Chap. 26.] 
riSHES. 
397 
and the dorade.^® Among the river-fish, the silurus is af- 
fected by the rising of the Dog-star, and at other times it is 
always sent to sleep by thunder. The same is also believed 
to be the case with the sea-fish called cyprinus.^ In addition 
to this, the whole sea is sensible^ of the rising of this star, a 
thing which is more especially to be observed in the Eosporus : 
for there sea- weeds and fish are seen floating on the surface, all 
of which have been thrown up from the bottom. 
CHAP. 26. (17.) THE MULLET. 
One singular propensity of the mullet^ has afforded a subject 
for laughter;* when it is frightened, it hides its head, and 
fancies that the whole of its body is concealed. Their salacious 
propensities^ render them so unguarded, that in Phoenicia and 
in the province of Gallia I^arbonensis, at the time of coupling, 
is true, he says, that the "onos/' or "ass" of the Greeks, the *'asellus" 
of the Romans, was also known as the yadoQ^ by the Greeks ; but still this 
onos had very different characteristics from those of the Gadus merluccius ; 
and among all the gadi of LinnsBUs, he finds the only one that presents 
any of them to be the Gadus tricirrhatus, or sea- weasel, which he there- 
fore thinks to represent the ancient asellus." 
98 Aurata, " golden-fish." Cuvier observes, that by the Greeks this was 
called xp^^ocppvg, " eye-brow of gold." It is the French daurade of the 
Mediterranean, the *'Sparus aurata" of Linnaeus, and is remarkable 
for a golden line in form of a crescent over the eyes. Ajasson remarks, 
that it was also called 'Iujvktkoq, and suggests that it may have been ori- 
ginally called so from being first found in the Ionian Sea. From an 
epigram of Martial, B. xiii. Ep. 110, it would appear that this fish was 
considered a very great dainty, and that it was fattened with Lucrine 
oysters. 
99 This fish has been already mentioned in c. 17 of the present Book. 
Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 20, says this of the glanis. 
1 Further mention is made of this fish in c. 74 of the present Book. 
Aristotle mentions it in B. viii. c. 25, but says nothing about it being a 
sea-fish; while Dorion, as quoted by Athenaeus, B. vii., expressly mentions 
it among the lake and river fish. Hence Dalechamps seems inclined to 
censure our author for this addition ; but we find Oppian, Halieut. B. i. 11. 
101 and 692, speaking of the sea cyprinus; and Athenaeus speaks of the 
cyprinus of Aristotle as being a sea-fish. 
2 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 20. This subject is also treated of 
by Pliny in B. ii. c. 40, and is again mentioned in B. xviii. c. 58. 
3 Cuvier remarks, that it does not appear that the characteristics of the 
mullet, here mentioned by Pliny, have been observed in modern times. 
* The same story is told of the ostrich. 
5 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 4, statea to a similar effect. 
