Chap. 28.] 
riSHES. 
399 
noble fish of all ; it is the only one that has the scales turned 
towards the head, and in a contrary direction to that in which 
it swims. At the present day, however, it is held in no esteem, 
which I am the more surprised at, it being so very rarely found. 
Some writers call this fish the elops. 
CHAP. 28. THE LlJPtIS, ASELLUS. 
At a later period, they set the highest value on the lupus ^ 
and the asellus,^ as we learn from Cornelius IS'epos, and the 
poet, Laberius, the author of the Mimes. The most approved 
kinds of the lupus are those which have the name of ^^lanati/* 
or woolly," in consequence of the extreme whiteness and 
softness of the flesh. Of the asellus there are two sorts, the 
callarias, which is the smallest, and the bacchus,^ which is only 
taken in deep water, and is hence much preferred to the former. 
On the other hand, among the varieties of the lupus, those are 
the most esteemed which are taken in rivers. 
conclude that the two were not synonymous. Indeed, we find that Yarro, 
De Re Eustica, B. ii. c. 6, and Pliny in c. 54 of the present Book, speak 
of the elops as heing most excellent at Rhodes, while we find Archestratus 
in Athenseus, B. vii., speaking of the same as being the locality of the 
acipenser ; and Columella, B. viii. c. 16, and JElian, B. viii. c. 28, place 
it in the Pamphylian Sea, which is not far distant from Rhodes. Pliny, 
B. xxxii. c. 11, states, that the palm of fine flavour was by many accorded 
to the elops; while Matron Parodus, in Athenseus, calls it the "most noble 
of all fishes, food worthy of the gods." From the immense sums that 
were given for it, as we learn from Varro, quoted by Nonius Marcellus, it 
was called the " multum munus," or " multinummus/^ the "much-money 
fish." JElian says, B. viii. c. 28, that the fishermen who were fortunate 
enough to take an elops, were in the habit of crowning themselves and 
their vessel with garlands, and announcing it, on entering harbour, by the 
sound of the trumpet. Professor Pallas, in his work on the Russian Zoo- 
graphy, takes the elops to be a kind of sturgeon, more spiny than the rest, 
which is represented by Marsigli under the name of " Huso sextus." He 
does not, however, give his reason for fixing on this as the elops of the 
ancients. It has been also suggested that the elops was the same as the 
sword-fish. 
The wolf-fish. Generally supposed to be the basse, or lubin of the 
French, much esteemed for their delicacy. 
8 See N. 97 above. 
9 Cuvier remarks, that we find this name in Euthydemus, as quoted by 
Athenseus, B. vii., used synonymously with that of " onos." We also find 
the names Callarias, Galerias, and Galerides ; but none of the characteristics 
are given, by which to distinguish them. 
