[228] O. Keller, _Die Antike Tierwelt_, vol. ii. 388, fig. 122. This work (published at Leipzig a year before the War) unfortunately came into my hands only when I had practically finished my book, and thus I have been precluded from the more copious use of the _Fische_ portion, which I should have desired and which it would certainly have demanded. The seventy pages dealing with fish form a compact treasure-house of ichthyic literature, but owing perhaps to their scope lack piscatorial interest. [229] Faber, _Fisheries in the Adriatic_, London, 1883. [230] According to Pollux, VI. 63. [231] Justin, XVIII. 3, 2. [232] Cf. Ezekiel, XXVI. 5, 14. [233] Cf. the allusion of Cervantes: _dos cursos en la academia de la pesca de los atunos_. [234] Arrian (_Ind._, XXX. 1) and Strabo (XV. 12, p. 726) tell the same story of whales in the Indian Ocean. [235] _Persæ_, 424 ff. [236] Plutarch, _de Sol. Anim._, ch. 29. [237] Arist., _N. H._, VIII. 19. [238] _Ichthyol._, II. p. 376. [239] Pliny, _N. H._, IX. 20, on the say-so of Arist., _N. H._, VI. 16, “pinguescunt in tantum ut dehiscant.” [240] Ælian, _de nat. an._, XIII. 16. [241] Oppian, _hal._, III. 285. CHAPTER V ARISTOTLE—THE FIRST “SCALE-READER”; THE FIRST TO DISCOVER THAT IN THE MUREX ITS YEARLY GROWTH IS INDICATED BY THE SHELL—SENSES OF FISH: EXPERIMENTS AS TO HEARING “Aristotle hath his Oare in every Water” If the passage quoted in my Introduction left any doubt that Plato was no admirer of fishing or fishermen, the following, from _The Laws_, VII. 823 (Jowett’s translation), is conclusive proof. “And, now, let us address young men in the form of a prayer for their welfare: O Friends, may no desire of hunting in the sea, or of catching the creatures in the waters, ever take possession of you, either when you are awake, or when you are asleep, by hooks, with weels, which latter is a very lazy contrivance, and let no desire of catching men, or piracy by sea, enter into your souls.” Then Plato adds: “Only the best of hunting is allowed at all, which is carried on by men with horses, dogs, and men’s own persons,” and is really hard exercise. “Fishing is not an occupation worthy of a man well born or well brought up, because it demands more of address and ruse than force, and is not for young people, like hunting, the occasion of healthy exercise.”[242] When expressing astonishment at the variety and extent of Aristotle’s knowledge, one of the characters of Athenæus asks from what Proteus or Nereus he could have found out all he writes about fishes and other animals.[243] The curiosity of the questioner was natural. It is, however, probable that Aristotle, from living for several years close to the sea and from his intercourse with fishermen, had amassed a big fund of information about fishes and other aquatic animals.