writers known as the xiphias;[603] the thrissa,[604] the torpedo,[605] the tethea,[606] the tritomus, a large kind of pelamis,[607] which admits of being cut into three cybia;[608] the shells of Venus,[609] the grape-fish,[610] and the xiphias.[611] CHAP. 54.—ADDITIONAL NAMES OF FISHES FOUND IN THE POEM OF OVID. To the above enumeration we will add some names given in the poem of Ovid,[612] which are not to be found in any other writer: species, however, which are probably peculiar to the Euxine, on the shores[613] of which he commenced that work towards the close of his life. The fishes thus mentioned by him are the sea-ox, the cercyrus, that dwells among the rocks, the orphus,[614] the red erythinus,[615] the iulus,[616] the tinted mormyr, the chrysophrys[617] a fish of a golden colour, the parus,[618] the tragus,[619] the melanurus[620] remarkable for the beauty of its tail, and the epodes,[621] a flat fish. In addition to these remarkable kinds of fishes, the same poet tells us that the channes[622] conceives of itself, that the glaucus[623] never makes its appearance in summer, that the pompilus[624] always accompanies vessels in their course, and that the chromis[625] makes its nest in the water. The helops, he says, is unknown to our waters; from which it would appear that those are in error who look upon it as identical with our acipenser.[626] Many persons have given the preference to the helops before all other fish, in point of flavour. There are several fishes also, which have been mentioned by no author; such, for instance, as the one called “sudis” by the Latins, and “sphyrene” by the Greeks, names which indicate the peculiar form of its muzzle.[627] It is one of the very largest kinds, but rarely found, and by no means of inferior flavour. “Perna,” too, is the name given to a kind of shell-fish, found in vast numbers in the vicinity of the islands of the Euxine. These fish are found firmly planted in the sand, resembling in appearance the long shank[628] of a hog. Opening wide their shells, where there is sufficient space, they lie in wait for their prey; this opening being not less than a foot in breadth, and the edges of it garnished around with teeth closely set, much resembling the teeth of a comb in form. Within the shell, the meat consists of a vast lump of flesh. I once saw, too, a fish called the “hyæna,”[629] which had been caught off the island of Ænaria.[630] In addition to these animals, there are certain excretions thrown up by the sea, which do not merit any further notice, and indeed ought to be reckoned among the sea-weeds, rather than looked upon as animated beings. SUMMARY.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, nine hundred and ninety. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Licinius Macer,[631] Trebius Niger,[632] Sextius Niger[633] who wrote in Greek, the Poet Ovid,[634] Cassius Hemina,[635] Mæcenas,[636] Iacchus,[637] Sornatius.[638]