teeth may have given rise. This 

 was, doubtless, the Scarus cretins of modern ich- 

 thyologists, a fish abundant on the Lycian 

 shores ; and still called by its ancient name. It is 



