MEMOIK OF PLINV. 
57 
that dogges fall not mad, it is good, for thirtie or for- 
tie daies space, to mingle hens or pullins dung espe- 
cially with their meate ; againe, if they be growing 
into that rage, or tainted already, to give them el- 
lebor with their meat. Columella writeth, that wlien 
a whelpe is just fortie daies old, if his taile be bitten 
off at the nethermost joint, and the sinew or string 
that remaineth after be likewise taken away, neither 
tlie taile will grow any more, nor the dogge fall euer 
to be mad. ” 
The ninth book treats of fishes and water animals ; 
containing “ stories, notable things, and obseruations, 
to the number of 650, collected.” Whales, dolphins, 
tortoises, seals, mullets, salmon, lampreys, eels, crabs, 
wilks, cockles, the murex, and other shell-fish, are 
jumbled together in the same class with tritons, mer- 
maids, nereides, and other fabulous creatures. The 
only attempt at definite order is founded on the co- 
vering or skin ; some, as seals and hippopotami, 
having hide and hair ; others skin only, as the dol- 
phins ; tortoises are covered with a substance resem- 
bling bark ; oysters and other shell-fish with a sub- 
stance as hard as flint ; echini with crusts and 
prickles ; Ashes with scales ; sharks with a rough 
skin fit for polishing wood ; lampreys with a soft 
skin ; and polypi with none at all. . The most inte- 
resting portion of this book is that which treats of 
the pearl oyster, the murex, buccinum, &c., which 
supplied the Romans with their celebrated purple 
dye. “ That beautifull colour, so much in request 
