[352] VII. 113. χαίρει δὲ (_sc._ ὁ σκάρος) τῇ τῶν φυκίων τροφῇ διὸ καὶ τούτοις θηρεύεται, κ.τ.λ. Athenæus mentions Aristotle as his source. The references by ichthyologists to the bait used for catching the _Scarus_ seem infrequent: I at least have only come across the following. “The fishing requires some experience: fishermen allege that there is necessary _un individu vivant pour amorcer les autres_, yet here we call to mind what Ælian and Oppian say as to the great number of fish attracted by following a female attached to the line.” See Cuvier and Valenciennes, _H. N. des Poissons_, vol. XIV., p. 150, Paris, 1839. [353] IX. 29. Scarus solus piscium dicitur ruminare herbisque vesci, non aliis piscibus. See also Oppian, II. 645-650. [354] _The Oxford Dict._ gives, “_Alga_, a seaweed: in plural, one of the great divisions of the Cryptogamic plants including seaweeds, and kindred fresh-water plants, and a few ærial species,” and “_Moss_, any of the small herbaceous Cryptogamous plants constituting the class Musci, some of which form the characteristic vegetation of bogs, while others grow in crowded masses covering the surface of the ground, stones, trees, etc.” As “applied to seaweed rare”, I might venture to add either poetical, as in Tennyson’s _Mermaid_, “in hueless moss under the sea,” or loose and unscientific. [355] Compare J. Britten and R. Holland, _Dict. of English Plant Names_ (London, 1884), III. 576. Wright in his _Dialect Dictionary_, “Crow-silk, Confervæ, and other Algæ, especially _C. rivularis_.” [356] Oppian, III. 421. Τῆμος ὲπεντύνει κύυρτου δόλον. These were traps of wickerwork, resembling our lobster pots or weels, in which the fish were caught as they flocked to suck at the seaweed, with which the stones (placed inside the traps to sink them) were covered. Cf. Ælian, XII. 43, who states that for this sort of fishing fishermen made use of φύκους θαλασσίου. [357] _N. H._, XIII., 3. Cf. also _ibid._, I, 2. [358] _Voyage of the Beagle_, ch. 20: “Two species of fish of the genus scarus, which are common here (Keeling Island), exclusively feed on coral.” Sir R. Owen, “The anterior teeth are soldered together and adapted to the habits and exigences of a tribe of fishes which browse on the lithophytes, that clothe the bottom of the sea, just as ruminant quadrupeds crop the herbage of the dry land.” [359] _N. H._, II. 17: μόνος ἰχθὺς δοκεῖ μηρυκάζειν. Cf., however, _N. H._, IX. 50. [360] VIII. 2, 13. [361] Arist., _N. H._, II. 13. Pliny, XI. 61. “Piscium omnibus (dentes) serrati, præter scarum: huic uni aquatilium plani.” [362] In VII. 113, we again find Athenæus misrepresenting Aristotle.