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If that the tale is true that it admits The poisonous viper's love, when it deserts Its pastures 'neath the sea, for food on land.

But Andreas, in his treatise on Things which are believed erroneously, says that it is quite a mistake to suppose that the lamprey ever breeds with the viper when it comes on marshy ground; for that vipers do not themselves feed in marshes, as they are fond rather of sandy and desert places. But Sostratus, in his books on Animals (and there are two books of his on this subject, and with this title), agrees with those who assert that the lamprey and the viper do breed together.

91. There is another kind of eel also, called the myrus. But the myrus, as Aristotle says, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, differs from the lamprey; this latter being a variegated fish, and less powerful than the other; while the myrus is a fish of one uniform colour, and strong, and its whole colour is like that of the wryneck, and it has teeth both within and without. And Dorion says, that the myrus has no small bones running through its flesh, but that it is in every part eatable, and exceedingly soft; and that there are two kinds of it, for some are black, and some are of rather a fiery colour, but those which are dark are best. And Archestratus, the voluptuary philosopher, says—

Between th' Italian and Sicilian shore, Where the strait parts them with its narrow waves, Whenever that most dainty fish is caught Which men the lamprey call, be sure to buy it; For in those waters 'tis the best of food.

92. There is a fish, too, called the mænis, or sprat; and Icesius says that they are more juicy than the tench, but that they are inferior in delicacy of flavour, and also in the extent to which they facilitate the secretions of the stomach. But Speusippus, in the second book of his treatise on Things similar to one another, says that both the boax and the smaris resemble the sprat; and these two fishes are mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Earth and Sea, in the following manner:—

When you see many boaces and smarides.

And Epænetus, in his Cookery Book, says, "The smaris, which some people call cynoseuna." But Antiphanes, in his Countryman, or Butalion, calls the sprats the food of Hecate, on