Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/30

 Animals, says that the following are cartilaginous fish; the ray, the turtle, the sea cow, the lamprey, the sea eagle, the sea frog, and the whole of the shark tribe. But Sophron in his Farces, gives one fish the name of botis, saying, "The cestres eat the botis," though it is possible that he may be speaking of some herb. But with respect to the sea frog, the wise Archestratus gives us the following advice in his Apophthegms—

Whenever you behold a frog, why roast him

And prepare his stomach.

And concerning the ray, he says—

A boiled ray is good about midwinter. Eat it with cheese and assafœtida; But all the sons o' the sea whose flesh is lean Should, as a rule, be dress'd in such a fashion; And thus I recommend you now again.

And Ephippus the comic poet, in his play called Philyra, (now Philyra is the name of a courtesan), says—

A. Shall I first cut a ray in slender slices And boil it? aye? or like the cooks in Sicily Shall I prefer to roast it? B. Copy Sicily.

27. There are also fish called boaxes. Aristotle, in his treatise entitled Concerning Animals or Fish, says, "The following animals are marked on the back; the boax and others—the following are marked transversely, the kind of tunny fish, called colias." And Epicharmus in his Marriage of Hebe, speaks thus—

And in addition to all these the boax, The smarides, anchovies, crabs and lobsters.

And Numenius, in his Art of Fishing, calls them boeces; saying—

The white synodons, the boeces, and trinchi.

But Speusippus and the rest of the Attic writers call them boaces. Aristophanes in his play called The Women who occupy Tents, says—

But having had a bellyful of boaces, I turn'd my steps towards home.

And they derived their name from the noise [Greek: boê] which they make, on which account it used to be said that the fish was sacred to Mercury, as the harp fish was to Apollo. But