Chapter XXV.

1. Marine animals also have many artful ways of procuring their food, for the stories that are told of the batrachus, which is called the fisher, are true, and so are those of the narce. For the batrachus has appendages above its eyes, of the length of a hair, with a round extremity to each like a bait; it buries itself in the sand or mud, and raises these appendages above the surface, and when the small fish strike them, it draws them down, till it brings the fish within reach of its mouth.

2. The narce stupefies any fish it may wish to master, with the peculiar force which it has in its body, and then takes and feeds upon them; it lies concealed in sand and mud, and captures as they swim over it any fish that it can take and stupefy; of this circumstance many persons have been witnesses; the trygon also hides itself, but not in the same manner; the following is a proof of their mode of life, for they are often taken with the cestreus in their stomach, which is the swiftest of fishes, and they are the slowest; and the batrachus, when nothing is left on the hair-like appendages, is taken in an emaciated condition. The narce also has plainly caused stupefaction in men.

3. The onus, batus, psetta, and rhine also bury themselves in the sand, and when they have hidden themselves, the appendage which is in their mouth stands up, this the fishermen call their staff, and the small fish approach it as if it was the sea-weed, on which they usually live. Wherever the anthias is found there are no obnoxious creatures; when this sign is observed, those who collect sponges dive for them there, and call the anthias the sacred fish; this is only a coincidence, just as the pig and partridge are never found where there are snails, for they eat them all.

4. The marine-serpent, in colour and in the form of its body, resembles the conger, but it is darker, and more powerful. If it is captured and allowed to escape, it buries itself in the sand, which it pierces with its snout, for its snout is sharper than that of a serpent. The creature called scolopendra when it has swallowed the hook turns itself inside out, till the hook is ejected, when it turns to its original form. The scolopendra, like that which inhabits the land, is attracted by the smell of cooked meat; it does not bite with the mouth, but stings with the contact of the whole body, like the creatures called sea-nettles.

5. The fish called alopex, when one of them has swallowed the hook, assist each other in this matter, as the scolopendra also does, for they collect together round the line and bite it off; in some places, where the water is swift and deep, they are taken with many hooks in them. The amiæ also collect together when they see any obnoxious creature near them, and the largest swim round them in a circle; when attacked, they defend themselves; they have strong teeth, and the lamia and other creatures when attacking them have been seen to be repulsed with wounds.

6. Among river fish the male glanis is very careful of his young fry, but the female goes away as soon as she has deposited her ova, but the male continues to watch by the greater number of the ova, paying them no more attention than to drive away other fish, that they may not carry away the ova; he is thus employed for forty or fifty days until the young fry are so far grown that they can escape from other fish; the fishermen know when it is guarding its ova, for it drives away other fish, and as it jumps at them it makes a noise and a murmur. It remains with such affection beside its ova, that if they are deposited in deep water, and the fishermen attempt to bring them into shallow water, the fish will not forsake them; but if young it is easily taken with a hook, from its habit of seizing upon any fish that may come in its way; but if it is experienced, and has swallowed a hook before, it does not leave its ova, but with its hard teeth it will bite and destroy the hook.

7. All creatures with fins, and stationary animals, inhabit either the places in which they were born, or similar localities, for their peculiar food is found in such places. The carnivorous fish are the greatest wanderers; all are carnivorous with a few exceptions, as the cestreus, salpa, trigla, and chalcis. The mucous substance which the pholis emits forms around it, and resembles a chamber. Of the apodal testacea, the pecten is the most locomotive, for it flies by means of its own valves; the purpura and its congeners advance very slowly.

8. All the fish except the cobius leave the Pyrrhic Euripus during the winter on account of the cold, for the Euripus is colder than the sea, and return again in the spring. In the Euripus the scarus, the thrissa, all the thorny fish, the galus, acanthia, carabus, polypus, bolitæna, and some others are wanting, and of those that are produced in the Euripus, the white cobius is not an inhabitant of the sea. Those fish which have ova are in the highest season in the spring, before they produce their ova; those that are viviparous in the autumn, and besides these the cestreus, trigla, and their congeners. In the neighbourhood of Lesbos, both the marine fish and those of the Euripus produce their ova in the Euripus; they copulate in the autumn, and deposit their ova in the spring. The males and females of the selachea also mix together, in numbers, in the autumn, for the purpose of copulation; but in the spring they separate until they have produced their young; at the period of sexual intercourse, they are often taken united together.

9. The sepia is the most cunning of the malacia, and is the only one which uses its ink for the purpose of concealment, when it is not alarmed. The polypus and teuthis emit their ink only when alarmed. These creatures never emit all their ink, and as soon as it is emitted it is secreted again. But the sepia, as it has already been remarked, makes use of its ink for the purposes of concealment, and when it pretends to advance, it returns into its ink. With its long extended tentacula it not only pursues small fish, but frequently attacks the cestreus. The polypus is a foolish creature, for it will approach a man's hand if brought near it. It is an economical animal, for it collects all its prey in the hole in which it dwells, and when the most useful part has been consumed, it ejects the shells, the coverings of the cancri, and conchylia, and the spines of the fish, it pursues any fish that may come in its way, changing its colour and imitating that of any neighbouring stone. It does the same thing when alarmed.

10. Some persons say that the sepia has power to do the same thing, and that it can imitate the colour of the place it inhabits. The rhine is the only fish endowed with the same power, for it can change its colours like the polypus. The polypus rarely lives for two years, for it is by nature subject to decay. This is a proof of it, that when pressed, this animal always emits something, until at last it consumes away. The females suffer so much from this in the period of parturition, as to become foolish, and not perceive any agitation of the waves, so that they are easily taken by the hand of the diver; they become like mucus, and are not able to pursue their prey.

11. The males become hard and shining. This appears to be a proof that they do not survive a year, that in the summer and autumn, after the production of the young, it is difficult to find a large polypus, though large ones were abundant a short time before; when they have produced their ova, they say that both sexes grow old and become so weak, that they are devoured by small fish, and are easily dragged out of their holes, though before they would have permitted nothing of the kind. They also say that the small and young ones will not endure this, and that they are stronger than the large ones. The sepia also only lives one year; the polypus is the only one of the malacia that ever ventures upon dry land, it advances upon a rough surface, but avoids smooth places. In other respects, it is a strong animal, but its neck, if pressed, becomes very weak.

12. This is the nature of the malacia. They say that ... form their rough shells round themselves like a hard breastplate, which increases as they grow, and that they can leave these, as if they were a hole or a habitation. The nautilus is a polypus peculiar both in its nature and its actions; for it sails upon the surface of the sea, rising up from the depths of the waters. It is brought to the surface with its shell inverted, in order that it may go out more easily and navigate in an empty shell. When it reaches the surface, it turns its shell over. There is a membrane extended between two of its tentacula similar to the web feet of birds, except that theirs is thick and that of the nautilus thin and like a spider's web. This it uses for a sail when the wind blows, and it extends two of its tentacula for rudders. If alarmed, it fills its shell and sinks in the sea. No one has made any accurate observation on the production and growth of the shell. It appears not to originate in sexual intercourse, but to be produced like that of other conchylia, nor is it clear whether it can live when taken out of its shell.