452 
Flint's KATURAii htstoet. 
[Book IX. 
the mud, it awaits the approach of the fish, and, at the moment 
that they are swimming above in supposed security, commu- 
nicates the shock, and instantly darts upon them : there is no 
delicate^* morsel in existence that is preferred to the liver 
of this fish. And no less wonderful, too, is the shrewdness 
manifested by the sea-frog, which is known by us as the 
fisher." Stirring up the mud, it protrudes from the surface 
two little horns, which project from beneath the eyes, and so 
attracts the small fish which are sporting around it, until at 
last they approach so close that it is able to seize them. In a 
similar manner, too, the squatina and the rhombus^ conceal 
themselves, but extend their fins, which, as they move to and 
fro, resemble little worms ; the ray also does the same. The 
pastinaca,^^ too, lies lurking in ambush, and pierces the fish 
as they pass with the sting with which it is armed. An- 
other proof of instinctive shrewdness is the fact, that although 
the ray is the very slowest of all the fish in its movements, it 
is found with the mullet in its belly, which is the swiftest of 
them all. 
(43.) The scolopendra,^^ which bears a strong resemblance^*^ 
2* Cuvier confirms this statement. The liver of the torpedo, he says, is 
very delicate eating, as, indeed, is that part in most of the ray genus. 
25 Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. 1. 86 ; JElian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 24 ; and 
Cicero, I)e Nat. Deor. make mention of this. 
26 The Lophius piscatorius of Linnaeus, the baudroie of the French. 
This is a fish, Cuvier says, with a large wide mouth, and having upon the 
top of the head moveable filaments, surmounted by a sort of membranous 
lashes. It seems that it is the fact that it buries itself in the sand, and 
then employs the artifice here mentioned by PUny, for the purpose of at- 
tracting the fish that serve as its food. 
2"^ Or turbot. This fish, the Pleuronectes maximus of Linnaeus, and the 
Squalus squatina of Linnseus, presents no sufl&ciently distinct filaments at the 
extremity of the fins to justify what Pliny says. But the word " rhombus," 
Cuvier says, which ordinarily means the common turbot, here means the 
psetta of the Greeks, the Pleuronectes rhombus of Linnaeus, which has the 
anterior radii of the dorsal fin separated, and forming small filaments. For 
an account of the psetta, see c. 24, p. 396. 
28 The sting-ray, the Eaia pastinaca of Linnaeus. This fish, Cuvier 
says, has upon the tail a pointed spine, compressed and notched like a saw, 
which forms a most dangerous weapon. It is again mentioned in c, 72 of 
the present Book, under its Greek name of trigon." 
29 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, and B. ix. c. 51 ; Oppian, Halieut. 
B. ii. 1. 424 ; and JElian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 35, make a similar state- 
ment as to the scolopendra. 
30 The animal, Cuvier says, which is here mentioned as the scolopendra, 
